Evening star., 1943-12-26

IIlc ARMY All SSpt' - .. McNi0sAeys
Forces in September, 1912.
my son always told me that II
anything should happen 1 must not
clench my fists and hate every plane
I heard overhead" Mrs. McCloskey
said. "He loved his work better
than his own life and told me that
I must remember that he had gone
into it of his own free will and that
if anything should happen he had
asked for it,"
Both Motors Go Dead.
Mrs. McCloskey recently received
a letter from an intelligence officer
in her sons squadron who was in
the plane at the time of the fatal
crash. He wrote, she said, that the
plane had been up about IS minutes
when both motors simultaneously
went dead"
HE knew" the officer wrote, that
it meant either his life or the lives
Of all three Of us (there was also
another officer in the plane) and he
chose to make the heroic sacrifice Of
his own life to try to save ours, and
turned the nose of the plane down
in power dive. The next thing
knew was when I came to under
water"
Capt McCloskey had taken the
full shock of the crash and was
killed instantly.
The 29-year-old oficer enlisted
in the Royal Canadian Air Force
early in 1910 and became a senior
instructor. He later was attached TO
the Raj as flying officer in the old
Billy Bishop Squadron in England.
Year rs Night Fighter Pilot.
For almost a year he served with
this squadron as a night fighter
pilot. His duties consisted of inter-
cepting enemy bandit" planes over
England and bomber escort and
straflng missions over Nazi-occupied
Europe.
On one raid over Holland both
his motors were shot out. He told
the other member of the fighter
crew to hit the silk" as they glided
over the channel After he had
radioed his position and asked for
rescue boat he tried to open the
hatch, but it was stuck. 1t had
been rivited tight by bullets.
He managed to glide his craft to
the English coast, but was warned
by radio that the entire coast was
mined. Luckily, he set his plane
down just between two mines.
When rescue squad came to dig
him out" he found that if his plane
had gone a few feet farther he
would have hit mine.
| He was the only American night
fighter member of the RAF to trans
fer to the AAF in September, re-
manning in England until Decem-
ber, when he expected to be sent
to North Africa as captain Of his
own squadron. Instead. he was
ordered back to the States Just in
time for Christmas with his family
and to confer with military authori-
ties on night flying training.
Shifted to South Pacific.
He was stationed at Kissimee Air
| odSC AL T lOl luh ulllll CUl Qdl
when he was sent to the South Pa
cific as commander of a fighter
squadron.
"All the leaves of his men had
been Cancelled" Mrs. McCloskey said.
land while he could have had one,
he asked me to come to Florida in
stead because he couldn't take what
he couldn't give his men"
A graduate of Notre Dame Uni
versity, Capt. McCloskey is sur
vived, in addition to his mother by
his father, a specialist in the zinc
division of the War Production
Board: a son, Bryan Michael Nc
Closkey, S: a sister, Mrs. Philip H.
Carson Of Philadelphia. and his
grandmother, Mrs. Louis H. Lang
Of the street address.
Capt. McCloskey was buried in
the little cemetery at Guadalcanal
with requiem mass and full military
hp,,prS