Description
Mr. Romanow talks about guarding naval convoys from submarines.
Joseph Romanow
Mr. Romanow was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 1921, to parents who immigrated to Canada in 1911. Mr. Romanow grew up in a Ukranian community and he learned to speak English from his playmates. He joined the Air Force from a youth group, was a mechanic for two years and then trained in Canada and England. He was able to fly in India and Europe, flying many different types of planes. After his university education he returned to the Air Force and worked with the Avro Arrow team.
Transcript
A submarine had to see the ship that it was going to torpedo, see the convoy, so they would just raise their periscope, and flying over the ocean, the navigator sat down in the plexiglass nose, the pilot, of course had vision, there was only one pilot, and the fellow in the gun turret had, could see all around. So, white caps would form and immediately disappear as the waves whipped up white caps, you know, but a white cap that didn't disappear was a periscope wake, and you know that, so, and the, I guess the Germans knew this. So as long as there was aircraft cover over the convoy, it was relatively safe. Not that many aircraft sank submarines, because the submarines just stayed submerged.
We were always briefed on the convoy track, so you could find the convoy. And the convoy cover, of course, was only effective from dawn to dusk, and, but it had, as long as we could fly over the convoy. The base acquired some heavier Lockheed Venturas, which was a much expanded Hudson, and they had, oh they added about another hour, to an hour and a half on their range time, but that was the limit of cover.