The Pleasures and Dangers of Scavenging and Using German Equipment

Interviewer: In that retreat by the German forces, were there a lot of vehicles left because of lack of gasoline? Oh yeah, vehicles and air planes. Air planes, brand-new air planes on the field. Sometimes they would wreck most as they could but some were left complete. We, all of us picked up a 109 or two. We had a Messerschmitt on our squadron. We got a Heinkel that would fly back to Cairo and bring back the goodies. This Heinkel had a hard time getting checked out because there’s only single engine pilots and we had to look around the desert. We found a...an American group had a pilot who was an instructor on twin engines, so he checked out my friend, Aussie friend. And then we had this...and he checked out myself and some other fellows. And the Heinkel used to go back every two weeks or so to Cairo and just fill up with goods, you know. We’d get fresh fruit even and vegetables, plus a whole bunch of beer. Interviewer: What did you think of the German equipment? Excellent. Excellent equipment. You know, that Heinkel would come back and he’d have our radio frequencies and they’d tell where they were. And it had their British markings on it, but there’s still a fear that somebody might, you know. And we were stationed at this place south of Benghazi, Al Uqaylah was the name of it. Just as you turn, the bottom. And the Heinkel was coming in just before Christmas with all the Christmas stuff on it and the weather was bad. A JU-8 had gone over the field and two of them had come over and one had been shot down by the ack-ack and it had lit near by. Just about this time, this Heinkel arrives see. Well, they scrambled the squadron, and it was the Aussie squadron. My friend, the Aussie, is flying this air plane. He’s tour expired now. He’s finished his tour but he’s flying the Heinkel. And he hears the whole three squadron, the Aussies take off and they’re flying around and he hears them on the RT “There’s the bastard over there.” see. He recognizes Aussies speaking. And they’re throwing out whatever they can and flares are going off, waggling his wings. He sees the four Kittyhawks turn and come right in on him and you know, it’s goodbye. The leader, of course, saw our air plane broke off. But it could have been curtains for poor old Cundy (sp).