Page 33 - William B. Lake

Air Bomber Instruction at Johnstone Lake

Bill’s role at Mossbank 2B&GS was conducted within the Ground Instruction Services (GIS) and
this training unit formed a crucial part of the ground training preparation for aircrew. His initial role
utilising the “synthetic training” simulation modules progressed after 8 months when he was
appointed as Officer in Charge for the Ranges. This was where the live bombing and aerial
gunnery exercises were conducted at Johnstone Lake. The air bombing training exercises were
conducted in close coordination with the Bombing Flight section (the pilots and support staff).

The Bristol Bolingbroke aircraft were used for air-to-air and air-to-ground gunnery exercises. The
Anson aircraft were used for the training of bomb-aimers because the Anson aircraft had a bomb-
aimer compartment on which the Bombing Teacher module was modelled. For the bombing
training exercises, the Ranges used rafts moored in Johnstone Lake, north of Mossbank or ground
markers for land exercises. The aircrew student would be required to adjust for different wind and
airspeed data. These values would be manually input into the bombsight for each target run.

Johnstone Lake showing the variety of bombing targets on-shore & on the lake