Getting the Nerve to Fly

All I can remember was a chap named Mort. He was an Australian instructor I had and I always remember the day he said, “Look,” he said, “pull over here.” And there was an old rail, split rail fence and at one end it was just a grass field, a big grass field and there was a couple of chaps with lights, red and green, whether you'd come in or go around, that sort of thing, and he climbed out of the aircraft and I thought, what's he doing, you know, and he says, “I'm going over here to have a smoke.” He smoked a pipe and he said, “You go kill yourself!” I always remember that to this day. So, oh my God, here goes nothing, so you're over and once you're in the air you're scared silly and all you can see is sky is full of planes, Tiger Moths, you know, you come around and it took you a little while to get enough nerve enough to come back down. I said, well I gotta get this bloody thing down on the ground, so I come in and then, of course, everybody, your mates grab you and throw you in the pool and you're a hero now, you know, you've done the great thing and you think you've challenged the world but it was quite an experience.

Mr. Dungey relates his experiences of flight training with an Australian Instructor

George Dungey

George Dungey, the youngest of three children, was born in 1924 near Barrie, Ontario. His father, a First World War Veteran, was a laborer, machinist and semi-pro ballplayer. Before they enlisted, Mr. Dungey and his older brother operated a bakery. Following his brother, he enlisted in the Air Force when he was seventeen and a half, at Owen Sound. Mr. Dungey hoped to be bomber crew; following his Canadian training on Tiger Moths at Virden, Manitoba and Ansons at Souris, Manitoba, he received his pilot's wings. In England, he trained in Oxfords and Dakotas. It was as a Dakota pilot that Mr. Dungey was deployed to the Far East, where he joined the newly formed 435 Squadron at Impal, India. His squadron performed a number of valuable roles. It delivered supplies to British land forces in Burma, paradropped assault troops where needed, towed gliders to combat areas, and ferried the sick and wounded to safety. Mr. Dungey remained in the RCAF after the war, most notably serving in 412 Squadron, flying Canadian dignitaries to several different international destinations. After retiring from the RCAF, Mr. Dungey joined Transport Canada as a civil aviation inspector.