A Blinding Flash

Heroes Remember

A Blinding Flash

Transcript

Well, I know we went to a place called Raj Buri, and it was to bomb a bridge. And it was a night bombing on Raj Buri. And your early trips, you fly what’s known as a screen pilot, just an experience. So I mean, you just had a number of operational flights and I can see the wisdom of it. I could see the wisdom of it as soon as we got to Raj Buri because I was sitting in the right-hand seat and looking out the window at all the things that were going on down there. ‘Cause there was a lot going on. Suddenly something exploded, I thought, right at the window. You know, it’s just a blinding flash and, you know, I went you know, like this. It scared the hell out of me. The pilot laughed his head off, you know, because this thing probably was 500 yards away. But I thought it was right on the end of my nose. You have no comprehension of what these things are going to look like, or what it’s going to sound like because over the noise of the aircraft, you can hear it being hit. It sounds like somebody hitting it with a shovel; just a great big whack and it resonated, like a drum-like bang on the outside. And it’s concussion from the explosion hitting the metal skin. And there are a lot of different things going by, a wiggly sort of things like flaming oranges and things that they are ... the first time you see the stuff, or the first few times you see the stuff, it tends to be a little twitchy. You get a little more accustomed to it as time goes by. I must say that you can see why they call them screen pilots - to get you settled down. And they work the crews through this sort of process. So after about three or four trips, then the people on the crews are all on their own. Interviewer: Do you remember what you saw when you looked down there for the first time? When you were over the target? Just a lot of lights and explosions and stuff. They had some search lights and I could see some bombs going off. I could see a river that reflected the light. Interviewer: It was a clear night, was it? Yeah. And we weren’t all that high either. I don’t expect we were over a thousand feet, twenty-five, fifteen hundred feet. But we did most of our bombing about five hundred feet. We did it in the daytime at low level. I must say, that first trip was always a twitcher.

Description

Mr. Sharpe talks about an explosion on his first operational mission.

Charles Richard “Dick” Sharpe

Charles Richard Sharpe was born in St. Catharines, Ontario on February 11, 1925. His father worked for the Canada Customs Service, getting pensions for wounded Veterans. A Veteran of World War One, Mr. Sharpe’s father told him many stories about the war.

Mr. Sharpe joined the RCAF on the morning of his 18th birthday and became a pilot. He flew 23 missions for the RCAF and rose to the rank of Flight Lieutenant. After the war, Mr. Sharpe became a very successful businessman, serving for many years as CEO of Sears Canada. Among his many awards and recognitions, in 1998, he became a member of the Order of Canada.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 2:27
Person Interviewed:: Charles Richard “Dick” Sharpe
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Southeast Asia
Battle/Campaign:: Burma
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 159 Squadron
Rank:: Lieutenant
Occupation:: Pilot

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A Blinding Flash

Heroes Remember

A Blinding Flash

Charles Richard “Dick” Sharpe

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A Blinding Flash

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