Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 1, 2022 21:45:16 GMT 12
Hero pilot identified
PA Auckland
Thirty-eight years of longing have come to an end for a Scotsman, Mr John Craig. Mr Craig has identified a young New Zealander who died saving a Scottish village from being hit by a fighter aircraft in the middle of World War II.
Mr Craig was digging potatoes outside his house in October, 1941, when an R.A.F. Spitfire flying over the nearby village of Cowie, near Bannockburn, developed engine trouble. For an instant it seemed doomed to crash-land on the row of houses below.
To spare the village, the pilot strove to gain altitude. His plane shot up briefly, clearing the settlement. Then suddenly it lost power and plunged nose down to the ground not far from Mr Craig.
Mr Craig raced to the plane as it burst into flames and pulled out the body of its pilot. The “bonny lad” became an unknown hero to the Cowie Scots. For 38 years Mr Craig has tried to find out who he was. Now the search is at an end: a newspaper story on the pilot provoked a flurry of recognition from readers. Five persons telephoned to name the young pilot as Carlisle Gray Everiss.
Mr T. F. E. Riley, of the War Graves Section. Department of Internal Affairs, said Mr Everiss aged 25, was probably a novice flier who never saw combat.
He is the only New Zealander buried in the Grangemouth Cemetery in Stirlingshire, Scotland, he said.
Mr Craig met the dead man’s brother-in-law, of C. E. Hammond, of Mangere, on Friday. He borrowed a portrait of the pilot in uniform and will have it copied for the Scots who hold his memory dear.
The Press, 6 February 1979
PA Auckland
Thirty-eight years of longing have come to an end for a Scotsman, Mr John Craig. Mr Craig has identified a young New Zealander who died saving a Scottish village from being hit by a fighter aircraft in the middle of World War II.
Mr Craig was digging potatoes outside his house in October, 1941, when an R.A.F. Spitfire flying over the nearby village of Cowie, near Bannockburn, developed engine trouble. For an instant it seemed doomed to crash-land on the row of houses below.
To spare the village, the pilot strove to gain altitude. His plane shot up briefly, clearing the settlement. Then suddenly it lost power and plunged nose down to the ground not far from Mr Craig.
Mr Craig raced to the plane as it burst into flames and pulled out the body of its pilot. The “bonny lad” became an unknown hero to the Cowie Scots. For 38 years Mr Craig has tried to find out who he was. Now the search is at an end: a newspaper story on the pilot provoked a flurry of recognition from readers. Five persons telephoned to name the young pilot as Carlisle Gray Everiss.
Mr T. F. E. Riley, of the War Graves Section. Department of Internal Affairs, said Mr Everiss aged 25, was probably a novice flier who never saw combat.
He is the only New Zealander buried in the Grangemouth Cemetery in Stirlingshire, Scotland, he said.
Mr Craig met the dead man’s brother-in-law, of C. E. Hammond, of Mangere, on Friday. He borrowed a portrait of the pilot in uniform and will have it copied for the Scots who hold his memory dear.
The Press, 6 February 1979
