PILOT SWIMS TO SAFETY
AIRCRAFT FORCED DOWN IN SEA

(R.N.Z.A.F Official News Service.) BOUGAINVILLE, June 26.
After his aircraft was hit by Japanese anti-aircraft fire over south Bougainville yesterday afternoon a Corsair pilot, Flight Sergeant M. N. King, of New Plymouth, reached the coast just as his engine failed and made a forced landing on the sea about half a mile off shore. A 50 minutes’ swim took him back to the line of surf, where, utterly exhausted, he was helped ashore by Australian soldiers.

Flight. Sergeant King was with a force of eight Corsairs, led by Squadron Leader J. R. Court, of Auckland, which bombed an enemy target near Muguai. During the attack determined machine-gun fire was encountered, apparently coming from nearby gardens. Flight Sergeant King did not know he had been hit until another pilot called him on the radio and told him smoke was coming from his plane. He noticed that the oil pressure was dropping and turned for the coast, trying to gain height.

Passing over Allied territory, he contemplated a crash landing on a small auxiliary strip, but saw aircraft parked there, so kept on towards the sea, losing height rapidly. His motor failed, and he was at 20 feet when he crossed the beach. A six-foot swell made the aircraft bounce when it hit the water, and Flight Sergeant King had to leave the cockpit with his parachute still on and remove it in the water.

Flight Lieutenant R. A. Macdonald, of Wellington, and Flight Sergeant D. McNab. of Wanganui who were circling overhead, dropped a rubber dinghy, but the fall split the rubber, and Flight Sergeant King had to swim for it. When he reached the surf the Australians told him they had tried to get a boat out, but the first was smashed by the surf and the second could not make headway.

Flight Sergeant King stayed the night with the Australians and returned to his unit by launch to-day. Apart from a slight bruise on the side of his head, suffered when the aircraft hit the water, he suffered no ill-effects.
PRESS, 2 JULY 1945 AWMM