Description
Mr. Weir compares the Hurricane and the Spitfire.
John Weir
Mr. Weir was born in Toronto on July 22, 1919. His father was DSO MC in the First World War, a colonel. He was machine gunner in the 19th Battalion, and was gassed at Vimy and suffered from then on with asthma. After seeing the horrific pictures of the trench warfare from his father's service, Mr. Weir decided to join the Air Force rather than serve in the trenches. He joined the service the day after war was declared and began his training in Winnipeg. He started off as a pilot officer-provisional but wanted to be a fighter pilot. During his service, Mr. Weir was shot down in Barth and captured. He was a prisoner in a Gestapo jail, and was involved in "The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III". He was moved to various prison camps and witnessed atrocities of the Holocaust. He eventually escaped on a forced-march from Bremerhaven to Lübbecke by bribing a German guard.
Transcript
The Hurricane vs The SpitfireNo I, the first operational plane I flew was a Battleton (sp.) and I flew it down in Trenton and that was in ‘40. I, I went over in ‘40 I, I don’t remember the date, I think it was September but I’m not positive. Fran would know. And then I went to, I went to ODU fairly soon and I flew Hurricanes there, and so I was in Hurricanes oh, probably in, before Christmas of ‘40, I think. I don’t remember the dates, I’d have to look at my log book.A Hurricane was built like a truck. It took a hell of a lot to knock it down. It was very manoeuvrable, much more manoeuvrable than a Spit. So you could, we could usually outturn a Messerschmitt. They’d, if they tried to turn with us they’d usually flip, go in, at least dive and they couldn’t. A Spit was a higher wing loading and it was, it was like, well I compare it this way. It was like driving, a Hurricane was driving, like flying or driving a cheap car. A Spit was like driving a really top of the line racing car. It, it was, it was smoother in the air then a Spit, then a Hurricane, but it was like a junk heap on the ground. When you taxied a Hurricane it was smooth as a blister, when you taxied a Spit it was (inaudible) and, but to fly it was just a beautiful thing to fly.The Hurricane was more manoeuvrable than the Spit. And, and the Spit was probably, we could turn one way tighter than the Germans could on a, on a, on a Messerschmitt. But the Focke Wulf could turn the same as we could and, they kept on catching up, you know.