THRILLS IN THE AIR

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22137, 8 September 1943, Page 7

THRILLS IN THE AIR

NEW ZEALANDERS’ EXPLOITS (L'nited Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON. Sept. 6 ‘‘lt was a picnic. The boys were flying around with the navigation lights on. dropping their bombs one by one from 500 feet. We spent one hour fifteen minutes over the target, doing as we liked,” said FlyingOfficer Len Chambers, D.F.C., of Karamea. when describing a recent raid on Saint Paulo power station, in northern Italy by Lancasters. Flight-Lieutenant Leslie Munro, of Gisborne, was in the same raid. Flying-Officer Chambers said: ‘‘We flew to Italy at a low level, skimming France in the moonlight. Then we climbed when approaching the Alps. I will never forget the beauty of Mount Blanc that night. Then we followed the hilis, down until we found the power station. It was a piece of cake. There was no flak and only two fighters, which kept out of the way of us. We bombed as we liked, the Lancasters flying round and round in a great circle taking turns. Every time a bomb dropped coloured lights would run along the electric wire and the transformers would throw out gigantic sparks. “When we had no more bombs we flew on to Algiers, where we spent ten glorious days sun-1 thing swimming in the Mediterranean. We bombed the Leghorn docks on the return trip to England.” Flying-Officer Chambers, who was in the Mohne Dam raid, has now completed a second tour of operations and will take a pilot’s course.