Strange Aircraft

Heroes Remember

Strange Aircraft

Transcript

The first time the 262s were encountered over Europe was one of he squadrons on our wing they got one and they reported a strange aircraft smoking black smoke and going like hell, but anyhow they somehow got him. And up to this point no one had known about a 262, a German jet or that the Brits had jets, but we heard about this 262 being shot down, but that was just about the end of it. They brought out a few pictures of the air craft, black and whites, that were drawn from what source I don't know, but what really brought it to a head and blew the lid off it was one of our chaps, not in my squadron, but one of the chaps from one of the air fields was flying, taking a Spitfire back to England, we always flew armed in or out of the theatre, was were taking a Spitfire back to England for repair and overhaul and a jet, according to the description, you know, streaming black smoke and going like hell. Only this one wasn't dark, it was white and it jumped him just as he was coming in over the channel. So he gave a quick 360, a quick turn around and get on the tail and he damaged this. And it turned out to be a Gloster Meteor. Nobody had told us about Meteors. Nobody had told us that there were British jets in the air. Well the ext day the intelligence people had diagrams and schematics and everything else with the 262s and the Gloster Javelin or Meteor. All of a sudden all these things came out from under wraps, great intelligence.

Description

Mr. Ireland describes learning about the new German 262 and British Meteor jet fighters.

Elgin Gerald Ireland

Elgin Gerald Ireland was born in Shelbourne, Ontario, on January 12, 1921. He was the eldest in a family of seven. Because his father was a farmer, his family survived the depression in relative comfort. Mr. Ireland lived close to an airfield, and was fascinated by the thought of flying. When the family farm was sold, Mr. Ireland felt no obligation to stay home, and in April, 1941, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was groomed as a pilot, and did his elementary training at St. Eugene, flying the Fleet Finch. He moved on to St. Hubert, learned to fly the Harvard aircraft, and then moved on to Trenton where he was a flight instructor for one and a half years. Mr. Ireland reached England as a member of a Hurricane squadron, but soon transferred to 411 Spitfire Squadron. He flew air to ground combat at Falaise Gap and Nijmegen, while at the same time engaging the Luftwaffe in air to air warfare. For his efforts, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Netherlands Flying Cross. After the liberation of Europe, Mr. Ireland volunteered for the Tiger Force, an air group which was to aid in the war against Japan. Mr. Ireland remained in the air force, returning to the Trenton Flying School. He was one Canada’s first pilots to fly the Vampire, F-86 Sabre, and CF-100 jet fighters. After spending four years as Canada’s CF-100 Squadron Commander in France, he returned to 409 Squadron at Comox, British Columbia, where he was promoted to Camp Commander. It was at that point that British Columbia became his family home.

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