Stress

Heroes Remember

Stress

Transcript

We were responsible for giving weather information to fighter squadrons that would nip across the channel and then come back and they didn’t have any extra fuel. It was a tight schedule. They had to nip across and watch the time very well and turn around and come back. Now the trick was to tell them what the weather was going to be like at 17 minutes after 5 in the evening Now they didn’t mean 27 minutes after 5. It was really dicey and I guess I did a fair bit of sweating until I heard they were back

Description

Mr. Aitken describes how critical weather reports were to the successful completion of air sorties, and how he worried about the safe return of the pilots.

John Aitken

John Aitken was born June 4, 1917, in Kenora, Ontario. He was the eldest of three children. His family moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta, where his father worked as a flour miller. After graduating high school at age seventeen, Mr. Aitken became a teacher and then school principal. He graduated from university in 1942. Mr. Aitken initially enlisted in the artillery, but after his arrival in England was selected to train as a meteorologist. As the war progressed he achieved the highest level possible, Independent Forecaster. After the war, Mr. Aitken continued a distinguished military career, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant.

Meta Data