Two New Zealand Airmen Awarded D.F.C's
ONE IN 21 BOMBING ATTACKS Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Sept. 12. The following particulars regarding awards to New Zealand airmen are released by the Director of Publicity:— Two more New Zealanders have been iwarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, according to information received at Air Headquarters, Wellington, this morling. They ar e Act'*ig-Squadron Leader Aubrey Arthur Ninnis Breckon and Acting-Flight Lieutenant Francis Edwin Eustace. Squadron-leader Breckon comes from Northcote, Auckland, and is aged 26. According to the official citation, “He participated in 21 major bombing attacks in Germany, Holland, Belgium and France. He made a reconnaissance flight north of Narvik for a duration of 14£ hours, undeterred by enemy action and oad weather. He is a reliable and persistent long-distance pilot, and a cool, courageous and determined leader.” The flight to Narvik is generally acknowledged as the record long-distance night of the first 12 months of the war, involving a distance of 2000 miles from Scotland and back through icy weather and severe storms. The flight was made by an aircraft of the New Zealand Squadron. There were two other New Zealanders in the crew, the navigator coming from Stratford and the wireless operator from Auckland. Squadron-Leader Breckon was a newspaper photographer in Auckland before he was granted a short-service commission in the R.A.F. Shortly before the war he was posted to a New Zealand Squadron in England, transferring to the Royal New Zealand Air Force. When war broke out the squadron was placed at the disposal of the R.A.F. Squadron-Leader Breckon has since played a conspicuous part in the squadron’s activities. Flight-Lieutenant Eustace, who is 24 years of age, was born at Nelson and was educated at the Taumarunui District High School and Nelson College. He was accepted for a short-service commission in the R.A.F. in 1937.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19400913.2.78
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Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 217, 13 September 1940, Page 8
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303Two New Zealand Airmen Awarded D.F.C's Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 217, 13 September 1940, Page 8
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