The Conversion to a Heavier Aircraft

Heroes Remember

The Conversion to a Heavier Aircraft

Transcript

I went from Stafford to Heavy Conversion Unit, 1667 HCU, and from there, we converted... By that time, we had crewed up, you see. I knew when I left Stafford who my pilot was, my navigator, by bomb aimer, my wireless operator. It was just a case then of going from the twin engines, which were becoming redundant because they were moving to the heavier air craft, to, we went to Halifaxes, the Handley Page Halifax was a four-engine, radial engine air craft and it had a full crew: two gunners, a flight engineer, seven all toll. That was, of course, mainly to give the pilot experience in fours as opposed to twin engine air craft and the heavier air craft naturally being more difficult to control, to handle. So, we went to, as I say, to ECU and while the rest of the crew were doing conversion, the gunners went to a place called Ingham, which was a gunnery school, for two weeks intensive training on the new turrets because it was a totally new thing. The mid-upper, the Fraser Nash 51 and the rear- turret was the Fraser Nash 20, FN 20. So we had to have experience in these particular turrets with their gun emplacements and so on. They were a bit larger in size, for one thing. You had a bit more space. But then you were carrying a bit more gear too. Not a great deal of difference in the actual mechanical operation. Size and versatility and of course the mid-upper was new because we had no mid-upper turret at the OTU. So, that was a new experience for me getting into a mid-upper turret as opposed to the rear turret. Looking back, it seemed rather haphazard. There might have been cases where a couple of members of a crew-to-be had formed a particular association, a particular friendship so they decided Like, in my case now, Jimmy James who was my fellow gunner, we'd met at Stafford for the first time. We had not done any training together prior to that. He had trained in Rhodesia, actually, South Africa. But we formed a relationship that we felt that we would make a good team as far as the gunnery team on our air craft was concerned. So we decided we would try to stay together. Now, in the mean time, Frank Fish and Johnny Bishell and Mike Blake -three Canadians who were crewing up there - they had formed a similar relationship and it was a case then of going around then and picking somebody you like the look of sort of thing and hoping that things would turn out. And that's how the crews were formed. It's amazing how people who, prior to that, didn't even know that the other existed, could still come together and form a group that would be totally, totally together.

Description

Mr. Cole describes the conversion from twin engine aircraft to the four engine Halifax at 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU)

Raymond Boyd Cole

Raymond Boyd Cole was born in Elliston on July 14, 1924. His father worked in the United States and then at a papermill in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, when Raymond Cole was one month old. Mr. Cole grew up in Newfoundland.

In 1941, Mr. Cole finished grade 11 and was 17 years old in July of that year. He wanted to be a fighter pilot so in 1942 he signed up for the air force by altering his birth certificate. He received his wings on November 12, 1943. He found out later that he was not to become a pilot, but he did become an air gunner.

Mr. Cole spent three weeks at #1 Air Gunners Ground Training School (AGGTS). He then spent six weeks at #9 Bombing and Gunnery School (BGS). Following #9 BGS he went overseas. Further training includes #30 Operation Training Unit (OTU) and then 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) where he made the conversion from twin engine aircraft to heavier, four engine aircraft with seven crew members.

Mr. Cole flew as an air gunner in over twenty operations with as much as one thousand aircraft in some. He was involved in the Normandy Campaign and many of the missions were heavy concentration bombings of the Ruhr Valley, which was a heavy industrial area.

Mr. Cole completed his flying tour (thirty operations) and went on to do three more operations afterwards. One to help his crew finish up their tour and then volunteered for another two. He worked as an orderly and as a truck driver for a while before returning to Grand Falls, after three and a half years overseas. Afterwards, he became a minister.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 04:04
Person Interviewed:: Raymond Boyd Cole
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 166th Airborne
Rank:: Corporal
Occupation:: Air Gunner

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The Conversion to a Heavier Aircraft

Heroes Remember