Raine, James N.: my Air Force recollections (March 4, 2005)

Interviewee: Raine, James N.

ABSTRACT: Flying Officer James Raine Royal Canadian Air Force (Side A) (0 minutes) Born in Victoria on April 20 1932. Another James Raine a family member, was in First World War. Jim's father was in Canadian Army in WW II as the Disciplinary Sergeant at a military hospital in what is now Camosun College. After high school Raine attended Victoria College for one year of Arts & Sciences. (4 min) Enlisted in the Air Force in February 1952. Always interested in navigation. Joined RCAF to be a Navigator but was selected him to be a pilot. Basic flight training at Gimli, followed by advanced training at Portage-la-Prairie and McDonald where they were trained in gunnery and bombing tactics. The instructors were "retreads," veterans of the Second World War. Basic training failures went to Navigation School or civilian life. (11 min) Description of Harvard's, Vampires and F-86 Sabres. After Gunnery training at McDonald, pilots went to Chatham, New Brunswick, to fly American T-33 two-seat jets. At Chatham he had 16 hours 15 minutes in T-33 and 60 hours in F-86 training. Graduated Chatham with rank of Flying Officer (F/O), and was posted to 441 Squadron in North Luffenham (England), commanded by Squadron Leader (S/L) Gill. His first flight there was on Dec 1, 1953. (22) Discussion of mess life at North Luffenham and a winter detachment to RAF Acklington for gunnery. (26) Description of F-86 mid-air collision both landed OK but dented. Description of exercises. (35) Discussion about the F-86 Sabre. (36) In March 1955 Raine participated in the opening of the new Canadian base at Marville, France and in a fly-past for the queen. Discussion of Marville and of post- WW II rebuilding in Germany and England. (42) Mention of American F-86 'D' (all-weather fighters) at Bitburg AFB. RCAF did not fly into East Germany but sometimes saw the contrails of MiG fighters. (45) Flight safety was non-existent at the time and ground crews weren't well trained. (Side B) (0 minutes) Description of flying in adverse conditions, running out of fuel, makeshift runways and air traffic control mix-ups and an exercise in England called 'Rats and Terriers,' done on weekends, to exercise the RAF Auxiliary including weekend pilots. (8) The RCAF pilots used to hear stories of flying engagements between NATO and Warsaw Pact fighters. (9) RCAF pilots studied the enemy aircraft and exercised against the RAF pilots of the Fighter Leader School. Raine was a Pilot Attack Instructor. (17) Returned to Canada as a Pilot Weapons Attack Instructor in McDonald, Manitoba. (18) Raines eyesight went, so he lost his flying category. He transferred to Claresholme, Alberta, a Basic Flying Training School where he became the Flying Adjutant. Claresholme was being closed because flying training was winding down. When McDonald closed, Raine went to the closedown. (30) Discussion of his family (wife and three children) and the work he did after retiring from the RCAF.

Rank: Flying Officer.

Interviewer: Scales, Peter

An interview/narrative of Flying Officer James Raine's experiences whilst serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Interview took place on March 4, 2005.

In Collection:

• Canadian Military Oral Histories

Contributor

• Scales, Peter
• Raine, James N.

Subject

• Military history
• Warsaw Treaty Organization
• Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force

Language

• eng

Date created

• March 4, 2005

Relation

• Part of the Military Oral History Class collection of interviews.

Resource type

• Sound

Rights statement

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Extent

• 2 sound recordings (MP3)

Geographic coverage

• Germany
• British Columbia--Victoria

Coordinates

• 51.5, 10.5
• 48.4359, -123.35155

Additional physical characteristics

• One original audio cassette in Special Collections.

Physical repository

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Collection

• Canadian Military Oral History Collection

Provider

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Genre

• oral histories (literary genre)
• sound recordings
• reminiscences
• interviews

Archival item identifier

• RJN_443

Fonds title

• Military oral history collection

Fonds identifier

• SC141

Is referenced by

• Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection

Date digitized

• November 19, 2012

Technical note

• 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

•  https://doi.org/10.58066/tr2b-ah47

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