Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 77 continued ... On March 25, 1942, I was promoted to Flight Sergeant rank. While being assigned to these non operational activities the Squadron remained on standby. Standby consisted of three phases. One half hour standby allowed free time on the base but within communication so as to be able to respond to an alert calling for return to the Flight. Fifteen minutes standby required pilots to be at the Flight Nissan Hut. However it was a relaxed status allowing conversation, reading, letter writing, card playing and those sorts of things. When on full alert status pilots put on their flying gear and their parachutes were placed in the aeroplanes cockpits waiting for the pilots to sprint out, climb in and be strapped in by the crew which consisted of two airmen, a rigger and a fitter. In some circumstances the pilots sat in the cockpits awaiting scramble orders. A rigger was a technician skilled in maintaining and when necessary repairing the aeroplane’s structure (fuselage). A fitter was a mechanic whose priority was to keep the engine in top condition. There were other technicians such as armourers, radio, and parachute packer but fighter pilots relied mainly on the rigger and fitter assigned to their aircraft. The three men soon became a family when a pilot became experienced enough, regardless of rank, to have his “own” aeroplane (the one he always flew when it was serviceable). He considered the rigger and fitter “his” rigger and fitter. Likewise they considered the pilot and aeroplane “their” pilot and “their” aeroplane. I was not long on the Squadron when Hurricane LKE became “my plane” and the loving care my rigger and fitter took of pilot Banks and LKE has never left my memory. Both air and ground crew were allowed to go to Bath for recreational activities when not on duty and in the pilots case when not on standby. When Squadron personnel, and especially the pilots, went to Bath for relaxation we were treated like “Royalty”. When we joined a queue waiting to purchase a “movie” theatre ticket and the queue was long (which they usually were) it was not uncommon to see an unknown civilian at the front of the queue, after purchasing tickets, return back down the line and handing a ticket to an airman. Bath’s population looked on us as their protectors from their airbase on the outskirt of their city. Although there was not a lot of enemy activity over South East England at this time there were night bombing raids on cities. One night, 26 Apr 42, we were scrambled with orders to protect Bath. When the scramble order was received the enemy planes were already bombing the city and we took off in the midst of bomb explosions, anti aircraft fire, smoke from burning buildings and utter confusion of every kind. I remember flying over and around the city trying to sight the enemy through the smoke of the fires and the flashes of the anti aircraft guns and thinking “this is my city”, and watching in frustration as the German Ju 88’s dropped their high incendiary bombs. Our Squadron managed a few sightings and fired at some with possible hits but but brought none down. The command given for scramble was given too late to be effective. The next day with another pilot I went to Bath, a city which had just been bombed. This was the first time I had seen a just bombed city. At the curbs of some streets there were rows of casualties, each one covered in a white sheet. Residents just quietly looked at us and we could see in their eyes the question “where were you last night?” The Squadron continued its night time patrols and as a pilot it was frustrating to watch a city burn while flying an operational patrol while the German Airforce would bomb a city, Poole for example, just outside of our operation area. While still maintaining night patrols; during daytime our flying activity became more concentrated on Army Co-operative maneuvers. As pilots we were not told why the “switch” was made. Eventually we understood when, at a later date our aircraft night time camouflage was removed and replaced with a special day camouflage needed for the “Dieppe” raid. continued ...
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