Flying Officer E.J. Kain talks, 1940-02-25

Rights Information
Year
1940
Reference
31517
Media type
Audio
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Rights Information
Year
1940
Reference
31517
Media type
Audio
Series
D series, ca. 1935-1950s.
Duration
00:11:20
Broadcast Date
25 Feb 1940
Credits
RNZ Collection
Kain, Edgar James, 1918-1940, Speaker/Kaikōrero
New Zealand. National Broadcasting Service (estab. 1936, closed 1946), Broadcaster
British Broadcasting Corporation, Broadcaster

An unidentified announcer introduces the speaker [E.J. "Cobber" Kain] as "a young New Zealand pilot in France with the advanced Air Striking Force, a flying officer from one of our fighter squadrons... who has already shot down three Germans."

New Zealand fighter pilot E.J."Cobber" Kain then outlines his career before and during the first year of World War II. He left Wellington at the end of 1936 with his family to try his hand in the Royal Air Force. He pays tribute to 2YA announcer Courtenay Hall, who he says got him started in flying when he was at Croydon Prep School.

He is now stationed in a small French village which has been rebuilt since the last war. They are now flying Hawker hurricanes, which he says are excellent machines for his "weakness" of aerobatics. When war broke out they were one of the first squadrons to go to France and are now patrolling a section of the frontier. He talks about their living conditions and the normal day's routine, flying two or three patrols per day.

Winter was fairly quiet but now things are livening up again with Spring weather. He then describes an encounter with seven enemy Heinkels and Messerschmidts. His plane was hit twice, in his wing and engine.

He describes how his plane caught fire and how he managed to get back to France. He concludes with best wishes to his family and tells "Peggy" he still wears the Māori tiki she sent him every time he goes up.