At 95, former Flying Officer Howard R. Armstrong lives quietly in Victoria, BC. Although he moves slowly and has hearing problems, he is an iconic gentleman, one of the few veterans of the Second World War still with us. He is a living reminder of the enormous sacrifices made by many individuals to protect the freedom of society.
Howard was born on June 16, 1921, in Pincher Creek, Alberta, and grew up near the edge of the Rocky Mountains. Shortly after he graduated from high school, World War II erupted. Howard enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1939, at age 19, along with two of his friends. He was the only one of the three to survive the war.
After he received training in Canada, Howard was soon posted to England where, in 1941, he was assigned to the 407 “Demons” at Thorney Island as one of the original members. The squadron flew Hudsons, a twin-engine light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft with a crew of four: pilot, navigator, radio operator and gunner. Howard served as a wireless operator and gunner.
The 407’s initial role was to carry out anti-shipping patrols at night along the enemy-held coast. The squadron gained the name “Demons” for their highly dangerous, but extremely successful, low-altitude attacks. They detected enemy convoys and then, swooping in at mast-height, each plane released four 250-lb. bombs and fired its machine guns. By the end of November, the “Demons” counted 52 attacks on enemy vessels, of which at least 32 resulted in direct hits.
The squadron, however, suffered a heavy toll with many deaths and lost aircraft. On one occasion, Howard’s Hudson ran out of fuel, and it was necessary to crash-land in a hay field near Norfolk. He suffered critical, life-long hearing loss when the transponder exploded, as it was designed to do. Fortunately, without fuel, the plane did not catch fire, and all the crew walked away from the crash. Howard could not hear a thing for a month, but kept flying missions because as radio operator, he used Morse code. Although his hearing improved slightly afterwards, he has had to use hearing aids since then.
To reduce the high rate of casualties, it was decided to try bombing from high level (4,000 feet). Another new technique was to send one aircraft ahead to locate the convoy, shadow it while homing the strike force to the scene, and then drop flares to illuminate the ships. Later, flame floats were also used to ring the target for the attacking aircraft.
Death almost claimed Howard when a shell from an enemy warship near the Netherlands coast hit his aircraft and exploded around him. The pilot was able to fly the crippled plane back to England, where he made a belly landing. Once again, the crew walked away from the aircraft, but with Howard badly shaken.
In June of 1942, the Hudson and crew took part in the first “1,000” bombing mission, in which more than 1,000 aircraft bombed Bremen, Germany.
In 1943, the 407 Squadron was converted from a bombing unit to an anti-submarine unit flying the Wellington airplane, a twin-engine medium bomber with a six-man crew, which proved to be tough even when damaged. The Wellingtons were equipped with radar and were modified so the belly turret contained a powerful searchlight.
The squadron soon recorded its first contact, sighting a surfaced U-boat. After exchanging fire, the submarine crash-dived while the Wellington dropped depth charges ahead of the swirl. A few minutes later the “Demon” crew saw another U-boat and hammered it with machine-gun fire. In the next four months there were five more attacks as well as several sightings of U-boats. Then, one night in September, the squadron scored its first kill when they caught U-boat 669 on the surface and sank it with five well-aimed depth charges. During the rest of the war, they sank another three U-boats and damaged seven more, an excellent record.
In March 1943, Howard was promoted to Flight Lieutenant. On one sortie, his Wellington dropped down to within 70 feet of the conning tower of a U-Boat, and the rear gunner saw the sub’s stern blow high out of the water.
In November 1943, his tour in England ended and Howard was posted home. He left the Air Force in 1945. Many of his comrades had made the ultimate sacrifice, and Howard had suffered permanent hearing damage. For his efforts, he received the War Medal 1939-45, the 1939-45 Star, the Defence Medal, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, Clasp with Maple Leaf Emblem in relief, and the Coronation Medal.
No. 407 Squadron flew its last sorties on 2 June 1945 and, two days later, was officially disbanded with a farewell message commending its “splendid contribution … to the victory in the war at sea.” The squadron was reformed in Canada in 1952.
Following the war, Howard married, and he and his wife, Marion, had two children. He became a management accountant working with several companies including MicroSystems and Nortel. He spent most of his life in Belleville, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec, and travelled extensively, making several trips to the Silicon Valley, California, and Europe.
When he retired at age 60, Howard and his wife moved to Pincher Creek. For about 15 years, they made their winter home in Sarasota, Florida. In 2000, he moved to Victoria, where he has resided since. Marion passed away in 2002 and, in 2006, Armstrong married Peggy, whom he met at a bridge club.
One of Howard’s joys has been sports fishing, which he has pursued all over the world. When he moved to Victoria, he became a volunteer with the Salmon Enhancement Program at Goldstream Provincial Park, a pastime he very much enjoyed. He has also enjoyed gardening and, at one time, he and his wife had an allotment garden, where they grew their own vegetables.
In June 2016, the 407 Demons held their 75th Reunion in Comox. Howard was the only member of the original squadron in attendance. Howard and his comrades paid an enormous price to bring us the freedom we enjoy today. We, individually and as a nation, should honour and never forget him.
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