Floating about over Lake Erie in a Fairey Battle aircraft some time ago, one of the air observers in training at this School gazed through the intricate device of a bomb sight. Making the necessary calculations, he released a bomb. The missile struck, and as seen from the air, a cloud of spray or smoke spread completely over the target. The trainee who released the bomb became the only bomb aimer to ever score a direct hit from the height of 10,000 feet. His objective was a thirty-foot triangular target floating about in the still waters of Lake Erie.

This incredible hit set an “all high” record for bomb aiming – possibly due to the existence of the Pickle Barrel Club.

Organized when the first class of air observers commenced training at the No. 4 Bombing and Gunnery School, Fingal, Ontario, the Pickle Barrel Club was instituted “to create a keenness in the competitive spirit among the trainees, taking the air observer’s course in bomb aiming.”

Fir/Lt C. Bendall, Officer Commanding the Range, who was the originator of the Club, says: “The idea came to me that a direct hit should be recognized by dropping a bomb down the funnel of a ship, but since no ships or funnels are available I conceived the Pickle Barrel; in that a direct hit was a ‘pickle’ dropped into a barrel.” The plan was formulated as follows:

The scoring of a direct hit from 2,000 or 10,000 feet would qualify the bomb aimer for a presentation in the form of a memento. The award was arrived at and consisted of a pin bearing a facsimile of the pickle Barrel. The bomb aimer scoring the hit and the pilot in charge of the aircraft at the time of the feat were both applicable to be awarded a “Pickle Pin.”

In order to make the Pickle Barrel Club a self-contained and successful organization, the trainees on arriving at the School were asked, voluntarily, to join the Club at a nominal fee. Furthermore, to operate the Club on a paying basis, a Rumble Club was instituted which operated in this manner: If a trainee got over a certain score he was “rumbled” or assessed a small amount in proportion to the number of yards he was “off” the target. In other words, the trainees paid for their own Pickle Club.

Through the medium of the Pickle Barrel, the efficiency of the bomb aiming during authorized bombing exercises has increased. Through the splendid co-operation co-operation between the pilot and the bomb aimer the proficiency of bombing has shown a steady improvement. It is not an uncommon thing for a bomb aimer to score as many as three direct hits.

It must not be forgotten that bombing can only reach a proficient degree when the teamwork of the pilot and the bomber is completely synchronized.

A number of graduate observers who have had their names inscribed on the Pickle Barrel have been successful in scoring more than one direct hit. LAC MacCormick, LAC Wright, LAC Cooper, LAC White and LAC Cram have all been made members of the Pickle Barrel Club, all having scored more than two direct hits. LAC Johnstone was the only air observer to score a direct hit from 10,000 feet,

To point out the increased efficiency of the bomb aiming through the competitive spirit symbolized by the Pickle Barrel, a Norwegian observer on the day the story went to press scored two direct hits successively and placed his load of six bombs within a radius of sixty yards. Fit/Sgt McPherson of the Plotting Office says: “That score is the one to beat. It’s one of the best we have ever recorded.” This “eagle-eyed” Airman, whose name is Benjaminsen, could certainly wreak havoc with some of Nazi Hitler’s munition dumps,

The Fingal Pickle Barrel Club is becoming an internationally well-known institution. Letters have been received from different parts of the Empire proclaiming that “my son” was Pickle Barrel Champion of a class; and “my brother” received the honors of being Pickle Barrel Champion, I[t is quite apparent that the Club is putting Fingal on the map. It might possibly be conceived that a British Empire Training Plan Pickle Barrel Club could be introduced throughout Canada in the Bombing and Gunnery Schools,

The slogan or creed of the Pickle Barrel Club is one of Latin origin “No Bono Panico” and “Per ardua ad Berlin.” Translated for your reporter by Fit/Lt Bendall, it literally means: “Strictly copesetic” and “Through difficulty to Berlin.”

Over the Honor Roll hanging on the Plotting Office wall there is the following scroll: “The undermentioned pilots and bombers, by virtue of their superb co-operation, have succeeded in registering a direct hit on a target whilst engaged in an authorized bombing exercise,”

Beneath the scroll are recorded the names of 99 bomb aimers who during their course scored a direct hit on the bombing target. Corresponding to the bomb aimer is the name of the pilot who flys the aircraft at the time of the “hit.” F/O Erwin, F/O Anderson, F/O Ribansky, F/O Lee and F/O Stevenson are a few of the pilots who have been awarded “Pickle Pins.”

These are the men who are meeting the enemy in their own backyard, grappling with the foe in the air. Flying daily over German territory, they bomb the shipyards, the munitions, the steel Plants and = the manufacturing centres. These are the men who retard the enemy output of war materials, These are among the “few to whom we owe so much.”

When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive and most transient of passions, they are required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition continuously until death do them part.