My Years in the Royal Canadian Air Force - Part 1 [Initial Training] By Ronald Gaudet In the fall of 1940 as I was 21 at that time I was called up to do a months training in the army. We were due at Yarmouth on a Monday and to me the day started at 8 o'clock so left home on Sunday. Also when we arrived, Leroy Timot, Rupert Cann, Merrill Glavin, and I there were with about fifty more who thought the same. There was no one to meet us and a man was there with a dray with a yoke of oxen so we asked him where the army place was. He said "I am going past there" so some got on the dray and the rest walked behind. When we arrived at the building on Parade Street a group of officers were sitting on the steps. They asked what we were doing here and we told them we were reporting for training. They said " we were not expecting you until tomorrow". They called in some cooks and while waiting for the meal to cook they issued us with clothing and gave us a medical. We were shivering as there was no heat on. The next day we laid around as the rest of the men came in. Our group was in one side of the H hut. As we were all conscientious we got along fine with no fights between us. One night some had gone to town and somehow we started to try different ways of strength like pulling fingers etc. In the end I bested every one in the hut but every one was waiting for one man to come back and he was about 6'4" and they thought he would beat me however I bested him as well! The next day they were telling the Major when we were training in the field. I jokingly said I could out pull five people on each finger and he picked ten to prove I could not do it. Of course I did as I could out pull every one there. We had such a good time we hated to leave and were due to leave around 4:30 by train in the morning. Around twelve o'clock when all were asleep I jumped up and hollered every night some one came in late at night and tonight is my night and I went jumped from bed to bed and got them all up and they chased me out the windows and through the doors. We heard the orderly Officer and Sargent coming so we all jumped in bed. They shone their light on each bed and it was funny as some still had there boots on and pulled the blanket too far and their boots were showing but the two knew what was going on and they just grinned and left. On the train station platform in the morning some were having tears in their eyes as we certainly had a great time. They increased the training to four months and when I was home on my embarking leave for England mother gave me a letter from the military wanting to know why I had not reported for my next three months training. I told mother to tell them I was in England in the RCAF. I joined up on 18 February, 1941 in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the age of 22. They gave us a written test and a medical. One of the tests for the medical was to blow in a thistle tube and hold a column of mercury up to a certain mark for as long as possible with one breath. I did this and finally had to let go and the doctor yelled to the doctor in the next room, I had a sinking feeling that I had failed the test, he said, "I have a recruit here who just held the test for 90 seconds the first time." I asked him how long to pass the test and was told 45 seconds, and most have to try three or four times to pass. Had no problem at all so signed up and had one months leave without pay. I arrived at the Toronto Manning Depot in March. This was the exhibition grounds and for the first few days we were in the Automotive Building and were not allowed out only to eat. We were given shots and some of the boys were saying how they hurt. As I was way down the line from the doctors, |I had a lot of time to think about it. I was beginning to get a little bit concerned when up ahead of me four guys passed out before they reached the doctors. So, by the time I reached them my knees were shaking; however, stepped between them with my hands on my hips as told and waited to get hit but suddenly received a whack between the shoulders and told to move on as they have a lot of men to do. I never felt the needles. So much for fear of the unknown. We were then moved into the main building in what was formally the Bull Pens. We were taught the necessary drills for marching and how to dress properly and fit into Air Force life. We were so eager to learn that we bought practice Morse Code sets to learn to operate and this was later to cause me a lot of grief as I learned A as “dit da” instead of “da dit” which is A. One Saturday afternoon I went down to Sunny Side Amusement Park and came to a shooting gallery using pump-action 22 rifles. Never could resist trying this so, put down my quarter for I believe ten shots. There were two soldiers next to me with five or six girls that were oohing over their shooting although they were not aiming for the hard shots. They looked at me and made some remark, which I didn't hear and they all laughed I first tried the smallest gong to see if the rifle was true or not and it was. Next tried the moving ducks but it was too easy so moved to clay pipes going around on a spinning wheel but could still hit every one of them. The girls started to watch me so the two men took them and left giving me dirty looks. Then picked out the hardest target of all which had two ramps at about a forty-five degree angle, one at the left and one on the right side of the gallery. Steel balls were rolling down these every few seconds and the objective was to try and knock them off the ramp. After a few tries I could knock every other one off but not every one and about this time was low on money so had to leave. It was here in the training one learned not to volunteer as one day they asked if anyone could drive a truck so a group stepped up and they were told to pick up brooms and drive them around to clean up the place. Another time we were asked if anyone could play the piano and those that could were told to go to the third floor and carry one down to the first floor. At this time we saw FiFi the clown who was in uniform as a LAC (leading aircraft man) and we were told he was a Sergeant just a short time ago. He was going through the arena one day and a troop of recruits were there standing at ease, their Sergeant gone for some reason. FiFi called them to attention and told them the Medical Officer would be right along for a “short arms” inspection and to take out their penis as the Officer was in a hurry, then he left. Their Sergeant came back a few minutes later and wanted to know “what the hell” was going on. Needless to say FiFi lost his three hooks. We were posted from there to Trenton for guard duty where we were issued with Lee Enfield 303 cal. or Ross 306 cal. When on guard duty they issued us three rounds each and we soon found out the ammo. would be for the wrong rifles. When on duty at the main gate we were issued a 38 Smith and Wesson pistol and no ammo. One day they asked for volunteers to fill sandbags for the machine-gun emplacements and some of us, wanting to do something and tired of laying around, stepped forward. Did we ever get a surprise as the Sergeant let all the volunteers off for the afternoon and allowed us to go to town while the rest all filled sandbags. This was the only time I saw that happen. There was a plane from Little Norway (place near Toronto where pilots from Norway trained) which was missing and the call went out for help in finding them. They asked for volunteers to go up for extra eyes and I did, so had my first flight in an aircraft. It was in a Fairy- Battle and I was in the gunners seat in the rear so had a good view of the ground and all around without fear of any kind, as up to this time I wondered if I might have some problem that way. One day our Sergeant called us all in a group and told us word had come for fifty men to start a new course in pilot training and they had only twenty-five left of the group before us to go on it. He was going to draw the other twenty-five from our group and we put all our names in a hat and started to draw for those lucky enough to go. There were only four more to go and the next name was mine just as I was beginning to lose hope. From there I transferred to Eglington Hunt Club in Toronto for ITS (Initial Training School). Here we learned to do more marching drills and basics of flying. We also were put through tests in a height simulator up to 40,000 ft. They asked for a volunteer to go up without a mask on so I did. They gave me a pencil and paper and told me to write anything I wanted to but to keep writing until told to stop. So, I wrote my name over and over and at 22,000 ft. I dropped my pencil and leaned over to pick it up and started to write again and the Instructor asked if I wanted some oxygen and I said no as I had already passed out and came to again. I could see that I had scribbled the last Gaudet so knew I had passed out when I dropped the pencil and was given oxygen before I had picked it up. They told me I dropped the pencil and then bounced up and down on the seat and then my head flopped over and I passed out. However, I thought I had dropped the pencil and reached over and picked it up. The object of this was to show us what could happen to us if we had a lack of oxygen; for instance if an enemy plane came at us we may just wave a friendly hand at him or could be flying upside down believing we were right side up. We also had an E.C.G. while there. We also were tested for our lung capacity and then had to wait to see the doctor for more tests so, while we were waiting three of us decided to see who could blow the most. Murphy was a hockey player, Nitz was a wrestler and myself. I was the winner in the end but by the time we went in to see the doctor we were pretty well blown out. One Monday morning ,on parade in the drill hall, some of the men started passing out and others were weaving back and forth. After the parade was over we were discussing this and some of the ones next to me said, "What are you laughing at as we grabbed for you several times as we thought you were going to fall on your face then your back." I was not aware of this. Later on I began to feel pretty sick and things began to go around and men were falling here and there and taken to their beds. Finally, the Sergeant halted us and asked if anyone of us babies wanted to fall out to do so. And by this time being in the hot sun I went before I passed out. The men next to me said they didn't want to carry me so go and I did. Only those who stayed in camp over the week-end were sick and it was tracked down to one type of food served at the mess. Of course it was food poisoning but only lasted the day as next morning I was fine. One day on returning to billets there was a note on the bulletin board to report to the mail room immediately (this was underlined). I went there and while some distance from the mail window I could smell this terrible odour and they handed me this parcel and this was where the odour was coming from. It was from mother and had a jar of lobster meat and the cover had come loose and the lobster was rotten. It nearly broke my heart to throw it in the garbage.