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Ted Kelly

Like most who entered the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Ted Kelly (who became a Warrant Officer Class One) wanted to be a pilot. Owing to a lack of adequate education, however, he was recruited to be an aero-engine mechanic. Not content with this, however, after successfully graduating the course, he went on to train as a flight engineer, training in both aeronautical engineering and gunnery. He was posted to No. 10 Bombing and Reconnaissance Squadron, performing convoy escort duties over the North Atlantic. This excerpt, circa 1944-45, illustrates Kelly's recollection of the importance of radar and a well-equipped aircraft within the war in the skies.

By this point in time, radar (called "George") came on the scene. All aircraft were outfitted with this marvellous invention and flight engineers were trained to operate the system. It was, however, primarily meant for the radio/wireless air gunner to operate. The radar scope was located in front of his position, directly behind the pilot. His gun position was the upper turret located mid-ship, with the tail gunner manning the aft gun turrets. The navigator manned the front nose turrets, when required. All gun positions carried the 50-calibre, twin-barrel machine guns, except for the waist-hatch position, which held a single-barrel machine gun, one on each side of the aircraft. 

With the radar in good working order (and it usually was), it was a great help in locating a convoy (often icebergs and foreign fishing boats, too), far out into the Atlantic. Its effective range at that time was approximately 60 miles and intercepting a convoy was made much easier. The convoy patrol search-and-sweep pattern was usually determined before we left our base, and it changed frequently as determined by where the most danger areas were known or suspected, (sometimes by the convoy commander). 

Our aircraft had an airborne duration limit of approximately 16 hours, (with a long-range fuel tank occupying part of the bomb bay area). Fuel had to be transferred to the main tanks when needed. Each engine was dependant on a tank-to-engine, or, cross-feed-to-engine, which enabled feeding any engine from any one of the four main tanks. 

The "Fuel Transfer System" was poorly designed on the early version of the B24 Liberator. The system was called a "U Tube Fuel Transfer System," and was located above the wing area, where much of the radio and electrical boxes were housed. These "U" tubes invariably had some leakage, and, consequently, all radio and some electrical systems had to be terminated for the duration of fuel transfer operations. By the time the operation was completed, the flight engineer had a snootful of gas fumes in his system, because the fuel transfer panel had to be monitored constantly. Opening the bomb bay doors occasionally dispersed the fumes, but that, too, was not wise if the fumes became too dense... Luckily, no serious incidents happened because of this discrepancy and, not too much later, the system was modified to a safe configuration. Depth charges and one zombie, (a small torpedo that was designed to home-in on acoustics), occupied the remaining area of the bomb bay enclosure. 

I remained with that squadron till the end of the war, and an interesting time period it was.