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Show Gob ob OD r is MYCOPILOT MY n . / RObsI CO-PILOT CO PILOT ? sI : - ! ! 1 Col ol . . ROb Robert Robei-l-L Robei l - - L.Scoff LScoff L.ScoffwNU . Scoff v/Nu v Nu wNU / RELEASE , i i The Tbe ttory story atom thus tbus tar b.r br far . Robert Scott Scott , , , a aG acqr lSf G cqr ' : , [ cqrself ieU seU self made West Point tnduitt graduate wine wns wln [ his his'id bl bli 'i i 'id id " ' ' 'iwlnc i wlnc winci wings . at Ktlly Kelly field Texas Teru : and nd marrlci marries " ' \ - - > . a gIrl ( Irl from Georcia GeorG'1:1 GeorG11 Georgia ' : rrom Mitchcl Mitchel Fieldtb FieldN Field tb N r Y te be he Is tent sent to Jo Panam Panama * where hi hii hisreal his . ' A /i i / ireal real pursuit tralninc tralnng training [ s . bernn begun begin In a P IZS"He 125 IZS "He He " - ' He lie Is fs 1 tlven given a * lob Job constructinc constructlng constructing flylni flying tying ! tyingfields lIeld fleldi fields . which wblch would some day protect the tt * " a " f fCanal Canal ne De He beclns begins to tram train other pilots pilotsI pilotsa51 pilotsft I . a51 The Tbe war li Is icttlne getUne getting closer and he Is onhappy nn on nnfarther : happy boeaos because . ho he realizes be he Is eettlng getting gettingfarther 'I I " ' 'Iarther , farther arther and farther from actual utna ! combat 1 " 1duty ' ' duty doty As A . < director of tralninc tranlne training [ In a twinengine twinengine twin twintn engine tn ln tchool school In Callfo C.llfo Cllfo Caiffo . "al al " nla a he be writes to to's tos ; - ' ' General after General askint asking lor for a al l ' L ( chance ch.nce chnce . to Jo fleb flcht fight ! . . . When that chance comeshe comes comesh , . he h * realizes that bis hIs wife wUe and anel child t i 5a 5ameant meant America tor for himI himt himCHAPTER him I ' > CHAPTER CHAPTIR . : VIDoug VI VIDoug I Doug was ' \ ft as an ideal flying officer4 officer.II omeery officer omeer .II II y . and It was to him that I first turned turnedor turnedJ , Jfor tor for ( advice on how I should makemyself make -J J - 11myself , myself acquainted with this big air 11 , plane Doug had learned to fly at atthe atthe . ' " the period vhen when ; ( hen I had been instructIj instructN Instruct Ij N < ( Ing I had taught his IDS class to fly flye flyHow flyE e t * tnow now How the tables were wcre turned and het hetl he t tl , would have to be the instructor mstructor forI for . a I . while whle ! Don t forget that as yet Ihadn Ihadn I Ibadn badn hadn t flown a B 17EIntroducmg 17E . Introducing Introducmg myself to my co pilotI pilot plot ! [ I said How about showing me howto howto bow how ! [ to fly this ship-I ship I ship - - I want to see how howto howto howI to work these turbos and such Hea He Hei a * i merely muely grinned grmned at me in disbeliefi disbelief " ' . ' 'Aw Aw ' Aw Colonel , , , he said ' "you you 'you " you can canfly canI canfly canJ canJfly fly the thing-why thing why thing - why you taught meto meto me i I | to fly I finally got Mm him to give mesome mesome me * lonae some cockpit instruction by explain . , - , Ing jog that though I had bad many thou thousand thousand thoutand sand hours in m PT s BT'i BTi BT's BTs BT'g BTg ' ' and other othertrainers othertrainers othertrainers trainers and knew lots about tingle single singlel singleF l F [ [ [ seaters and fast twin twm engine engule engme medltun medlum medl medlurn urn um tun bombers I knew nothing aboutsuch aboutsuch about , such ( uch planes as this big devll devil devil.i devili . . . 1 1He 1 He showed me the approved meth method methi od ad of starting startmg the four engines wheni whento whento when whenset to use the booster sWItches how to toset toset i set the turbos how to lock the talI tail talIwheeland tailwheeland tailwheel wheel-and wheel and - and generally how bow to pick pickt 1- 1 t - 1up up that fifty seven thousand poundsI- poundsI poundsof pounds poundsIct - ( ) ct of f flying dynamite and take it aroundL aroundthe around 1) 1 L ) 1)the ' the field I flew it tor for two landings landingsrthat rthat landingsrthat ' \ that afternoon , , and that night mght I II Iclimbed Icbmbed I 1 1climbed climbed aU all over the Fortress read readthe readthe readthe the entire enhre maintenance manual , , , anda andJ ands and J s learned from scratch what made the . ' big ship shlp go Next day I soloed it itit itx itf it x for over four hours and after thetwentieth the \ , t\\ t twentieth tenheth ' \ enheth land ng I felt as if tl I was wasJ wasu wasJ J u ready to start tor for warThen warThen war warThen Then we tested everything-fired everything fired everythingfiredJail everything - fired/all fired all Jail . / / all guns at targets in the evergladesand evergladesand everglades evergladesnd and nd the cordite from all those roar roaring roaring roarIng ing fifty calibres cahbres gave even thes theswampy the theswampy s swampy glades a sweet aroma aromaMy aromaMy aromaMy My gunners were eager to be on the theway theway theway way and I soon found that they theyknew theyknew theyImew knew exactly what they were domgPnvate doingPrivate doing domg doingPrivate Private Pnvate Motley was my tail tall gun gunIner gunner gunner ner During Durmg the entire trip I think thinkhe thinkhe thinkbe he stayed in the tall tail ninety nmety per cent centat centof centof Iner at of the time bme Just lust ] ust to get used to theway the theway theway way to handle the tail tall turret I used usedto usedto usedto to say of Motley that he just didn dldn t ts tcare tcare s care where he was gomg-he gomg he going-he going going - he wantf wantI wanted wanted want f I ed to see where he had beenIt beenSergeant been It ItSergeant | ( Sergeant Aaltonen the engineerwas engineer } was charged with keepmg keeping the engmes engores en ' gmes gores functioning functlomng properly and ingeneral ingeneral in ' general the ent re enlisted personnel personnelwas personnelwas was under him hlID hum He was a diligentFinn diligentFinn diligent , Finn and one of at the bravest menI menI men menI I have ever 1een seen * seen I can see Aaltonen Aaltonen Aalto ' nen now standing standmg there behind my myseat myseat myteat seat and the co pilot plIot s seat unperCurbed unper unperIturbed stormsOl 1turbed turbed Curbed m in the roughest of storms stormsfrom stormsfrom Ol 1 Olfrom from the violent currents of the theequatorial theequatorial theequatorial equatorial front of at the Hamadans Hamadansto to the < : ; Sh h mals of Africa and Ara Arakm Arabia Iturbed km la Eternally watching watchmg the many manyinstruments manyinstruments manyInstruments instruments instrumentsaltlng ' \ waiting \\altlng altlng to correct the theshghtest theslightest theslightest shghtest slightest trouble even before it hap happened happened happened pened When we were lost 0\ 0 0er oter otertrackless o\ertrackless o ertrackless \ er ertrackless trackless seas he be was never ruffedbut ruffled ruffied ruffed ruffledS } . N ruffedN but ready at all t mes roes with Informa InformaIi information information Ii S tlOO tion as to fuel consumption and the thebest thebest thebest best RPM s for cruising crulsmg Once when whenhe whenhe whenhe he was told that we would probably probablyI probablyhave probablyhave probablyhave have to land in the Atlantic there therewas therewas therewas I was no change in the expression on onhis onhis onL his face he s mply began to movethe movethe move [ the provisions to a point pomt where they theycould theycould theycould could be qu ckly placed in m the rub rubber rubber rubher ber boats His job in m case of attack attackv.as attackaas attackwas v.as vas aas . to man the top turret with ItS ItStwm itstwin itstwin twm twin F Fift t esSergeant esSergeant es esSergeant Sergeant Baldbndge Baldbrldge Baldbridge was the head headD headradioman headA headradioman headradioman A radioman His secondary duty was wasto D 1 to handle one of the waist guns backI backe back e- e - eaft 4 aft ot of IDldshlps midships Corporal Cobb was washi hi second radIoman he would I leave leave3 iiI leaveiiI ) > d ' that to enter the lower turret Theit The , lf it itother . other waist gun on this flight wasl wasa was ' a to be handled by a radio officerd officer d Lieutenant HersheyD Hersheye Hershey D e ? The navigator was a Lieutenant If LieutenantIf Ifwhom ) ! . whom III I B call Jack He was a anervy anervy 1 nervy kid who liked his job I know knowJ knowthat knowli J that after our mission he be made , many ra ds as nav nay gator to 60mb tomb 60mbII bomb1 II 0 the Japs in RangoonWe RangoonWe Rangoon We tested the bombardier and thebombsliht thebombsight the bombsieht bombsliht bombsight : too before we startedthe startedthe started - the fl fI ght Lean lankySIX lanky six footI footthrce footthree foot three thrce Bombard er George-I George I George - I never neverdid neverdid neverdid did wiggleInto fee see how bow he managed to Wiggle I ; into the no no- no noe none - > e of the Fortress I Ican Ican Ican can see him there now tense over overhis overhis overhi his * light sight waiting tor for the bombs to togoever togoever toto go--ever go ever go-ever - - ever everwith -with with - the cross hairs on the thetarget thetarget thetarget target George had a couple of fiftycalibre fifty fiftyt fiftycallbre fiftycalibre callbre calibre guns up there in the nose t pd pdwith 1 1WIth nosei with him too He was just lust the op oppostte op\ op opti "k k ti ' " \ postte posite of the tail tall gunner-he gunner he gunner - he never neverx 0 . did cUd knowhere know ' \ where \\here here he had been but butalways : but5 tlways always got there firstAnd firstAnd first firstAnd And so the eight of them madeup made a awho : up my crew-eight crew eight crew - eight good soldiers soldiersJ soldierl * aa a J who had volunteered and who wantu wanted want u : ed to hurt the enemy None of ofDt ofat otct Dt at them worried about whether or notII noty notbe not /II II y / IIbe be d get home-for home for home - - tor he knew of big bigdJ bigar bigli dJ ar donea 2er ger er things thtngs that had to be done r : . doner a We had to test everything for itT it T . was over sixteen thousand miles toJ'apan toJapan to toJ'apan ' J'apan Japan ' the way we were having havmg to togo toI go there couldn couldnt t be a B slip slipup up on onttus onthus onJ thia ttus thus mission and so we didn dldn t take takea takej a . chanc chance cbance * When finally all was let set I was about nervous enough to bite bitemy bitemy bitemy my nails off for my ship was to tobe tobe tobe be last to leave the States I had hadworried hadworried hadworried worried every minute of the bme time bmewe timewe timewe we had been waibng waiting for tear fear that thatsome thatsome thatlome some brass hat would get my orders orderschang orderschanged orderschanged chang changed cd before I could get on myway myway my way The other t\\ t twelve telve ' \ elve ships shlps had bad hadgone badgone hadgone gone goneIth ' \ with \\Ith Ith Colonel Haynes leadmi leading leadingin : in his B 24 They all made theIr theIrway theirway theirway way to the East separately with withinstructIOns withinstructions withinstructions instructIOns to meet in Karachi In Indla India India dla dia for final orders And Karachi Karachiwas Karachiwas Karachiwas was 12000 12 000 miles awayAs awayAs away awayAs As soon as we could leave the theWest theWest theWest West coast of Florida we v.e ve ae . loaded loadedup loadedup loadedup up and crossed the State Going on onEast onEast onEast East over West Palm Beach Bcach I rang rangthe rangthe rangthe the alarm bell putting all men on onthe onthe onthe the alert , , and we dropped down downwith downwith , , WIth the crew firing at the white whitecaps whitecaps whitecaps caps out over the Gulf Stream The Theguns Theguns Theguns guns were working fine but we wecouldn wecouldn wecouldn couldn t t take a chance I had to tolearn tolearn tolearn learn right now . whether v.hcther vhcther the ere cre v vcould vcould vcould could ' \ work ork as a team tor for once we westarted westarted westarted started it would be too lateAs lateAs late lateAs As we came back tov towards . ards the last lastfield lastfield lastfield field we were to land on m in the theUSA theU theUSA USA U S A something strange met my mysight mysight mysight sight something that made the theblood theblood theblood blood pound a little harder in my mytemples mytemples mytemples temples There along the entire entirebeach entirebeach entirebeach beach of Florida was a jagged jaggedblack jaggedblack jaggedblack black l1ne-the l1ne the line-the line hue - - the clean sand of Flor FlorIda FlorIda FlorIda Ida s i II beaches had bad been made black blackand blackand blackand and terrible looking lookmg by the oil 011 from frommany frommany frommany many tankers sunk by the Axis sub submarine submarine submarine marine marinear ' \ war \\ar ar It gave me a B queer queerfeel1ng queerfeeling queerfeeling feel1ng feeling for along the beaches theret there thereCol 1re . , xsM , rrxm n + t i + s 36r 36 r 36sT sT sTt sTk t k 6 S ro / Kdgg 1 1j j s p pe pf e f dxv , 4 Ift IftLLij LLij LLijCol ' : ; Col Scott s superior officers Gen GenJoseph GenJoseph GenJoseph Joseph Stilwell left and Gen ClaireChennault ClaireChennault Claire ClaireChennanit Chennanitwas Chennaultwas Chennanit Chennault . was v.as vas also the beached wreckage of ofseveral ofseveral ofseveral several ships This war was mean meanIng meaning meaning Ing more and more to us as we pre prepared prepared prepared pared to shove off for tor the first fast stop stopout stopout stopout out of at AmericaNow America AmericaNow Now we were poised for tor our fught flight fughtto flightto flightto to Puerto Rico In our two day daywalt daywatt daywait walt watt for technical changes on the theengmes theengines theengines engmes engines I worried more than ever everfor everfor everfor for the other twelve ships were gone goneand goneand goneand and I was gettmg getting frantic lest some somethmg something something thmg thing might change the orders FI FInally Fipally Flnally nally pally after having to wait walt durmg during durmgdays duringdays duringdays days of ot perfect weather we took off offIn offin offin In heavy ram rain for Bonnquen Bormquen Borinquen FIeld FIeldP FieldP FieldP P R RThe The take off and first t\\ t two t0 ' \ 0 hours of ofthe ofthe ofthe the flight were instrument mstrument as we wewere wewere wewere were flying fiYlng flymg througha through a moderate moderatetropical moderatetropical moderatetropical tropical front We finally broke Into Intoclearing intoclearing intoclearing clearing weather over Long Island IslandKey IslandKey IslandKey Key Brit sh West Indies This was wason wason wason on March 31 1942Just 1942Just 1942 1942Just Just after noon we s s ghted His Hispamola Hispaniola Hispaniola pamola paniola at the point pomt of Cape Frances Frances'VIejo FrancesViejo FrancesViejo 'VIejo VIejo ' Sergeant Aaltonen passed out outsome outsome outsome some hot coffee from the thermos thermosjugs thermosjugs thermosjugs jugs Our spirits splnts were high for fornow fornow fornow now that we had passed the bad badweather badweather badweather weather this was like hke a picnic plcmc The ThebIg Thebig Thebig bIg ship was handling handlmg like hke a smgle single smgleseater singleseater singleseater seater We turned from the dark darkmysterious darkmysterious darkmysterious mysterious Hispaniola Hlspamola crossed Mo Mona Mona Mona na Passage and landed at Bonn Bonin Bonnquen Boninquen Bonnquen quen Field at 15 07 just three mln mm mlnutes mmutes mmutes utes off our ETA E T A ( Estimated Time of Arrival ) ) Two of our flight s Fortresses were werewaiting werewaiting werewaiting waiting in Puerto Rico for minor re repairs repairs repan's repans pairs ' so we felt a little less lone lonesome lonesome lonesome some Just in m case the authoritiesin authontlesIn authontles authorities In Washington dec dcc ded |
