Record of Service:  Pilot Officer William Gerald Sorel

Date of Enlistment: October 5, 1942

Place of Enlistment: #7 Recruiting Centre North Bay, Ontario                      

Notes about enlistment application:

The standard Air Force enlistment form gave the applicant a choice between being air duties or ground duties, on his enlistment form Gerald selected the air duties option. Most applicants that selected the Air Duties option did so with the intention of becoming pilots, it is interesting to note that the options listed were Pilot, Air Gunner, Observer ( with this choice the applicant became a Navigator or Bomb Aimer) and Wireless Operator. With Gerald's last occupation prior to enlistment being a Telegrapher with CN, no doubt the recruiting officer salivated at the prospect of having an experienced candidate. 

Other interesting notes on his application include one of his personal interests being listed as rugby and the fact that he was fluent in both english and french.

 

Basic Training:

Notes about basic training:

#1 Manning depot had its barracks at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds, the accommodations were to say the least, rudimentary. #1 Manning depot is often not thought of fondly by ex-airmen as it was there that most young recruits discovered what they had gotten themselves into by enlisting. For many it would be the first time they had ever been away from their families and the roar of the Drill Sergeant was not much consolation. Training involved drill, military protocol, exhaustive physical training and basic soldiering.

Wireless Operator Training

 The Wireless Operator's or "Sparks" badge worn on the shoulder of the uniform

 

Notes about Wireless training:

Primarily the airmen were taught to master morse code, how to transmit and receive messages as well as maintain and operate various wireless sets. Many of these exercises were carried out in flight in Anson and Yale training aircraft.

The North American Yale
The Avro Anson

 

Gunnery Training

An aerial view of Mossbank.
The Wireless Air Gunner's (WAG) Wing worn on the front left of the uniform.
Sergeant Stripes worn on both sleeves of the uniform.
#2 Bombing & Gunnery School Crests

 

Notes about Gunnery training:

Training involved operation, assembling and disassembling of .303 caliber machine guns, aircraft recognition, armament types and map reading. Airborne gunnery practice was carried out aboard Fairey Battle aircraft,  a drogue towed by another aircraft  would be the target. The gunnery course for WAGs was of a shorter duration than the training offered strictly for gunners, the training the WAG received was intended so the airman could take over a gunner's position in a crisis.

It should also be noted that the Embarkation Leave that was granted upon the completion of the gunnery course was likely the last time any of Gerald's immediate family ever saw him alive.

Embarkation

Notes about Embarkation:

Unfortunately, due to the limited space for note keeping on service forms, the name of the transport ship which took Gerald overseas but records confirm that  he departed from New York City. Although it may seem strange, this was also not uncommon, the Queen Mary ran from New York to England as a troop transport during the war. Just about every Canadian airmen that embarked overseas went through RAF Station Bournemouth, it was a huge processing centre where incoming troops reported and were kept until they were allotted postings where they would continue their training. Bournemouth was something of a coastal resort town but troops quickly became bored waiting there for their next assignments.

Overseas Training

Advanced Flight Training:

Notes about AFU:

The purpose of Advanced Observer Flying Units was to primarily train Wireless Operators and Navigators to work with one another in the air. The Wireless Operator would obtain radio navigation information from beacons and then pass that information along to the Navigator who would use it to plot or confirm their course while in flight. The aircraft used for training was the Avro Anson. 

Operational Training Unit

The Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with Ribbon and Leaf Emblem. It was awarded for a minimum of six months overseas service.

 

Notes about 22 OTU:

The Operational Training Unit is where airmen of separate trades converged to be formed into crews. Generally speaking, the crews were gathered in a common area and instructed to form up amongst themselves, it was felt that giving the crews the opportunity to do so would help them function better as a unit. Sometimes crews were formed because of common interests other times simply because someone asked them to join the crew. In any event, the concept worked well and most crews became very close knit.

 This likely also would have been where the crew of Halifax MZ-589 first met one another. At this stage the crew would have consisted of the Pilot (Joseph Collver), Navigator (Norman Bailey), Bomb Aimer (Ray White),  Wireless Operator (Gerald Sorel),   and the Tail Gunner (Norman Jermey). Pilot Joseph Collver was from Fort William, Ontario, a fellow Northern Ontarian like Gerald Sorel it is quite possible that having small things in common such as the latter played a part in the decision to form up as a crew.

The training conducted was usually on twin engine bombers such as Whitleys or Wellingtons, training included circuits, cross country navigation, bombing, gunnery, night flying, formation flying and defensive manoeuvres. Also the crew would fly what were known as leaflet raids, these were trips to safer areas of occupied territories such as France where propaganda leaflets would be dropped.

The Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
The Vickers Wellington

 

61 Base  1666 Heavy Conversion Unit

Notes about 1666 HCU:

1666 HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit) was where the crew learned to operate four engine bombers that they would fly with their operational squadrons. It was at this point that  Flight Engineer William Desborough of the Royal Air Force would join the crew.   The activities at the HCU were similar to those at the OTU only with larger more powerful aircraft. The crew would also learn survival and escape and evade tactics.  Aircraft used at the HCU were older discarded Halifaxes such as the MkII.

It should be noted that training at OTU's and HCU's was in itself quite hazardous. There were a multitude of accidents, ranging from mid air collisions to crashes on take off. The aircraft used by trai8ning units had survived operational tours and were deemed to rickety to use operationally. 

While at the HCU, Gerald got into some minor trouble as he wrote a letter to his fiancee, Ms. Rita Downing of Montreal which contained some information and photographs that the censor deemed "valuable information". As a result he was given a reprimand and no doubt told to be careful what he included in his letters, it was far from a serious matter however and offence that likely most servicemen committed at some point. Unfortunately Gerald was something of an amateur photographer and even knew how to develop his own film, this episode likely resulted in him taking not practicing his hobby for fear of further reprimand.

 

431 Iroquois Squadron RCAF Station Croft, Yorkshire

Notes about 431 Squadron:

According to his service file, Gerald  was commissioned a week prior to going missing. The approval date for the commissioning is August 25, 1944, once an airman was recommended for an Officer's commission and it was approved the commission was retroactive to the date of recommendation. It is therefore most likely that Gerald was unaware that he had been promoted prior to his disappearance. The aircraft flown by the squadron was the Halifax MkIII, see the Operations section for details of each operation that was flown.

 The 431 Iroquois Squadron badge

The 1939 -1945 Star

The France and Germany Star

The Defence Medal

The General Service medal.

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