November 2009 - Brussels Air Museum Foundation

If
I take the wings of the
morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there
thy right hand
shall hold me.
If
the darkness covers me, and the light about me
be night, so shall the night be as bright
as
day.”
It was read by CWH
member Rev. Chuck Beaton during the ceremony. Richard Martin’s crew
decided to leave the disc in their Mitchell, which they flew until their tour was over.
Life in 98 Squadron was filled with all sorts of adventures. One of the air gunners insisted on
flying in
his pyjamas with his flying suit over them, dropping a bust of Hitler on his front
doorstep.
One night,
while returning to base
after a night of revelry, Paddy Thompson fell down
a coal chute while walking too close to a house and became wedged in “tighter
than a cork
in a
bottle”. It took the efforts of the entire party to free him.
George and some fellow squadron members
‘obtained’ a baby grand piano and
kept it in a field
near wheree they waited with their planes before
taking off on bombing
raids. They used to sing
songs and it helped them keep up their spirits.
Before taking off on their operations, they used to
say to other squadron
members,
“Have a good
one”; it was said for superstition and it meant a lot
to them.
To this day, the identity of the artist of ‘Hot Gen’
remains a mystery, but
in all likelihood it was
one
of the 98 Squadron ground crew members. There
George with CWH Mitchell ‘Hot Gen’ ‐ 1994 were two aircraft to carry ‘Hot Gen’ nose art; both
CWH photo
were ultimately destroyed by flak, the constant
enemy of
Medium Bombers, as they had to fly so low over their targets.
Through George I was granted a unique perspective of
the stories and history
He was also responsible for helping find a good number of the
surviving
Squadron.
of 98 Squadron.
members of 98
On behalf of the ‘Hot Gen’ crew
past, present
and future, thank-you
George. We’ll miss you
my friend.
Editor’s note: After a complaint about
the “objectionable lady”
on ‘Hot Gen’
by
the mother
of young children visiting
CWH, the nose art was reluctantly
changed to ‘Grumpy’. CWH wanted
very much to
restore the
identification
that honoured so many Canadian
airmen and ‘Hot Gen’ was recently and
25
‘Hot Gen’ with CWH Lancaster ‐ September 2009
D. Poissant photo