Bomber Fleet Raises Morale

Heroes Remember

Bomber Fleet Raises Morale

Transcript

One night I was in London and I had just gotten back from the squadron on leave and we heard this very unusual sound that was strange and traffic stopped in London and we wondered whether it was some new type of device that the Germans had come up with. But anyway, more and more people came out into the streets and this buzzing kept coming lower and lower and lower and all of a sudden I realized what it was, . it was our own bomber fleet And England wasn't doing very well at this particular time or the allies weren't so somebody dreamed up a moral building thing so they had our bomber fleet which I would have been a part of only I was on the ground on leave, routed them into one huge stream and extremely noisy stream. And it was quite impressive to see a thousand bombers in the air in this huge stream. And I know there was a workman standing next to me and he took his cap off and he said, "Good luck boys!" You know so the civilians appreciated what was happening. Anyway, they planned, the Bomber Command that night to go right over London and not too high up and it was a tremendous sight, tremendous boost to the civilians too.

Description

Mr. McDoanld describes the sight of a 1000- bomber fleet pass over London raising morale for the civilian people

Graham McDonald

Bernard Graham (B.G.) McDonald was born on December 26, 1920, and raised in Granby, Quebec. His family enjoys a long history in Granby. His grandfather, John Sr, who had emigrated from Ireland, was the first chief of police in the late 1800's. Bernard joined the Non-Permanent Active Militia in 1936 and when war broke out, he attempted to enlist in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in September 1939, but was turned down because there were too many volunteers. Mr. McDonald successfully enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in Montreal, Quebec, in October 1940, but had to delay his entry until February 1941 due to an outbreak of measles. He served with the Royal Air Force 103 (Black Swan) Squadron in Elsham Wolds, England, and completed 31 successful operations. Mr. McDonald was honourably discharged on June 26, 1946, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, as a flying officer and was stationed in Gander, Newfoundland, as the transport officer in charge of 164 Squadron. Shortly after this posting, he returned to civilian life to work as the advertising manager for the Miner Company in Granby. He married Connie, originally from London, England, in 1946 and together they raised three children. Mr. McDonald has been a member of the Royal Canadian Legion for 65 years.

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