Inexperienced Allies Made for Bolder Germans

Heroes Remember

Inexperienced Allies Made for Bolder Germans

Transcript

We were very interested in what the First Army was doing and we could see that they were having great difficulties in the air. They had Spitfires hit, but they were inexperienced, you see. And now, they’re running into those desert pilots, 109's types, and they’re doing things to them that they would never do to us, see. They wouldn’t come over to our air fields. They’re attacking and when they’re escorting and shooting them down. And in another case, the Americans also had those, they were there with them and they had the Air Cobras, Bell Air Cobras, and they were having difficulty with these Air Cobras and I remember their wing leader came into our base, one day and asked us, my RCO, how we operated on bombing and strafing missions, you see. Cause they were just getting all shot down. And we found out that they were going out at, you know two or three thousand feet over Hun lines and expecting to surprise them. Anyway, it wasn’t working. They were doing everything wrong, and so we had to instill in them that you had to know the country, you had to know where the troops were, and you had to do it by surprise. And you very seldom went back for a second trip unless it was very important, cause they were going to shoot you down.

Description

With the Americans pushing from the West and the British from the South, pressure was building on the Germans in Tunisia, but the lack of experience of some pilots made things difficult for the Allies.

James Francis Edwards

Mr. Edwards was born on a farm near Lockwood, Saskatchewan on June 5th 1921. His father, a First World War Veteran, kept horses until the depression forced him to move the family to Battleford where he became an insurance salesman. His mother had been a nurse during the First World War. In June 1940, Mr. Edwards enlisted in the Air Force. He was sent to the Brandon, Manitoba to do his Initial Training, then to Edmonton, Alberta for Flying School. After completing Flying School, Mr. Edwards was sent to overseas. He was assigned to 55 Operational Training Unit in Osworth, England where he flew Hurricanes. From there he was posted to Africa to take part in the Desert Campaign. Among many battles and operations, he took part in the El Alamein Battle (Egypt) and the Tunisian Campaign. In Egypt, he was promoted to Flight Lieutenant. After a period in Cairo running a gunnery school, he was called back to combat in Italy. There he fought in the Battle of Ortona and Anzio and he was given his own squadron, the RAF 274. He was shot down on his first flight as squadron commander. Surviving, he and his crew were sent back to England to take part in D-Day. He would also fight in Holland and Germany. In total, Mr. Edwards served two tours of duty, flying over 360 missions. He had more than 19 confirmed kills. After the war was over he returned to Canada and continued service with the air force retiring as a wing commander.

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