Lang, Jim J.: my Air Force recollections (March 15, 2005)
ABSTRACT: Flight Lieutenant Jim Lang Royal Canadian Air Force Jim Lang.mp3 Mr. Lang's grandfather immigrated to Canada in 1910. Mr. Lang was born on Saltspring Island. Provides family details. Father joined Royal Navy and served in Middle-East. Returned 1920, but family orchard had been sold. Father took family to England to family manage saw mill. Schooled in Cheltenham and then as boarder at Dean Close. Motives for joining not related to Father wartime experience. Not due to patriotism. Survival in 1930s occupied his time. Talks of apprenticeships and state of English economy. The sport of rugby provided contacts which led him to Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps. September 1939 members of corps called up and "guarded the beaches of Bermuda to the best of our ability." Eventually became Second Lieutenant. Volunteer Rifle and local flying club trained up ten pilots. Governor of Bermuda shipped these ten off to Britain. Spent month on the water and was on water when Jarvis Bay was sunk. Met survivors in Halifax. Once in England joined the RAF. Entry rank Aircraftsman Class 1. From ITW (Initial Training Wing) went to Redding for Elementary Flying Training 2TEFTS. Explains training sequence. Awarded wings and went on to Operational Training. Trained on Bleinheims and eventually posted to a Mosquito squadron. Spring of 1942 twenty Mosquito crews put together "to see what the Mosquito was good for." Losses quite high during this period. Shot down 11 October 1942 over Utrecht. He and his navigator were no. 15 and 16 to be shot down. Hanover had been target. "Industrial areas only. I excuse it by saying that... nuisance raids only at that point." Asked to provide information regarding training geared towards survival and evasion. "Yes, on rainy days." Little emphasis given to this aspect. "It wasn't going to happen to us." Describes difficulty of exiting Mosquito. His version of being shot down quite different from that of his navigator. "I do not recall getting out of the aircraft." Hypoxia is possible explanation. Describes waking up floating downwards through cloud. Describes making contact with resistance. Pilots at this time were not aware that resistance groups existed; still early in the war. Safe house right next to German's officer's mess. Stayed there a week. Handed over to Dutch police and later to the Germans. From Amsterdam he was shipped to a processing centre. Interviewed by German officer then "spent the night in a jail with a lot of Germans in there for various violations of their own discipline.... No animosity at all, absolutely none." To Rotterdam then down Rhine to Frankfurt. At a second processing centre in Frankfurt, he was reunited with his navigator. Germans new quite a lot about the squadron and its personnel. Didn't attempt to extract information about the Mosquito. Once sufficient numbers of POWs were assembled they were shipped off to Stalag Luft 3. "We had the biggest hodgepodge of crooks and nationalities you could imagine.... the whole spectrum of the allies... make as big a nuisance as we could to the Germans." Went in to Stalag Luft 3 at age of 29, determined to keep fit; did not participate in courses that other POW were taking. "There were people who were bothered by the wire. They had jump into it... It didn't affect me that way.... I would join into the production of tunnels where I could fit in." Escape was not uppermost in his mind. "We used to beef like hell" about tunnellers. "I was a seasoned old Kriegie." Concerned about survival, not escape. Talks about Big X, Roger Bushell, who organized the Great Escape tunnel. "He was told that if he ever escape again they'd shoot him." Talks about his role in the construction of the tunnel; As a watchman he kept a tab on the ferrets (German guards); as a Penguin he distributed sand from the tunnel across the whole compound. Flt Lt Lang stresses that he did what he could to help, but did not want to escape. As for the escape "It was a waste, a terrible waste of good people. But I suppose it had to be done." SBO (Senior British Officer) great. American discipline not as good. Great relationships between the POWs. Cooperation that he hadn't seen before and hasn't seen since. Great Escape. news of the massacre. Effect on morale. "The German commandant was ashamed to say what he had to say." "And in the summer they started sending back the urns." Talks about the arrival of POWs who had been transferred from concentration camps. Mentions Art Kinnis, a Buchenwald survivor. More on the Great Escape. Was the sacrifice of good friends worth it? "Where we had inconvenienced the German army at the expense of fifty friends." In 1945 camp evacuated and moved north towards the Elbe. During Great March "we maintained the unit wherever we could." Marching north, everyone became more determined to live. Some animosity from German people. Guards and prisoners were in the same boat. The guard "was quite happy to be with us, marching in a safe situation." Alternative was the eastern front. Liberated by a single jeep. Commenting on the allied forces: "I'm sorry I saw a conquering army, because there was no discipline and it was horrible how they were treating the German civilians." Taken by truck from Lubeck near where 2nd Army was billeted. Given 5 pounds on eve of VE Day and went into Brussels. Had planned to go AOL, but 5 pounds didn't go far. On VE Day was flown to London. Didn't have anywhere to go so remustered. Sent to Luxor Egypt to serve as airport commander. No flying duties. Decided to take a couple of training flights and realized that flying was dangerous, was tired of the uniform, and requested transfer to Canada in time for the Salmon season. Vesuvius Lodge on Saltspring. Getting back into civilian life in Canada not easy. As former member of RAF, he was not able to get same benefits as members of the RCAF. Married, did an assortment of jobs. Under legislation passed in 1976, but only after a legal battle, Flt Lt. Lang recognized as eligible for POW benefits. Pension and lump sum allowed him to start over again in late seventies. "In retrospect, the experience of a POW is something that certainly help put things together in some sort of proportion....It stood me in good stead when I look at my fellow man and understood what my fellow man was doing for me in POW camp.... It did benefit me in many ways." Describes own life to that of his navigator. Describes what makes a good Mosquito crew. Pilot/navigator teamwork. Compares the relationship with his first navigator. "We were not a good unit." Thinking back on that first crew relationship, he discusses discipline in RAF and expresses views on term LMF. Little thought given to stress and its effect on people. In conclusion discusses difference between the youth of today and that of his own era. "As I say, why the hell did I leave Bermuda lying on the beach at 21 years of age. But I did." Brief comments concerning the interview.
An interview/narrative of Jim Lang's experiences during World War II. Flight Lieutenant Lang served with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Interview took place on March 13, 2005.
Interviewer: Johnson, Gene
Interviewee: Lang, Jim J.
Rank: Flight Lieutenant.
- In Collection:
- 1 sound recording (MP3)
- 52.16045, -0.70312
- 32.30444, -64.75167
- Original recording (MP3) on compact disc (CD-R) in Special Collections.
- Canadian Military Oral History Collection
- LJJ_441
- Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection
- April 3, 2005
- Digital sound recording in .mp3 format at 128 kbps and 44 kHz. Digitized by interviewer, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview recorded in digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2005. 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
