Cool pic of the bomber my dad flew in

Maybe someone can download a picture for me? I found a picture of the Halifax bomber my dad flew in WW II. The plane is coded EQ C The EQ stands for 408 RCAF squadron and the letter C is self explanatory. My dad was the tailgunner. He was blown out of a replacement plane while EQ C was being repaired. His crew didn't feel as safe in the replacement and my dad was the only survivor after being blown out with the bombs on board. His crew flew the 4 sorties (missions) shown at the bottom. The plane survived the war but was sold for scrap in 1949. What a shame! Hope you enjoy it. Dave
Here's the link: It's the 4th picture down of the nose art. www.lancastermuseum/halifax.html

Two days ago I saw a doco about the pilots who ferried these planes and others across the North Atlantic from the Canadian factories, Mentioned they were getting $1000 per month [I think, could be a week].Most of these pilots were young Americans.Interesting.

More like $1000 a YEAR in WW II. Heard the other day that GI's made $50 a Month. Maybe it was $100 a month for a pilot.

Might work, your link is bum...

These people weren't in the services,freelance, it wasn't until some time later that the RAF took them over.Some comment about it being real good money for the time.

$1000 per month. search "ferry command'.

Yes, it was real good money for the time; it was a very dangerous course to fly at the time, almost like hiring out as a truck driver in Iraq...
The Canadians made a movie about it I saw some years ago; can"t recall much except it seemed to be much more sympathetic towards the civilians than the military...

Thanks for the story and pic. Have you recorded those words? Not only are we losing thousands of the 'greatest generation' every day but now their children are getting to the age where they (we) are thinning out too. Now it's our responsibility to make sure those spoken words are put down in writing.

A year ago an acquaintance of mine who is a little older than me told me his dad was killed in a tank in the Pacific during the war when he was a year or two old. He was at my place and saw an old WW2 military project I'm working on and it got him to thinking about his dad.

It's a long story but he did a bunch of searching on the net and actually found an old gentleman who was in that same tank when his dad was killed. He called up this gentleman and found out the tank was hit by friendly fire and the tank is now sitting in San Diego and he now has a picture of it. His dad was up top and the shell bounced off the hatch. The concussion took his dad. The older gentleman told a lot more, but he said after this happened, the commander gathered the men around and told them "the marines never make a mistake and you will never tell anyone about this for the rest of your lives". This was the first time this gentleman had told the story and he is pushing ninety years old.

Our children's generation is twice removed from that war and have no idea what those young soldiers went through to keep us free. Jim

My uncle, nine years younger than my father, was in the 23 Inf. Rgt., 2nd Inf. Div. during WWII. They landed on Omaha Beach the day after D-Day, relieved the shot-up 1st Div. and moved straight into hedgerow country. His outfit was over-run at the Battle of the Bulge and he spent the rest of the war in a German prison camp. Getting him to talk about the war was like pulling teeth, but the few stories that I managed to get him to talk about were fantastic. I found out that he had received two Silver Stars at the time of his funeral in'03. We are losing this "Greatest Generation" and soon all will be gone. I'm a high school teacher and I try to remind the kids on a regular basis what these "young men" accomplished and how much we owe their memory. I'm also careful to remind the kids that we owe a debt of gratitude to all who have served in the military throughout the entire history of the U.S.

(quoted from post at 12:18:22 01/26/10) My uncle, nine years younger than my father, was in the 23 Inf. Rgt., 2nd Inf. Div. during WWII. They landed on Omaha Beach the day after D-Day, relieved the shot-up 1st Div. and moved straight into hedgerow country. His outfit was over-run at the Battle of the Bulge and he spent the rest of the war in a German prison camp. Getting him to talk about the war was like pulling teeth, but the few stories that I managed to get him to talk about were fantastic. I found out that he had received two Silver Stars at the time of his funeral in'03. We are losing this "Greatest Generation" and soon all will be gone. I'm a high school teacher and I try to remind the kids on a regular basis what these "young men" accomplished and how much we owe their memory. I'm also careful to remind the kids that we owe a debt of gratitude to all who have served in the military throughout the entire history of the U.S.

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hank you!

That's the picture. Thanks for putting it up. Dave

The schools don't seem to care much about W.W. II anymore. My sister had a teacher like you that thought it was very important to know W.W.II history. Of course when they had to do an essay on it, my sister got the highest mark in the class. Most vets don't talk about it too much except with other vets. My dad had some good stories and some scary ones as well. Dave

THE Greatest Generation didn't Know what quit meant , .. My Dad was one of those FOR SURE , i recall on a day with weather like today we would be building fence or cutting wood . We are losing hundred s of that great generation every Day . Dad passed on Aug 08,. got his eulogy tribute over in YOUR Stories about 42 stories down .....

One of the greatest people I ever knew was a friend of my family and farmed with my Dad. Leo was the most easy going kindly man that I ever met,and able,as my Dad would say to get more milk out of his cows on less feed than anyone he knew. I could hardly believe he had been a tailgunner on a Lancaster during the war. Like many veterans he rarely spoke of his experiences except when he had "drink taken". In my older years I came to think that his laid back mannerisms were his way of dealing with the horrors of his time overseas. I think of him often,always on Nov.11 and anytime I encounter a story like this. Bob

They were called mercinaries and it was great pay and as a young stud leaving Viet Nam they made some pretty good offers. That kind of thing has gone on since the revoluntary war like paying bounty for prove of death. Can you say Blackwater? Enough said, I worked along many of those type dudes and when it came to partying you could get trashed with no cash.