Sgt. Guy H. Rainville
Royal Air Force 12 Squadron
from:Quebec
My uncle Guy Rainville was in his mid twenties when he started training as a gunner in 1940. He was based in Binbrook. We have his log book and one story he told. The story was about him being suspended by his feet to unlock the landing gear. He tells about firing his guns in the back turret to relieve tension as they were coned and flaked for twelve minutes and there was a riot on the intercom, starting with the young pilot screaming "Where am I?".
He flew first in the R for Robert plane, a Wellington that bore the letters PS. R was his initial and PS those of his fiancee, Peggy. He considered this lucky and it was. He married Peggy between tours and sold Victory bonds. Back in England, he stayed clear of his regular watering hole, the bar at the Strand Hotel in London. But he continued to be a patron at his favorite restaurant, La Belle Meuniere.
He flew 19 missions on that second tour, the last four in different Lancasters. On his 49th mission, then, fate struck. The 50th mission is the last in a flying man career. You are given an earthbound job after that. Only ten to fifteen percent of aviators made it in WWII. My uncle does not say he was looking forward to it.
14th of January 1944. The M Lancaster was a new plane, not tested. Guy is Rear Gunner. The target is a German town in the industrial valley of the Ruhr. A night flight, as always. The log entry reads "Ops Brunswick - Missing. Pilot is F/Lt Wales. Instruments faulty over the sea, No climb above 19000ft. Over target incendiary bomb dropped (friendly from above) on Johnny Aplin's head in astro hatch (astrodome) Fatally wounded. Burst of flak cut petrol line. Bombs dropped on target. Motor catching fire. Return, One hour from target Bale out 1st twenty kms West of Rheine. Two killed W/Op & Mid-Upper Gunner Hutchinson. Walked all night. Hid all day. Walked again next night. Gave self WP at farmhouse on outskirts of Rheine. Escape impossible." He asked the farmer for a glass of milk and to call the police. He spent the next sixteen months in a POW camp.
