Counter Bombs
Heroes Remember
Counter Bombs
Transcript
We’re flying one day, and we were carrying mines. We were gonna
mine a harbor near the end of islands called Mergui. There was
a series of ships there. And they had these counter bombs that
you could set the time, but ships would go over it, and, say,
the 5th ship would, it would go up. And then you decide ahead of
time where to set up, if this is how they’d probably leave the
harbor. And we were flying quite open formation at that time.
And all of a sudden, there was a big black explosion, and our
aircraft lifted up in the air. And the aircraft just
disintegrated, you know. And all there was, was a tinkle of stuff
down into the ocean, disappeared, and that was it. And I guess,
nobody knows, but they surmise that one of the bombs went off
in the bomb bay, and it just blew the aircraft apart.
Interviewer: You knew those guys, did you?
Yeah, I knew them, yeah. Yeah.
Interviewer: Were there other aircraft that you saw go down?
Not too many, not that I saw go down, no. No. We were, as I say,
you know … it was quite a different war than in, than in Europe
where they sent thousands of aircraft over, and so forth.
Ours were few and far between. And in an hour or so, you were
out of contact, except by the wireless operator… might get in
touch with you, certainly didn’t have any other. Once you were on
your own, once you were over there, you’re there. That’s it.
I mean, you know, nobody’s gonna come and get you.
Description
Mr. Power talks about bombing a harbor and watching a friend=s plane disintegrate.
Robert Power
Robert Power was born in 1920, in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. He grew up in a small fishing village with a one-room schoolhouse. Before enlisting in 1942, Mr. Power studied biochemistry. He served as a pilot in the RAF and spent 26 years in the military. After the war, Mr. Power returned to medicine and became a doctor.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 2:06
- Person Interviewed:
- Robert Power
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- Second World War
- Location/Theatre:
- Burma
- Battle/Campaign:
- Burma
- Branch:
- Air Force
- Units/Ship:
- 159 Squadron
- Rank:
- Lieutenant-Colonel
- Occupation:
- Pilot
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