George Arthur McLean

George McLean's father John McLean was born in Owen Sound in 1889, the son of a Scottish immigrant who worked for the railroad. John followed in his father's footsteps and worked as a fireman on the CPR. He had a friend, George Woods, who also worked as a fireman. He was from Coldwater, Ontario, just north of Barrie. He introduced John to his sister, Elizabeth Florence and the couple married in Coldwater on December 14, 1911. Elizabeth had been born in Croydon, England in 1887. She landed in Canada with her family in the mid-1890s, settling in Coldwater by 1901. Her father died in 1908 and Elizabeth and her older sister Emma worked as tailoresses in a shop in Coldwater.

The newlyweds lived in Coldwater and their first son, Donald John was born there in October 1912. The next year they bought 231 Fairview Avenue in Toronto which was close to the rail yard where John worked. John was eventually promoted to railroad conductor. In 1914 the couple welcomed another son, Campbell Mitchell. Elizabeth's brother, George enlisted in the Canadian army in early 1916 and fought at Vimy Ridge. Although Elizabeth's mother Lucy still had another son in Coldwater, she and Emma moved in with John and Elizabeth in Toronto. Sadly, George was killed in early May 1917 at the Battle of Fresnoy.

George McLean entered the world on February 1, 1918, the namesake of his uncle. When he was almost two, his grandmother Lucy passed away and a couple of years after that his Aunt Emma married and moved out. His younger brother Bruce Howard was born in 1922. George began school at Strathcona in 1923, graduating in the Class of 1931. He continued to Humberside Collegiate. George and his family were regular churchgoers, attending St. John's Anglican on Humberside Avenue. George didn't consider himself much of an athlete but he eventually came to enjoy golf, horseshoe pitching and swimming. When he was 15, he dislocated his right elbow. He achieved his junior matriculation in 1935 and then moved to Western Tech for a year.

In May 1937 he found a job as an accounting clerk at Toronto General Trusts Corporation, located downtown on Bay Street just south of King. After the war broke out, George tried in January 1940 to join the RCAF. He was labelled temporarily unfit. Although the reason isn't mentioned in his service file, it was probably due to being underweight, but he finally did sign his papers on July 9, 1940.

He did his basic training at the Exhibition grounds in Toronto, although he soon moved to a new location as the forces had to relocate for the duration of the “Ex” that year. George learned how to maintain his uniform and was taught military drill. Physical education was taught two hours per day. On August 31, he arrived in Regina to attend the No. 2 Initial Training School. At his medical on September 16, he was noted to be 5'10” and 140 pounds. George was taken on as an observer (navigator), which meant he wouldn't be a pilot. At the time, the RCAF was only taking licenced pilots and university graduates into their pilot stream. Although George wasn't going to become a pilot, he was still subjected to a session in a decompression chamber and theoretical studies like navigation and meteorology. The four week course took place in what had been the Regina Normal School.

George's next stop in The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was at Air Observer School in Edmonton, for eight weeks. He started the course in late October. George received excellent marks for basic air force procedure and he trained in Avro Ansons. His instructors noted that he was “enthusiastic.”

Avro Anson, from www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca.

Most of the RCAF trainees were far from home and the locals made an effort to keep the boys amused and welcome. Usually dances were arranged for the trainees, with local girls attending. At one Edmonton dance put on by The Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, George met Mary Husky, a young lady who worked in a local beauty parlour. George and Mary began going together. When George completed the Air Observers' course in mid-January 1941 and was going to be posted to Mossbank, Saskatchewan to the Bombing and Gunnery School, he asked Mary to marry him and sought permission from the RCAF to do so. They married in Moose Jaw on February 28 and Mary probably moved into a rented room or apartment near the base.

Mary and George, March/April 1941. From The Canadian Virtual War Memorial, attributed to The Toronto Star.

When George completed the course at the beginning of March, his instructors felt that his results were satisfactory “in view of the following: Inexperienced pilots, uncalibrated instruments... and targets difficult to see.” These were still early days in the training of RCAF crew (RCAF Mossbank was only four months old) and it appears that a lot of work still had to be done to provide the trainees with decent equipment and conditions. Mary would have been at his graduation ceremony when he was awarded his navigator's wing.

The final stop for George before being sent overseas was at the Air Navigation School in Rivers, Manitoba. Here he took a four week course in astronavigation. He finished the course on March 31 and he and Mary went east to Toronto for a ten day leave. Mary remained in Toronto, living with the McLeans when George left Union Station for Montreal. He was transferred to the RAF as they needed extra personnel. On June 18, he boarded a plane flown by pilot graduates. After a stop in Halifax, he arrived in Britain the next day. To be flown to Britain was unusual as most men sailed for a week across the ocean.

On June 23 George reported to the Personnel Reception Centre in Bournemouth to await his assignment. As a navigator, he knew he would probably be fighting on a bomber plane when he was sent to No. 3 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Chivenor on the north coast of Devon. He began training on the Wellington night bomber, the principal bomber of the RAF until it was supplanted by the Lancaster in 1943. On July 29, George and the unit moved to RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire, home of the Royal Air Force College. He and his crew completed their training and joined No. 12 Squadron on September 2, which was being reequipped with Wellngtons. The crew only trained until late September, before being transferred to No. 103 Squadron, based at RAF Elsham Wolds in north Lincolnshire, not far from England's east coast.

Vickers Wellington bomber. United Kingdom government photo.

103 Squadron had a long history. It was formed during the First World War and was based in France at the beginning of the Second World War. It fought in the Battle of France in May and June 1940 before returning to England. When George joined, the unit had been flying Wellingtons for eleven months.

George's crew was most likely formed at No. 3 OTU, a mixture of Canadians and RAF personnel. They spent several weeks training at Elsham Wolds prior to being activated. The Wellington had a second pilot and George's RAF pilot, Flight Sergeant S. S. Martin joined various other crews in this seat, to get used to flying a Wellington in battle.

George's full crew had its first sortie on November 26, 1941, to bomb the docks at Ostend, Belgium. Along with Martin and George, the crew included John Raymond St. George (Raymond) Arrowsmith as the second pilot. He was a 23 year old from South Kensington in London and at the time, the RAF only considered “gentlemen” for pilots. Arrowsmith had been educated at Lancing College, a public school near England's south coast. He had received a BSc at Wye Agricultural College and was working on his uncle's farm when he joined up. The wireless operator/gunner was Flight Sergeant Philip Robert Abbas, born in the United States, but raised in Rushton, England and had attended Wellingborough School, a public school situated nearby. He had recently married in September, 1941. Canadian George William Gibb and RAF member Kenneth George Adlam were the air gunners, one in the nose and the other in the tail. The Wellington took off at 1851 hrs, dropping its bombs over the target at 2035 hrs from 12000 feet. It returned safely to base at 2222 hrs.

The crew only had one other mission before Christmas. George had New Year's leave from December 30 to January 4, 1942, probably spending some of it at his Aunt Alice Morrison's in Watford. North London. His crew flew a successful mission while he was away.

In January and February, the crew flew 6 sorties, two of them to Brest to try to destroy the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisau which had been in port for repairs and were preparing to leave the port. The crew didn't have a dedicated Wellington and second pilot Arrowsmith would be switched out occasionally with other pilots in training.

The bombing missions increased in March with targets that were mainly German factories and docks. There were several Canadians in the squadron, including George Deering, from Toronto's Christie Pits neighbourhood, who was an air gunner on another crew that flew missions on the same nights at George's. (He also attended Norway School and is documented under that school on this site.) Deering went on to become a Dam Buster and one can imagine that he and George shared Toronto news from home with each other.

At home in Toronto in mid-March, George's parents received a letter from Aunt Alice Morrison in Watford to send condolences as she had heard that George was missing. After much anxiety and letter writing to the air force, they were reassured on April 9 that George was “safe and well.” Perhaps Aunt Alice had mistakenly read in the newspaper about another George McLean in the air force. George's younger brother, Bruce, had followed in George's footsteps and was training with the RCAF in Canada at this time.

In April, the crew flew seven successful missions, but the German flak had increased over the targets. On April 7 and 12, on missions over Essen, Germany, their Wellington was damaged by heavy flak. On the 12th Martin had to take violent evasive action to avoid further damage. Both times the crew returned safely to base.

At the end of April, pilot Martin had completed his tour of duty, due to his extra missions as a trainee second pilot. George had 21 successful sorties and was a handful away from completing his tour. Raymond Arrowsmith took over as the crew's pilot and the men knew him well, since he was their second pilot on 14 of George's sorties, even celebrating his 24th birthday with the crew on a mission to bomb Rostock, Germany on April 23.

The crew with their new leader spent several days practising and were brought back to active status on May 4 for a mission to bomb the docks of St. Nazaire, France. Due to intercom trouble, they did not take off. The next day was wireless operator Abbas' birthday and the target was the docks at Nantes, France to attack a number of small tankers tied up in the harbour. The crew took off at 0008 hrs on May 5, the lone crew to target Nantes. Usually a fresh crew was given a minor target for its first sortie. The Wellington apparently bombed its target, but was heavily damaged by flak as it flew back over the French coast. Pilot Arrowsmith alerted the crew that he was going to attempt to land on the sea and ordered the front gunner to aid the rear gunner at the back of the Wellington. About 50 feet above the surface, the stricken aircraft broke in two. The front half sank immediately, killing all in it. The two gunners, Gibb and Adlam, managed to climb into a life raft. They were found on May 11 by Germans and hospitalized in Paris for exposure and frostbite. When released, they were sent to POW camps.

George and the rest of the crew were never seen again and are named on the Runnymede Memorial in England. George's wife Mary was living at 336 Runnymede Road by the end of 1942 and returned to Edmonton soon after. By June 1952 she had remarried and was living in Philadelphia. George's parents remained at 231 Fairview Avenue until 1958. John McLean passed away the next year and Elizabeth died in 1976.