Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 14, 2019 10:54:32 GMT 12
An interesting story from the NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 20 NOVEMBER 1943
KAITAIA AIRMAN
BEAUFIGHTER EXPERIENCES
(Special Correspondent) (Recd. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Nov, 18
After carrying out 82 sorties in Beaufighter night-fighters during the London blitz and from the Battle of El Alamein onward, Pilot-Officer W. Busby, of Kaitaia, shot down a Heinkel 111 in his most recent operation. This was over Kos. He and his pilot sighted the Heinkel at dawn. They had flown for four and a-half hours from their base in Palestine. They finished their patrol over Leros and Samos and were about to land on Kos to refuel when they saw three Heinkels bombing the aerodrome. They chased one for eight minutes and then shot it down into the sea. The Beaufighter landed on Kos, refueled and returned to Palestine via Cyprus. Two days later Kos fell to the Germans.
Pilot-Officer Busby, who speaks fluent Maori, comes from one of the oldest families in North Auckland, and is a descendant of James Busby, the first British Resident. He arrived in England during the Battle of Britain and finally was posted as radio operator and observer in a Beaufighter. He went to Egypt in February, 1942, and followed the Eighth Army from El Alamein to Tripoli. On one occasion the starboard engine caught fire at 8000 ft. and the pilot made a forced landing in a dried-up lake, where they spent 31 sweltering hours before Arabs found them.
KAITAIA AIRMAN
BEAUFIGHTER EXPERIENCES
(Special Correspondent) (Recd. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Nov, 18
After carrying out 82 sorties in Beaufighter night-fighters during the London blitz and from the Battle of El Alamein onward, Pilot-Officer W. Busby, of Kaitaia, shot down a Heinkel 111 in his most recent operation. This was over Kos. He and his pilot sighted the Heinkel at dawn. They had flown for four and a-half hours from their base in Palestine. They finished their patrol over Leros and Samos and were about to land on Kos to refuel when they saw three Heinkels bombing the aerodrome. They chased one for eight minutes and then shot it down into the sea. The Beaufighter landed on Kos, refueled and returned to Palestine via Cyprus. Two days later Kos fell to the Germans.
Pilot-Officer Busby, who speaks fluent Maori, comes from one of the oldest families in North Auckland, and is a descendant of James Busby, the first British Resident. He arrived in England during the Battle of Britain and finally was posted as radio operator and observer in a Beaufighter. He went to Egypt in February, 1942, and followed the Eighth Army from El Alamein to Tripoli. On one occasion the starboard engine caught fire at 8000 ft. and the pilot made a forced landing in a dried-up lake, where they spent 31 sweltering hours before Arabs found them.
