What does chewing gum and a World War Two Royal Canadian Air Force Padre have in common?
Royal Canadian Air Force Flight Lieutenant Cliff Black can certainly attest to the possibility that the two possibly saved his life and that of his crew. Flt Lt Black had many adventures and close calls during his tour of duty in World War Two flying with 419 Squadron whose motto was ‘Moose Aswayita’ – ‘Beware of the Moose’ This Squadron was part of the Canadian Bomber Command (6 Group) based at Middleton-St George in Yorkshire, England. In a 2013 interview, the 96 year old Mr Black recalls two raids that may have had a divine ring of protection!
‘During my tour of operations with Canadian Bomber Command, I was privileged to meet a young Roman Catholic Padre, Father Lardie, who was Base Padre for No. 419 and No. 428 Squadrons. He was a perfect selection for the job and highly respected by all aircrew risking their lives almost every day to defeat the German war machine. Prior to raids, both Squadrons would marshal aircraft around the perimeter track leading to the runway in use – No. 419 on one side, No. 428 the other. This was done almost an hour before take-off. It gave the crew a chance to gather around their aircraft and relax as well as allowing Ground Crew to make any final checks on the serviceability of the planes. This period allowed padres to mix with the crews and provide comfort to some who may be concerned about their particular target. I noticed that it was not only the Catholics that gathered around Father Lardie. He had that exceptional ability to make these young men feel that what they were doing would help to make this world a better place and they should be proud of themselves.
In early October 1944, we were put on a target in the Ruhr valley which we knew would be heavily defended. It was the most industrialised part of Germany surrounded by flak and searchlights. Our Lancaster KB762 took off around 18:00 hours in marginal weather, joined the rest of the bomber stream and as we flew over the English Channel we started to climb to our assigned operational altitude. A few minutes into our climb I felt a tap on my right shoulder. I looked round to see Father Lardie wearing a parachute harness and an oxygen mask. I immediately knew that my crew had been in on a plan to let him on-board. He was hooked into our intercom and asked me what I was going to do. Would I report him when I got back? I can’t remember what I said, but it was something about putting his life in the hands of a Protestant pilot when he could have any number of good Catholic pilots to choose from. I also said as he was here, his special connection could almost guarantee we would get back from the mission.
My comments assured him that I was okay with him being there and he was willing to take the risk with our crew on a tough target. We completed our bomb run, dropped our payload and turned out of the target area. The flak barrage was moderate and searchlights no problem because of the weather. My navigator gave me my course out of the target area and we were on our way home. A few minutes into our return flight, Father Lardie came on the intercom to express his concern about not being at the door of the Briefing Room when crews returned from the raid. It was his practice to greet them and show how pleased he was to see that it was a successful trip or give spiritual comfort to those who might need it. He asked me if there was some way we could be first back to Base. The only way to accomplish this was to leave the main bomber stream and take direct course home. I instructed my navigator to plot the course and at the same time, instructed my Gunners to keep a sharp lookout for night fighters. I considered there was little risk due to the weather and the fact that German night fighter controllers would be directing fighters to the main bomber force if they had any fighters in the air. We saw none and as we approached the English Channel, the weather was starting to clear.
Our return flight away from the main bomber stream was risky. The British Gunners could mistake us for an enemy aircraft and open fire. In addition, we didn’t have the protection that a group of bombers offered. To avoid wrongful identification, we carried an IFF unit (Identification Friend or Foe) which I turned on. We seldom used it, so I was very relieved when it came on and recognised by the British Gunners. Father Lardie was at his post on time and later told me he hadn’t realised that after wearing an oxygen mask for six hours it left a mark on his face! We were used to seeing each other like this and when he asked one of the pilots about the raid, he got a big smile and the comment that he should know, because the look of his face told him he had been right there with them! Father Lardie was a special individual. His sincere dedication to his vocation was immediately recognised. Young men of different faiths admired, respected and trusted him. To my knowledge, Father Lardie was the only padre in Canadian Bomber Command to fly an operational mission over Germany. I will never forget him.’
Father Lardie would have a word for all no matter what their faith, and many non-Roman Catholics and total non-believers found inspiration and moral courage from his words and presence among them. A significant factor in this was that they knew the good Father would also bring them a special last-minute gift which, to miss out, may well mean they would not return. At the dispersal area he would open his RCAF issue small pack which he carried and begin to carefully give out packs of his special ‘two way chewing gum.’ It is a well-known fact that superstition played a large part in a fragile existence of aircrew and many were more than prepared to believe this chewing gum would indeed see them through a mission. As each waiting airmen, irrespective of rank or nationality, was given his gum; Father Lardie would almost hand it to them as a benediction, then say the same to all. ‘Now here’s your two packs of chewing gum, son. In my left hand is the one you chew for King and Country on the way out. In my right is the one you chew for your mum and dad, wife, children, brothers and sisters on the way home. See you back here tomorrow.’ Many felt that with Father Lardie’s ‘two way gum’ they had all the spiritual armour and encouragement needed to survive the coming operation.
Perhaps something of Padre Lardie’s connection with the Almighty might have stayed in Lancaster KB762 for, as Flight Lieutenant Black relates in Royal Air Force parlance, ‘they almost bought it’ on December 15, 1944. RAF Bomber Command sent 327 Lancasters and 14 Mosquitoes to attack Ludwigshafen. The target area for this raid was the northern part of Ludwigshafen and the small town of Oppau in which two important I. G. Farben chemical factories were situated. Severe damage was caused and fierce fires were started. The Oppau factory ceased production completely. Five other industrial firms were also damaged. Some damage was also caused to housing areas around the various factories and damage also caused to installations and ships at nearby Rhine River quays. Mosquitoes hit three other targets. One Lancaster was lost.
Flight Lieutenant Black:
‘We were attacking Ludwigshafen. The Pathfinders (100 Group) marked the target and we couldn’t see anything except the big beacon they dropped on the ground. It burned for about 20 minutes and if we didn’t make it, they would drop another. My Log Book states it was a good attack. We thought we hit the target. On each plane, was a permanent camera on board, and when the bomb aimer dropped the bomb, the camera was activated and took a shot right over where it was released. It would take four pictures and I was going straight and level to drop. Bomb aimers always complained: ‘don’t peel off right away. Stay for ‘x’ amount of seconds after you drop’. The last three pictures were of the target.
We were coming back from the raid. It was about three in the morning. My bomb aimer McKinnon had done his job and always sat on the bench with the navigator seated just behind me in case he could help. He stood up to stretch his legs and asked if he could look out the cockpit window, then casually told me that just off my wingtip was an American B17 Flying Fortress. This surprised me. The Americans flew the daylight shift. We did the night shift. What was a B17 doing out there at night? I said to Larry, my Mid-Upper Gunner, I had a funny feeling about this and to train his guns on the B17 just in-case.
After a while, we decided it had to be one of ours that got screwed up, so we figured they might want to follow us home in case their instruments were out. I gave them the benefit of the doubt. As the old Lancaster is faster than a Fortress, I figured I would just decrease speed a little to give him a break. As I slowed down, the B17 increased speed and went up 75 yards ahead of me. Then suddenly it dipped down and went under my nose to open fire from its rear gun.’
Flight Lieutenant Black immediately climbed hard to port as the tracers came up, but was unable to avoid some of the 0.50 calibre bullets that slammed into the Lancaster’s nose, one shell hitting the Flight Engineer’s right foot. Bomb Aimer McKinnon didn’t say a word or yell he had been hit.
‘My navigator said Mac had been hit and was down. In the meantime, the B17 had vanished. We had to get an emergency hospital because Mac’s foot was almost shot off and he might bleed to death. We carried these big shock things (crash pads) in the aircraft you could pull down off the wall. We put the pad around his foot and pulled these long strings to create pressure to stop the bleeding.
There was an emergency base at Woodbridge. I opened up the old Lancaster and 15 miles out from the Base I radioed the Tower to tell them I had an emergency with a wounded crew man who needed emergency treatment. As soon as the wheels touched down and the aircraft came to a stop, an ambulance and a crash truck were already standing by. It was amazing how fast they whisked Mac off for treatment. We bedded down that night at Wood Bridge, about an hour from our Base and in the morning we visited Mac. He was asleep, minus his right foot. Really sad, but at least he survived. That was the last time I saw Mac.
There was an organisation the Germans had that was so secret even the people working in the Squadron didn’t know what they did. It was called KG 200. They captured about 40 American Flying Fortresses and as the Americans only operated during daylight hours, lots of them were hit and if they managed to get them down on the ground in enemy territory, many the crews were taken prisoner. About four planes were fixed and able to fly and they put Germans in the planes with American uniforms and away they go. For the remainder of my Tour with 419 Squadron I kept the same crew with the exception of a new bomb aimer and fortunately the crew survived the war.’
Was the lone B17 operated by the Germans as Flight Lieutenant Black was later led to believe or was the reason something entirely different?
The idea of Germans using captured aircraft for deception purposes is disputed by P. W. Stahl, a pilot and Detachment Commander in his excellent book; ‘KG 200. The True Story.’ 3 He writes in part:
‘The transfer tasks involving heavy loads and very long distances could always request the use of large aircraft including captured American B-17s and B 24s. These former enemy bombers were selected from those that had made forced landings in German territory and were only slightly damaged. It was very often only a matter of a bent propeller and a few dents in the fuselage. They were repaired and refitted internally for our purpose and as far as necessary, equipped with German instruments, radio sets and navigational devices. However, these aircraft were not available in such large numbers as has been asserted by the Allied side. There could have been no more than about 20 such ex-enemy aircraft in our service at any one time.
It has also been repeatedly asserted that the Luftwaffe used these captured bombers for deception purposes, often even with Allied markings. That simply isn’t true. First of all, we all flew at night when, as the saying goes, ‘all cats are black’ and secondly, these captured bombers were, on principle, always flown with German insignia. Apart from everything else, it also happens to be a breach of international law. It also could not have brought us any benefit except possibly being shot down or damaged by our own anti-aircraft guns or fighters and if captured (on enemy territory) their crew would have been dealt with as spies. I personally have not heard of a single case where this legend of German aircraft in Allied markings has been substantiated. Perhaps the reason this story refused to lie down is that the British themselves had no qualms about using a HE115A-2 float plane with German markings in the Mediterranean. This particular aircraft was successfully flown on very special missions between Malta and North Africa.’
Leaving aside the scenario of possible German deception, there are however, two more plausible answers to the mystery B17. One revolves around propaganda leaflets and the other involves electronic counter measures!
The first is the American 8th Air Force on Mission 751. It had two B17 Fortresses on a propaganda leaflet dropping mission over France and Germany the same time as the Ludwigshafen raid. Could the Fortress have been off course and suddenly surprised by the Lancaster’s appearance, instinctively reacting to what they thought was a German aircraft, perhaps a JU 290?
The second possible answer might be with 214 Bomber Squadron of RAF 100 Group which utilised various specialist electronic jamming devices to disrupt enemy communications and radar. During operations, specially equipped aircraft including the B17s would fly just above the main RAF bomber stream or sometimes just ahead of the bombers as a Mandrel jamming screen. The equipment used included Airborne Cigar (ABC) jammer, Jostle (jammer), Mandrel (jammer), Airborne Grocer (jammer), Piperack (jammer), Perfectos (homer), Serrate (homer), Corona (spoof), Carpet (jammer) and Lucero (homer), used against German equipment such as Lichenstein, Freya and Würzburg radars. B17s were operational on 15 December by both RAF Units.
Is it possible that one of these aircraft, perhaps also off course for some reason, mistook the Lancaster for a German plane and a startled Rear Gunner opened fire? There is, of course, the original worn out scenario of a German-crewed B17 up to some dirty tricks. The mystery remains. Of course, there are a few more possibilities that can be put forward, but perhaps with the passing of time since WW2 we will never know.
Whatever the answer, luck or divine providence stayed with the crew of KB762 as Flight Lieutenant Black and his crew survived the war. Perhaps Father Lardie for some reason ran out of chewing gum on the day of the raid back in October 1944 and the crew of KB762, unknown to the skipper, thought the next best thing was to take the Padre on the mission instead just to be sure.
Father Lardie on 15 June 1985, made a dedication speech to the RCAF Memorial at Middleton St George. He said in part: ‘And all those who had a part in it will have left to posterity a legacy of honour, of courage and of valour that time can never despoil.’ These words would no doubt, apply to every man and woman who served in Bomber Command, no matter what nationality, creed or colour.
Footnotes
1 - Father Lardie flew two other ‘unofficial’ missions until he was officially grounded.
2 - December 15 was also the day the music died and created a mystery yet to be solved. A United States Army Air Force single engine UC-64 Norseman disappeared possibly over the English Channel en-route to Paris from England. On-board was the famous American swing band leader and composer, Glenn Miller.
3 - The KG denotes Kampfgeschwader and translated means ‘Battle Squadron.’
4 - Stahl, P. G. KG 200 the true story. Janes Publishing Company, London. 1981. Pages 63-4.
5 - No.100 Group RAF. http;/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N0.-100-Group-RAF
The author thanks Colonel Cliff. M. Black RCAF (Ret) DFC and Croix de Guerre with Silver Star for permission to quote from his memoirs.
© Anne Gafiuk & Ken Wright, 2013
A response follows from Richard Forder, Association Committee member and 223 Squadron Specialist, offering further insight into Ken Wright’s article -
RESPONSE from Richard Forder
Thanks for the copy of Ken Wright's article, which enables me to focus on his actual query. From his writings, I am pretty confident that Padre Lardie was referring to events on the night of 15/16 Dec 44. I am still confident that 100 Group aircraft were not involved in the incident in question for the following reasons:
Before I explain I would just like to correct a slight confusion in his article that appears to stem from his interrogation of Wikipedia.
He states that: ‘B-17s were operational on 15 Dec 44 by both RAF units’. There were only 3 Squadrons that operated the B-17 in RAF Bomber Command during WW2. The first was 90 Squadron that used Fortresses from May 41 - Feb 42, 214 Squadron, which employed Fortress II and III aircraft from Jan 44 - Jul 45 and 223 Squadron which started exchanging their B-24 Liberators for Fortress aircraft in Apr 45. In other words, only 214 Squadron were operating Fortresses on the night of 15/16 Dec 44.
On 15 December, there was just one major Bomber Command raid mounted by Bomber Command.
This was to Ludwigshafen by a force of 327 Lancasters and 14 Mosquitoes, as Ken has recorded. It was also a quiet day for 100 Group who only contributed 31 sorties. 214 Squadron provided one Fortress to mount a Target Patrol over Ludwigshafen, and 4 aircraft as part of a diversionary Window Force in support of the Ludwigshafen operation. I do not have take-off and landing times for the 214 Squadron aircraft, but I do have them for 223 Squadron which supplied one Liberator for a Target Patrol over Ludvigshafen and 4 aircraft for the Window Patrol. The 223 aircraft were airborne between 1515 and 1523, and as 214 Squadron aircraft were involved in the same operations, I would expect their landing times to have been the same or pretty close. As far as I am aware, there were no problems for 214’s aircraft, so I am pretty confident that none of the Squadron's aircraft would still have been airborne over France or Germany at 0300 hours on the morning of 16 December.
Like Ken I had also looked at possible 8th USAAF Fortress activity on the night of 15/16 December. Not many people appreciate that some USAAF Units did operate at night. I can confirm Ken's information that 3 Fortresses of the Night Leaflet Squadron operating from Cheddington were airborne over France and Germany on the night. So my guess would be that one of these aircraft were responsible for the strike on F/L Black's Lancaster.
I hope this information will be of use to Ken and my thanks to him for sight of his interesting article.
Richard Forder (Committee)
This article is from the Winter 2013 issue of Confound and Destroy
