Shot on a Bombing Run

Heroes Remember

Shot on a Bombing Run

Transcript

Early in the morning, 7 o'clock in the morning, and we were to, we were to bomb two pagodas on each side of the road, the Japanese were dug in at the base of them. So, and I was leading the squadron and we went around and I came in, came around south of it and then we were going to head down into it like this and just as I came around they started firing ack-ack fire at us and one of them hit on the port side of the cockpit where the cookery was that's why that's the way it is. And I could see the muzzle blast from this ack-ack gun, when it leaves there's a great big blast, instant, I don't think I don't know whether the other fellows saw it, I pointed it out to them. But as I went down I didn't know what had been hit or broken. All I was concerned about was, I had bombed and gone around again and when I saw them then I was going to go down and strafe it and when I fired my guns I had a stoppage in one gun, so I had one .303 but I sprayed it around where the muzzle blast was but I don't know. And I turned the squadron over to another guy, by this time the fellows had pretty well had all bombed. And I got my number two to check to see whether the underneath was alright, he said it looked alright so I went in and landed, mind you, it was pretty early in the morning, there was no wind and but I didn't have any hydraulics so I had no brakes, and no, no brakes and no... one of my controls. Anyway she just ran straight as a die and stopped in front of the control tower.

Description

Mr. Sproule recalls being hit during a bombing run in Burma.

Frederick Howard Sproule

Mr. Sproule was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on September 22, 1918. He first served as a cadet with the Seaforth Highlanders before joining the regular service. He switched to the air force as soon as he was able, first being accepted as a gunner, and then into pilot training. After serving as a flight instructor on Harvards, Mr Sproule was shipped to Great Britain where he trained on a Hurricane. Eventually, he piloted a Typhoon as a bomber in the Burma Campaign, helping to drive back the Japanese. His tour finished as the Japanese were completely driven out of Burma.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:22
Person Interviewed:: Frederick Howard Sproule
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Burma
Battle/Campaign:: Burma
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 42 Squadron
Rank:: Supernumerary Flight Lieutenant
Occupation:: Pilot

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Shot on a Bombing Run

Heroes Remember