James Forrest "Lou" Luma An American in the RCAF
418 Squadron City of Edmonton

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Taken in front of Lou's Mosquito adorned with Miss Moonbeam McSwine of the Little Abner cartoon strip. From left to right WC Howie Cleveland, Flight Sgt Day (Clevelands navigator). Lou Luma and Colin Findlayson his navigator. Colin was KIA in 1945.

work in progress 3/16/2003

Born In Montana on August 27 1922 James Forrest "Lou" Luma Joined the RCAF in July of 1941. At that time America was not at war and neutrality laws made helping any belligerent a risky proposition even for a President. The Clayton Knight Committee chaired by a former WWI pilot of the same name was actively involved in the recruitment of aircrews for England. The FBI investigated this group and the Roosevelt administration turned a blind eye to its activities.

Lou; " When the Great Depression began I was ten years old. I was very fortunate. My father was employed during the entire depression. We didn’t have much, but relatively speaking we had a lot. We always had food on the table and my brother and I, the only two children, always had clothes. My father always had one or more of our unemployed relatives living with us. My motive for going to Canada was personal – I wanted to learn how to fly. I do not recall any anti British sentiment, but this was in the summer of 1941 before the U.S.got into the war."

Lt Luma made many night intruder or "Ranger" missions over the continent in 1943 and 1944. What follows is an exchange of letters over several months with Flight Lt Luma.

Some of your record indicates a Flying Officer Eckert was with you on your missions where you shot down an Me210 on the night of 1/21-22/1944 was he your radar operator?

Lou: "Night intruders had a navigator - not a radar officer. We did not have radar. Whe I first arrived in 418 squadron we were given permission to shoot up trains. later they withdrew that permission - probably because it was too dangerous. In order to destroy a train at night, we had to see them. The only way to see them was when they opened the fire box to shovel in more coal. When we spotted one I would use the open door as the target. My navigator would read off the feet above the ground (estimated) and would tell me when I had to break off the attack and pull up. One of our aircrews came home with fir cones in their radiators.


The Hun was cagey. he would deliberately stop a train in a cut (depression in the ground, and open his fire box door. When the unsuspecting Mosquito dived on it, he would hit the surrounding high ground. Fighter command probably figured a train wasn't worth more than a Mosquito and crew so they told us not to shoot at anymore trains."

A Flak Tower

The Reader will find here a combat report for the mission. This report was discovered at the RAF archives at Kew in England and kindly copied for me by Ernie Burton a Remembering Project member who maintains an outstanding site on the Battle of Britain

SECRET FORM “F”COMBAT REPORT Sector Serial Number(a)Serial No. of order detailing Flight or Squadron to patrol (b)Date (c )21/22nd January 1944Flight, Squadron (d)418 (RCAF) Squadron. Mosquito VI.Number of Enemy Aircraft (e)Type of Enemy Aircraft (f)Time attack was delivered (g)0017 hoursPlace attack was delivered (h)20 miles south-west Wunstorf A/F.Height of Enemy (j)Enemy Casualties (k)1 Me210 (or Me410) destroyedOur CasualtiesAircraft (l)NilPersonnel (m)NilSearchlights (n)( I)A.A. Gun Assistance(II)Fire from Fighters (p)Range OpenedLength of burstRange ClosedNo. of RoundsGeneral Report ( r )We took off from Ford at 2215 hours on flyover to Hildesheim and landed base 0310 hours. On way to target pin points were difficult to find owing to low cloud and haze. We reached an airfield which was lighted with perimeter lights and two rows of white lights to the south. We orbitted this airfield and then flew west-nor-west finding ourselves immediately at Steinhuder Lake. This fixed the airfield as Wunstorf. As we were flying south over the lake we saw two bright white lights on the other side of the airfield. We came in to meet them very nearly head-on, as they were apparently on an aircraft which had just taken off in a south-westerly direction. We joined the enemy aircraft about 5 miles south west of the airfield he being at 2,000 feet and we at 1,500 feet.
As he passed over we identified him by his exhausts as a T/E aircraft, with one white light just under the nose and one under his tail. These lights stayed on throughout. We did a quick orbit to port, coming in behind him and chasing him for about 15-20 miles. As we closed, he was climbing to about 4,000 feet. We overshot once, finding ourselves below him, so we did a quick figure eight to port and starboard, thus bringing us on his tail again. We gave him a 2-3 seconds. Burst of Cannon and M.G. from about 250 – 100 yards, pulling up from about 500 feet below to practically on top of him. Strikes on fuselage were followed by a big ball of fire, which enabled us to identify the enemy aircraft as a Me210 ( or 410). A large piece broke off to the left, he went down. The Observer saw him go in, and explode and burn on the ground. We orbitted and took Camera Gun shots of the burning wreckage.

(the Navigators/Observers position - No radar)
We then tried to find Wunstrof airfield again but had to abandon the attempt after 30 minutes as we could find no pinpoints, so we set course for base. Two pieces of plywood were found imbedded in the leading edge of the Mosquito’s starboard wing on return to base.
The Germans often built dummy bases close to their real ones. When the intruders went out to orbit the German fields to catch the night fighter or bombers on their return legs, the Germans would turn on the phoney landing lights and even have replica aircraft taxi around to lure in the Canandian and English crews. The traps were alive with antiaircraft."

What was the best advice given to you in your flying career that helped you survive the war?

Lou: “Don’t ever underestimate the Hun.”
I did not see any German jets. I don’t think they flew at night. I know nothing about the Mosquito daylight photo recon. I did not see any V1s. I was aware of them only when I was on leave in London. We would hear them coming over, followed by silence when their engine stopped, and then a short time later followed by the explosion when they hit the ground. None that I heard was very close to me.

Lou Luma's final tally was an Me210 on 1/21/44 - a Heinkel HE177 of the maritime bomber force on 2/13/44 - a FW190 the night of 3/6/44 and JU52 transport and JU34 liaison aircraft the evening of 3/21/44 in addition to airfield strafing which destroved two on the ground and damaged several others. The photo at the beginning of the story was a combination of some of Lou's scores and those of others who flew his aircraft on missions where they scored.

Lou: "The Mosquito’s primary assets were its speed, maneuverability, and the reliability of its superb Rolls Royce Merlin engines. There weren’t any negatives."

Lou later transferred back to the USAF which was trying to develop a night fighter force. But delays in aircraft production kept him with the RCAF for further training. Lou later transferred to a US weather recon unit based at Watton England.

Lou: "My pay as a First Lieutenant in the USAAF was equivalent to the pay I received in the RCAF as a Flying Officer. I flew Mosquitoes for weather recon for the 802nd Reconnaissance Group in Watton, England. We did not fly over the Atlantic. We would fly at night over the continent to places like Berlin. I presumed the flights were in connection with the U.S. daylight bomber missions.

Lou won the American DFC and the British DFC during the war.

Lou: "The American DFC was for a specific action. It was for shooting down an enemy aircraft in southern France near the Spanish border. I was a little too close when I shot it down, and picked up a little of the debris from it that hit my starboard radiator that was located in the leading edge of the wing. We lost all of the coolant, so the engine had to be shut down. We returned to England on one engine."

After the war he returned to the United States where he enjoyed a career in commercial avaition until the age of 60. He and his wife Marge are retired and live in the North West.

Lou: "I flew one summer in Alaska flying light planes in the bush. I was an instructor in the Indonesian Air Force on BT-13s and AT-6s.

I flew as a captain on DC-3s for Korean National Airways during the Korean War as a civilian pilot working for Korean National Airways. The airline had two DC-3s. The crew was a captain in the left seat and a mechanic in the right seat. I flew DC-3s for Liberian National Airways in Liberia, West Africa. I flew as a co-pilot on DC-4s out of Luxembourg. I flew Helio Couriers in Viet Nam for Vietnamese Air Transport during the period that the U.S. had 20,000 “advisers” there. I was with Air Ventures in Katanga during the civil war in the Congo. I flew C-46s for a Dutch airline that was based in the Netherlands Antilles. I flew as captain on DC-3s, Convair 340s, and DC-9s with Saudi Arabian Airlines. I flew B-707s as a captain for Iran Air. I flew as a captain in Beirut, Lebanon for Trans Mediterranean Airways flying B-707 cargo aircraft. I flew B-707s for Air Berlin. It was with Air Berlin that I hit the mandatory retirement age of sixty.


Lou made a comment in a recent e-mail echoed by many of the men I have had the priveledge to correspond with. It is the same sentiment no matter what nation they flew for.

Lou: "Thousands of fighter pilots made trip after trip, and didn't even get a shot at an enemy aircraft. Many of those were on the receiving end, so didn't make it back. Also, the bomber crews who left pieces of themselves scattered all over Europe and elsewhere. To make it out of the war alive was all they dared hope for. The mechanics got zero recognition, yet the bond that existed between them and their aircrew was beyond understanding."


418 Squadron was initially equiped with Boston Bombers and eventually flew missions to the Ruhr. It was Canadas only intruder squadron and flew day and night against Luftwaffe airfields and transport. It took on the V1 threat and in August of 1944 was tranferred to the 2nd Tactical airforce in a ground attack role eventually moving to Belgium in Marich of 1945.


E-Mail Me @ worldwar2mem@yahoo.com


Copyright © Ken Arnold 1999. All rights reserved. LINKS:
418 Squadron City of Edmonton An interview with Russel Bannock of 418

418 Squadron City of Edmonton An interview with Harold "Mick" Stone.

Book on 418 Squadron by one of its Navigators B/W Photo of Mosquito, cockpit shots and Sqdrn crest are from this book. An Excellent read by the way.

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