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Description
Mr. Yarnell describes encounters with German ME - 109's and Focke Wulf 190's in Italy and talks about the differences between the planes.
Cyrill St. Clair (Cy) Yarnell
M. Yarnell est né le 9 août 1920 à Carlow, en Irlande. Il a déménagé au Canada à l'âge de 8 ans. Il s'est enrôlé dans l'Aviation royale du Canada (ARC) en 1940 à l'âge de 20 ans. Il a suivi la formation initiale de pilote à Victoriaville (Québec), où il a appris à piloter le Fleet Finch pour enfin maîtriser le Harvard. Il a suivi la formation d'instructeur de vol à Trenton et formé des pilotes d'un grand nombre de pays. Après avoir été instructeur pendant un an, M. Yarnell a été envoyé outre-mer. Il a effectué des missions aériennes au-dessus de l'Afrique du Nord, de l'Italie et de l'Allemagne et participé aux batailles de la vallée du Liri et de Monte Cassino. Après la guerre, il est demeuré dans l'Aviation royale du Canada (ARC). Lorsqu'il a pris sa retraite de l'ARC en 1975, M. Yarnell avait le grade de colonel. Il est membre de l'Association des Forces aériennes du Canada et participe activement aux activités du musée de l'Aviation de Trenton. M. Yarnell et son épouse, Phyllis, ont trois enfants, sept petits-enfants et un arrière-petit-enfant.
Transcription
At that time the German Air Force was, not, they were, they had other duties elsewhere but particularly over Anzio we would get forty or fifty coming in at a time and on one occasion there were eight of us being led by our flight commander, and we were coming in from the south and there was about fifty 109's and Focke-Wulf 190's and we just happened to get stuck in. It started at about 28,000 feet and it was just a complete mess and I never saw so many black crosses in my life as they went by and you’d lose altitude and I ended up on the deck, chasing a 190 that was trying to get back north of Rome and we were literally on the deck and I just was unloading everything, and I finally got him. The fella just pulled up and crashed. So that was a 190 and then another one on the same day, on another day, I got a 109 damaged. We had nothing but respect for the Focke-Wulf 190, a fine aircraft, radial engine and also the 109. It was pretty fast, not as quite as maneuverable as the Spit but fine aircraft. And they were excellent, excellent pilots. We had nothing but respect for them, they were good. I think the Spit was more maneuverable because of the elliptical wing but when it came to speed and particularly in a dive, the 109 was pretty damn good, Messerschmitt and then the Focke-Wulf too. Nothing but respect for them.