181 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca PROVEN, James Frederick WWII James was born in Basswood, Manitoba in 1924. He was eighteen years old and living on the farm when he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in Winnipeg in March 1942, as air crew. After he was sworn in, he was posted to Manning Depot in Brandon and was assigned a bunk bed in the “Bull Pen” in the Brandon arena. At that time, there was no opening at I.T.S. (Initial Training School) for air crew, so he had ample time to learn how to march and kill time. A few months later, he finally got a posting to I.T.S. in Edmonton. That was about October or November 1942. He took maths, aircraft recognition, lots of physical education, initial link training, wireless and Aldiss lamp signaling. The university building was an enjoyable spot – two to a room. In about February 1943, he graduated from I.T.S. as Leading Aircraftsman (L.A.C.), selected for pilot training and posted to E.F.T.S. (Elementary Flying Training School) in High River, Alberta where Cornell aircraft were used for training students. He got ‘washed out’ as a pilot so he re-mustered to Bomb Aimer (BA) and was posted to Paulson Bombing and Gunnery School near Dauphin. He was not too displeased because the bomb aimer course was shorter than the pilot’s course so he could go overseas sooner. While at Paulson B and G, he was on Ansons for bombing practice (two-motor aircraft). He trained with several RAF chaps and a couple of Australians. This was a good experience. The classroom work was interesting, and the B and G training was all new. They did bomb and gunnery practice over Lake Manitoba on a range. They practiced on a pyramid structure close to shore. The crew on the Ansons consisted of the pilot and two of three bomb aimers. Bolingbrokes were also used. They took turns at the bomb sight and turret. He got about 75 hours of flying time at Paulson and graduated on May 28, 1943. He was then posted to #1 Air Observer’s School in Malton, Ontario. At Malton, he flew only in Ansons. The training was a little different from Paulson in that they did cross-country flying where they had to find the target and bomb it. The pilots were all civilians. They got about 40 hours of flying time in Malton, day and night flying about evenly split. On the occasional night exercise, they’d drop photo flashes. The camera clicked at the same time as the photo flash exploded. They weren’t at Malton very long, only about five or six weeks from May 31 to July 9, 1943, still with Commonwealth personnel. They took navigation, reconnaissance, signals, armament, aircraft rec., air exercise navigation, air exercises photography, and air exercises bombing. He graduated as a bomb aimer on July 9, 1943, with his commission as Pilot Officer. This was quite a thrill because he didn’t expect a commission. In a sense, James was disappointed at having to become separated from his buddies. He had to buy Officer’s uniforms in Brandon. He got two weeks embarkation leave, then was off to Halifax and overseas. He was in Halifax for about four days then all recently commissioned RCAF personnel were put on a train and sent to Newark, New Jersey, then a barge took them across the river to New York. They boarded the Aquitania, a fairly fast ship, and left New York early in the morning near the end of July 1943. There were thousands of US troops on board. The grub was fairly good. They travelled without a convoy and went south (warm), then north (quite cool), on a zig-zag course. There was no enemy sub activity that they were aware of. They had an interesting voyage with so many American troops onboard. James wasn’t seasick. They landed in Greenock, Scotland and travelled by train to Bournemouth in the south of England. He was there for about a week and was then posted to an RAF station, Staverton, in Gloucester, where he flew around in Ansons, learned some wind finding, navigation, and did some bombing practice. Also, this was an orientation station about England. (continued)
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