Transporting Airplanes and Children
Archived Content
Archived information is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please contact us to request a format other than those available.
Media Information
- Medium: Video
- Owner: Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration: 2:07
- Copyright / Permission to Reproduce
More Clips
6. Transporting Airplanes and Children
7. Transporting Airplanes and Children ll
Details
Transporting Airplanes and Children
Departure from Staten Island (New York) for Liverpool, England with Mosquito airplanes and children from English aristocratic families.
Guy Jobin
Mr. Jobin’s father was a chemist for a mill in Chandler, in the Gaspé. During the Depression, his father left to go work in Masson, in the Outaouais Region, and the family joined him 18 months later. They settled in Buckingham and when war was declared young Guy Jobin, a lover of ships, wanted to enlist in the Navy. He did his basic training in Québec and then went to Halifax to learn to fire guns before being sent to British Columbia. His group of Canadians left on the British aircraft carrier HMS Nabob. The ship went down the Pacific coast, crossed the Panama Canal and stopped in Virginia before arriving in England, at Liverpool. There they found the remains of a city damaged by 9 days German bombings. The Nabob was active in the British Isles throughout the war. During a mission to Scapa Flow in northern Scotland, the boat was hit by a torpedo. Upon his return to Canada, Mr. Jobin was hospitalized for awhile.
Transcription
Transporting Airplanes and Children
At Staten Island we took on Mosquitos. We’re going way back in my memories here. I don’t know how many Mosquitos we took on. These planes were not big enough to cross the ocean. The big planes could but these were too small. They took off the wings and wrapped them in plastic because of the sea water. There were attached on the flight deck, you’d see a whole row of them. Once we got overseas, we unloaded them and those guys had to put the wings back on. It was a fighter plane, y’know? So we crossed and some children came back with us, too. When the war was declared, the - what do the English call them - the Lords, y’know, the upper class, they sent the children to Canada and the United States so they wouldn’t be hurt or killed. Then, by ’44, they figured it was less dangerous so we boarded a bunch of children who had been in Canada or the United States for two years, and took them back to their families.
Who looked after the children?
Oh! The captain himself, with Reverend Hill – Father Hill – and Charles Dillon, an executive officer, he’s the one who was in charge of them. There were a dozen and they kept them busy, took them for walks on the flight deck; you would see them strolling. And, even, one of the boys went poking around in the safe – someone had left it open. They kept money in there and, the captain, or I don’t know who, went to get some money and had forgotten to close it. And the youngsters had played in there, y’know, having fun. When we got there, the parents came to get them. It was funny having children on board, y’know?
- Date modified: