Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 26, 2012 22:42:14 GMT 12
From Papers Past
Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 53, 31 August 1942, Page 4
"KIWIS" OVER DESERT
NEW ZEALAND PILOTS
FLYING FIGHTER PLANES
(Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) WESTERN DESERT, August 27.
New Zealand fighter pilots are taking part in the R.A.F. battle against the Luftwaffe over Egypt. Day and night they are over the Western Desert, flying Hurricanes, Spitfires, and Kittyhawks in sweeps, bomber escorts, and dive-bombing raids.
No New Zealand squadrons are operating in the Middle East, but in almost every R.A.F. fighter and fighter-bomber sqaudron there is at least one "Kiwi" pilot. Their flying experience varies as widely as their civil occupations. Some are sheep farmers who fought in the Battle of Britain. Others came from city offices and warehouses, trained under the Empire Scheme in Canada and England, and have been posted to the Middle East for their first operational flights. A few have won "gongs," as the pilots call their Flying Crosses and medals. Many are waiting to get their first German plane in their sights.
During the lull on the El Alamein front I have spoken to several of these New Zealand pilots. They are all keen to be operating over the land battle in which the New Zealanders are taking part. They hate inactivity. "The sooner we get this job over, the sooner we will be able to get out and tackle the Japanese," they say.
EXPERIENCED MEN
One of the most experienced New Zealand pilots now flying in the desert is Flight Lieutenant Victor Verity, D.F C, a Timaru farmer who was with fighter squadrons in France and in the Battle of Britain. He has been posted missing twice—once during the evacuation of Dunkirk—but he returned across the Channel on both occasions. A night fighter pilot of long experience, he is now attached to a Hurricane squadron which searches for German night bombers over Egypt. Warrant-Officer E. L, Joyce, of Hamilton, who has shot down three Junkers 88's at night, is in the 'same squadron.
Four New Zealanders trained under the Empire Scheme are now flying Kitty bombers in the famous Shark squadron. They are Sergeant Pilot T. H. Morrison, of Auckland. H. G. E. Thomas, of Masterton, R. H. Newton, of Wellington, and C. Young, of Bulls. Earlier in this campaign their squadron made as many as six bombing and strafing raids a day, many of them over the New Zealand sector of the front line. Morrison, Thomas, and Young were trained in Canada last year. Newton went directly to England from New Zealand last August.
Pilot Officer J S Hepburn, of Mid-Canterbury, and Sergeant Pilot K. G. Allington, of Hastings, are the only New Zealanders in Hurricane squadrons at present on day operations over the desert. Allington flew Spitfires from stations on the south coast "of England and in the Orkney Islands before he came to the Middle East, in time for the hectic days of the withdrawal from Libya. In twelve days he flew from eleven ianding grounds.
A FAMOUS SQUADRON
Three New Zealanders are flying Spitfires in the famous County of London Squadron. One of them, who commands a flight in the squadron, has already shot down two Junkers 88's over the desert. All three have taken part in many raids over the Alamein line. Flight Lieutenant M. R. B. Ingram, of Dunedin, flew in about forty fighter sweeps and bomber escorts in France and was also on convoy patrols off the English coast before he joined the County of London Squadron on its way to Malta. After about two months on the island fortress he flew to the Western Desert, where his successes against two German reconnaissance planes brought his total score to five destroyed and two or three damaged and probables. Both the Junkers 88's which he attacked at about 25,000 feet, were reported by the Army as shot down behind the Alamein line before he returned to his landing ground.
Flying with him is Pilot Officer L. J. Frecklington, a Manawatu farmer, who was one of the original members of the New Zealand Spitfire Squadron in England. He joined the R.A.F. in May, 1940, and finished his training in time to be given the Manawatu Spitfire in the newly-formed squadron. In his first raids across the Channel he flew behind Wing Commander Wells, D.S.0., D.F.C. and bar, who now commands the New Zealand squadron. Between June and September last year Frecklington was in thirty-two sweeps and bomber escorts over France, flying in every operation the squadron made in six weeks. He was commissioned and posted to Aden before beginning operational flying again early this year, and his experience with Spitfires gained him a place in the County of London Squadron, an old peace-time squadron which fought through the Battle of Britain.
The third New Zealander is the well-known Wellington racing cyclist, Sergeant Pilot A. H. Sowerby, of Johnsonville. Like most of the R.A.F. fighter squadrons in the desert, the County of London includes men from all the Dominions as well as a South American and an American from Texas, who joined up in Canada.
Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 53, 31 August 1942, Page 4
"KIWIS" OVER DESERT
NEW ZEALAND PILOTS
FLYING FIGHTER PLANES
(Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) WESTERN DESERT, August 27.
New Zealand fighter pilots are taking part in the R.A.F. battle against the Luftwaffe over Egypt. Day and night they are over the Western Desert, flying Hurricanes, Spitfires, and Kittyhawks in sweeps, bomber escorts, and dive-bombing raids.
No New Zealand squadrons are operating in the Middle East, but in almost every R.A.F. fighter and fighter-bomber sqaudron there is at least one "Kiwi" pilot. Their flying experience varies as widely as their civil occupations. Some are sheep farmers who fought in the Battle of Britain. Others came from city offices and warehouses, trained under the Empire Scheme in Canada and England, and have been posted to the Middle East for their first operational flights. A few have won "gongs," as the pilots call their Flying Crosses and medals. Many are waiting to get their first German plane in their sights.
During the lull on the El Alamein front I have spoken to several of these New Zealand pilots. They are all keen to be operating over the land battle in which the New Zealanders are taking part. They hate inactivity. "The sooner we get this job over, the sooner we will be able to get out and tackle the Japanese," they say.
EXPERIENCED MEN
One of the most experienced New Zealand pilots now flying in the desert is Flight Lieutenant Victor Verity, D.F C, a Timaru farmer who was with fighter squadrons in France and in the Battle of Britain. He has been posted missing twice—once during the evacuation of Dunkirk—but he returned across the Channel on both occasions. A night fighter pilot of long experience, he is now attached to a Hurricane squadron which searches for German night bombers over Egypt. Warrant-Officer E. L, Joyce, of Hamilton, who has shot down three Junkers 88's at night, is in the 'same squadron.
Four New Zealanders trained under the Empire Scheme are now flying Kitty bombers in the famous Shark squadron. They are Sergeant Pilot T. H. Morrison, of Auckland. H. G. E. Thomas, of Masterton, R. H. Newton, of Wellington, and C. Young, of Bulls. Earlier in this campaign their squadron made as many as six bombing and strafing raids a day, many of them over the New Zealand sector of the front line. Morrison, Thomas, and Young were trained in Canada last year. Newton went directly to England from New Zealand last August.
Pilot Officer J S Hepburn, of Mid-Canterbury, and Sergeant Pilot K. G. Allington, of Hastings, are the only New Zealanders in Hurricane squadrons at present on day operations over the desert. Allington flew Spitfires from stations on the south coast "of England and in the Orkney Islands before he came to the Middle East, in time for the hectic days of the withdrawal from Libya. In twelve days he flew from eleven ianding grounds.
A FAMOUS SQUADRON
Three New Zealanders are flying Spitfires in the famous County of London Squadron. One of them, who commands a flight in the squadron, has already shot down two Junkers 88's over the desert. All three have taken part in many raids over the Alamein line. Flight Lieutenant M. R. B. Ingram, of Dunedin, flew in about forty fighter sweeps and bomber escorts in France and was also on convoy patrols off the English coast before he joined the County of London Squadron on its way to Malta. After about two months on the island fortress he flew to the Western Desert, where his successes against two German reconnaissance planes brought his total score to five destroyed and two or three damaged and probables. Both the Junkers 88's which he attacked at about 25,000 feet, were reported by the Army as shot down behind the Alamein line before he returned to his landing ground.
Flying with him is Pilot Officer L. J. Frecklington, a Manawatu farmer, who was one of the original members of the New Zealand Spitfire Squadron in England. He joined the R.A.F. in May, 1940, and finished his training in time to be given the Manawatu Spitfire in the newly-formed squadron. In his first raids across the Channel he flew behind Wing Commander Wells, D.S.0., D.F.C. and bar, who now commands the New Zealand squadron. Between June and September last year Frecklington was in thirty-two sweeps and bomber escorts over France, flying in every operation the squadron made in six weeks. He was commissioned and posted to Aden before beginning operational flying again early this year, and his experience with Spitfires gained him a place in the County of London Squadron, an old peace-time squadron which fought through the Battle of Britain.
The third New Zealander is the well-known Wellington racing cyclist, Sergeant Pilot A. H. Sowerby, of Johnsonville. Like most of the R.A.F. fighter squadrons in the desert, the County of London includes men from all the Dominions as well as a South American and an American from Texas, who joined up in Canada.
