http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servle...deathsSaturday October 3, 2009
'Jolly Rodger' survived five plane crashes, one meteorite
NOREEN SHANAHAN
Special to The Globe and Mail
October 3, 2009
John Rodger was sometimes called "Jolly Rodger," and for good reason.
As a Second World War pilot in the Royal Air Force, he survived five airplane crashes. One time, he landed in an English farmer's field, where he was mistaken for a German because of his thick Scottish accent. He was held at gunpoint, then carted off to jail for the night. Apologies came the next morning, along with a hefty serving of bacon and eggs.
Another time, Mr. Rodger was flying an open cockpit biplane when one of the engines failed during takeoff. He crashed on a golf course. The only person injured was a golfer who tripped over his mate and hit his head on a green.
Mr. Rodger was part of the famous RAF's 617 squadron known as the Dambusters, famous for destroying three dams in Germany's Ruhr valley. They managed to breach two, boosting Britain's war effort.
While flying a Stirling Bomber, Mr. Rodger was involved in a midair collision with a German aircraft. He was one of two survivors, and was awarded membership in the Caterpillar Club for using a parachute to save himself in battle. (The club was so named because the parachute canopy was made of silk - thus, the link to silk worms - and because caterpillars climb out of their cocoons and fly away.)
Another crash occurred when his Lincoln aircraft was carrying a 2,000-pound bomb destined for a heavy water plant south of Berlin. It turned out the plane had a flat tire and veered off the runway. It crashed into an open field, but no one was hurt. The tire was replaced and the mission was completed.
Growing up during the final gasps of the First World War, young John remembered watching returning soldiers pass by his family's stone house in Selkirk, Scotland.
His father, George Rodger, was royal chauffeur to the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, who lived on a 47,000-acre estate called Bowhill, a favourite hunting ground enjoyed by the kings of Scotland for hundreds of years.
"My dad spoke of royal carriages with kings, queens and European heads of state winding their way past the house on the many official visits," said his son, Mark Rodger.
The first car John drove was the duke's Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, when he was 11 years old. And so his love for fast-moving vehicles began.
As a teenager eager to learn about airplane engines, he volunteered at the Edinburgh Flying Club. One day, instead of tying down three Tiger Moth aircraft as directed, the still-warm engines tempted him. Against all rules, he took one of the planes up for a couple of spins above the airfield. He lost his job at the flying club, but his flying days had begun.
In the 1944 invasion of Normandy, Mr. Roger towed gliders carrying military personnel to D-Day operations. The gliders were released above the beachhead near flat ground and the soldiers joined the battle.
After the war, Mr. Rodger flew supplies into recently liberated concentration camps in Germany and Poland. As well as medical supplies, he unloaded hundreds of brown bananas and several crates of Guinness stout.
"Dad told me that slightly rotting bananas were the only food that the prisoners' digestive systems could handle, and Guinness was encouraged to provide iron and strength," his son said.
Mr. Rodger was discharged from the RAF in 1949 and began a string of businesses in Edinburgh, including a toy shop, a grocery store and a bicycle shop.
He married Audrey Donnelly in 1957 and the couple immigrated to Canada, along with their young son, in 1964.
On the recommendation of a fallen comrade's parents, they chose to settle in Orillia, Ont., where he worked as a house builder and millwright.
One summer, he hired a local teenage boy to paint a house. The boy was keen to earn extra money so he could buy a guitar.
As the story goes, while climbing down a ladder, the young man slipped and stuck his foot in a can of white paint. This clumsy fellow was Gordon Lightfoot.
"My dad always liked Gordon," Mark said.
"[He said] that he was a very nice young man - and of Scottish decent, of course."
Mr. Rodger retired in 1983, but his hands were rarely at rest. He was a master woodworker and threw himself into his craft. Hammering, sawing and sandpapering were familiar sounds in his home, as were as the smells of glue, varnish and paint.
The Jolly Rodger's luck held firm in a last brush with death a few years ago when a meteorite came close to hitting him.
While walking to the end of his driveway one morning, he felt something whiz past his ear and land at his feet.
He reached down to pick up the object, but it was sizzling hot.
"[The rock] was like a piece of iron," Mark said.
"Dad poured water on it and then he pried it out with a hammer and chisel. The hole in the driveway is still there."
John Rodger
John Anderson Rodger was born July 17, 1916, in Selkirk, Scotland. He died of esophageal cancer on Sept. 7, 2009, in Orillia, Ont. He was 93. He leaves his wife Audrey, brother George, son Mark, daughter Moyra and four grandchildren.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 CORRECTION
John Rodger, who died on Sept. 7, was a flight sergeant who served during the Second World War as a flight engineer and navigator. Incorrect information appeared in Saturday's paper.
Lightfoot the painter - literally
