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Strafing at Cap Bon

Heroes Remember

Transcript
The Americans and the British had joined up together and they were more or less driving the Germans and the Italians out of Tunisia. The last battle was at Cape Bon and I was up with Neville Duke at this time. He was our leader and we were flying Spit 9's, Spit 8's, wonderful airplane. We were doing this sweep around Cape Bon and Neville Duke noticed these large transports right on the deck and he reported to Ian Gleed, our wing commander and Ian could not see them so Neville Duke says, “Well, I'm going down.” So we went down, the Spit 5's followed us down and then the 109's which we hadn't seen came down and attacked us. Well, we were able to destroy about five of these large transports and then we had a vicious fight with the Germans but we were able to, most of us were able to get home. Wing commander Gleed was killed and another pilot was also killed. After that, the American fighters and the Australian, South African squadrons came in and they shot down a great number of these transports and that more or less sealed off the fate of the Germans and the Italians in Tunisia.
Description

Mr. Wilson describes attacking and destroying five German cargo aircraft on the air strip at Cape Bon, Tunisia.

Gordon Wilson

Gordon Wilson was born on December 5, 1917 in Limerick, Saskatchewan. The Royal Canadian Air Force was no longer accepting recruits when he enlisted so he joined the Royal Regina Rifles. Six months later, Mr. Wilson joined the Royal Canadian Air Force at Brandon, Manitoba. His first wartime deployment saw him serving in North Africa near El Alamein, where he initially flew Hurricanes in a Royal Air Force squadron. He later piloted Spitfire 9’s in Sicily, Italy and the Middle East. After the war, Mr. Wilson completed a university degree and became a museum curator.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
1:57
Person Interviewed:
Gordon Wilson
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Branch:
Air Force
Rank:
Flying Officer
Occupation:
Pilot

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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