Combat Roles in North Africa

Heroes Remember

Combat Roles in North Africa

Transcript

There was two things patrolling El Alamein. One of them was to stop the Stuka bombers that were bombing our troops at the time. That was one of our chores. The second, they wanted to give the British troops confidence that the air force was there. At Dunkirk, the British complained bitterly that they never saw a British airplane. Well, they wanted to assure the army, the 8th Army, that there would be airplanes protecting them. So we had two functions but for the second function, we had to fly around 12-15,000 feet which brought us into the range of the anti-aircraft guns and we did get well peppered with anti-aircraft fire. One other thing we did at this stage it was kind of a static time. They were both waiting to get enough equipment and provisions up to the front lines so there wasn't a lot of ground fighting, but in the air force what we used to do is go out to to the Mediterranean, try and get under radar and then sweep behind the German lines and strafe the German troops in their tents. We did that for quite a while and then the Germans caught onto us and were waiting for us and they just about shot up every airplane that we sent over so we stopped that manoeuvre. After they had, the British had broken through the El Alamein line and driven the Germans back which was a two thousand mile trip and they followed, there's a strip of asphalt right from Cairo right through to Tunisia and this is where most of the traffic was going along this road. We were sent to a secret aerodrome, right about 250 miles behind the German lines and we were to strafe the German trucks and tanks, etc., and we did this for a week and then the Germans caught on. We thought, well, we better get out of this secret aerodrome so we got back to base. But it was the first time I think that the air force had carried out a manoeuvre such as that so it was exciting to us and I think it showed that the air force could do other than just straight air force type operations.

Description

Mr. Wilson itemizes the Royal Air Force's role at El Alamein, namely neutralizing German Stuka dive bombers, supporting the infantry, and strafing German troops and road traffic.

Gordon Wilson

Gordon Wilson was born on December 5, 1917 in Limerick, Saskatchewan. The Royal Canadian Air Force was no longer accepting recruits when he enlisted so he joined the Royal Regina Rifles. Six months later, Mr. Wilson joined the Royal Canadian Air Force at Brandon, Manitoba. His first wartime deployment saw him serving in North Africa near El Alamein, where he initially flew Hurricanes in a Royal Air Force squadron. He later piloted Spitfire 9’s in Sicily, Italy and the Middle East. After the war, Mr. Wilson completed a university degree and became a museum curator.

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