ACE KILLED

Camp News, Volume 1, Issue 27, 14 June 1940, Page 7

ACE KILLED

ng Officer Kain In Accident i OF MANY FIGHTS Brought Down More an 40 Nazi Planes I Zealand’s ace-, war pilot, Officer Edgar James (“Coblain, D.F.C., is dead. Adds effect has been received ther, Mr. R. -G. Kain, .wn, Wellington, in a cable A Air Ministry, which states gh was the result of an airJjdent. The profound sym 2he Air Council is convey pd Mrs. Kain and family.

Flying Officer Kain’s death received with deep sorrow irst flashed into the news ovember as the result of a igle-handed action in which down a Dornier reconnaise. Flying Officer Kain has igure symbolic of the four-. ring with which the.succes-j'-Anzacs of 1914-1918 have frms .in” defence of. freedom •acy Recently his record of it . down 40 German planes ith the best individual its of the R.A.F. [Hastings 22 "years" ago. Fly Kain was educated at (hoy ' 81. Day’s Bay. Eastbourne, j. and at Christ’s College j. h. where he was a boarder "•louse from 1933 till 1935. Wig lie trained at Rongotai " Wellington, under Squad ®G. L. Stedman. He "omraining at Wigram Aerowitchurch, where he took his J “ ward the end of 1936. He Ugland shortly afterward

with his parents He qualified for the R.A.F. on arrival, and on December -’1 of that year went into training amp at Blackburn. After three months here be was posted to Uxbridge, where e (nullified as - mlot officer It was on November 10 that New Zealanders first heard how a young New Zealand pilot, whom Daventry described'' as “tall, dark-haired with a beaky nose.” shot down a Dornier reconnaissance plane at a height of five miles above an R.A.F., aerodrome in France. He was subsequently ' identified as Flying Officer Kain. Story of First Fight. Describing the fight, “The Times” said: “The young pilot took off alone and climbed steeply in the face of fire from a German gunner in the tail of the enemy machine. The New Zea-, lander held -his own fire till ,he was at close range, and then loosed a single burst which put out of action the. enemy's port motor. The German banked, climbed again, and opened fire. The New Zealand pilot felt the bullets humming by his head. He then attacked again at a range of 250 yards with, a long burst from his guns. He closed in to 50 yards and gave the Germans full bursts , “After nearly colliding with him, the Dornier plunged into a steep, straight dive, and the New Zealander followed at .an incredible speed. A wing of the German plane- struck a house and the machine crashed in the main street of a village with the' engine full on. It tore a trench 10ft. deep and burst into' flames. The bedies of the occupants were thrown 100 yards away.” Fragments of the Dornier machine were subsequently distributed as souvenirs. Soon after this incident French troops conferred on Flying Of ficer Kain, Lindbergh’s nickname, “the flying fool,” because his control of his machine was so perfect that he could .‘sweep off his comrades’ caps.’ Early in March Flying Officer Kain shot down a Messerschmitt, bringing his total to three. A correspondent of .the “Daily Mail” wrote of him : “This amazing young man, who now has three Nazi machines to' his credit, wanted to go up again on Sunday, but his commanding officer would not allow him. His mascot is a little jade Image suspended from his neck an old Cki. or Maori god.”

Wounded in Leg. Later in the same month he brought down two more Nazi planes and became the ace of the R.A.F. 1! was. in this engagement that he had to land by parachute after his plane had been , shot down in flames. He was later found to have several shrapnel boies in his leg. A correspondent of the Australian Associated Press with the R.A.F. wrote: “The ground staff ‘wrote off’ ‘Cobber’ when his blazing plane disappeared into a cloud bank, but he turned up in the mess of a tiny French village; that night, his face brick-red from burning oil, his singed, bandages on a leg and a hand, and hi.' hair still streaked with oil.” On March 29 it was anonun -ed that His Majesty the King had awarded Flying Officer Kain the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry in opera lions against the enemy, in a lettei to his parents, written on February.ll., he said that there was very little doing at ( the time of writing. He mentioned that a few days previously 8.8. C. representatives visited bis post and took a recorded description of one of his flights on' patrol. He afterward gave an account .of two “scraps,” which was also to be broadcast “Life tends to get very, boring out here with all this inactivity," wrote the airman, ' “but 1 expect when the weather im proves things will begin to buck up” In April his engagement lb Miss Joyce Phillips, an actress appearing in repertory at Petersborough, was an ■■ nounced. It was stated that the wedding would take place, possibly in June. Flying Officer Kain's mother and sister are at present on their way to England. Tally of Planes. With the outbreak of major hostil - ities-on the Western Front last month, . Flying Officer Kain again figured in the news.' On May 23 his “bag” was reported to be 25. On May 27 it was reported that three R.A.F. pilots had : shot down nearly 100 German'' planes between them in battles on the West ; ern Front. “Cobber” Kain bag was : believed to exceed 40. , How he came to be called ‘Cobber’’ was a mystery to his relatives ! n Wei lington, among whom he was known as “Eddie.” They assume that it must have been bestowed on him by his Australian friends in the Roy a 1 Air Force, perhaps because of the all’ter ■ition and because he was a good companion to have along the high wavs of the sky. - - The good companion has passed his duty done. New Zealanders w ; l! re . •ere his memory.