Terrifying Fly Along

Heroes Remember

Terrifying Fly Along

Transcript

One, after one trip this interrogation officer, he said to us, to our skipper he says, "You know, I hear you guys talking about all this," he says, "I'd like to let you go for a trip to see what you're talking about." So our skipper he says, "Sure you can come up with us next trip." So anyway this next trip was a night trip, and we got over the, oh this is a tough target. We get over the target and, of course, I was looking out for fighters and all that and mid air collisions. And I still remember there was two Lancasters on fire behind us, search lights the whole sky was just lit up, flak just bursting all over the place. And I'm looking out I feel a tap on my leg. So, he didn't want to go on the intercom, cause our pilot said no chatter on the intercom so he tapped on the leg, so I said, "Okay, go have a look." So he looked out of the astrodome, he looked ahead, and there was a pipe, a vertical pipe by my station, and he was looking ahead and he sat down he gave me the nothing sign. So I, look back, so he stood up, and you know what he had a hold of that pipe, I thought he was gonna squash it flat. Well, there was two Lancasters on fire behind us, above us, and the search lights and the flak was really fierce. You know, he sat down beside me and he had his oxygen mask on like you know and his eyes, have you ever seen terror in a guys eyes? He looked at me like, "What in the hell am I doing up here?" He had a look of a terror, it's hard to explain. If you haven't seen it, you don't know it. But all I could see was his eyes. So he knew what we were talking about after that.

Description

Mr. Taschuk recalls an interrogation officer being terrified during a fly along on a bombing run over Germany.

Neil Taschuk

Mr. Taschuk was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father, a Russian immigrant, fought for Canada in the First World War. Mr. Taschuk joined the air force along with many others from the community, and was sent overseas as soon as he had earned his wireless air gunner (WAG) wings. He was assigned to a Lancaster in Bomber Command's 434 Squadron. Given the casualty rate at the time, it was a near death sentence. Against huge odds and having experienced numerous near misses, he and the rest of his crew were one of few in bomber command who were never injured in any action, training, or other mishaps.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:21
Person Interviewed:: Neil Taschuk
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Germany
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 434 Squadron
Occupation:: Wireless Air Gunner

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Terrifying Fly Along

Heroes Remember