Letter: The daredevil crewman

By Letter to the Editor on November 5, 2021.

Dear editor,

Remembrance Day ceremonies always bring memories of the Second World War flooding back to my mind. Looking back, the following incident in 1945, or early 1946, was humorous – but not so much at the time!

I attended Grade 1 in a small elementary school in Medicine Hat – Earl Kitchener School. The school was situated about 100 feet from the top edge of the river valley escarpment above the downtown. Twice a day at recess, we were turned loose to our own devices in the gravel school yard.

One day at recess, with all the children merrily milling about in the school yard, a deep rumbling noise became louder and louder that stopped everyone in their tracks. A very loud, scary noise that had never been heard by any of us before. Suddenly a HUGE four-engine brown aircraft popped over the escarpment flying really low, about 200 feet off the ground.

I guess there was no Department of Transportation regulations for military aircraft. The ground literally shook as the brown monster flew straight at us. The noise was deafening.

One of the boys hollered at the top of his lungs, “The Germans are coming!”

Everyone panicked and we ran in all directions. I remember stopping suddenly and saying, “The war is over so it can’t be the Germans.”

To our relief, the aircraft flew over, banked left and flew out of sight. Whew! However not too long after, we heard the ominous roar getting louder and louder. Again, the aircraft popped over the escarpment! The huge four-engine beast was flying directly at us again at an even lower altitude.

As the plane flew over us, etched forever in my mind, we saw a crewman standing at the open side door on the right hand side of the aircraft, hanging on with one hand and waving happily to us with the other. Awestruck, we all waved back, open-mouthed, hoping he didn’t fall out the door!

And away they flew, into the wild, blue yonder. The noise gradually dropped to silence.

I later learned the aircraft was a Lancaster Bomber returning from overseas duty to be decommissioned somewhere in Western Canada. I’ve thought many times that the pilot may well have attended our little school and decided to ‘buzz’ his ol’ alma mater.

The name of that daredevil crewman is unknown.

John MacLaren

Medicine Hat

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