As a 4-year-old Dutch
boy, Reint Laan remembers watching Lancaster bombers fly low over his
homeland, dropping food to the people who were starving and dying on the
streets. It was 1945, and World War II was slowly coming to an end.
On Wednesday, he finally
was able to say thank you to one of the pilots who took part in
Operation Manna at the end of World War II. "We looked at each
other in the eye and it was like we had met before," Laan says.
Laan, who now lives in
the southwestern part of Holland, said many citizens were just surviving
by eating grass, tree bark, tulip bulbs or anything nutritious they
could find, because all the food had gone to the Germans.
Then just before the
Germans surrendered, Canadian, American and British allies flew low over
the country, at about 250-feet, dropping food from the Lancaster’s
enormous bomb bays. People watched from the roofs and from treetops,
cheering for the troops and relief they brought.
Joe English, a pilot with
the Royal Canadian Air Force, says he was too busy flying the Lancaster
and avoiding things like church steeples to see the reaction below. But
his crewmembers let him know they were certainly welcome.
English flew 32 missions
and called the food drops "the best bombing of the war." He
dropped food twice—the first to Hague, and two days later, to
Rotterdam.
Although they were told
there would be a truce by the time they flew the food missions, rumors
abounded that the Germans would shoot at them. They were worried,
English admits. But their worries were unfounded.
About 11 tons of food was
dropped in 10 days, with the bomb bays of Lancaster after Lancaster
filled with food. "The Lancaster’s bomb bay is 33-feet long with
two doors," English says. "It could carry a huge amount of
food."
And the food was
certainly welcome, Laan recalls. "It was incredible to have
something to eat like biscuits and chocolate. Especially chocolate. I
had never eaten it before."
Another part of this
story fell into place yesterday. A Lancaster bomber from the Canadian
Warplane Heritage Museum arrived at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh at 2:15 p.m.
Wednesday. It is one of only two flying Lancasters.
Jack Dueck, president of
EAA Chapter 1410 in Calgary, Canada, said the chapter is taking
donations to help pay for the Lancaster’s appearance. The bomber can
be seen on AeroShell Square, near Duggy, the big yellow DC-3 that
smiles, through Sunday. It will also be flying today and Saturday.
In addition, a nearby
tent features displays about the Lancaster and the 700-plus Americans
who gave their lives during World War II in service to the Royal
Canadian Air Force.
