Encounter with a flak-ship

Heroes Remember

Encounter with a flak-ship

Transcript

Most of everything I can remember is going into an airdrome one night and we got off and they, they, we took off from there and flew down the channel. And we ran into a flak-ship. I don't know if you know what a flak-ship is. The Germans had them. They just dropped, they looked like a boat, when you home in on them to drop your bombs all of a sudden the sides all go down and all hell breaks loose. So we got, I think, not us, but everybody that went in that raid that night got pretty well shot up, we were full of holes when we got back to the airdrome but luckily none of them hit the, the gas tanks or we would've been SOL. I don't think that the scary parts were scary because they were over before you, before you could really get scared. Like on a, on a, when you fly through flak for instance, it's scary but it's not forever, and as soon as your out of it, as long as you're, you're not shot up you're on your way back. So I didn't, I didn't and I, I'd be a liar if I'd say I wasn't scared. There's no god damn guy on earth that wasn't scared if you were being shot at. It's, it's, that's what I would call part of living, but it's something you don't want to do again.

Description

Mr. Wonnacott discusses an encounter with a flak-ship, and about fear in combat.

Eri (Bill) Wonnacott

Eri Wonnacott was born in Edmonton, Alberta on September 16, 1919. He was the oldest of 3 siblings; one sister and two brothers. His family lived through some very rough times during the Depression. He joined the RCAF air crew and became a navigator. He also spent some time as a training officer. After leaving the service, Mr. Wonnacott worked for Lever Brothers and later become a CEO of one of their companies.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:32
Person Interviewed:: Eri (Bill) Wonnacott
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: Bomber Command
Occupation:: Navigator

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Encounter with a flak-ship

Heroes Remember