Scared To Death

I’ll tell you I was scared to death. Every time you took off it wasn’t funny. When you take off you’ve got about 12,000 pounds of bombs and you can feel the plane taking off and then there’s sinking. Sinking because it hasn’t quite got enough power and then all of a sudden it gradually ... hah ... it made it! At times fellas didn’t make it — just went right down. The casing of the bomb would be about that thick steel and it was just wiped right out and you could see the innards of the bombs. Didn’t go off! The fellas survived. Others blew up and blew them all to hell. So if they’re lucky or not ... you know ... but this is what you faced on every take-off. The heaviest bomb load we had was eight 1000 pound bombs and six 500s. And the six 500s were three in each wing. That’s how big the aircraft was ... you could put three 500 pound bombs in each wing. So there’s six ... and that’s what? 11,500 pounds of bombs? Take-off with that load and a full tank of gas ... you know its like ... it’s loaded for trouble. Then landing was the other risk. German fighters would follow you in sometimes and shoot you up while you’re trying to And then of course, you’re in the dark and you can’t see and you run into each other and so on. So those are the two most dangerous ... other than over the target where naturally you expect to find trouble.

Mr. Wickens describes the stress of taking off in a bomber fully loaded with bombs.

Donald Wickens

Mr. Wickens was born in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan. Despite the scarcity of jobs during the depression, he took employment with the Bank of Montreal, where he worked for two years prior to enlisting. Although not initially eager to do so, Mr. Wickens decided to join his friends who had preceded him into the service. Unlike many of his friends, however, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force with the intention of becoming a navigator, and completed his training in Portage La Prairie. Once overseas, Mr. Wickens became a member of 434 Blue-Nose squadron and took part in 37 bombing and mine laying missions over Northern Europe. He and the rest of his aircrew were decorated after surviving two air attacks in which their aircraft was disabled. After leaving the service, Mr. Wickens returned to the Bank of Montreal. He currently resides in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.