His objectives was to chat with crews
to see whether training command could help in any way
or, so uh,
Jerry Waller, our squadron CO
"Well the best thing you can do is go out
on a raid tonight with him
and see for yourself".
I thought that's a bit unkind.
And he also had another sense of humor,
and he said "you can go with Sergeant Bennet"
I wasn't a commissioner at that time,
"you can go with Sergeant Bennet
and it's his 13th trip".
(laughs)
So,
So we're on the way out to the aircraft,
this squadron leader, he was a great chap,
he said "what do they call you when you're on board?"
and I said "well they call me Skipper".
And he said "what do you call them?"
I said "well I call them by their Christian names,
they're all different, so if I want to speak
with the bomber I say 'Percy',
if I want to speak with the rear gunner, it's Fred".
So he said "right, when we're on board
I'm one of your crew, and my name is John
so if you want to speak with John", he said.
"Soon as we step outside, it's Sir".
