By Land and By Air

After the European war, when bombing was studied, as we were still fighting Japan, John Kenneth Galbraith in his book on the investigation, said that the most damaging and useful bomb dropped in the war was dropped by a crew that had missed the target and had struck a bridge 20 miles from Koln. I checked my log, and that was the night we dropped the tied up bomb - apparently it completely collapsed the bridge and tied up transportation on the Rhine River for a month. I called up the Pilot in Toronto and said, ”We can forget the blame for bombing the bridge.”

The only time that the Pilot and I had any disagreement was one time during an earlier flight - he called up asking for a course, as he could see planes turning in the moonlight. I said, ”Not for 10 minutes do we turn,” and he said, ”I am turning,” and I said, ”Do so, and you find your own way home, and if there is any trouble, you take the blame.” So he turned. I was so mad, but I kept track of the course by dead reckoning, as he was not on a steady course. Some time later he asked for a course, as he had lost sight of all the other planes. At first I said, ”No,” but then I considered, ”Who am I harming, myself and the rest of the crew." The next day there was Hell for those who turned short. All I said was, ”Ask the Pilot, he turned on his own." Apparently he was told, ”Shape up, as we will decide who the Captain will be” - only one other time he called up and said ”I feel we are going back to Germany.” I looked down, and I was about 10 degrees off. Ijust produced the next track and turned when I hit it, but I could see the value of team work.

It was a known fact that the whole crew felt that we had the best Pilot on the station - we appreciated his handling of the Lancaster - our plane was (G) George and he never spared the engines, as he knew the life of G

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