Someone is trying to stop you

Heroes Remember

Someone is trying to stop you

Transcript

At that time you trained to be a navigator. You weren't training for any particular role, but generally speaking, the way the RAF was developing back in U.K., where they were building up the bomber force, it appeared pretty likely, that you were going to wind up on bombers. Of course you could have wound up, as many people did on other types of air crafts. But you were training to operate on aircraft with a crew. And generally speaking, you would be on bombers or transport or coastal command aircraft. You didn't know at that time, where you would wind up. But the chances were, with the way that the bomber force was developing, it would be on bombers. You were excited to a certain extent. You were nervous to a certain extent, but there was nothing sort of special about it, because so many people had done it before and appeared to have come out of it alright. You looked forward to it. And when it happened that you wondered, am I going to be airsick? And those sort of thoughts were in your mind, but there was nothing very difficult about it, I suppose anymore than going on the swings and roundabouts at the fair ground. But at least you were know, somewhat above the ground and it was, it was fun. By mid '43, we had gone to the what was called, the Operational Training Unit. And there we were flying Wellington Bombers. And these were a twin engined bomber with a crew of five. And they could carry quite a good bomb load, fly at a good height and for a good duration. So then these were aircraft that would have been used and were still being used, in the bombing raids against Germany. And they carried, as I say, a crew of five, they'd carry a bomb load of 8,000 pounds, fly at 20,000 feet and could go on a mission that lasted six hours. So this was different from the training aircraft that we had been flying in South Africa, which were generally speaking, Anson Air craft which were slower and didn't carry bomb, bombs at all. So now we, we've entered a different stage of training. And you now realize that when I finish this stage of training, I will be going onto a bomber squadron and I will then be flying against the enemy. And that's altogether different, because whereas during training, you're flying where there is nobody attacking you. But once you get onto bomber operations of course, you're flying in, into a situation where someone is trying to stop you. And the Germans were damn good at it.

Description

Mr. Yeomans discusses his general impressions of training.

John Yeomans

Mr. Yeomans was born in Manchester, England. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was an apprentice electrical engineer. Too young to enlist, he was still involved as a firewatcher during the German air raids on his city, during which time he witnessed heavy destruction and numerous deaths. In 1941, Mr. Yeomans volunteered for the RAF, and went to South Africa, where he took Navigator training. His combat activity saw him take part in the bombing campaign against Berlin. Mr. Yeomans was the lone survivor when his Lancaster bomber was shot down and after spending a year in several different POW camps, he escaped and finally returned to England. After the war, he spent time in the RAF before moving to Canada as a flight instructor for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 4:04
Person Interviewed:: John Yeomans
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Battle/Campaign:: Germany, The Berlin Series
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 156 Pathfinder Squadron
Rank:: Wing Commander
Occupation:: Navigator

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Someone is trying to stop you

Heroes Remember