Flying Boat - Precarious Nose Gun Setup

Heroes Remember

Flying Boat - Precarious Nose Gun Setup

Transcript

Interviewer: Did you ever wonder at any point .. and say to yourself "What did I get myself into?" Nope, I loved it. The... and incidentally flying off waters is great fun it's different then... Interviewer: How so? Well, this was almost like World War One, I'm not joking.. the a you had a nose gunner and you had waist gunners and you could slide the windows back on the, on the, and we had, we had .303 machine guns and a twin set on the nose of the aircraft. And what you would do, after you got airborne, because you had to have the hatch closed on take off or you would flood the aircraft. And after you're in the air, you'd just, we'd have a horn sort of, and one man action stations, you know, so they go to the gunner, goes to their spot, and the nose gunner has to pull that hatch back and there was a scarf ring that came down and you pull that up and click it in place and then you can swing the mount by, where you put the...and the twin mount machine guns were here and you, it's like putting a brace in bit, you know, on a, on a... what do you call it, a bore anyway. And this poor devil, would have to stand up there in the wind and try to get this thing back in so he could mull it and then swing it around and he'd look...I'm looking at him through the windshield, you see.

So he would generally, turn his back to

the thing and...try to frig with this thing and I'd slow it down to the, as slow as I could, help him but anyway, then and he of course when he'd be standing in the open there, so he had a harness on and a G-string,that he, cable that hooked on to the floor so that he wouldn't, couldn't, because you hit a down

draft or something he, which nearly, which did

happen to us one time and he was, here he was up like this with a...he had just unhooked the machine guns on the way back and they have to store everything, close the hatch again for landing. And we hit a downdraft and, and he went right up, right up, there he was in front of me, hanging on to the and he was hanging on to this twin mount and then down we came and he hit the twin mount machine gun on the edge of the thing and we lost it overboard. And I'll tell you,you want to see an investigation start, when you lose a twin mount and two machine guns.

Description

Mr. Black recalls how difficult it was for the nose gunner to set up his weapon in the Flying Boat, while the plane was airborne.

Clifford Black

Mr. Clifford Black was born on January 28, 1917, in Saint John, New Brunswick. His mother remarried some time after his father was killed in a railroad accident in 1921, and the family moved closer to the border of Maine. Mr. Black was working at the Ontario Paper Company in Baie Comeau when he heard war was declared. Anxious to join the air force, he immediately travelled to Montreal to enlist with the determination of becoming a pilot. After flight training, elementary flying school, and 2 months of service flying, Mr. Black received his wings and was made a pilot officer in November 1940. He was then eventually posted with Costal Command in Cole Harbor, British Columbia. After 6 months there, Mr. Black was transferred to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, to assist with Hudson instrument training. Mr. Black was later posted to Bomber Command in Europe, as pilot of a Lancaster Bomber. As the war progressed he was made Squadron Leader for 419 Squadron and then with 426 Squadron. He was still posted with 426 Squadron when the war ended.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:55
Person Interviewed:: Clifford Black
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Branch:: Air Force
Rank:: Pilot Officer
Occupation:: Pilot

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Flying Boat - Precarious Nose Gun Setup

Heroes Remember