I Wanted the Full Wing

Heroes Remember

I Wanted the Full Wing

Transcript

And everybody wanted to be a pilot naturally. When I left home, you know, my buddy was saying, “Oh boy, you’re going to be a pilot, of course,” but that wasn’t for me to decide. So you went to a selection board and they probably the marticulator, how many pilots do we need, how many air gunners do we need, based on what was happening over there. And there was a lot of things happening where pilots were being shot down. Spitfires and hurricanes, whatever, Halifax and Blenheim Bolingbrokes, all the air crafts at that time. So the need of the selection board would be dictated, because we didn’t know, by what was needed. So there was lots of air gunners needed because it was sometimes there was four of those in a Lancaster, etc. and when a Lancaster went down, everybody went down. So I think there might have been one pilot chosen of our group and I think I was the only wireless air gunner, but there was about three guys chosen as air gunners. They didn’t like it no more than I wanted to be a wireless air gunner. I wanted the full wing. So that selection board decided where you ended up and you just took it. I might say that probably what, probably, planted the seed in the selection board was that I had mentioned that I’d taken a dit dah course, a Marconi course. Which mean I knew the code. I did, I had taken that when I was in high school at Nova Scotia Tech in North Sydney at nighttime in grade ten or eleven I think it was. So once I said that, bango, “You’re going to be a wireless air gunner.”

Description

Mr. Thorne discusses the selection criteria for supplying air crews, and why he was chosen for wireless air gunner training.

George Thorne

George Thorne was born in North Sydney, Nova Scotia on July 26, 1924. He was the youngest of twelve in a blended family. His father was a magistrate and later became editor of the North Sydney Herald. After his dad became ill, Mr. Thorne delivered newspapers to help support his family. He was a Chief Petty Officer in the cadets which lead to his enlistment in the Royal Canadian Navy, but he later opted for the Air Force, signing up for air crew. Mr. Thorne trained as a wireless air gunner, and then as a wireless navigator with the intention of crewing on Mosquito fighters. The war ended before Mr. Thorne was deployed overseas.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 1:52
Person Interviewed:: George Thorne
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Canada
Branch:: Air Force
Occupation:: Wireless Air Gunner

Language selection

I Wanted the Full Wing

Heroes Remember