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Home My WebLink AboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1942-02-05, Page 3Page 3 THE OCT T Thursday Wbnwy 5th, ISO “From These Our Operations, One of Our Planes Failed to Return” This is the eighth of q series of articles describing a trip to Great I Britain, written by Hugh Temp-' lin, of the Fergus News-Remixi, representing the Caimdiqii Weekly Newspapers Association, He was a guest of the British Council while ,iu England. I The cloth that covers each of machine guns had been Their guns had been me over to meet Squad- Corbett as he climbed, Men of 30,40,50 FEB, VIM, VJGOR, Subnormal? Want normal pep, vln>, vigor, vitality? Try Ost rex Tonic Tablets. Contains tonics, stimulants, oyster elements— aids fo normal pep after $), 40 or 50. .Get a special introductory size for only 35(?. Try this aid to normal pep and vim today. For sale at ah Shod drug stores. Before leaving Canada, to fly the Atlantic to Lisbon and England I had visited many of the training centres and schools in Ontario con-( nected with the British Common wealth Air Training plan. I had' followed the young men tlxroughj theix* courses of training here and was particularly anxious to see them,* on active service in England. 1 It was a beautiful bright, sunny 1 morning about the end of September; when I left London in a car provid-( ed by the British Council. The car was new and capable of doing 90 miles an houx* on a broad road. The a fight?*’ excited. ‘•The air was self, the twelve shot off. fired. They led ron Leader’ out of his plane. “You’ve been in He didn’t seem “Yes,” he said, full of Messerschmitt 10 9's to-day. We met them two or three at a time, all the way.” Squadron Leader Corbett comes from Montreal. He had been in fights before. His story had all the coolness of an official report. The AU-Canadian Squadron had es corted bombers to Mazingarbe,, where there is a power' station and chemical plant. They had reached their objective when they were at tacked by 109’s. He got in a burst at one Of them and Sergeant Mc Clusky, coming in behind him, had finished it off. He did not know beendriver was interesting. He had act-; if any-R.C.A.F. planes had b ed as a chauffeur fox’ the British | jost he saw none in trouble. Conversation After’ Battle The fourth. Hurricane had pull ed in alongside and the pilot was climbing out. His guns had been used, and \as tWo of the ground crew helped him out, I heard his voice, all excited, I was intro- I duced to Sergeant George McClusky of Kirkland Lake. ’‘I know the editor of your home, paper and other people in Kirkland Lake,” I said. “I’ll be reporting for the Northern News when I go back. Have you a story for me?” Had he a story? That was all .that was necessary. I listened as this Ontario boy gave me a first-' hand account of an air battle that- had been fought less than axx houi’ before. It was his first fight and he had won. I nevex’ saw a more | pleased ox’ excited youth. He was flying just behind and alongside -the Squadroxi leadex’ about 15,000 feet Up, protecting the bombers down below, dropping their eggs on Mazingarbe. The German came at them from above, . __ __ __., They opened up got lost. I had noticed the leading > their formation, Corbett peeling off car take a wroxig turxx ixx a busy 1 to the an(j he to the right, “just town but our drivex’ had to follow exactly like in practice.” The Ger- till the leader decided he was lost man nxissed thexxx both. Tile Squad- Thexx the map caxne in handy. We ron Leadei’ got his shot first, then arrived at a city on the .Thames he, McClusky, finished off the Mes- estuary only a few minutes late for sei.schinitt. jje saw it g0 down luncheq^^j^ .. . -.with a long trail'of smoke behindThe owner of that big seasidd^. Just above the clouds, he saw hotel gave us a royal welcome. Over the 'German pilot jump loose and the stairway leading to the dining-fioat down with his parachute.. He room, he had. a huge Cana.dian flag.was gqa(j of that. He didn’t want As we walked upstairs, the strains to kill the German pilot: not the of “O Canada” came fi’oin a side fiyst time, anyway, room. 1 ' The City Fathers came around after tlxe luncheon and requested that we give them a few minutes of our time. They had a drive on to sign up women recruits fox* wax* work. We went to the "i’ecruiting centre, inhere a loud speaker ovex’ the door blared continually land girls, sat inside .the plate glass win dows assembling wireless transmit ters. 'Some of us made- brief per sonal appearances ’in the window, bu£ doubted if that 1ie.lped much. Visiting a Fighter Squadron Number 402 Royal Canadian Air Force Fightex’ Squadron was sta tioned not fax* from the East Coast in those days. The buildings were more than comfortable. “Luxur ious” might be a bettei’ word. The offices were in what was probably a neW brick school and commissioned officers and sergeants were quarter ed in country houses nearby, one of them owned in the fai* past by Anne Boleyn, one of the wives of Henry VIII. Because we - wei’e late and the first of the Hurricanes was due at any moment, the Station Comtnan- dei’ cut lxis address of welcome short and we hurried' out to the landing field. A Flight Lieutenant was waiting for me and after asking xny name, took me to meet a gi’oup from Ontario—Flight Lieut. R. R. Bux’nett, of Durham, <the Medical Officer, Pilot Officer Jimmy Thomp son, of Listowel and Ian Stewart from xny -own town of Fergus. As^we talked the first two Hur ricanes came tearing in. I had never seen one at Close range while in the air. I knew that they were tiny ittle planes, but took the breath away, down over the field, wings and were away turning into the wind at 90 miles ah hour or so, is no roont in the plane for anyone j w’ered but the pilot. The fkst landing he. makes in a Hurricane ox* a Spitfire! must bo life’s greatest thrill. | The two Hurricanes were follow-1 ed by a Spitfire, no larger, but with oval wings and some slight dif ferences in contour, It belonged to an il.A.F. squadroxi farther north and had come in foi* more fuel to take it home. I As the third and fourth Htirri-j canes dived low in salute, one of [ my friends said: “That’s ■■ Corbettj and McClusky. They’ve both been| in action,” | I wondere'd how he knew, but as1 they taxied in, I could see ior my- Government .officials for years, • When Ramsay MacDonald was Primed Minister, this map had drivexx Jxisj car. He knew London and dtsj suburbs like a book. I We headed fox’- the East Coast, the last car in a group of four, each’ of which flew a Canadian ensign j ovex* the radiator. I sat in the broad' back seat with a large-scale map on1 my knee. In doing so, I probably) broke some of the nxost stringent! regulations in wartime England, | but the xnap had been given to me; by an officex’ at the Canadiaxx Army Headquarters the day' before, so J I took a chance. With its aid, I was' able to trace oux’ course accurately: there now. name • coast ated. But there was hope. Plenty of planes landed at other airdromes to ■refuel. Flying over England, you saw one Of) them every three or four minutes. Since I came borne, I’ read a let ter from my friend in 402 Fighter Squadron. They have moved now and the new quarters are not so comfortable.' To them went the honor of testing the new dive-bomb ing Hurricanes with 12 guns and a bomb under each wing had been successful Graham never came back, been listed as missing. Sgt. McClusky was badly injured making a landing in England, died in hospital. One of the • officers I met crashed into a in France while trying out dive It ister it is before was so much owed by so many to- so few.” ---------v--------- They Pilot Officer He has Pilot while . He •other cliff the bombers. is some time since Prime Winston Churchill said it, but still as true as ever: ’’Never Min IB YEARS AGP Mr. Cecil • Atwood has purchased the residence of Mr. Wm. Gardiner, on Simcoe Street. Mr, Art Willert of Stephen Town ship, whose/farm is just north of Khiva, .suffered a serious loss when his barn, livestock and implements Were destroyed by fire. Mr, Thus. Coates has taken ovex' the service end of the Ford garage for Mr. Milo Snell. Mr. and Mrs. Coates last week moved from St. Thomas and are occupying deuce recently Snell* from the Martha Lewis, At a grand masquerade < * * at the Dome rink prices were awax* ed as follows: iLadies’ fancy cos tume, Miss Marjorie Clarke; gent’s 'fancy, Alex iBlfiot; ladies’ comic, Miss Stella Southcott; gent’s comic, Chas. Anderson Anna Moir Complin; Anderson; Marjorie Complin; boy’s race under 15, Ch.estex’ Cornish; open Lome Tieman. • _-----y_—,— former iatan residew, purchased estate of Hensall Observer has sus- publication for a time a/: owing to circumstances by the present economic is no other way in England Every signpost and places betweexx London 'and " thei has been deliberateyl obliter- Lost in Rural England I IPerhaps it was just as well that I had the map. The drivers knew the city, but as we got away- from’ main roads and approached a;4**$**•■*a. i \jw*-**? ■ > v ,xx | vrjcl lllcill UcllllU cvL swampy portion of the coast, they, ou.t 0^ tjie SUUj i~~X T l-» ~ -3 nA/1 laa^iritr-: .» .. I I could have listened to more of his enthusiastic details, but some of the other chaps in the squadron be gan .to make rude remarks. Appar ently one isn’t expected to give inti mate details of a fight like this to an outsider who happens to come along. At first their jibes didn’t register, but as last they penetrat ed .and Sergeant Pilot McClusky left' me to port. The ing in all had been in action, on the them off. but one. absent. go and put in his official re- other hurricanes were com- one or two together. Nearly The men ground mentally tallied At last they were all in Pilot Officer Graham was Plane Didn’t Return There was. an air of axxxiety, but not without hope. Quite often, fighter planes run'.short of .fuel and coxne in at sonle Otliex’ drome near- ex* France. We would go to tea: by that time, he would bably join us. We drove around the field, One have pro- their speed J They dived I waved their I grew to the west, I apple and landing j . we There | table past the Hurricanes, already dragged in to theii’ pits. Arihourers were scrambling over them, removing | the empty cartridge belts and re placing them with fresh ones, full | of * long lines of glistening bullet noses. Mechanics were going over the motors and refuelling. If an alarm came, those Hurricanes would be ready to' take the ail* again. If bombs were dropped, nothing but direct hits Would damage them. The Commander showed me to his own bedroom, with a glistening modern bath in the next room. This was ail Old house, receiitly modern ized by a wealthy owner roses in long the drive. At between trees. sat down to tea in the dining-room, questions about tile training in Canada and they told me' about tlie way the fire power of the Hurri canes was being stepped up. were interested flight across the Atlantic interested in these men who live dangerously, day to day. Every few minutes, the noise of a passing plane caused someone to rush to the long French win dows; but always there would be a shake of the head. The Pilot Of ficer beside me showed me a pic ture of Pilot Officer Graham. “A damn good fellow,” lie remarked, Graham’s home was in the Marl times, it seemed. In front beds cui’ved around the back, the rows vegetables of dwarf' at a long I ans- They in the Clipper I was O*l»Word was received in Lncap. of the death on Sunday in Edmonton of Mrs. Thomas Webb, a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Alex Me- Fails, of Lucan. Born in Lucan, Mrs. Webb lived there until several years after her marriage, then moved to Edmonton. Her husband died there four years ago. She was a frequent visitor with friends and relatives in Lucan, h£r last visit ‘being three years ago. Sur viving are three sons, Cline, Harry and Bruce, all of Edmonton; two sisters, Mrs. C. W. Hawkshaw, of Lucan, and Mrs. William Tier, of Winnipeg, and a brother, Heber McFalJs, of Lindsay. Interment was in Edmonton on Tuesday af ternoon. fl*1*!CHOOSffl IWfSl | to 2-50 , Jy KdUi I* i iIt It i » »<iH 'n •vjf !»» ’•i fl*•*! Fmooebk »»’ *! I H wcme® Hfere are soxne of the prices 4n France, an egg 20c, coal $32.0(r a ton, butter 80c per lb. beef COc, po;k 70 c, a small chicken $.2.00 The pended least, caused conditions, At the regular meeting of the Court Harmony, No. 61, Exeter, the following officers were duly instal led: J. W. Powell, G.R.; Asa Pen- hale, V.C.Rl; R. Rowe, F.S.; F. W.i ’Gladman, R.S.; Chas. Birney,' treas.; Thos. Dinney, S.W.; J. M. Southcott, J.W.; Wm. Harding, carnival f chap.; F< Hern, S.B.; jps. Follick, J.B, Bro, Wm. Andrew, P.C.R, of Court Hamiota, Manitoba, assisted by Bros. 0. T. Bi’ookp, of Court Gar ry, Winnipeg acted as installing master, the by the resi- Mr. late ral i rdj girl’s character, boy’s character, Charlie animal girl’s costume, Ed. race under 15 25 YEARS AGO race At the auction, sale of the farm of Mrs. Wm. Penrice, lot A, concession 1, Usborne, was sold to Mr. Chas. Jaques for $7,1’00. 50 YEARS AGO Messers Charles Senior and E. H, Spackman, former residents of Ex eter, are members of the council fox* the town of Blenheim. During the past week the plans and specifications fox* the erection of a brick block for Snell Bros, have been passing through the hands of a numbei' of our mechanics. They are to be of brick, 2 storeys high and the same design as the store now occupied by Wm, Southcott . ................................. 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