Becoming a Fighter Pilot

So you had decided to become a fighter pilot, return to Canada, where did you go? Oh, where did I go, I had to pay off my debts. I was a teacher for a few months at St. George's school, I was a duties master for a couple months at Fairbridge Farm School on Vancouver Island, this is a school for children, orphans from England. And then having not made quite enough money, I went into Britannia Mines and went on contract as a mucker, where you could make a lot of money. And as soon as I paid off my debts I joined. I applied in October 1940, I didn't get called up until February ‘41. So, then where did I go? I went to Brandon, from the time I joined the Air Force it, made clear to me that there were two or three different categories of people. Now I was older, I was 23 by this time, I was an old man, and the chances, my chances of becoming a fighter pilot were not as good as that of a 19 or 20 year old. So I had to somehow demonstrate, in my training, and this, my flying instructor made this clear to me, I'd had to demonstrate that I was, I have an idea I'm talking too much, I had to demonstrate that I was not completely responsible, I, not that I, well, I was not sufficiently responsible to be a member of a team. I, I, I couldn't lead men, I mean, so being irresponsible and learning to be a good pilot that left me only on single engine air, I mean, they came to the conclusion, even though it, service flying, I trained on Cessna cranes, which were twin engined and everybody on my class went to Bomber Command or twin or four engine things. I was the only one, because of the fuss I went deliberately AWOL on the advice of my flying instructor, I learned how to low fly to scare the living daylights out of the man who gave me, anyway I did stupid things, to prove that I was the best pilot in world but I was completely unreliable, you couldn't trust this fella. The only thing you could do was send them up in the sky, so I, I got there.

Mr. Sager describes the interesting story of how he was the only member of his flight school class that became a fighter pilot while all of the other students went into Bomber Command.

Arthur Hazelton Sager

Mr. Sager was born in Hazelton, BC, where his father was working as a medical missionary. He was the eldest boy in his family, growing up with two brothers and four sisters. He and his family were pacifists (against war). Mr Sager quit school at age seventeen and went to work in a gold mine. At the outbreak of war Mr. Sager was living in London, England, working as a professional actor, as well as a reporter and had the opportunity to interview Jews and other people that had fled mainland Europe. The stories he heard from these people led to the changing of his pacifist attitudes. Mr. Sager also had two brothers who served, one in the Royal Canadian Navy and the other in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Mr. Sager joined the RCAF and flew many combat missions over Europe. He had a very successful career earning the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) with bars, and his flying record at the end of the war stood at six destroyed, two probable and five damaged. By the end of the war, Mr. Sager was made a commanding office After the war Mr. Sager also had a distinguished career as a private citizen. Among his many jobs, he spent twenty years working for the United Nations as Project Manager for developing countries, as well as a member of the Executive of the Royal Canadian Air Force Association.

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:37
Person Interviewed:: Arthur Hazelton Sager
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Canada
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 416, 421, 443 Squadron
Rank:: Flight Commander
Occupation:: Pilot

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