The Cine Technician (1943 - 1945)

THE CINE-TECHNICIAN The Journal of The Association of Cine-Technicians 1-orial & Publishing Office: 9, BR0MEF1ELD, STANMORE, MIDDLESEX. » -ertisement Office: 5 & 6, RED LION SQUARE, LONDON, W.C.I. Telephone: EDGWARE3119 Telephone : HOLBORN 4972 Associate Editors : Darrel Catling, Sidney Cole, George H. Elvin, Kenneth Gordon, Frank Sainsbury. mber Forty-three, Volume Nine July — August, 1943 Price One Shilling FILMING WITH THE FORTS By E. J. H. WRIGHT THE smoke from the burning flying suit didn't choke me because I had an oxygen mask on. I could see the bursts of the bombs from the Fortresses leading the formation ... I turned the camera handle like mad as the bombardier yelled "Bombs gone," and I felt the lurch of the ship as the load left her. Then the pilot's voice on the inter-com : " Close those goddam doors " — and the bombardier's indignant retort: "What the ruddy hell do you think I'm doing? " Then " Doors closed, Sir." " Let's get out of here." It all started one morning when the Sergeant shook me from my fitful sleep to get ready to present myself with the others for briefing. My mind seemed too confused at the time for me to take in much of this, but it came back to me afterwards. I had just been posted to an American Operational Bomber Station somewhere in England . . . after completing a special short course which the U.S. authorities had arranged for War Correspondents who wanted to go on daylight bombing raids. We learnt all about oxygen, electrically heated clothing, first aid, dinghy drill, parachutes and a host of other things besides to enable us to look after ourselves, if need be. The British Correspondents on this course w7ere J. H. Morley (Gaumont), "Admiral" George Oswald (Universal), Jack Bamsden (Movietone), Kenneth Gordon (Pathe) and myself (Paramount) ; in addition, eleven or so American War Correspondents " sweated it out " with us. Of this bunch Gordon and Oswald were the top boys in the final written and oral examinations; and I had occasion to wish fervently that I had been as diligent as Gordon. This was when, on one of our raids over Lorient. my oxygen mask froze up on me, due to negligence on my part, having forgotten the " drill," and I passed out for a couple of minutes. We were about 29,000 feet up at the time, damned cold, hands and feet frostbitten, and afterwards 1 thought ruefully that Gordon or Oswald might have fixed it in a couple of seconds. Out of that course, the first one of its kind, only Bamsden and myself were left to carry on : Gordon, Morley and Oswald w'ere forbidden by their doctors to undertake any altitude flying. It's all in the luck of the game. From the course. Bamsden and I were posted to our operational stations, the names of which must of necessity remain secret. Since then, Eric Barrow (Universal) and Jack { nwins (Gaumont) have taken the course and have both been on daylight raids. It was not until aboul 6 o'clock on the nighl before my first raid t hai we started I ruci some kind of gadget on which to mount the camera. This was made principally out of an oat plank and a few pieces of aluminium scrap to which the Akeley gyro head was bolted. It looked a haywire proposition when we fixed it into the ship, hut it worked, which was the main thing. I