Flying in bad weather - Part 2 of 2 - Video Gallery

With the nose of the aircraft pointed down at a steep angle, we were still being lifted at a rate of 3,000 feet per minute. At 14,000 feet we were just as quickly caught in a downdraft, now with the nose of the aircraft pointing up, and with full power, the climb indicators showed us being carried downward at 3,000 feet per minute. The aircraft tumbled like a leaf in a high wind. The horizon gyroscopes hit their stops so I had no altitude indication. I know at one point we were upside down because we were hanging in our seat harnesses. When we dropped below 3,000 foot level, still in cloud, I was certain that we would not survive. We were below the level of the hilltops, there was nothing left to do but pray. Suddenly we were spit out of the bottom of the cloud at 2,000 feet over the Chindwin River Valley. I regained control of the aircraft and followed the winding river eastward towards the tunnel formed by the hills on either side and the cloud above, it led us out of the hills into the plains country. We had survived. It was the most helpless, frightening experience of my life. We landed at the deserted old Japanese fighter base at Maingnyaung, and bedded down in the aircraft for the night, grateful and hungry. We returned to base the next day. From evidence of the crash site he had been slammed into the hillside, Bill Rogers, into the hillside and out of control. One wing had been torn off and was found three kilometres from the rest of the shattered aircraft. The families seemed relieved to know that the pilot error, mechanical failure or enemy action were not likely factors in their aircraft. I was lucky, Bill Rogers was not.

Mr. Romanow reads a piece he wrote concerning a crew lost to weather, and a similar experience he had.

Joseph Romanow

Mr. Romanow was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 1921, to parents who immigrated to Canada in 1911. Mr. Romanow grew up in a Ukranian community and he learned to speak English from his playmates. He joined the Air Force from a youth group, was a mechanic for two years and then trained in Canada and England. He was able to fly in India and Europe, flying many different types of planes. After his university education he returned to the Air Force and worked with the Avro Arrow team.