Adventures in the WAIRAPA WILD CAT

A New Zealand P-40 warrior racks up the kills

GEOFFREY B. FISKEN RNZAF

February 1942. While the Japanese army closed in on Singapore, the Allied Forces had their backs against the wall. They tried desperately to slow the Japanese advance. If they could be stalled even for a short time, the Allies would be able to “advance to the rear” and fight another day. Coordinated attacks by Japanese air and ground forces with superior and more modern equipment gave the retreating Allies little reason to hope. A decimated RAF tried in vain to halt the aerial onslaught. Outnumbered and outgunned by 16 to one, Royal New Zealand Air Force pilots slugged it out against the enemy’s Zeros. But the Zeros did most of the “slugging.” The outdated and under-powered F2A Brewster Buffalos were no match for the tightly turning, agile Zeros. Whether flying…

You're reading a preview of

Flight Journal (Digital) - 1 Issue, September/October 2023

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.