Show U. U S. S FI Fliers Write New Chapters Of Heroism in Australia By PAT ROBINSON SOMEWHERE IN AUSTRALIA March 20 INS Thrill INS Thrill Thrilling ing lug new chapters of incredible heroism by American combat pilots ire are b being ing written hourly in this increasingly active theater of the Pacific war Soon they will be combined to establish for once and all the indisputable supremacy in the air of the theU U U. S. S A A. That this is inevitable I am convinced after knowing men like Captain AlvIn Mueller of Seguin Texas Tall raw-boned raw sandy- sandy haired and freckled Captain Mueller Mueller Mueller Muel Muel- ler has already won the DistingUished Distinguished Distinguished Distin Distin- Flying Cross and the Distinguished Distinguished Distinguished Dis Dis- Service Cross for valorous valorous valorous val val- val val- orous action These decorations have not caught up with the captain yet He has never been in one place long enough Only ten minutes ago characteristically characteristically characteristically char char- humming one of ot his favorite cowboy songs he hopped off on another mission They have nicknamed Mueller lucky He must have a whole flock of guardian angels camping right along with him wherever he goes Looked Like Lile Swiss Cheese If I hadn't seen the plane in which he arrived safely from a recent mission I would never have believed such a thing possible It had more holes in it tha thad a hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred Swiss cheeses There was scarcely a foot of it through gh which you couldn't t see daylight Captain Mueller climbed out of the heap of wreckage he had brought in to a beautiful three- three point landing landing and and laughed How Where What I questioned him in amazement He shrugged and grinned explaining explaining explaining ex ex- that he and Captain George of California out outon outon outon on a two-plane two bombing mission on Jap shipping had found a bit of action George and I found some Jap transports and destroyers anchored anchored anchored an an- in a harbor at nightfall he ic said We gave them a little surprise setting four of them afire After that we landed for re re- re- re fueling At daybreak we discovered discovered discovered ered another concentration of Nip ships This time we ran into trouble Plenty of ack-ack ack all around The Jap Zeros got after us too We got two of the ships and then scrammed with the Zeros right on our tails Georges plane was hit hard I One of his motors was crippled I I dropped back to cover him By this time the sky was black with I Zeros I counted seventeen of them near oy bY with others swarming up like hornets out of a nest We had climbed to feet We were getting along all right blazing away at the Zeros when the managed to blow blowout out my hydraulic system and shoot my supercharger away The bomb bay was punctured and they blasted blast blast- ed the fuel lines I was carrying gallons of gas I still dont don't know how it kept from catching fire Oxygen Tank Goes Then the oxygen tank went he said quietly Well you know what that means at feet You just cant can't live up stairs without without without with with- out oxygen I went into a dive at miles an hour Now iNow the Japs never dive straight down like we do Their dive is more like a glide That's how I got away When I found my controls still were all right I cruised around looking for George I couldn't find him He had escaped in the clouds but I didn't know that I was in a sweat all the way back But when I came in at the home port there was George safe and sound That is but one example of the inspiring devotion of officers and men in the air corps here They willingly and deliberately go through hell for one another Another airman who has been living on borrowed time is Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieu Lieu- tenant George ace navigator on one of the big bomb bomb- ers A California university graduate graduate graduate grad grad- has been reported missing at least three times He HeIs Heis Heis is the livest corpse you ever saw His blow by blow description of a high altitude tangle with a swarm of Jap Zero fighters is one of the most arresting air battle stories I have yet listened to |