Airman's Prank Leads To Court Martial
May 28, 2023 11:26:13 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 28, 2023 11:26:13 GMT 12
AIRMAN'S PRANK
GIFT OE CHOCOLATE
DELIVERY BY PLANE
COURT-MARTIAL A SEQUEL
(Recd. 1.15 a.m.) LONDON, April 8
A New Zealander, Flight-Lieutenant James Samuel Humphries, has been court-martialled on a charge of conduct prejudicial to good order and Air Force discipline. The prosecution alleged Humphries ordered the pilot of a plane of which he was captain to fly down to 500 feet, from which height Humphries dropped three bars of chocolate attached to a home-made parachute over the home of a clergyman's daughter. A window fell from the aeroplane simultaneously.
The parachute, produced in Court, was made from a handkerchief and string. With the package was a note: "Dear Cobbles: I have just managed to buy this. Thy need is greater than mine so I thought I'd deliver it."
Humphries said the route to his base passed directly over the clergyman's home. "I got the idea of dropping the chocolate by parachute.
"I asked the pilot to descend gradually, so that I could throw the parachute through the window. As I threw the package, my hand struck the window, which fell out."
Witnesses said the plane did not fly unusually low. The court stated it had no findings to announce on either charge.
Humphries went to Britain in 1938. He was engaged on operational flights over France in 1940 and led a fighter section in the Battle of Britain, when he was badly wounded and obliged to bale out.
NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 9 APRIL 1942
GIFT OE CHOCOLATE
DELIVERY BY PLANE
COURT-MARTIAL A SEQUEL
(Recd. 1.15 a.m.) LONDON, April 8
A New Zealander, Flight-Lieutenant James Samuel Humphries, has been court-martialled on a charge of conduct prejudicial to good order and Air Force discipline. The prosecution alleged Humphries ordered the pilot of a plane of which he was captain to fly down to 500 feet, from which height Humphries dropped three bars of chocolate attached to a home-made parachute over the home of a clergyman's daughter. A window fell from the aeroplane simultaneously.
The parachute, produced in Court, was made from a handkerchief and string. With the package was a note: "Dear Cobbles: I have just managed to buy this. Thy need is greater than mine so I thought I'd deliver it."
Humphries said the route to his base passed directly over the clergyman's home. "I got the idea of dropping the chocolate by parachute.
"I asked the pilot to descend gradually, so that I could throw the parachute through the window. As I threw the package, my hand struck the window, which fell out."
Witnesses said the plane did not fly unusually low. The court stated it had no findings to announce on either charge.
Humphries went to Britain in 1938. He was engaged on operational flights over France in 1940 and led a fighter section in the Battle of Britain, when he was badly wounded and obliged to bale out.
NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 9 APRIL 1942
