AMAZING AIRMEN AMAZING AIRMEN CANADIAN FLYERS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR IAN DARLING Copyright © Ian Darling, 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright. Project Editor: Michael Carroll Copy Editor: Cheryl Hawley Design: Courtney Horner Printer: Webcom Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Darling, Ian, 1948- Amazing airmen : Canadian flyers in the Second World War / by Ian Darling. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-55488424-7 1. World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, Canadian. 2. Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force--Biography. 3. Great Britain. Royal Air Force--Biography. I. Title. D792.C2D37 2009 940.54’4971 C2009-902464-0 2 3 4 5 13 12 11 10 09 We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation. Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions. J. Kirk Howard, President Published by The Dundurn Group Printed and bound in Canada. www.dundurn.com Dundurn Press Gazelle Book Services Limited Dundurn Press 3 Church Street, Suite 500 White Cross Mills 2250 Military Road Toronto, Ontario, Canada High Town, Lancaster, England Tonawanda, NY M5E 1M2 LA1 4XS U.S.A. 14150 For Jane Ann CONTENTS Introduction 1 The Career Officer 2 Patchwork 3 Maria’s Memory 4 A Flight for Malta 5 Final Descent 6 The Ground War 7 The Luckiest Guy 8 The Corporal’s Ring 9 The Fog of War 10 The Last Training Flight 11 A Ride with Fifi 12 The Escort 13 Flying Lessons 14 The Long Fall 15 The Lucky Gunner 16 A Student in Paris 17 Eagles at War 18 The Salute 19 A Plane for Tomorrow 20 Between the Lines Notes Acknowledgements Index Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on that strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. — Winston Churchill, My Early Life