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Turbulence

Heroes Remember

Transcript
Interviewer: What was the turbulence like? Well, we were used to it. It's very rough. You bounce around, and everything else. Try to keep level, and the navigation is … of course, you're not high enough for star shots or anything. You don't have … We had LORAN, we called it LORAN navigation system. It never worked with us, for us. So, most of our navigation was drift navigation. If your drift was seven degrees, you adjusted seven degrees. Whatever the, whatever your drift was, and we used to take it every half hour. They'd drop … our rear gunner, who was here today, Jack Stock, he'd drop a flare and I'd take a drift angle and we'd get navigating that way. Interviewer: When you look back, were there times that you were afraid? It's funny, we never, we never thought of it. You know, a thousand Canadians went through India, and I think 484 were either killed or missing. But it was always happened to the other fellow. It happened to Timmerman's crew. they're buried in Singapore. It happened to a bunch in Jessore. They crashed right on take-off, and they're buried at Jessore. But it always happened to the other guy, I don't know. You never really thought that it would happen to you.
Description

Mr. Thomarat talks about turbulence and the danger involved in low flying.

Armand E. Thomarat

Armand Thomarat was born on the 19th of February in 1922. His father was a carpenter and a highly decorated first World War Veteran who was awarded, among other medals, the Legion of Honor. Following in the footsteps of his father and four brothers, Mr. Thomarat joined the army in 1941. After serving briefly as a clerk, he transferred to the air force, becoming a bomb aimer and a gunner on the front turret. On long trips, he served as second navigator.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
1:45
Person Interviewed:
Armand E. Thomarat
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
Burma
Battle/Campaign:
Burma
Branch:
Air Force
Units/Ship:
357 Squadron
Rank:
Flying Officer

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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