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COULL, Norman McLeod Squadron Leader, No.405 Squadron, 109507 Distinguished Flying Cross RAF WWII
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COULL, S/L Norman McLeod (109507) - Distinguished Flying Cross - No.405 Squadron - awarded as per London Gazette 15 August 1944. Born in Westhartlepool, England, 26 November 1914; educated in Montreal including Sir George Williams College, 1929-1931. Was employed as a photographer, Donaldson Atlantic Line, 1938; vessel was SS Athenia, sunk by enemy action on 3 September 1939. He was landed in Scotland and enlisted in RAF, 27 December 1939; took Wireless Course at No.2 Electrical and Wireless School, Yatesbury, 1 June to 12 September 1940; classified as Wireless Operator, 16 September 1940. Gunnery Course, 15 September to 20 October 1940. Promoted to from Aircraftman 2nd Class to Sergeant (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner), 19 October 1940; took Gunnery Leaders Course, Castle Kennedy, 1-25 August 1941; commissioned 10 October 1941; promoted to Flight Lieutenant, 5 November 1941; appointed Acting Squadron Leader, 17 June 1943. First tour began with No.78 Squadron (Whitleys); posted to No.405 Squadron on 5 November 1941. Between tours he was on strength of No.6 Group Headquarters; returned to No.405 Squadron, 15 February 1944. Transferred to RCAF, 14 March 1945 (C94007), specifically to speed up his repatriation to Canada at a time of shipping shortages. Posted to Canada, 2 May 1945; on strength of No.1 Air Command, 17 May to 17 June 1945; No.13 EFTS, 18-21 June 1945; Eastern Air Command Headquarters, 22 June to 14 October 1945; released 24 October 1945. Air Ministry Bulletin 15067/AL.853 refers. No published citation. Public Record Office Air 2/9652 has recommendation by Wing Commander R.J. Lane dated 22 May 1944 when he had flown 30 sorties (197 hours) as follows: 6 Feb 41 - Dunkirk (5.15) 18 Apr 41 - Berlin (9.00) 3 May 41 - Dusseldorf (8.00) 5 May 41 - Brest (7.50) 15 May 41 - Boulogne (6.15) 27 May 41 - Cologne (7.45) 7 June 41 - Brest (7.45) 10 June 41 - Wilhelmshaven (6.50) 20 June 41 - Kiel (8.05) 23 June 41 - Cologne (5.30) 26 June 41 - Cologne (7.10) 30 June 41 - Bremen (8.20) 2 July 41 - Cologne (1.00, nil op) 5 July 41 - Munster (6.50) 8 July 41 - Hamm (7.15) 19 July 41 - Hanover (7.15) 24 July 41 - Emden (6.00) 21 Jan 42 - Bremen (4.20) 1 June 42 - Essen (5.30) 3 June 42 - Bremen (3.00) 25 June 42 - Bremen (3.35) 29 June 42 - Wilhelmshaven (4.20) 23 Oct 42 - Genoa (10.00) 28 Oct 42 - Sea Patrols (10.00) 6 Nov 42 - Sea Patrols (10.50) 24 Feb 44 - Schweinfurt (6.35) 22 Mar 44 - Frankfurt (5.35) 24 Mar 44 - Berlin (6.30) 30 Mar 44 - Nuremburg (6.10) 26 Apr 44 - Essen (3.45) 19 May 44 - Mount Couple (2.05)) This officer is a very keen and efficient air gunner who has completed 30 operational sorties against such heavily defended targets as Berlin, Bremen and Hanover. Squadron Leader Coull has on four occasions taken part in actual combats with enemy aircraft, and has been successful in warding off their attacks. The courage, skill and devotion to duty displayed by this officer under these conditions has been most commendable. In addition, the skill and initiative shown by this officer in the performance of his duties as Squadron Gunnery Leader has been outstanding. Strongly recommended for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross. This document was favourably endorsed by the Officer Commander, RAF Station Gransden Lodge on 24 May 1944 and by the Air Officer Commanding, No.8 Group on 30 May 1944. NOTE: Further details of his tours are known from applications for Operational Wings. However, it is puzzling in that some entries from the first tour differ as to date or target from the list given above; the second tour sortie list carries his missions well beyond the date on which his DFC was recommended: First Tour (Nos.78 and 405 Squadrons): sorties 21 January 1942 onwards with No.405 6 Feb 41 - Dunkirk (5.15) 18 Apr 41 - Berlin (9.00) 3 May 41 - Dusseldorf (8.00) 5 May 41 - Brest (7.50) 7 May 41 - Brest (7.45) 10 May 41 - Wilhelmshaven (6.50) 15 May 41 - Boulogne (6.15) 27 May 41 - Brest (7.45) 20 June 41 - Kiel (8.05) 23 June 41 - Cologne (5.30) 26 June 41 - Cologne (7.10) 30 June 41 - Bremen (8.20) 5 July 41 - Munster (6.50) 8 July 41 - Hamm (7.15) 19 July 41 - Hanover (7.15) 24 July 41 - Emden (6.00) 21 Jan 42 - Bremen (5.20) 1 June 42 - Essen (5.30) 3 June 42 - Bremem (3.00) 25 June 42 - Bremen (3.35) 29 June 42 - Wilhelmshaven (4.20) 23 Oct 42 - Genoa (10.00) 28 Oct 42 - Atlantic patrol (10.30) 6 Nov 42 - Atlantic patrol (11.00) Second Tour (No.405 Squadron) 24 Feb 44 - Schweinfurt (6.35) 22 Mar 44 - Frankfurt (5.35) 24 Mar 44 - Berlin (6.30) 30 Mar 44 - Nuremburg (6.10) 26 Apr 44 - Essen (3.45) 1 May 44 - Le Mans (3.20) 18 May 44 - Mount Couple (2.05) 27 May 44 - Rennes (3.45) 31 May 44 - Trappes (3.45) 2 June 44 - Trappes (3.30) 4 June 44 - Calais (1.45) 6 June 44 - Conde (4.05) 7 June 44 - Paris (3.05) 9 June 44 - Versailles (3.45) 12 June 44 - Amiens (2.40) 14 June 44 - Cambrai (2.35) 15 June 44 - Lens (2.30) 2 July 44 - Oisemont (2.10) 9 July 44 - Mount Condon (2.10) 12 July 44 - Bremont (2.30) 14 July 44 - Alderbelch (1.40) 20 July 44 - Bottrop (3.15) 23 July 44 - Kiel (5.15) 24 July 44 - Stuttgart (6.50) 5 Aug 44 - Bordeaux (7.15) 8 Aug 44 - Lucheux (3.00) 10 Aug 44 - Le Havre (2.15) 12 Aug 44 - Wanne Eickel (3.35) 17 Sept 44 - Boulogne (1.50) 25 Sept 44 - Calais (2.45) 12 Dec 44 - Essen (4.30) On a form dated 2 April 1945 he described his flying as 263 hours 40 minutes operational, 306 hours 20 minutes non-operational; 56 sorties and was No.6 Group Gunnery Leader at the time. He had flown in the following types - Dominie I (17 hours 40 minutes), Battle (one hour 15 minutes), Hampden (seven hours 20 minutes), Anson (34 hours 50 minutes), Whitley (251 hours 45 minutes), Wellington (nine hours five minutes), Halifax (74 hours 25 minutes) and Lancaster (173 hours 40 minutes); he claimed to have destroyed one FW.190. Public Record Office Air 50/248 has the following Combat Reports which include him: 22/23 March 1944. Lancaster C/405 (ND507). Crew consisted of J10255 W/C J.B. Millward, DFC, 155922 F/L B.W. Culpin, DFC, 413105 P/O R.D. Milne, 144711 P/O R.C. Taylor, DFC, R137822 Warrant Officer G.D. Hirschfeld (who on this occasion did not fire), 109507 S/L N.M. Coull (CAN/RAF), 911058 Sergeant G.D. Stewart, 120393 S/L J. Baker, DFC. While on operations to Frankfurt on the night of 22nd March 1944, and at a position over the target areas after the bombs had been released, Lancaster aircraft “C”, serial ND507 of 405 (RCAF) Squadron encountered an enemy aircraft which was identified by the rear gunner as a FW.190. The time of sighting was 21:55 hours while flying at an altitude of 18,000 feet, visibility was good with no cloud or moon but numerous searchlights. The enemy aircraft was first sighted by the rear gunner [Coull] on the fine quarter 20̊ above, at 300 yards range, coming straight towards the Lancaster. Corkscrew port was given immediately and at the same time the rear gunner opened fire with one short burst of two seconds after which the fighter broke away below in the starboard quarters at 200 yards range. No damage claimed to the fighter which did not open fire. No damage to Lancaster. 24/25 March 1944. Lancaster C/405 (ND507). Crew as above (on this occasion Warrant Officer G.D. Hirschfeld opened fire). While on the return journey from Berlin on the night of 24/25 March 1944, Lancaster aircraft “C”, serial No.ND507 of 405 Squadron encountered an enemy aircraft identified as a FW.190. The sighting was made at 23:20 hours just south of Hanover, position 52.05N 09.40E while flying at an altitude of 20,000 feet. Visibility was very good with no cloud or moon. The enemy fighter was first sighted by the rear gunner [Coull] approaching on the starboard quarter 10̊ above at 300 yards range. The fighter closed ona parallel course until the range was reduced to 200 yards, 60̊ on the starboard quarter when he banked steeply to port presenting a top plan view to the Lancaster. The rear gunner then directed the pilot to corkscrew starboard and opened fire with one long burst of four seconds; this was also taken uo by the mid-upper gunner [Hirschfeld] who fired a two-second burst, after which the enemy aircraft dived vertically and disappeared below. Numerous bullets were seen to ricochet off the fighter and it is claimed as damaged. The enemy did not open fire. No warding was received from Monica and Fishpond was not being watched. There was no searchlight activity or any other indication that fighters were in the vicinity. 300 rounds fired from four tail guns; 200 rounds fired from two mid-upper guns. RCAF Press Release No. 847 circa October 1942 reads as follows: The training of an air gunner never ceases. It continues every hour of his operational life. By means of moving screens, travelling lights and shadowgraphs, he is kept ‘on his toes’ judging range, recognizing types of aircraft and calculating the necessary deflections of his aim so that he may be able to hit a rapidly moving target. (Deflection of aim may be interpreted as firing in front of a moving target in order that the path of the bullet and the path of the target meet so that a hit is scored). And, all this constant training is so that he will be able, in a few short sharp seconds of a long night’s operational flight, to protect his bomber from the fire of a German nightfighter. But all training methods so far devised on the ground for the air gunner have left much to the gunner’s imagination. Sitting in a turret in a darkened room, ‘firing’ a spotlight each time the trigger button is pressed, gives the gunner little idea of the right thing or helps him in his aircraft recognition or the deflections of aim. Correctly guessing the silhouette of an aircraft on a screen does not give the air gunner the practice necessary for recognizing an enemy aircraft diving from out the dark side of the night sky with all its guns blazing in split seconds. Other methods of ground training for the gunner also leave much to be desired. It seemed difficult indeed to provide all the conditions of a night fighter attack on the ground. It was a subject which troubled Flight Lieutenant Norman M. Coull, the Gunnery Leader of the first RCAF Bomber Squadron to be formed in Britain. He got down to work and after many weeks of planning, he has devised an instrument for giving all these conditions and which will be as cheap to manufacture as any other training apparatus now used. It takes the form of a miniature railway track running into a bomber turret set up in a garage. This track can be lowered or raised and moved from one side to the other so that a scale model aircraft fixed upon a little trolley on the rails can ‘dive’ in at the turret from almost any angle. The gunner in the turret wears dark blue goggles to simulate night conditions and he sees his target silhouetted against the sky and when he presses his trigger button he hears a rattle of fire at the same rate as an actual Browning machine gun he uses, caused by an electrically operated trigger rapping like a Morse code key. Any scale model aircraft can be set up on the tall spindle of the trolley on the track. The track and the trolley will not be seen by the gunner through his sights if he is concentrating on the target, and the spindle, made of glass perspex, will also be invisible so that all he will see is an aircraft diving in at him. Each ‘bullet’ fired by the gunner, moreover, is recorded on a unit counter each time the rapper key strikes. So much for the operation of the apparatus but Flight Lieutenant Coull has gone further than this. In order to know whether the air gunner in the turret is opening fire at the right range and is also allowing the proper deflection, he has had the track of the model target electrically connected to graduated electrical contacts on the lateral ring of the revolving turret and on the up and down movement of the guns. Thus when the track is moved to a certain position and height and the ‘target’ is within a certain distance of the ‘bomber’ turret, if the turret is moved to the proper direction and the guns elevated to the correct corresponding position, an electrical circuit is completed and each ‘bullet’ fired is not only recorded on the gunner’s unit counter but also on a second scoring counter. In other words, when a scale model of, say, a Messerschmitt 210 is diving in at an angle of 27 degrees from the port side, the guns for the turret, allowing for a deflection of aim at 500 yards distance, should be on a 25 degree angle, for by the time the bullet travels the five hundred yards, the enemy aircraft will have closed in to that angle. At the same time, the gunner will be firing certain degrees below the target as it is travelling in from above. The electrical contact of the target 500 yards at 27 degrees on the track corresponds to the turret angle degree of 25 and similarly, the elevation of the guns corresponds to the height of the target. The number of bullet fired by the practising gunner is therefore recorded but, more important, if he is firing at the correct deflection angles the number of hits will be recorded. “It took many weary months to work out” said Coull, whose mother lives on Wilson Avenue, Montreal. “But once I got down to the actual idea, it only took a few days to make. Apart from the turret, which must be used for any sort of practise anyway, the apparatus is quite cheap to produce, cheaper I know than any other apparatus for training air gunners that has so far been installed. This trainer, he Coull trainer, should help this squadron tremendously in our practise work.” “Coull is a wizard”, commending Wing Commander Len Fraser of Vancouver, the Commanding Officer of the Squadron. “The apparatus is the best yet for training air gunners and will probably be taken up by other squadrons. It should, at any rate, make our air gunners, who are better than any other squadron’s anyway, right on top from the point of view of efficiency. We can almost look forward now to a fighter squadron’s scoreboard except that our birds will be nightfighters.”
COULL, Norman McLeod Squadron Leader, No.405 Squadron, 109507 Distiinguished Flying Cross Commonwealth Air Forces WWII
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COULL, S/L Norman McLeod (109507) - Distinguished Flying Cross - No.405 Squadron - awarded as per London Gazette 15 August 1944. Born in Westhartlepool, England, 26 November 1914; educated in Montreal including Sir George Williams College, 1929-1931. Was employed as a photographer, Donaldson Atlantic Line, 1938; vessel was SS Athenia, sunk by enemy action on 3 September 1939. He was landed in Scotland and enlisted in RAF, 27 December 1939; took Wireless Course at No.2 Electrical and Wireless School, Yatesbury, 1 June to 12 September 1940; classified as Wireless Operator, 16 September 1940. Gunnery Course, 15 September to 20 October 1940. Promoted to from Aircraftman 2nd Class to Sergeant (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner), 19 October 1940; took Gunnery Leaders Course, Castle Kennedy, 1-25 August 1941; commissioned 10 October 1941; promoted to Flight Lieutenant, 5 November 1941; appointed Acting Squadron Leader, 17 June 1943. First tour began with No.78 Squadron (Whitleys); posted to No.405 Squadron on 5 November 1941. Between tours he was on strength of No.6 Group Headquarters; returned to No.405 Squadron, 15 February 1944. Transferred to RCAF, 14 March 1945 (C94007), specifically to speed up his repatriation to Canada at a time of shipping shortages. Posted to Canada, 2 May 1945; on strength of No.1 Air Command, 17 May to 17 June 1945; No.13 EFTS, 18-21 June 1945; Eastern Air Command Headquarters, 22 June to 14 October 1945; released 24 October 1945. Air Ministry Bulletin 15067/AL.853 refers. No published citation. Public Record Office Air 2/9652 has recommendation by Wing Commander R.J. Lane dated 22 May 1944 when he had flown 30 sorties (197 hours) as follows: 6 Feb 41 - Dunkirk (5.15) 18 Apr 41 - Berlin (9.00) 3 May 41 - Dusseldorf (8.00) 5 May 41 - Brest (7.50) 15 May 41 - Boulogne (6.15) 27 May 41 - Cologne (7.45) 7 June 41 - Brest (7.45) 10 June 41 - Wilhelmshaven (6.50) 20 June 41 - Kiel (8.05) 23 June 41 - Cologne (5.30) 26 June 41 - Cologne (7.10) 30 June 41 - Bremen (8.20) 2 July 41 - Cologne (1.00, nil op) 5 July 41 - Munster (6.50) 8 July 41 - Hamm (7.15) 19 July 41 - Hanover (7.15) 24 July 41 - Emden (6.00) 21 Jan 42 - Bremen (4.20) 1 June 42 - Essen (5.30) 3 June 42 - Bremen (3.00) 25 June 42 - Bremen (3.35) 29 June 42 - Wilhelmshaven (4.20) 23 Oct 42 - Genoa (10.00) 28 Oct 42 - Sea Patrols (10.00) 6 Nov 42 - Sea Patrols (10.50) 24 Feb 44 - Schweinfurt (6.35) 22 Mar 44 - Frankfurt (5.35) 24 Mar 44 - Berlin (6.30) 30 Mar 44 - Nuremburg (6.10) 26 Apr 44 - Essen (3.45) 19 May 44 - Mount Couple (2.05)) This officer is a very keen and efficient air gunner who has completed 30 operational sorties against such heavily defended targets as Berlin, Bremen and Hanover. Squadron Leader Coull has on four occasions taken part in actual combats with enemy aircraft, and has been successful in warding off their attacks. The courage, skill and devotion to duty displayed by this officer under these conditions has been most commendable. In addition, the skill and initiative shown by this officer in the performance of his duties as Squadron Gunnery Leader has been outstanding. Strongly recommended for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross. This document was favourably endorsed by the Officer Commander, RAF Station Gransden Lodge on 24 May 1944 and by the Air Officer Commanding, No.8 Group on 30 May 1944. NOTE: Further details of his tours are known from applications for Operational Wings. However, it is puzzling in that some entries from the first tour differ as to date or target from the list given above; the second tour sortie list carries his missions well beyond the date on which his DFC was recommended: First Tour (Nos.78 and 405 Squadrons): sorties 21 January 1942 onwards with No.405 6 Feb 41 - Dunkirk (5.15) 18 Apr 41 - Berlin (9.00) 3 May 41 - Dusseldorf (8.00) 5 May 41 - Brest (7.50) 7 May 41 - Brest (7.45) 10 May 41 - Wilhelmshaven (6.50) 15 May 41 - Boulogne (6.15) 27 May 41 - Brest (7.45) 20 June 41 - Kiel (8.05) 23 June 41 - Cologne (5.30) 26 June 41 - Cologne (7.10) 30 June 41 - Bremen (8.20) 5 July 41 - Munster (6.50) 8 July 41 - Hamm (7.15) 19 July 41 - Hanover (7.15) 24 July 41 - Emden (6.00) 21 Jan 42 - Bremen (5.20) 1 June 42 - Essen (5.30) 3 June 42 - Bremem (3.00) 25 June 42 - Bremen (3.35) 29 June 42 - Wilhelmshaven (4.20) 23 Oct 42 - Genoa (10.00) 28 Oct 42 - Atlantic patrol (10.30) 6 Nov 42 - Atlantic patrol (11.00) Second Tour (No.405 Squadron) 24 Feb 44 - Schweinfurt (6.35) 22 Mar 44 - Frankfurt (5.35) 24 Mar 44 - Berlin (6.30) 30 Mar 44 - Nuremburg (6.10) 26 Apr 44 - Essen (3.45) 1 May 44 - Le Mans (3.20) 18 May 44 - Mount Couple (2.05) 27 May 44 - Rennes (3.45) 31 May 44 - Trappes (3.45) 2 June 44 - Trappes (3.30) 4 June 44 - Calais (1.45) 6 June 44 - Conde (4.05) 7 June 44 - Paris (3.05) 9 June 44 - Versailles (3.45) 12 June 44 - Amiens (2.40) 14 June 44 - Cambrai (2.35) 15 June 44 - Lens (2.30) 2 July 44 - Oisemont (2.10) 9 July 44 - Mount Condon (2.10) 12 July 44 - Bremont (2.30) 14 July 44 - Alderbelch (1.40) 20 July 44 - Bottrop (3.15) 23 July 44 - Kiel (5.15) 24 July 44 - Stuttgart (6.50) 5 Aug 44 - Bordeaux (7.15) 8 Aug 44 - Lucheux (3.00) 10 Aug 44 - Le Havre (2.15) 12 Aug 44 - Wanne Eickel (3.35) 17 Sept 44 - Boulogne (1.50) 25 Sept 44 - Calais (2.45) 12 Dec 44 - Essen (4.30) On a form dated 2 April 1945 he described his flying as 263 hours 40 minutes operational, 306 hours 20 minutes non-operational; 56 sorties and was No.6 Group Gunnery Leader at the time. He had flown in the following types - Dominie I (17 hours 40 minutes), Battle (one hour 15 minutes), Hampden (seven hours 20 minutes), Anson (34 hours 50 minutes), Whitley (251 hours 45 minutes), Wellington (nine hours five minutes), Halifax (74 hours 25 minutes) and Lancaster (173 hours 40 minutes); he claimed to have destroyed one FW.190. Public Record Office Air 50/248 has the following Combat Reports which include him: 22/23 March 1944. Lancaster C/405 (ND507). Crew consisted of J10255 W/C J.B. Millward, DFC, 155922 F/L B.W. Culpin, DFC, 413105 P/O R.D. Milne, 144711 P/O R.C. Taylor, DFC, R137822 Warrant Officer G.D. Hirschfeld (who on this occasion did not fire), 109507 S/L N.M. Coull (CAN/RAF), 911058 Sergeant G.D. Stewart, 120393 S/L J. Baker, DFC. While on operations to Frankfurt on the night of 22nd March 1944, and at a position over the target areas after the bombs had been released, Lancaster aircraft “C”, serial ND507 of 405 (RCAF) Squadron encountered an enemy aircraft which was identified by the rear gunner as a FW.190. The time of sighting was 21:55 hours while flying at an altitude of 18,000 feet, visibility was good with no cloud or moon but numerous searchlights. The enemy aircraft was first sighted by the rear gunner [Coull] on the fine quarter 20̊ above, at 300 yards range, coming straight towards the Lancaster. Corkscrew port was given immediately and at the same time the rear gunner opened fire with one short burst of two seconds after which the fighter broke away below in the starboard quarters at 200 yards range. No damage claimed to the fighter which did not open fire. No damage to Lancaster. 24/25 March 1944. Lancaster C/405 (ND507). Crew as above (on this occasion Warrant Officer G.D. Hirschfeld opened fire). While on the return journey from Berlin on the night of 24/25 March 1944, Lancaster aircraft “C”, serial No.ND507 of 405 Squadron encountered an enemy aircraft identified as a FW.190. The sighting was made at 23:20 hours just south of Hanover, position 52.05N 09.40E while flying at an altitude of 20,000 feet. Visibility was very good with no cloud or moon. The enemy fighter was first sighted by the rear gunner [Coull] approaching on the starboard quarter 10̊ above at 300 yards range. The fighter closed ona parallel course until the range was reduced to 200 yards, 60̊ on the starboard quarter when he banked steeply to port presenting a top plan view to the Lancaster. The rear gunner then directed the pilot to corkscrew starboard and opened fire with one long burst of four seconds; this was also taken uo by the mid-upper gunner [Hirschfeld] who fired a two-second burst, after which the enemy aircraft dived vertically and disappeared below. Numerous bullets were seen to ricochet off the fighter and it is claimed as damaged. The enemy did not open fire. No warding was received from Monica and Fishpond was not being watched. There was no searchlight activity or any other indication that fighters were in the vicinity. 300 rounds fired from four tail guns; 200 rounds fired from two mid-upper guns. RCAF Press Release No. 847 circa October 1942 reads as follows: The training of an air gunner never ceases. It continues every hour of his operational life. By means of moving screens, travelling lights and shadowgraphs, he is kept ‘on his toes’ judging range, recognizing types of aircraft and calculating the necessary deflections of his aim so that he may be able to hit a rapidly moving target. (Deflection of aim may be interpreted as firing in front of a moving target in order that the path of the bullet and the path of the target meet so that a hit is scored). And, all this constant training is so that he will be able, in a few short sharp seconds of a long night’s operational flight, to protect his bomber from the fire of a German nightfighter. But all training methods so far devised on the ground for the air gunner have left much to the gunner’s imagination. Sitting in a turret in a darkened room, ‘firing’ a spotlight each time the trigger button is pressed, gives the gunner little idea of the right thing or helps him in his aircraft recognition or the deflections of aim. Correctly guessing the silhouette of an aircraft on a screen does not give the air gunner the practice necessary for recognizing an enemy aircraft diving from out the dark side of the night sky with all its guns blazing in split seconds. Other methods of ground training for the gunner also leave much to be desired. It seemed difficult indeed to provide all the conditions of a night fighter attack on the ground. It was a subject which troubled Flight Lieutenant Norman M. Coull, the Gunnery Leader of the first RCAF Bomber Squadron to be formed in Britain. He got down to work and after many weeks of planning, he has devised an instrument for giving all these conditions and which will be as cheap to manufacture as any other training apparatus now used. It takes the form of a miniature railway track running into a bomber turret set up in a garage. This track can be lowered or raised and moved from one side to the other so that a scale model aircraft fixed upon a little trolley on the rails can ‘dive’ in at the turret from almost any angle. The gunner in the turret wears dark blue goggles to simulate night conditions and he sees his target silhouetted against the sky and when he presses his trigger button he hears a rattle of fire at the same rate as an actual Browning machine gun he uses, caused by an electrically operated trigger rapping like a Morse code key. Any scale model aircraft can be set up on the tall spindle of the trolley on the track. The track and the trolley will not be seen by the gunner through his sights if he is concentrating on the target, and the spindle, made of glass perspex, will also be invisible so that all he will see is an aircraft diving in at him. Each ‘bullet’ fired by the gunner, moreover, is recorded on a unit counter each time the rapper key strikes. So much for the operation of the apparatus but Flight Lieutenant Coull has gone further than this. In order to know whether the air gunner in the turret is opening fire at the right range and is also allowing the proper deflection, he has had the track of the model target electrically connected to graduated electrical contacts on the lateral ring of the revolving turret and on the up and down movement of the guns. Thus when the track is moved to a certain position and height and the ‘target’ is within a certain distance of the ‘bomber’ turret, if the turret is moved to the proper direction and the guns elevated to the correct corresponding position, an electrical circuit is completed and each ‘bullet’ fired is not only recorded on the gunner’s unit counter but also on a second scoring counter. In other words, when a scale model of, say, a Messerschmitt 210 is diving in at an angle of 27 degrees from the port side, the guns for the turret, allowing for a deflection of aim at 500 yards distance, should be on a 25 degree angle, for by the time the bullet travels the five hundred yards, the enemy aircraft will have closed in to that angle. At the same time, the gunner will be firing certain degrees below the target as it is travelling in from above. The electrical contact of the target 500 yards at 27 degrees on the track corresponds to the turret angle degree of 25 and similarly, the elevation of the guns corresponds to the height of the target. The number of bullet fired by the practising gunner is therefore recorded but, more important, if he is firing at the correct deflection angles the number of hits will be recorded. “It took many weary months to work out” said Coull, whose mother lives on Wilson Avenue, Montreal. “But once I got down to the actual idea, it only took a few days to make. Apart from the turret, which must be used for any sort of practise anyway, the apparatus is quite cheap to produce, cheaper I know than any other apparatus for training air gunners that has so far been installed. This trainer, he Coull trainer, should help this squadron tremendously in our practise work.” “Coull is a wizard”, commending Wing Commander Len Fraser of Vancouver, the Commanding Officer of the Squadron. “The apparatus is the best yet for training air gunners and will probably be taken up by other squadrons. It should, at any rate, make our air gunners, who are better than any other squadron’s anyway, right on top from the point of view of efficiency. We can almost look forward now to a fighter squadron’s scoreboard except that our birds will be nightfighters.”