Canadian Desert Air Force and test pilot speaks

Antipodean Andy · Aug 27, 2008

Brantford Expositor - Ontario, CA

There is so much to say, so much to share, but for many years Robert Habbeshaw remained silent about his Second World War experiences.

That changed a few years ago. Since then, Habbeshaw has spoken to local business groups and students about the more than 40 missions he flew in the Middle East as an RCAF pilot and of the many different planes he tested during the war.

Habbeshaw survived several crash landings but even today, at 88, he walks with a military bearing. Physically, he appears to have escaped the war unscathed. Psychologically, however, it has been a different story.

"I started having these dreams, memories of what I had seen started coming back to me in the night," Habbeshaw said. "I would be kicking and screaming. It was awful.

"Somebody told me that I should start talking about my experiences so I have."

There wasn't a dry eye in the room following a presentation to a community business group a couple of years back, he recalled.

There was the time he saw the tail section of a plane fall onto a worker who was lying on his back underneath the tail wheel. Other workers managed to push up the tail section and Habbeshaw pulled the man out by the legs. An ambulance came to take the man to hospital.

"I have never forgotten the screaming as the ambulance drove off, with the sound gradually dying into the distance. He died that day," Habbeshaw wrote in a letter a couple of years ago.

There is the memory of flying a Wellington and hearing a member of his crew screaming so hard that blood spewed out of his mouth while Habbeshaw flew evasive manoeuvres to save them from being shot down. Other crew members had to hold the man down, Habbeshaw recalled in his letter.

Most times they flew at 7,900 feet and were travelling 130 mph. The plane carried 14 250-lb. bombs. After dropping the bombs, Habbeshaw would try to change the pitch of the plane's propeller as a way of confusing enemy radar.

Flying towards their target, Habbeshaw would quietly say, 'God help us, God help us.'

It is a miracle that he survived it all, he said. "God has been good to me," he said. Looking through his flight book, old photographs and other memorabilia, Habbeshaw said there is so much to talk about, so much to share that it's difficult to know where to start.

He remembers the time British Prime Minister Winston Churchill did a tour of the Middle East. It is especially memorable for Habbeshaw because he was able to speak to the famous orator, politician and world leader.

"He (Churchill) noticed that I was a Canadian and asked me if I was from Saskatchewan?" Habbeshaw said. "I said no, I was from Ontario." "He then asked me what I was doing here and I told him I didn't know."

Habbeshaw chuckles at the story because he given a stern talking to by his commanding officer at the time for not giving the British prime minister a better answer.

'QUITE A SURPRISE'

"But I was really young then and it all came as quite a surprise," Habbeshaw said. "I really didn't know what to say."

Habbeshaw can also speak about some of the improvisations the pilots and air crews came up with to fight the enemy. Sometimes, instead of dropping bombs, they dropped caltrops, a spiked weapon that is shaped in such a way that when it is dropped to the ground there is always a point, pointing upwards. It has been used in war to stop enemy advances.

The flight crew would also screw rods into the points of their bombs so that when the bombs hit the ground they didn't become submerged in the sand and reduce their effectiveness. Once, when Habbeshaw and another member of his crew were doing this, they screwed the rod in just a little too far.

"We got the heck out of there pretty quick," he said with a laugh. He also recalled how the Gurkhas guarded their quarters, sandy dugouts in in the desert.

"They were crafty. Great soldiers who could sneak up on you without making a sound," Habbeshaw recalled. "If you went out at night, they liked to sneak up behind you and whisper in your ear, 'I got ya.'"

Later in the war, Habbeshaw became part of a group of pilots -- the Canadian representative -- involved in testing various airplanes that were being developed by the allies.

He flew most, if not all of the planes, that were being developed at that time including the Lysander, Mosquito, several models of the Hurrican as well as the Spitfire.

AWARDED MEDALS

He was awarded many medals for his service, which he now wears proudly with his uniform.

Following the war and his stint as a test pilot, Habbeshaw worked in the private sector for Westinghouse Canada, Ontario Hydro and the Canadian Electrical Digest Magazine. Married for more than 60 years, Habbeshaw and his wife Olga have three kids and nine grandchildren.

Although he is originally from Toronto, the couple have been residents of Brantford for several years.

Today, Habbeshaw will be one of many special guests attending the Brant United Way Air Show dinner. The dinner is being held in a hangar at the Brantford Airport and the guest list includes many military and civilian pilots who will be performing in Wednesday's United Way air show.

One special guest is Maj. Paul Anderson, a city native who recently returned from his sixth tour of duty in Afghanistan.

He has flown all over the world for the Canadian Forces. Others include Rick Volker, the pilot of the Supermarine Spitfire and Rob Gillman, who flied (who is editing these things - muppets?) the Hawker Hurricane. Habbeshaw is looking forward to the dinner and being at the airport.

"I've always loved planes," he said. "I've always loved flying. "It's the kind of thing that gets a hold on you and never lets go."
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