Against the Odds

One of the lucky things about being a writer is that you get to meet interesting people and hear exciting stories. There can be few more exciting than the life story of one of Canada’s truly great warriors - Elmer Trotter.

Elmer has been a fighter all his life. As a youngster, growing up in Tuberose Saskatchewan, he was often in trouble, not intentionally so, but never inclined to back down. Then with war looming, a decision to join the air force meant the constant challenge of training both at home, and later in England, where again his culture clashed both literally and metaphorically with his new-found ‘allies’.

He persevered, however, and after nearly two and half years of training through the usual pattern of flying training schools, operational training units, and conversion units he went from single-engined through to twin-engined and then four-engined aircraft before finally qualifying as a pilot in charge of his own aircraft and crew, flying the legendary Lancaster.

Posted to 101 (Special Duties) Squadron at Ludford Magna, Elmer soon found himself in the thick of the action, flying his first operation to Berlin, to the very heart of Nazi Germany. His squadron’s aircraft flew with a secret ‘eighth man’ who operated a similarly secret transmitter to jam signs from Luftwaffe nightfighter controllers. So essential were these crews that they flew on every major bomber command operation, and so took the highest casualties. Elmer and his crew very nearly added to this statistic when on only their fourth operation they were intercepted by a nightfighter and badly shot up. Through a combination of skill and determination the crew managed to make it home in one piece, and Elmer was awarded a well-earned Distinguished Flying Medal for his courage. It was not the only time he would display such fortitude in the face of adversity, or be rewarded for his bravery.

Shortly after, Elmer was recommended by his commanding officer to join an even more hazardous outfit, the Pathfinders, described as the elite of bomber command, and for very good reason. The pathfinders flew at the vanguard of every mission, finding and marking the target for the following ‘main force’ to bomb. Posted first to 156 Squadron at RAF Warboys, Elmer began to experience the real horror of war first hand, flying a succession of long and dangerous operations over the night skies of Germany and beyond, with flights of more than nine hours being not uncommon – nine hours with the thought (and threat) that any minute they might become the victim of flak or fighters.

Whilst many of his comrades fell, some never to return, Elmer and his crew survived, even the disastrous night of March 30^th 1944 when bomber command suffered its highest losses of the war. Posted again to 582 Squadron in Little Staughton, Bedfordshire, Elmer’s luck finally ran out on his 44^th operation. His gunners failed to spot a nightfighter lurking in the gloom on the way back from Russelheim, and they were shot down, four of his crew being killed. Elmer survived – again – despite taking to his ‘chute late and with his aircraft perhaps only 500ft above the ground. Making a run for it, he was quickly captured and taken for interrogation. Constantly threatened with execution both as a ‘Terrorflieger’ and a spy, it was with relief that he was eventually sent to prison camp, and the infamous Stalag Luft III, where yet another horror was about to unfold.

Elmer’s story is relentless in its action, made more exciting by its simple telling. This is not a book that needs hyperbole; the drama is there in his own words. His descriptions of everyday (and some not so ‘everyday!) events, made more interesting by their historical context, are particularly engaging: his friendships; the obvious respect for his ‘adoptive’ father and the support of his parents; the excitement of the visit of the King, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Elizabeth to his squadron to the point that he couldn’t eat.

Then his descriptions when staring danger and possible death in the face – not just once but on several occasions: on the boat coming over from Canada to England when they were attacked by a U-boat; his fight with the Black Watch and his ‘dumb farm boy trick’ of never walking away; his description of bailing out, and being bounced around the cockpit like a tennis ball; of being blindfolded, and facing a firing squad. Of the death march.

Elmer’s experiences were perhaps more exciting than many, but he doesn’t claim to be any more special; far from it. And that is what makes this story so good. Whereas it helps, perhaps, to have a wider understanding of the role of bomber command in the second world war, and pathfinders specifically, that does not detract from what is still an exciting tale that anyone can enjoy. His view through his writing and Leslie’s telling of his story is understated, and more powerful because of it. He was a survivor. Against the odds.  

Sean Feast

Sarratt, England, November 2008