Safety in numbers
Heroes Remember
Safety in numbers
Transcript
We’d come back home with bullet wounds in us and flak wounds
and that kind of thing, but I don’t ever remember anything
serious with fighters, and I think it was due to the fact we
were mainly on track. If you could fly, I don’t know what you
call it, the track was the line you were flying on, just a pencil
line on the map but if you could stay within five miles either
side of that you were considered to be in the stream of aircraft
and if you were in the stream you were comparatively safe.
So I always put it down to our being on track and in the stream
most of the time that we didn’t get into really any serious
trouble. The trouble we had in France, was that our airplane was
unserviceable when we went to take off and we couldn’t get away
and we decided, after about a half an hour the ground crew got
it running and we decided to go. As I said earlier you don’t
want to miss a trip. You don’t want an excuse not to go
because there’s another trip, let’s finish it. So we went
about half an hour behind the rest of the guys and the Gerry
was waiting for us, see, he had nobody else to chase but us and
that’s why we got into trouble, I think, and the gunner spotted
this guy, you know, a long time before he got close enough to
shoot at us. He followed us all the way back to England but I
don’t think he ever did shoot at us, you know, but we knew he was
there so that was a bit frightening even
though he didn’t do us any damage.
Description
Mr. Bower-Binns discusses the relative safety of flying within a formation.
John Bower-Binns
John Bower-Binns was born in Ottawa, Ontario. One of two children, he was born on March 7, 1921. He had two uncles in the Royal Air Force, inspiring him to build model aeroplanes. There being a six month waiting list for naval enlistment, Mr. Bower-Binns opted for the Air Force. After being screened out of the pilot queue, he became a navigator. After crewing up in England, he flew many bombing missions, including one to Berlin. Mr. Bower-Binns was fortunate to fly with the same crew during his entire tour of duty. A recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, he achieved the rank of Flight-Lieutenant during his Second World War service.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 1:42
- Person Interviewed:
- John Bower-Binns
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- Second World War
- Location/Theatre:
- Germany
- Branch:
- Air Force
- Units/Ship:
- #1 Bomber Command
- Rank:
- Flight Lieutenant
- Occupation:
- Navigator
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