My Years in the Royal Canadian Air Force - Part 9 [In the Spitfire] By Ronald Gaudet I arrived at 83 G.S.U. Bognor Regis on 1 Sept. and flew on the 5th. I thought the Spit V was good after the Hurricane but this Spit 1X was something else. The first thing I tried was the maximum rate of climb and when I figured it was really climbing I looked at the airspeed and had to pull the stick back more as it was still not enough. The initial rate of climb was 4100 ft. per min. and the proper speed 180 m.p.h. I was almost at 14000 ft. when the engine let out a loud roar and my head banged into the headrest which made me think something had gone wrong but everything seemed to be working right and then realized that the supercharger had kicked in at 13,700 ft. Before this we had to change speed ourselves now it was automatic. It gave me a real sense of security to think there was enough power to pull around 4 tons of aircraft almost vertically up. There was almost 1700 hp. in this Merlin 66. After this I flipped it upside down to see if the engine would keep going as we were told it would due to a new negative G carburetor and of course it never missed a beat. One day three of us were up practising formation flying as if we were leaders of sections and at this particular time the leader of the three sections had us flying on his left. He dove down and skimmed over a beach to get a look at the bathing beauties and this put me as number two at the end of a pier. There were three young people on the end waving at me as I approached them. As I was determined not to break formation I went by the end of the pier standing on my left wing to clear it. The three were lying down when I looked back. We switched to tail chase and this time I was number three when the leader decided to do aerobatics but didn't tell us. He dove down and picked up speed and pulled up to do a roll off the top however number two let his throttle come back and felt her start to stall so fell to the right. On seeing this as I couldn't see No. one I pulled back my throttle and the stick going over on my back. Then the strangest thing happened as the kite began to oscillate as if it was tied by the tail and swinging back and forth. I would see the sky, then the horizon, the ground, the horizon, and sky again. This went on for about four times and still no air-speed, the stick and control column were the same as being on the ground so had no control of the kite. Was at around 15,000 ft. when I started and now was at 8,000 so had do something quick. Opened the throttle and soon felt life in the controls and got some speed up and pulled out. I was posted to 443 Sqdn. on 30 September after 7 hr. 55 min. on Spit 1X. I flew to B82 Grave in Holland in an Anson and joined the Squadron on 30 Sept. On the 2 October I was sitting on the Honey Bucket when a Me 262 Jet dropped an anti-personnel canister in the middle of our tents, I got a small piece in the arm but was lucky as I had just left the spot where most of the bombs hit. I was helping a new arrival I knew at Bognor to find his kit and was right beside him when I was taken short and ran for the bucket. He heard a noise and looked up to see one of the bombs coming right at him but his legs were jammed in the kit bags so he just fell backwards. The bomb landed between his knees and took a big piece out of each one. I saw him later in England. He was on crutches but was going to be all right. These canisters had something like 200 small bombs that could be thrown out at a pre-set height above ground and spewed all over the place. There were 35 of us hit by this one canister full but only one fatally. Another was killed by the H.E. dropped at the same time which hit under a Spit he was working on. The Germans were dropping them about every day to annoy us I guess and after awhile we would hear the pop in the air when the canister blew open. By the same token if a Spit or motorcycle backfired we hit the muddy deck as it sounded like one. The Merlin would do this when the throttle was pulled all the way back but after two or three days this stopped as everybody was careful not to close it too far on landing. October Operations: 4 High Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 4 High Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 5 High Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 5 High Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 10 min. 5 High Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 10 min. 5 High Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 20 min. 6 High Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 10 min. 6 High Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 20 min. 7 Low Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 5 min. 7 Low Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 15 min. 7 Low Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 7 Low Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 9 Low Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 10 DAWN PATROL Nijmegen - 1 hr. 10 min. 11 Low Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 10 min. 11 Low Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 5 min. 12 Low Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 5 min. 12 Low Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 20 min. 13 Low Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 10 min. 13 Low Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 14 High Patrol Nijmegen - 1 hr. 20 min. 22 Holland to Belgium - 1 hr. 28 Escorted 30 Mitchells to Deventer - 1 hr. 45 min. 29 Escorted 30 Mitchells to Deventer - 1 hr. 45 min. 30 Escorted 30 Mitchells to Zwolle - 1 hr. 55min. November Operations 3 Area cover bombers at Venlo - 1 hr. 30 min. 4 B58 to B56 - 20 min. 11 Escorted Bostons to Oldenzaal - 2 hrs. 18 Patroled Roermond 16000 ft - 1 hr. 20 min. 21 Patroled Weert - 2hrs. One day I was talking with one of the ground crew and looking down in the slit trench beside us he noticed three mice in it. I had a Webbly .455 revolver and pulled it out and with two shots killed two mice and he said, "Not three out of three." and of course I missed the next one but got him with the next. I felt pretty good until I looked around at the rest of the men who were getting up out of the mud as they thought it was bombs. They said not a word but if looks could kill I would not be here today. Sounds funny now but it was not then. Went by truck to pick up a Spit from the field we had just left and the Yanks were there and as it was dinner time they asked me to eat and had hot dogs which was a real treat for me as had not eaten one in three years. They also were sorry they couldn't give me some ice cream as they just moved in and the machine was not set up yet. We moved out of tents on the field due to mud and rain on the 5th to an Old Peoples Home in Grave. Of course there were no people in there as the water mains were bombed out and no heat. We did a lot of patrols over Nijmegan while here. One of these we were over the town and making my scan of the sky saw a Me 262 coming down in a vertical dive and opening his bomb doors. He dropped them right in front of us the cheeky so and so. I didn't know until after that I was the first to spot him. My number one and I broke off and dove down on him but he was pouring the fuel to his kite and pulling away from us. Suddenly there was some things flying by me and thought at first we had been jumped but it was empty 20 mm casings as number one was firing at him. After we landed number one pilot told me he fired at about 1000 yards and who knows I could have hit him with a lot of luck. We went to Nijmegan to have a shower and one of those days some of us had just finished and were in the truck waiting for the others to come out and an Artillery shell landed close to the truck. A piece of shrapnel was coming right at us and we ducked but it hit a tree limb and glanced off in another direction. The rest were not long in getting aboard. We moved to another other part of the city. Art our S/Ldr. wanted to know if we wanted to pick some apples and get some eggs and some of us said yes. We came to a bridge and the driver of his Jeep said if you want to cross that you can but I won't drive you as it was being shelled at the time and shells were landing on both sides of it. We didn't blame him so Art took the wheel and away we went. We came to a farm that was abandoned and picked a couple bushels of apples and found some eggs and killed a few chickens. When we got back to base someone had shot two rabbits and nobody knew how to skin them so told them to get me a couple of nails and I would do it. They got the nails and I drove them in a tree while the rest stood around and watched until I opened up the belly to take out the innards then they gagged and left. A couple of the boys had picked a pail and a half of mushrooms so that night we had a big supper for a change. We decided to have a party for the whole Squadron in our hangar and was a captured canvas covered mobile type. Someone went to Antwerp and picked up 200 bottles of champagne and three barrels of beer. They put on a little show as well. On entering the hangar each person was handed a bottle of champagne and they were pouring it in their mess cups drinking it like water. They were saying this stuff has no kick to it but on pulling the corks it sounded like pistol shots and the corks were bouncing off the roof. Someone near Johnny Erwin said if someone fired a gun in there nobody would know the difference so of course Johnny pulled out with his 38 and fired a shot in the ground and nobody noticed except me as I was sober. Also, I smelled the cordite. By ten o'clock some of them were passing out, in fact I was talking to one of the ground crew and suddenly his eyes rolled up and he passed out and I grabbed him before he hit the ground. We started to load them in a truck and took them to their tents and on the way to one of them we pasted a Jeep as Stevie was looking out the side. He yelled for the driver to stop which he did and Stevie talked five of the others into helping him push this out as he knew who it belonged to. He got in and started it up and put it in four wheel drive and the guys were all pushing towards the center of the vehicle while he was flooring the throttle first forward and then reverse. The mud was deep and flying all over so the ones in front and back were covered from head to toe. After 20 min. we talked them back in the truck. We dropped off a couple more and started back and of course passed the same Jeep. Stevie saw it and stopped the driver again. And a couple of us tried to tell him it was the same one and his answer was, "I am not drunk the other one was going the other way". So they spent another 20 min trying. All this time Johnny Erwin was sitting on the floor by the tailgate and periodically pull himself up and say, "Get some puking time in." and spew over the tailboard. We were moved on 5 October into an old peoples home in Grave as nobody was living there as there was no water or heat but we still ate at the mess by the field. The next morning Stevie and his helpers could stand their uniforms up and the dried mud would almost keep them standing on their own. When we moved out there were two or three uniforms still lying in a bathtub. One day we were in a Jeep going to the Ops. tent and had just crossed the road down to a low spot before climbing a rise to the field level when we heard some bombs coming down. The Jeep was loaded and I was in the middle of the back seat but by the time everybody else got out it was no use my getting out as it was all over. Johnny Irwin went out through the V strut to the top and his foot caught in the bottom of the V and was being dragged along as the driver jumped out also. It did not go very far and stalled so I was the only one not all muddy. It was our friendly ME 262 again and he dropped a couple of bombs as usual, one High Explosive the other an Anti-Personnel. The H.E. landed under a Spit and set it on fire. There was ammunition going off for a few minutes flying all over the place. The rain continued and we were forced to move to Brussels on the 22 October as the field here was grass and getting too boggy to support the kites. In fact I was the last to leave the ground. My number one and I were on the field doing our check before take-off and he was having a poor reading on the magneto check so waved me on but I signalled I would wait to see if he would go or not. Just at that moment we heard a canister pop up above us. I could see his hand shove the throttle open and shoved mine also. When my tail came up there was a large puddle in front of me and I thought here I go on my back, as there was no room to go around it; however, at this moment she started to bounce and so was almost airborne. I pulled gently back on the stick and she just hopped over the puddle and hit the other side and bounced and I was in the air again safely.

My Years in the Royal Canadian Air Force Part 9 [In the Spitfire]