'Cobber Kain'
Other fighter pilots were more successful. One New Zealander in France who really caught the imagination of the British public was Flying Officer Edgar James ‘Cobber’ Kain. He shot down his first two enemy aircraft in November 1939 and by the end of March 1940 his tally had risen to five. He was the first Allied ‘Ace’ of the War and the newspapers made much of his successes.
Flying Officer Edgar James “Cobber” Kain DFC
Kain was born in Hastings in 1918 and joined the RAF in 1936. He gained his nickname ‘Cobber’ during his RAF training as he referred to everyone else by this term. He subsequently joined 73 Squadron, equipped with Hurricanes, which crossed to France in September 1939. His success was recognised with the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in January 1940.
Kain’s success was not easy and he was himself shot down at least five times, twice by mistaken French anti-aircraft gunners. Amazingly, he always managed to force-land safely and never received serious injury. Kain was officially credited with destroying 16 enemy aircraft. By early June, ‘Cobber’ Kain was the only one left of the original 73 Squadron pilots in France. He was ordered back to Britain and on 7 June 1940 after taking off from the airfield he commenced a low, slow roll. The wing tip of his aircraft clipped the ground and he crashed to his death.
