Canada Bombs | Bomber Command recruitment film (1943)

1943: Celebrating the birth of the Royal Canadian Air Force
Air Vice Marshal G E Brookes is seen heading an operational planning session with Group Captain Swenham and other staff. Ground crews service Wellington Mk IIIs of 425 Squadron and gunners check their weapons for alignment and jamming. Wellingtons take off for a trial flight before returning to be bombed up with "a nice little bouquet for Hitler". At another airfield Halifaxes of 405 Squadron are filmed in flight and landing.
Planes are serviced and refuelled and navigators work out route for the night's operation. Crews are briefed and flare path laid. Tension inside the crew room is compared to locker at school before a hockey game, then crews don clothing and boots and reach planes by truck .
Halifaxes take off for night raid and airmen's faces are superimposed over the planes in flight. Canadians back home are assured that these men are worthy successors to Canada's First World War flying aces.

[deanaskin]

Wow....watching this was a really strange experience for me.

If my dad were still alive and saw this, he probably would've recognized some of the guys in this movie.

All those Halifaxes were 405 "Pathfinder" Squadron. This movie was filmed at Grandsen Lodge.

My dad was a LAC on 405 Squadron. He probably worked on some of those planes.

He enlisted in '42 and was posted to 405 shortly before the squadron converted from Halifaxes to Lancasters.

Wow. Just feelin' weird right now.

[johndonaldredmond]

Thank you so much for posting this. My cousin, WO II Donald Allan McDonald, tail gunner in an RCAF Lancaster of 432 Sqn, was shot down and killed 80 years ago this Sunday. He was 23.

[canuckster]

1:32 426 Sqn Thunderbird (OW)
2:53 425 Sqn Alouette (KW)
4:21 405 Sqn Vancouver (LQ)

[neiloflongbeck]

You missed 426 (Thunderbird) Squadron RCAF (code letters OW) from the description.

[charlieross-BRM]

The cousin of one of my old friends crewed on a Canadian bomber (don't know the type or his position). Remember the movie "Memphis Belle" where they make a huge nail biting scene about the landing gear not coming down? This cousin's bomber's landing gear wasn't coming down and they found the issue was hydraulic fluid had leaked out. So everyone not flying the plane took turns doing their best under the circumstances to pee into the fluid reservoir. They made it!

[charlieross-BRM]

For 1943, this video was pretty tightly edited - kept on the boil so to speak with no lags.

[RemusKingOfRome]

Canadian bombs were very different to other nations bombs, Canadian bombs didn't explode, instead they were very polite and just released Canadian geese, who in turn sh!te everywhere. Germany said Canadian bombs were the cruelest...

[marka]

One of my friends served with 420 Sqdn. in North Africa and Tholthorpe, England. And he wasn't Canadian, having been born in Cleveland, Ohio.

[barryswinbank]

Another interesting post. Perhaps reminding us in Britain what a big part all the commonwealth nations played in ensuring victory in 1945.