Flying the Lancaster

Heroes Remember

Flying the Lancaster

Transcript

From the moment, we went and trained on the Halifax, and this is just to give you experience on the Lancaster because they're 4 engine. And but these were old, beat up Halifax's that were out of service. They did the job. And then from there you went to the Lancaster. And then, now you didn't get much time for training, I only had 9 hours and so did everyone else. So basically, your training was done on the Wellington and on the Halifax. And then when you got this, the Lancaster at... then just enough to show you how to take it off and land it and then you went to a squadron. The Lancaster was at that time, I really believe it was the best bomber in the world. The Americans will argue about that but there was a different reason why their aircraft, but. The Lancaster was built to take a big bomb load a short distance Compared to what the Americans, they had to fly long, long trips. They had more gasoline than fuel or bombs rather. Whereas we had the big bomb loads and big, big petrol loads for us. But the Lancaster is such a good plane that really, it flew, it flew beautifully. Like with a...you have to remember when you went to take that thing off, it was, weighted 32 000 pounds and it carried 36 000 pounds. So it actually carried more than its weight. And you had to get that thing up from a standing start to 120 miles a hour, within less than a mile and that was the tough part. And like, I'm not very big and I had trouble controlling the pedals. And you would have to lock your left arm out because the torque of the aircraft wanted to, would go to the right. So, you'd have to hold onto the heavy part, and more than once maybe, I can't get it, "I'm not going to make it. I'm not going to make it." But then once that tail came up and you got the air flow over the tail, it was like a bird. And... well it would certainly flew easier empty but there wasn't that much difference. It was a good air plane. But you were glad to get rid of your bomb though too. Once you got rid of that you would pick up another 20, 30 mile an hour. So, so there was a difference but now maybe another aircraft, I don't know, but the Lancaster was good.

Description

Mr. James discusses his admiration of the Lancaster bomber.

Lyle James

Mr. James was born February 27, 1917. He grew up in Sarnia, a small Ontario town whose economy depended on Imperial Oil and the Canadian National railroad. Being politically aware, Mr. James considered Hitler to be a global threat; he enlisted with the hope of keeping World War Two from spreading to Canada. After receiving his wings, Mr. James sailed to England where he joined 101 Squadron, Bomber Command in 1943. Mr. James became the pilot of a Lancaster bomber after training in a Wellington. He piloted 32 missions during the second Battle of the Ruhr. Today, Mr. James is a frequent guest speaker at service clubs and schools, where he shares his reflections on the Second World War.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:23
Person Interviewed:: Lyle James
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Battle/Campaign:: Bomber Command
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 101 Squadron
Rank:: Flying Officer
Occupation:: Pilot

Language selection

Flying the Lancaster

Heroes Remember