Operational Flight Training - The Spitfire

Heroes Remember

Operational Flight Training - The Spitfire

Transcript

Eventually, I got posted to a what they called an OTU, an Operational Training Unit in South Wales near Cardiff and I still didn't know. Interviewer: And what was the purpose of an Operational Training Unit? Well, this was to teach you to fly a fighting, or you know, an operational air craft, either fighters or bombers. So when I got there, the Spitfires were flying around and I said, "Good! Finally made it!" And that's what it was. We were flying what they called Mark I Spitfires. This is the first ones that were used in the war and they were pretty well beat up, but they could still fly. But before we flew those, you see, we hadn't flown maybe for a couple of months and we were only just beginners anyway and flying in England, there was this industrial haze. Once you got up, you had a hard time making out anything on the ground. And it was a lot different than Canada, where you had long stretches of plains and railroad tracks going east and west. Over in England, one town seems to flow into the next. So they took us up in two-seater planes, bigger and faster than the Harvards but nowhere near as fast as a Spitfire. We got a bit acquainted with the weather and the local conditions and after a bit of that, they set you in a Spitfire and pointed out where the bells and whistles were and if it wasn't a two-seater, you had to go alone. So, off you went. Interviewer: What was your reaction when you first flew a Spitfire? Well, I was astonished. When I opened that throttle up and started down the runway, I got the push on the back that I couldn't hardly believe. I guess reflexes took over, so I got up in the air. In those early ones, you had to pump the wheels up by hand. You had to select something and then there's a pump, you had to pump them up. So it ended up, that usually, that you could see a fellow taking off for the first time, his hand was going this way and this hand was going this way and the plane was going that way. And anyway, you eventually got up there and the wheels were up, by that time, you're looking around you're just about lost cause you had gone miles away from the airport. No one ever did get lost, I guess, so we found our way back and made a landing and second time wasn't so good. The first time was, you know, your heart was in your mouth, no doubt about it. But, they flew there, got used to the thing and we did a little air firing, flying at targets towed by other plane and did some formation flying, which was new to us. We hadn't been allowed to do that before.

Description

Mr. Spear describes being posted to an operational training unit in South Wales, England, and recalls his orientation to the English countryside as well as his first Spitfire flight.

Allen Maxwell Spear

Mr. Spear lived in Sussex, New Brunswick, before attending Business College in Saint John - he worked in Bathurst, New Brunswick, for a number of years before joining up. Mr. Spear had not enjoyed his Army camp experience in high school and was attracted to joining the Air Force, particularly as a fighter pilot, because of the recognition the Air Force was receiving in the Battle of Britain. He joined as soon as the Air Force lowered the education requirements to high school which allowed him to qualify. After much basic and initial flight training, Mr. Spear was excited to begin Spitfire training in England in fall 1941. In early 1942, he was stationed to North Africa. The camp locations changed often as the RAF and German Air Forces leapfrogged back and forth across the desert. A few months later (July 1, 1942), his engine gave out during a mission. He landed his plane behind German lines, was captured as a POW, and was shipped to Sulmona, Italy for internment. In September 1943, when the Italians capitulated, the POWs at the Sulmona camp escaped. Mr. Spear, along with two other Canadian POWs managed to escape by travelling along the mountains, avoiding the valleys where they were more likely to run into Germans, until they met up with other Canadian troops in November 1943. After being shipped back to England, Mr. Spear was returned to Canada to serve as a Staff Pilot at a Bombing and Gunnery School in Mountainview, Ontario. A post he held until the end of the War, at which time he was discharged.

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