The crew
 

              Left to right     Darling,     Macdonald,         Lane,         Jackson,       Janes,        Alexander,          Rogers
 
Somewhere in August 1942 the crew of the "Kistna was composed. In the beginning the crew consisted of the following men: Lane, Darling, Macdonald, Alexander,  Jackson,  Rogers en Jim Janes. (see photograph)
 
 
Tom Lane  enlisted for service  November 13, 1940. After two years of training he departed October 1941 with the ss. Louis Pasteur to England.

After some more training he was attached to 35th Squadron august 27, 1942. 

May 7, 1943 Lane received the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). At that time he had flown 27 missions.

 

ss Louis Pasteur
 
"Flight Lieutenant Lane is a splendid captain and has carried out his attacks, many of them against the most important targets, with very successful result displaying the most praiseworthy determination to carry his task to a successful conclusion.

For his fine services Flight Lieutenant Lane is recommended for the non-immediate award of the Distinguished Flying Cross."
 
Jim Janes was transferred to a department which operated the radar system known as Oboe, which enabled Mosquito aircraft to mark targets with great accuracy.   He did fly anymore operations. Janes was replaced by Peter Balson.  
 
After he had enlisted fot the Royal Australian Air Force, Peter Balson was selected as a wireless operator. On the ss. Aorangi he departed for Canada.

There he trained at nr. 3 Wireless School in Tuxedo, Winnipeg. Until the end of 1941 he visited McDonald Bombing and Gunnery School in Manitoba. In the beginning of 1943 he flew his first missions with the crew.

Each crewmember had his specific task during a mission. Roy Macdonald tells us what each member had to do:

 

The pilot flew the plane.

The navigator told him where to go, that is height and direction.

The bombaimer helped the navigator by map reading and of course, instructed the pilot on the bombing run and actually dropped the bombs. 

The wireless operator kept a listening watch for enemy fighter instructions and was able to drown them out by transmitting the noise from the engines.  

The engineer kept an eye on all the instruments to do with the engines, and controlled the flow of fuel from different tanks. 

The mid-upper gunner and the rear gunner kept a watch out for enemy aircraft, reported any strange happenings to the pilot and if under attack were supposed to tell him which direction to fly to avoid the fighter