AMAZING AIRMEN
AMAZING AIRMEN
CANADIAN FLYERS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
IAN DARLING
Copyright © Ian Darling, 2009
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Project Editor: Michael Carroll
Copy Editor: Cheryl Hawley
Design: Courtney Horner
Printer: Webcom
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Darling, Ian, 1948-
Amazing airmen : Canadian flyers in the Second World War / by Ian Darling.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-55488-424-7
1. World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, Canadian. 2. Canada.
Royal Canadian Air Force--Biography. 3. Great Britain. Royal Air Force--Biography.
I. Title.
D792.C2D37 2009 940.54’4971
C2009-902464-0
2 3 4 5 13 12 11 10 09
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.
J. Kirk Howard, President
Published by The Dundurn Group
Printed and bound in Canada.
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For Jane Ann
CONTENTS
5 Final Descent
6 The Ground War
7 The Luckiest Guy
8 The Corporal’s Ring
9 The Fog of War
10 The Last Training Flight
11 A Ride with Fifi
12 The Escort
13 Flying Lessons
14 The Long Fall
15 The Lucky Gunner
16 A Student in Paris
17 Eagles at War
18 The Salute
19 A Plane for Tomorrow
20 Between the Lines
Notes
Acknowledgements
Index
Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on that strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter.
— Winston Churchill, My Early Life
With hindsight, I know exactly where and when I started this book. I was driving back to my newspaper in Kitchener at 4:30 p.m., November 11, 2002. I had just attended the funeral for my uncle, George Darling. He was a bomb-aimer on a Halifax bomber during the Second World War, and his pilot, Tom Lane, had delivered the eulogy.
As I drove on Highway 8, just outside of Kitchener, I realized that I didn’t know much about what my uncle had done during the war. I knew he had been shot down somewhere in Europe and that he had been a prisoner of war, but I didn’t know what happened to his bomber or what ordeals he had suffered. I decided to learn the details and write a story for my newspaper about him and his crew. I pieced the story together by reading his wartime diary and by interviewing Tom, as well as another member of the crew, Roy Macdonald. The Record printed the story a year later, a few days before Remembrance Day, 2003.
I thought I had finished writing about the war. Much to my surprise, I received phone calls and email messages encouraging me to write a book of similar stories. One such message came from Richard Rohmer, a Second World War pilot and a prolific writer. Apparently, I had erred in thinking that I had finished writing about the war.
That was six years ago. Since then, I have spoken to air force veterans who experienced horrific ordeals, and I have interviewed historians and archivists who provided additional information that I needed.
I hope this book is worthy of those who encouraged me to write it. Even more important, I hope it is worthy