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TRAINING RESUMED — At Mossbank, our training plane was the yellow, twin-engined Anson, Mark V, so familiar to all the residents of Western Canada during the 1940-1945 period. It was a very steady and reliable plane. In it during the course of our training, we performed a wide range of exercises using the bomb sight. The first one was to determine wind velocity using the three course method. B2 was a high level bombing exercise, about five thousand feet, where you dropped a bomb on each of six runs using wind velocity provided by the Meteorology Section. Bombs used were the 111/2 pound practice type which would emit a cloud of smoke or a bright flash easily visible from the air when they struck the ground.
B3 was a real test of a bomb aimer’s ability. He first determined wind velocity, set this on the bomb sight and then attempted to drop six individual bombs on the target. Unless a good job was done on the first part, there was no way that accuracy could be achieved in dropping the bombs. B7 was a high level bombing exercise where bombs were dropped after taking evasive action. In all I had 44 bombing exercises,53 1/2 hours in air and had flown with twenty six pilots. My best results on an exercise was an average error of 68 yards from a thirty foot triangle, dropping six bombs from a converted height of 10,000 feet.
We moved now into the aerial gunnery section of our course. We flew in the twin engined Bolingbroke, equipped with two Browning 303 machine guns in a top located turret, midway between the wings and the tail. Our first operation was simply flying short bursts using tracer to get the idea where the shots were going. The next exercise AIR to GROUND — SPLASH, was done at relatively low level (about 75 ft.) firing into the waters of Johnson Lake. This turned into a bit of a scary flight, as we hit a seagull which crashed through the windshield barely missing the pilot, carried down the centre of the plane and struck the other student gunner as he was getting out of the turret. What a mess…blood and guts everywhere, but fortunately it was all the bird’s.
Most of our aerial gunnery exercises consisted of firing at a drogue or target (a canvas cylinder approximately 12 feet long and 4 feet in diameter) which was towed about a hundred yards behind the single engined, high winged Lysander plane. Exercises consisted of firing at the drogue as it was towed. Attacks could come from various positions; off the beam, quarter cross under or curve of pursuit. I can remember the first exercise where I fired 200 rounds at the drogue and thought that I was hitting it. Anyway, the drogue was dropped and assessed by the Gunnery Section by the time I had landed. I was shocked to find, of the two hundred I had fired, only four had hit the target. I felt better when the gunnery instructor told me that in the first student exercise, very few drogues would show any hits at all. In all, I acquired ten hours of aerial gunnery practice, and had fired 2700 rounds of ammunition.
One incident which remains clearly in my mind after forty five years was the courtesy visit from the British Commanding Officer (C.O.) of a nearby training station. He was flying a beautiful twin engined job (probably an Oxford) and when he landed, pulled up and parked about a hundred feet in front of one of the main hangars which was holding at least six Ansons.
A curious station aero-engine mechanic was absolutely intrigued by this beautiful plane and examined it thoroughly, both inside and out. While inside he noted a toggle next to the pilot’s position, failed to read the warning sign next to it, and gave it a yank. There was a loud bang as the loaded parachute flare slid through the chute, hit the tarmac under the plane and ignited. Immediately smoke and flame overwhelmed the plane, but the mechanic was able to make his hasty exit. The station fire brigade had no chance to save the R.A.F. plane, but did prevent the fire from engulfing the hangar. The story went that this accident almost precipitated an international incident between Britain and Canada. On occasion, I have wondered what happened to the poor Joe who initiated the whole holocaust because of his unchecked curiosity.
Immediately after completing the bombing and gunnery course at Mossbank, we were posted to No.5 A.O.S. (Air Observers School) at Stevenson Field in Winnipeg.

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