Honour of being the first United Nations sailor to shoot down an enemy plane since the Korean war began goes to a Chorleywood man, 22-year-old Able Seaman Dennis Heckford.
Heckford, who has been in the Navy for some years and who has been abroad since 1948, was gunlayer in the crew of a pom-pom on a British cruiser which was attacked by a Sturmovik fighter-bomber.
As gunlayer, he got the plane in his sights and it was shot down after a five-second burst.
[From the Watford Observer of September 22, 1950]
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