Jamming German Signals

Heroes Remember

Jamming German Signals

Transcript

Interviewer: Can you describe your role on the Lancaster? Well I was a wireless air gunner, I never did, in case the gunner got shot, then I'de take over but, I never, not never did happen. But, like we used to get a message every fifteen minutes from base, you know, our call sign was WLW, dadadadaditdadada. And they used to give us a frequency, like in England they had these radio operators listening for the German night fighters, we're directed from the ground like, you know, and we had a little microphone in one of the engines. So every fifteen minutes we'd get a message from base and WLW was our squadron, you know to listen to a certain frequency so you'd get your receiver and you'd back, you'd hear this German voice you didn't know what he was saying, but they were talking between ground and the fighters. So then as soon as you heard that, you got on the right frequency on your receiver, you went back to your transmitter over to your receiver, and then you'd press a key. You flip a little switch which would cut in the microphone on the engine and then you would broadcast the engine noise and you'd black out his, you didn't t wanna do it too long because he might get a fix on you then with you sending a signal. So you used to do it you know like for about ten seconds, let go, and then ten seconds. So it disrupted their communication from ground to the German fighters. It was a cat/mouse game, you know, first of all the Germans did something then the British would counteract it, oh this and that...yeah cat and mouse.

Description

Mr. Taschuk describes how engine noise was used to jam German transmissions.

Neil Taschuk

Mr. Taschuk was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father, a Russian immigrant, fought for Canada in the First World War. Mr. Taschuk joined the air force along with many others from the community, and was sent overseas as soon as he had earned his wireless air gunner (WAG) wings. He was assigned to a Lancaster in Bomber Command's 434 Squadron. Given the casualty rate at the time, it was a near death sentence. Against huge odds and having experienced numerous near misses, he and the rest of his crew were one of few in bomber command who were never injured in any action, training, or other mishaps.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:01
Person Interviewed:: Neil Taschuk
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Germany
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 434 Squadron
Occupation:: Wireless Air Gunner

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Jamming German Signals

Heroes Remember