Warbird Information Exchange

there is a great book called "terror in the starboard seat ", all about an american serving as a rcaf mosquito pilot, and his co-pilot a canadian navigator. its a good book which cronicles their wartime adventures from the navigators often terrified point of view. very well worth the read. personally, i think that the RCAF war effort is often somewhat unjustly overshadowed by the "sexier' image of the usaf. not that the usaf boys werent the nastiest mofo's on the planet or didnt do their part, just that the canadians and british, but particularily the canadians, often have their stories left untold.

So many Americans joined the RCAF as the entry requirements for pilot training in Canada were far less stringent. In pre-war America, (December 7, 1941), to become a Military pilot, you could not be younger than 21, be no older than 26, must be single and have a minimum of two years of college!

The RCAF who were building an Air Force from the ground up could not afford to be as fussy. Married or single they took them from age 17 to 32. All the RCAF required was for those volunteers to have High School diploma and they had to pass a physical and some apptitude tests. Then it was all up to the individual as to how far they progressed.

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.

Wow you too

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Then there were four (4).

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Kind Regards,
Gary Lewis
J.A.F.O.

callsign Shamrock

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Don't touch my junk!!

" Sid and his puckering navigator McIntosh" ha, thats funny because if you read the book you will realize what an accurate description of this fellow that is !!! a very entertaining read !