The Cine Technician (1943 - 1945)

•July— August, 1943 T H E C I N E T E C H N I (' T A N 75 it does no harm to the camera, which soon thaws out again at ground level. Access to the camera hatch is obtained by lifting the trap-door in the floor of the radio compartment. My next worry was in trying to adjust my oxygen supply to the rapidly decreasing temperature caused by the rapid rate of climb. This is where ] almost came to grief, for it wasn't long before ni\ oxygen mask froze up completely solid, but " Turk " noticed that I was slowly turning a lurid purple, and snatching off my useless mask quickly slapped on a spare one through which I inhaled gratefully. One becomes incapable of doing anything for oneself when suffering from annoxia — the medical, term for oxygen starvation. This is one of the main dangers of high altitude flying, because you don't know you're about to pass into oblivion until it's too late and you've keeled over. However, to return to the raid, soon after crossing the enemy coast line we ran into dirty weather and the groups of aircraft got somewhat scattered. The group I was in, however, found a clear lane through the clouds and naturally carried on until we suddenly came into clear weather again. Within a few minutes, it seemed to me, we were jumped on by some forty to fifty enemy aircraft. The sky appeared to be full of them. Our group numbered 17, but one of us had got knocked down going in. The bombing run was done according to schedule and a fine job the American boys made of it. I was fortunate to be able to prove this afterwards with some of the film I took, but my first effort was not very satisfactory from my point of view. The evasive action taken by the pilot after the bombs were dropped was so violent that it made decent photography of any kind impossible. The pilots and crews who took part in that Hamm raid still speak of it as one of the worst they have ever experienced. Such was my baptism. Here I may say that two more ships of our group were knocked down on the way back from the target, and by this time the original bunch of F.W. 190s, M.E. 109s, etc., etc., were joined by another bunch who, I suppose, thought they were in for a fine killing. The official number of enemy fighter aircraft encountered by us on that raid was given at over 80 — to me a very conservative figure. Captain Bill Clancy, my pilot, said afterwards that the total " fighting time " of the aircraft was just about three hours; this was about the time we took to go into enemy territory and fight our way out. For most of this time, with the exception of the few minutes over the target itself, I was an interested and very, very frightened spectator. It being, as I have said, my first Fortress raid, and knowing nothing about it, I only took one camera with me which was mounted inside the camera hatch pointing vertically downwards — so I just had to watch the party— and what a party ! The temperature was more than 40° below zero, but J was quite warm, believe me! I still sometimes dream of that raid. After Hamm came Wilhelmshaven, Yegesack, Hennes, Rotterdam, Paris, Lorient and so on, until I read in the press that the only way the Germans and Italians could get out of North Africa was by trying a " Dunkirk." This conjured up in my mind some swell picture possibilities, so I asked to go to Tunisia. I musl hand it to the Americans-just give them an idea and if they like it, it's in operation within twenty-four hours. I was rushed through all the procedure necessary for a trip of this kjnd, given an Al priority ticket, and by devious routes was soon on my way to another adventure. But for the weal her, and other delaying factors, I should have arrived in Tunisia within the day. Tropical storms can be extremely awkward where air' transport schedules are concerned, and every day found me more on edge. worrying whether the Tunisian campaign would end before I got there. However, my luck held, and after ten days and devious routes I arrived. Within twenty-four hours I had covered my first raid — over Tunis it was, a very nice example of high altitude precision bombing. Various raids then followed in quick succession, over Sardinia,Sicily, etc. And then at 10 a.m. on May 13th we were told that the campaign was over - no Dunkirk and no final mopping-up, therefore no pictures of the kind I had hoped to get. 1 had not forgotten Westerplatte, Warsaw, Rotterdam, Coventry, Guernica or a very graphic description once given to me by one of my colleagues, .Maurice Ford (just returned from India) who witnessed and filmed the machine-gunning by the Nazis of the French refugees during the debacle of 1940, or Jim Gemmell's expressive account of Stukas dive-bombing our convoys in the Straits of Dover when we were almost powerless to protect ourselves, so 1 wanted badbj to film the German getting a taste of his own medicine. It was not to be — hut at least I can imagine what they felt like at Palermo, Trapani, Mila, Marsala, Messina and other Italian "soft" spots, and believe me the softening-up process was very effective. Life in Tunisia is no Led of roses, taking all tilings by and large. I was fairly comfortable after I had wangled ten blankets for myself. It's extremely cold there at night and an inferno during the day if it doesn't rain. The country is very fertile and under good cultivation. The desert doesn't start until a good way inland. Lizards are plentiful and stork's can be seen even, w here. I don'f know why, they have no chance to ply their legendary trade! The airfields are extremely ven bad; there are ants bj the million, outsize i. ni^ at that, mosquitoes like dive-bombers with a sting like thai of a scorpion, Thej don't seem to he satistied with jusl a -ting, they biti out of one's skin. But in spite of these disadvantages