Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 5, 2014 1:39:03 GMT 12
Here's a great tale from the Normandy landings from a kiwi Fleet Air Arm pilot.
New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24938, 6 July 1944, Page 4
AIR ADVENTURE
SHOT DOWN IN NORMANDY
NEW ZEALANDER'S STORY
(Special Correspondent) LONDON, July 4
Lieutenant H. Lang, Palmerston North, of the Fleet Air Arm. who was outnumbered three to one by Focke Wulfs over France shortly after D Day, but shot down one of the enemy before he himself had to make a forced landing, is now in London on a fortnight's leave, none the worse from his expericnce.
"I was spotting for the battleship Warspite one morning," said Lieutenant Lang. "1 took off with another fighter at five o'clock but over Le Havre we met heavy flak, with the result that our aircraft became separated. I carried on in the direction of the target area and began spotting, when I saw two Focke Wulfs approaching firing as they came. I did some quick evasive actfou and then suddenly they were just in front of rne. I fired at one and saw him start to spin down, but then somebody started firing at me from behind. It was another Focke Wulf. He hit my engine.
"I tried to bail out but could not open the hood of my aeroplane. I was now fairly low down over a great forest east of the River Orne. I tried to brifig the fighter down clear of the trees, but did not have enough speed, with the result that I hit a large tree ten feet above the ground. I was thrown forward in the cockpit and cut my head a bit, but luckily it was not bad. I collected my maps and set off in a north easterly direction.
"At length I met French peasants, who at first took me for a German until I pointed to my shoulder flash and said, 'Nouvelle Zelande,' whereupon they laughed and said, 'Ah, les Anglais.' They took me to an air-raid shelter, in which there were about 30 French people celebrating the start of the invasion with cognac.
"While they washed my cuts they sent for commandos, who were near by. Before long I was at; a paratroops' casualty clearing "station, where a sergeant told me that he saw me shoot down a Focke Wulf and also saw me come down.
"From there I went to the beach and boarded a duck under shellfire, which was not very attractive, as the Germans had just hit ammunition and petrol dumps, but we got away safely and found a tank landing-craft, which took me to England."
Before this incident. Lieutenant Lang had done some good spotting for battleships in the early part of the Normandy invasion.
New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24938, 6 July 1944, Page 4
AIR ADVENTURE
SHOT DOWN IN NORMANDY
NEW ZEALANDER'S STORY
(Special Correspondent) LONDON, July 4
Lieutenant H. Lang, Palmerston North, of the Fleet Air Arm. who was outnumbered three to one by Focke Wulfs over France shortly after D Day, but shot down one of the enemy before he himself had to make a forced landing, is now in London on a fortnight's leave, none the worse from his expericnce.
"I was spotting for the battleship Warspite one morning," said Lieutenant Lang. "1 took off with another fighter at five o'clock but over Le Havre we met heavy flak, with the result that our aircraft became separated. I carried on in the direction of the target area and began spotting, when I saw two Focke Wulfs approaching firing as they came. I did some quick evasive actfou and then suddenly they were just in front of rne. I fired at one and saw him start to spin down, but then somebody started firing at me from behind. It was another Focke Wulf. He hit my engine.
"I tried to bail out but could not open the hood of my aeroplane. I was now fairly low down over a great forest east of the River Orne. I tried to brifig the fighter down clear of the trees, but did not have enough speed, with the result that I hit a large tree ten feet above the ground. I was thrown forward in the cockpit and cut my head a bit, but luckily it was not bad. I collected my maps and set off in a north easterly direction.
"At length I met French peasants, who at first took me for a German until I pointed to my shoulder flash and said, 'Nouvelle Zelande,' whereupon they laughed and said, 'Ah, les Anglais.' They took me to an air-raid shelter, in which there were about 30 French people celebrating the start of the invasion with cognac.
"While they washed my cuts they sent for commandos, who were near by. Before long I was at; a paratroops' casualty clearing "station, where a sergeant told me that he saw me shoot down a Focke Wulf and also saw me come down.
"From there I went to the beach and boarded a duck under shellfire, which was not very attractive, as the Germans had just hit ammunition and petrol dumps, but we got away safely and found a tank landing-craft, which took me to England."
Before this incident. Lieutenant Lang had done some good spotting for battleships in the early part of the Normandy invasion.
