World’s only restored WWII Halifax bomber unveiled in Trenton

By Holly Bridges

Handley Page Halifax MK VII NA337, the only fully restored Halifax World War II bomber in the world, after its unveiling at the RCAF Memorial Museum in Trenton on November 5, 2005. Photo Credit: Holly Bridges [ More Photos ]

8 WING TRENTON -- Some of the most highly decorated wartime pilots and aircrew in Canadian history gathered at the RCAF Memorial Museum at 8 Wing Trenton this past weekend to witness a first in the world.

A fully restored Halifax bomber, exhumed after 50 years at the bottom of Lake Mjosa in Norway, and reborn at the hands of more than 100 volunteers, many of whom actually flew the bomber during World War II, was unveiled before a breathless crowd of more than 1,400 guests from across Canada and around the world.

As the lights in the museum hangar dimmed, the crowd sat waiting, the phantom bomber lit ever so slightly, silhouetted behind a curtain of gauzy, green parachutes.

Then, the chilling voice of a young, Halifax bomber pilot, recorded more than 60 years ago, called out his engine start-up, and as the aircraft barreled down an unknown runway towards an unknown mission, with an unknown crew, the curtain fell, the floodlights came up and there, flanked by the volunteers who spent 10 years and 350,000 hours restoring it, Handley Page Halifax MK VII NA337, emerged from the shadows of history as a fully intact, completely restored World War II bomber, the only one of its kind in the world.

The crowd sprang to its feet and erupted into thunderous applause, as veterans and shutterbugs ran to snap their pictures. Many wiped tears from their eyes, held hands and gasped in awe, marveling at an aircraft that once lay at the bottom of a lake for 50 years, 250 metres underwater, and which now towered above them completely in tact.

“It was an emotional experience for all of us,” said 85-year-old Lloyd Wright, Distinguished Flying Cross recipient, former Halifax bomber pilot, and head volunteer of the Halifax Restoration Project. “We all have a yearning to see it one last time.” Wright was too “choked up” to sing O Canada after the unveiling and during the Piper’s Lament and Last Post, remembering the friends he flew with and lost during the war. “I hope they’re looking down and seeing the old bird here,” Wright said smiling.

Veterans such as 83-year-old Joe Descent of Arnprior, Ontario, a Halifax observer and bomb aimer who was shot down near Helgoland, Germany, pulled on his 1944 Air Force uniform to attend the unveiling.

“I used to sit up there,” said Descent, pointing to the cockpit. “It’s fantastic. This was a helluva good aircraft. It could take an awful beating. Once we got shot out of the sky over Helgoland and my rear gunner got his head blown off. We were going straight into the sea from 12,000 feet when the pilot managed to pull us out at 1,000 feet. We struggled back to England that night and landed at 150 miles an hour with no brakes. I tell people I knocked on heaven’s door that night and St. Peter said, “Not this time, Joe. Come back later.’

The crew of Halifax 337 was not so lucky. On April 23, 1945, just two weeks before the end of World War II, the aircraft took off from RAF Station Tarrant Rushton in England, to drop supplies to the Norweigian Underground forces near Grue, Norway. After a successful drop the next morning, 337 headed home to England, unfortunately passing over an important bridge at the south end of Lake Mjosa where it came under heavy fire from a German anti-aircraft (flak) installation. A shell penetrated the starboard wing, igniting the fuel tank, causing the two left engines to fail. The pilot had no choice but to ditch into the lake. The landing was rough but successful, and all six crewmembers managed to escape.

Sadly, all the crewmembers died of exposure in the frigid waters, except for the rear gunner, Flight Sergeant Thomas Weightman, who was found floating on an overturned dinghy six hours after the crash. He is still alive today in England, although too ill to travel for the event.

Tore Marsoe of Hamar, Norway was 17 years old the night Halifax 337 went down and has never forgotten what he heard. He flew to Trenton from Norway for the unveiling.

“I heard the plane before it went down at 2 o’clock in the morning. It had a different noise in the engine and I knew it was in danger,” Marsoe said, fighting back the tears. “That plane has followed me my whole life up to this day. I can never forget it.” The plane ditched, the crew survived the ditching, but died overnight from exposure, except for the rear gunner who survived.

The memory of the aircraft going down haunted Marsoe for years, and fueled his determination to find it. Finally, in the mid-1980s, Marsoe and his friend, Rolf Liberg, found the wreckage two kilometers from shore on Lake Mjosa. Word began to spread of the men’s discovery, and in the early 1990s, a Canadian Airlines pilot named Karl Kjarsgaard and Jeff Jeffery, a WW II Distinguished Flying Cross Halifax pilot, came up with the idea of salvaging the aircraft.

As a result, the Halifax Aircraft Association was formed to make the project a reality. On September 3, 1995, after a great deal of work by many dedicated volunteers in Canada and Norway, and with Flight Sergeant Weightman watching from shore, Halifax 337 rose up from its watery grave. The compass on board still worked, and there was coffee still in one of the airmen’s thermoses.

A team of aircraft technicians from 8 Air Maintenance Squadron at 8 Wing Trenton worked meticulously for five weeks in Norway, taking the aircraft apart and carefully packaging it for transport back to the RCAF Memorial Museum. The restoration began with a fragmented, rusted out shell of an aircraft, seemingly unrelated bits and pieces sitting in box upon box, and then slowly but surely, it began to take shape.

Although the story of Halifax 337 is of British airmen, more than seven thousand of the 10,000 Canadian airmen who served with Bomber Command and died during World War II flew aboard the Halifax bomber. It is that connection that drove so many Canadians to get involved.

“This particular Halifax did not belong to an RCAF Squadron, and there were no Canadians among her crew,” said Captain Doug Rutlley who led the team of technicians in Norway. “So how is it that I feel so strongly that we were working to bring this Halifax “home” to Canada? The answer lies in the connection I feel with all those in Canada’s Air Force who have gone before me, and served this great country with distinction, my father among them.

“The aircrew who flew the missions and the ground crew who worked tirelessly to keep their Halie’s ready for their next flight, are a constant inspiration to me. I believe that the spirit of the Halifax is in the heart and soul of a great number of members and veterans who remember the pivotal role the Halifax bomber played in securing freedom for so many.”

The Minister of National Defence, Bill Graham, agreed.

“Your efforts in restoring this plane, the only true restoration of its type in the world, will be for future generations of Canadians, a reminder of the remarkable achievements and terrible price paid by these gallant young Canadians. Thank you for what you have done for your country and for our freedom. Thank you also for what you have done to create this important memorial to inspire future generations of Canadians that they may too serve their country with the same selfless spirit of sacrifice, professionalism and courage you did yours.”

So will the torch be passed to future generations? Will the children of 2005 remember?

“These veterans are getting older and they won’t be alive for much longer,” said 10-year-old Braedon Cocomello who drove from Stouffville, Ontario for the unveiling with his friend Jack Tenabi-Coulder. “So we have to teach our children and everybody else. We’d all be speaking German right now if it weren’t for them.”

Organizers decided to unveil the bomber now because so many of the volunteers are getting on in years and may not live to see it through to the end. Lloyd Wright says there is still about two years worth of work to be done on the cockpit, flaps and other parts of the plane. “It ain’t done yet!”

For so many of these wartime veterans, some of whom have lost their wives in recent years and are struggling to stay active and involved, the Halifax restoration has given their lives new meaning.

“This airplane was built to kill people but believe it or not it’s keeping people alive,” says volunteer Jim Benham. “It gives them a reason to get up in the morning, a place to go and something to do.”

Volunteers will continue to work on the aircraft in the new hangar at the RCAF Museum in Trenton which was built especially for the Halifax. The floors are still dirt and there is much work that still needs to be done to finish off the building as well as the restoration.

The Halifax Aircraft Association and the RCAF Memorial Museum still need another $1.5 million or more to finish the hangar where the Halifax is on display.

For information on contributing to the campaign, go to www.rcafmuseum.on.ca or call 613-965-2140.

For more photos of the unveiling, go to http://www.nesphotos.ca/nov_5_(halifax).htm

	Halifax 337 being raised from Lake Mjosa, Norway, September, 1995. Photo Credit: Submitted
	83-year-old Joe Descent, of Arnprior, Ontario, a Halifax observer and bomb aimer, proudly wears his 1944 Air Force uniform at the unveiling in Trenton. Photo Credit: Holly Bridges
	Halifax rear gunner, 82-year-old Jim Tese, and Halifax pilot, 82-year-old Lorne Hack, flew in from Winnipeg for the unveiling, sporting their World War II Air Force uniforms. Photo Credit: Holly Bridges
	85-year-old Mary Bothwell of Campbellford, Ontario rises up from her wheelchair for the Piper’s Lament. Halifax bombers flew over Bothwell’s village in England and her family regularly fed crews their Christmas dinners. Photo Credit: Holly Bridges
	85-year-old Lloyd Wright, DFC, head of the Halifax Restoration volunteers, stands before the aircraft which he and his team of volunteers have spent the past 10 years and 350,000 hours restoring. Photo Credit: Holly Bridges
	10-year-old Braedon Cocomello and his friend Jack Tenabi-Coulder from Stoufville, Ontario listen as veterans explain their role on the Halifax. Photo Credit: Holly Bridges