Six More Confirmed

Heroes Remember

Six More Confirmed

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Transcript

I was leading a yellow section. At this point I had become a flight commander in the squadron and I was leading a yellow section in a squadron climb. We were climbing to, to support some bombers going into Germany and as we got to about 13,000 feet we ran into a cloud layer and about the same time we were told that, that there were a large bunch of enemy fighters ahead of us about eight miles, climbing up towards the bombers. So our squadron commander called for max power and climb and we were in cloud and when I broke out of cloud at 21,000 feet I wasn't with the rest of the squadron. We had become separated in the, in the cloud. But as I broke cloud I could see a large formation of 190s. And I called them out to the squadron commander and told him that I was attacking. The four of us dropped our tanks, our long range tanks and went after the 190s, or pardon me the 109s. They, they were in line of stern and climbing and I climbed, we climbed in behind them and I opened fire on the last one with my cannon at about 1,500 yards I guess. I might add that we had gyro gun sights at this point in time. That's how I knew what the range was, and I knew the cannon would probably get there. I just fired the cannon alone, not the machine guns and I got a couple of strikes on him, on the aircraft. I could see the flashes. And the canopy came off and he bailed out.

Description

Before the end of his first tour of duty in August 1944, Mr. Lindsey accumulated another 6 aircraft "confirmed kills" and a further 4 "probables". He recalls the one mission that especially stands out in his memory - a mission that resulted in his shooting down three enemy aircraft.

James Douglas Lindsey

Mr. Lindsey was born in Arnprior, Ontario, and spent his early years on a reservation in Quebec, returning to Arnprior for his schooling. He was active in school sports. He had one younger sister who died of cancer when she was about 38 years old. His father was in the lumber and logging business as was his grandfather. Mr. Lindsey's father was a Regimental Sergeant Major during the First World War and was active in the 42nd Renfrew Regiment Reserves after his First World War service. Mr. Lindsey tried to enlist when the Second World War was declared but was turned down because of his age. He was finally accepted by the RCAF at the age of 17 years with the condition that he complete his schooling first. Eventually, he received training in Toronto and Trenton, Ontario, and Victoriaville, Quebec. It was then on to Chatham, New Brunswick, for pilot training at the Elementary Flying School and additional training at CFB Summerside, PEI. He was then posted back to Trenton to train as a pilot instructor.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:24
Person Interviewed:: James Douglas Lindsey
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: France
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 127 Wing - 403 Squadron
Rank:: Squadron Leader
Occupation:: Pilot

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Date modified:: 2019-06-20