Fred’s Story

This is a true story that spans decades and it has taken time to glue all the pieces together.  It’s a story mostly about Fred Roddick - to me a friend, farmer, aviator, but also a story about an airplane, the Enigma code and the fearlessness and bravery of all the WWII air force pilots – qualities for which we are forever thankful.

Fred’s story begins over 70 years ago when Fred was a pilot during WWII with the Australian Air Force. He and his family farmed, just west of Viking, Alberta for decades. But when the war started, Fred was trained to be a WWII pilot and ended up flying Catalinas (Cats) for the Australian Air Force. It seems the Aussies had lots of planes and too few pilots, so they drew from other pilots in the Commonwealth. So Canadian-born Fred was an Aussie while airborne.  

Fred’s job as a pilot was to fly a plane known as the Consolidated PBY Catalina, also sometimes called the Canso. It was an amphibious aircraft and was one of the most used planes in WWII. It had a range of over 2,300 miles, and could stay aloft for 22 hours requiring a 8-member team to operate.

On March 11, 1944, Fred’s Squadron 262 was ordered to be ready before 0300H for "Operation Wicketkeeper."  Fred’s Catalina (Catalina D) and 2 other Cats (Catalina P piloted by NSS Nash and Catalina A piloted by AH Surridge) took off on their mission. 

WWII Nazi submarines, or U-boats as they were widely known, were diesel powered on the surface and battery powered when submerged. The batteries needed daily recharging by the diesel engines.  Over 1100 U-boats roamed below the waves during WWII looking for ships to sink during the day, and at night surfaced to recharge their batteries. The U-boats were dangerous and deadly. In fact, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill later wrote "The only thing that really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril."

Fred’s job was to provide air cover in the Indian Ocean for surface vessels and to destroy Nazi U-boats. 

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Given a southerly course from the tip of South Africa, the 3 Cats were to fly for  hours out over the featureless ocean at 4000 feet.  After 6 hours had past, a glint was noticed on the ocean surface. Fred quickly dropped the plane down to about 50 feet above the surface. Despite being 2 miles away, a U-boat (UIT/22) started shooting at Fred’s Cat. The enemy rounds fell short. Fred kept flying closer but moments later he was being peppered by bullets. With violent weaving and good luck, Fred pulled the plane up to avoid flying directly into the U-boat and at the precise moment released two depth charges. This resulted in a hellish bang!  The U-boat was able to avoid the first attack. Fred then turned for a second attack, dropped three depth charges and fired with the on-board weapons. The U-boat was able to dive, but was damaged and produced an oil slick. A quick look out the windows showed that Fred’s Cat was full of holes, bullets had come within inches of the motor. The plane was damaged but was still flying.  Fred and his crew had to return to base with a good 6 knuckle-biting hours of flying over shark infested waters ahead.

As Fred headed back, the other two Cats joined the attack. The U-boat surfaced in front of Cat P, NSS Nash and his crew dropped six more depth charges in a perfect straddle. UIT/22 was hit and it sunk with the entire crew of 43 men at position 41 °, 28 'S - 17 °, 40' E.

Meanwhile, Fred was flying back to base, the slow long winged bird was making strange wounded noises after the attack that would tighten any sphincter!  Enemy bullets had entered into the swing arc of the propeller, ripping off the engine cowling, but luckily the bullets and propeller never collided, no fuel was leaking and only the starboard engine was dripping oil. Nothing was fatal. 

After the long flight home, Fred finally spotted base. He lowered the wing tip pontoons for a water landing. But the left pontoon was damaged which meant the Cat might flop over when it hit the water. The faithful plane was likely to sink.

Fred’s exhausted brain kicked in.  Amazingly, as he landed, he ordered his crew to climb up out of the top hatch, and onto the right wing in order to balance out the plane – to keep it from tipping over and sinking. In a moment of humor he warned that the sharks hadn’t been fed yet that morning.

The plane landed and stayed afloat. Fred and his Cat had completed a 15-hour mission over U-boat and shark infested waters.  Final shut down procedures were completed: radios off, master switch off, controls secured, shut down check list complete.  All was quiet!

The 6-member crew, Fred and his co-pilot crawled stiffly from the Cat. All involved in the operation were ordered to say nothing of the sinking of UIT/22. As for Germans, they had to assume that it sank on its own accord. The secret was kept! 

Why was this so important? In this game of war in 1944, boasting of sinking an enemy ship would have broadcast loud and clear that the allies had penetrated the Enigma code. So this remarkable operation was kept top secret.

Fred and his crew were the main heroes of the U-boat “kill” and he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on April 29, 1944 and was later promoted to Flight-Lieutenant.

Thanks to you Fred and all of your crew.

If you’d like to read more, part of Fred’s story is outlined in a book “Wings of the Dawning.”

My interest in Fred’s adventures was piqued about 10 years ago when I saw a TV series, NWT Ice Pilots, which at the time featured Canso Water Bombers.

Canso water bombers were a mainstay on the TV series. These nearly 80 year old amphibious planes were outfitted to scoop up water from a lake and dump it on forest fires. They are high-winged and have 2 powerful motors. The saying “the quickest way to convert money into noise” had to have come from these planes. Each motor burns about 50 gallons of fuel per hour. 

A few years back a Canso-Buffalo Air airplane crashed into a far northern lake. Some interested Peace River area farmers decided that it would be a good idea to pull the plane from the lake and rebuild it in Fairview. For more information Goggle “Save The Canso.”

This past summer a friend and I flew up to Fairview to see this ugly and beautiful bird. My friends gave us a royal tour of the newly restored Canso. Should you dear readers decide to explore more, you should know that the Consolidated PBY, Canso, and Catalina-Cats- are all the same plane – different countries, different names – same plane. They have a remarkable and rich history, one that is rooted in our freedom today and they continue to be the workhorses of the flying community from sinking U-boats in the 1940s to putting out forest fires today, they are a remarkable feat of human ingenuity.