They took the best crews

Heroes Remember

They took the best crews

Transcript

The first operations I was on, were on the Wellington Bombers. They called them Wimpys, because there was a comic cartoon character called J. Wellington Wimpy. So the Wellington became know as Wimpys. So we were on Wimpys initially, but then our crew was selected for the Pathfinder Force. Now, the Pathfinder Force was regarded as the best amongst the bomber crews. The Pathfinders were the people who went out ahead of the main bomber force and instead of the bomber force having to look for and find the target, which was often very difficult in bad weather conditions, flying over cloud and in cloud and so on. And then looking for a target and very often, not finding it. And a lot of the bomber effort was wasted because they, people couldn't find the target. And at one stage of the game, only about 15 percent of the bombs were getting to the intended targets. So they formed the Pathfinder Force in 1942, actually. And they took the best crews from the bomber command squadrons and they formed them, formed them up into Pathfinder squadrons. And these people would, the Pathfinders would be responsible for finding the targets and marking the targets, so that the main bomber force would come along and not have to be looking for the target, but would be looking for the markers that the Pathfinder Force had dropped. Now for example, if there was cloud, they would use sky markers that, illuminated sky markers, so that the main force could come along and not be, pretending to be looking through cloud, which they couldn't see through. But they could see the sky markers and they would bomb them. And the Pathfinder Force would keep those sky markers, illuminating where the target was. And if there was no, no cloud, then the Pathfinder Force would mark the target there with ground markers that . . . illuminated ground markers. So that the, the main force could come along and from many miles away, could see the markers, would go in and bomb the markers. So they didn't have to look for the target, they had to look for the markers. So the Pathfinder Force, as I say had been formed in '42 and was developed and their techniques were improved, well continued to be improved. They eventually wound up with what you call a Master Bomber. Who was a guy who was the best of the best. And he would give instructions, verbal instructions to the Pathfinders, so that he generally speaking, would be flying low over the target and telling the Pathfinders how good their markers were and telling them if they needed to move, where they were dropping the markers. He would instruct them on that. So these were techniques that were developed for the Pathfinder Force. And this improved the, the bomber, the bomber capability and accuracy of the main force.

Description

Mr. Yeomans discusses action with the "Wimpys," and with the "Pathfinders," elite crews who marked bombing targets in Germany.

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:: 4:23
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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They took the best crews

Heroes Remember