Rodney, William: my Air Force recollections (March 10, 2005)
Interviewee: Rodney, William
An interview/narrative of William Rodney's experiences during World War II. Flight Lieutenant Rodney served with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Interview took place on March 10, 2005.
Interviewer: Nicks, Jennifer
Rank: Flight Lieutenant.
ABSTRACT: Flight Lieutenant William Rodney TRACK 1 Interest in Airplanes led to enlisting for Air Force. Saw the War as a prolonged agony. (4 minutes) Education - finished high school, enlisted at 17 called up when he turned 18. Education offered during the war was only a variety of training for the war effort. Education after the war was on one's own initiative. (6 minutes) Met people from all over the world during time in service. Traveled on leave to see England. Trained on Tiger Moths, (biplane) to fly it properly one had to have care and attention. Multiple engine training on Cessna Crane's. Odd aircraft because it was light. Anson's had manual undercarriage, which allowed for developing ones right arm. Hampton's were used later in training. Some people were better at conversion than others since they had natural aptitudes. (10 minutes) Hampton's were single seaters, (pilot's airplane); its reputation was uncalled for. Nice airplane to fly. Problems were based in poor handling, (self induced). Not able to have dual instruction, learned cockpit drill, squeezed in behind pilots seat to attempt to see what the pilots was doing, then sent on their own. (13 minutes) Conversion to Wellington, Halifax, and Lancaster they received dual instruction. Wellington was a durable old aircraft. (15 minutes) One engine was cut soon after takeoff for training in case an engine was lost. Actually lost an engine one day and was able to get the plane settled. His anger was able to get them out of it. (18 minutes) Training had worked. Briefed about some things such as remedial actions. One had to use their own mind and senses. No directive for every issue. TRACK 2 Real airplanes existed fifty years ago but not today. In the past one had to have lots of training to make the aircraft do anything. (2 minutes) Technology has made things easier; pilots are not as well trained today as former pilots were. Pilots had never been upside down or spun in an airplane today. (5 minutes) Briefings. Base was a small village. Map of Europe was on the wall of the briefing room. Given target, route, nature of topography, turning points and informed or any markers. (7 minutes) Saw very few if any markers depended on good flying and navigator as well as rest of crew. Object was to fly accurately, drop the bomb, and hold steady long enough to take a picture. The Picture would have shown where you had dropped your bomb in relation to the target. (9 minutes) Stay low to prevent damage, since many attacks came from below. Germans flew 200-300 feet below and fired at the wing tanks. Gave crew 30-55 seconds to get out of the aircraft. Did not want anyone underneath, thus flew low. Sent to General Reconnaissance School in Summerside PEI - all pilots were there to learn navigation skills. Did chart with navigator, carried map in his flying boot for reference. (13 minutes) Supposed to go to coastal command because of his training - compares costal command to bomber command. (15 minutes) Discusses orders and their applicability. TRACK 3 Pilots used what they had, did not have a chance to complain. Halifax Mark 3 was his preference. Lancaster's were overgrown Anson that anyone could fly. Halifax had teething problems. Crew was better situated in the aircraft. Escape hatch was in a better position. (2 minutes) Halifax and Sterling were better to escape from. Higher survival rate - around 20% while Lancaster's were only around 12%. Radial engines were quieter and better performing. Lancaster never out of Great Britain. Lancaster pilot could not land a Halifax. (5 minutes) Halifax was preferable. Improving technology during the war, was it done fast enough and efficiently enough? Junior ranks just used what they had and did not have much choice, yet some did have preferences as to what aircraft they flew. (8 minutes) Aircraft was modern for the time but crude by modern standards. You could complain that your aircraft was not the newest or the hottest but there was not much that you could do about it. (9 minutes) D-Day experiences. Had to take out a key position and they flew in horrible weather. They were able to impair it but were unable to destroy it as planned. When leaving they could see the activity of D-Day. Flew second operation to Utah beach, took out transportation railways and communication lines. (12 minutes) Air Force reassured the Navy - Navy has always been concerned about getting shot at! He went to Cambridge to University, but remained with 418 squadron on reserve. Had a variety of aircraft such as Harvard, Expeditor, and Mitchell. Flew on weekends and nights while going to school. Had more flying time as reserve officer than anyone else on the reserves. (15 minutes) Hitting the `wrong' target - not worried, big targets did you hit the aiming point? Many crews may have agreed to avoid areas of significance such as cathedrals. (18 minutes) Mine Brest Harbour- bottle up any German Naval Units. Used mines that could not be diffused - would go safe after certain time period so that they would not affect the Allied advance. Navy came into brief them on the nature of the mines and the operation. Got temporary Bomb aimer, who was the naval sub-lieutenant. The Group Captain stuttered, and always used to wish good luck this night he reminded the troops that they only provide name number and rank. Went out at 2 or 3 in the morning for the long flight. (22 minutes) Piped the naval officer aboard the aircraft. Dropped mines from 1500 ft with navigational and visual skills. Needed control of airspeed since the bomb bay doors needed to be adjusted to close properly. They flew down toward the ground and were able to lose the Germans defences. Once the aircraft was down they would reduce airspeed. Returned home to a beautiful morning. Never saw the naval bomb aimer again. (26 minutes) still stay in contact with his crew.
- In Collection:
- 2 sound recordings (MP3)
- 48.69096, 9.14062
- 52.16045, -0.70312
- One original audio cassette ; 1 digital audio MiniDisc in Special Collections.
- Canadian Military Oral History Collection
- RW_448
- Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection
- December 4, 2012
- Digital sound recording in .wav format at 16 bits and 44 kHz. In .mp3 format at 56 kbps and 24 kHz. Digitized by JF, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview migrated to digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2012. Migration metadata by KD and MT.
- Rights
- This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca
- DOI
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