NEW AIRMEN

Grey River Argus, 20 January 1941, Page 10

NEW AIRMEN

CANADIAN TRAINEES IN ACTION. WELLINGTON, January 19. “Pilots and observers who came from Canada under the Empire training scheme, have begun to go into action. The first to take part in an operational flight is a Pilot Officer from Toronto, who was observer in a' torpedo-carrying aircraft of the Coastal Command. Although he had. been in England only a few weeks, he has already made six operational flights,” states an Air Ministry bulletin. “His first experience of war was a night, raid on Wilhelmshaven. “A tough trip,” he called it. “I got my first taste of anti-aircraft lire, which burst all round us. What I remember most vividly is the joprney back across the North Sea. The aircraft was iced up. The rudders wouldn’t work. One wing was starting to drop. Both the engines cut out. We were losing altitude. I felt certain we were done for, but the pilots handled the aircraft so well that the engines started again and we cam esafely home.” My other most vivid memory of England is having tea with the Queen and two Princesses at Windsor Castle.