After joining RCAF in January 1942 he was posted to No.1 Manning Depot Toronto, then to Trenton before being posted to Guelph at No.4 Wireless training School and finally finishing
his training as Air Gunner at Mont Joli Quebec in March of 1943.
Overseas
In May of 1943 he was posted overseas and continued his training at one of the OTU and then continued on to No. 1664 HCU unit before posting to 419 squadron on
August 20th 1943. He was Air Gunner on Sgt. Arthur. R. Fare's crew. Fellow crew members were:
Navigator Sgt. George E. Chapman
WAG Sgt. William J. Boyce
Bomb Aimer Sgt. Wilfred Renner
Air Gunner Sgt. George H. Beach
Flight Engineer Sgt. Cyril R. Winterbottom
It was not until the night of August 31st that Fare's crew took part in their first operation. The target was Berlin
as part of a 622 bomber raid which was met with a highly organized defense. Almost seven per cent of the bombers in
the raid were lost. Night fighters were marking the paths of the bomber stream both to and from the target with flares.
Makeing it easy to find the bombers not only over the target but as they came in for their runs. It was also a failure because the
Pathfinders had dropped their markers in the wrong area. A rough first time operation for Paddison and the crew.
F/S Paddison was to fly four more operations with Sgt. Fare on nights of 22/23rd, 23/24th and 27/28th of September. All operations were into Germany. The crew's next operation on the night October 4/5, again into Germany and the city of Frankurt.
They had completed their bombing run and were on their way home. Crossing into Belgium the aircraft was attacked by a night fighter of Lutwaffe 1./NJG4 night fighter squadron.
The aircraft came down at Ham sur Heure about 11km from Charleroi, Belgium.Only one of the crew survived the attack and loss of the Halifax
JD463
