Somerset County Herald 23 Jan 1943 Somerset Night-Fighter Shoots Down Four Wing-Commander C. M. WIGHT-BOYCOTT from Wiveliscombe Flying-Officer E. A. SANDERS of Norfolk

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Somerset County Herald. Saturday 23 Jan 1943

Page 6 Column 3 and 4


SOMERSET NIGHT-FIGHTER SHOOTS DOWN FOUR

WING-COMMANDER C. M. WIGHT-BOYCOTT

WAITING FOR THIS FOR EIGHTEEN MONTHS”

Wing-Commander C. M. WIGHT-BOYCOTT, who shot down four of the ten German raiders destroyed over Britain on Sunday night comes from Wiveliscombe. This is a night-fighting record.

Both the wing-commander and his observer, Flying-Officer E. A. SANDERS, whose home is in Norfolk, were at school together at Marlborough. Since leaving school they had not met until they paired up as a Beaufighter team.

I had been waiting for this for 18 months,” said the Wing-Commander They were in the air in their Beaufighter for six hours.

Wing-Commander WIGHT-BOYCOTT, who is 32, joined the R.A.F.V.R. in 1937, but he learned to fly in the Cambridge University Air Squadron. He has commanded his present squadron since September last year. He has flown operationally Blenheims, Hurricanes, and Defiants, as well as Beaufighters.

SIX HOURS PATROL.

He and his observer were in the air in their Beaufighter for six hours. They made three patrols.

On their first, between 6.40 and 8.40 p.m., they destroyed a Dornier 217.

They saw no enemy aircraft on their second sortie, and on their third flight, which began shortly before 4 a.m., they shot down two more Dornier 217's and a Ju88.

Our first Hun exploded somewhere in the middle of the fuselage when I began firing.” said the Wing-Commander “It went down in a steep dive, and we saw it blazing on the ground, where the bombs appeared to explode.

We did not meet a thing on our second patrol, but shortly before 4 a.m. we took off again, and after about half-an-hour's flying we saw another Dornier 217, which was jinking violently.

The pilot was obviously scared of night fighters. I got in a fairly long burst, and he went down in flames. We could see him burning on the ground.

By this time I was getting rather tired, but when we saw another Dornier 217 I managed to get in a long burst, which hit him amidships. There was an explosion, and the Hun went down.

BRILLIANT FLASH.

I found that my tiredness was due to the fact that I had turned off my oxygen by mistake, and as soon as I switched it on again I felt fine.

Our fourth Hun of the night was a Ju88, which caught fire in both engines.

The fire spread along the wings and back along the fuselage, and lit up the sky so clearly that we could see the black crosses on the aircraft.

'We watched four members of the crew bale out, and the aircraft then went down, exploding with a brilliant flash.'

BROADCAST STORY.

Wing-Commander WIGHT-BOYCOTT told his story on the wireless after the six o'clock news on Wednesday.

He said that the curious thing about the first one he shot down was that although London was throwing up a terrific amount of 'flak' and there were any number of search-lights about, he did not remember seeing anything of them at all.

I was looking up all the time, to find the enemy silhouteed <sic> against the bright moonlit sky.” he said.

He accounted for Dornier No. 2 during the second “Alert” at about 4 a.m. It was a good night for interception.

He described the destruction of the Junkers 88 as the most spectacular of the night. “We found him somewhere in the Croydon area.” he stated. They saw four of the crew bale out

Concluding, he said, “Home we went, pleased of course, but chiefly wondering what sort of luck the rest of the Squadron had had.”


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