Show ENS DIEL ME DIE n tm L i J PROUDLY 4 U F K 5 WHITE WHIT 4 X tj f 0 M LG m I F THE TIlE STORY THUS TIIU FAR Col Rank prank Kurtz pilot of a Flying Fortress I tells tell of that fatal day y when the Japs bps JapsI I track struck In is the Philippines Eight of 01 his men were killed fleeing for lor shelter and Old OIlS 99 W with many other Fortresses was wai demolished on the ground After Alter escaping I ing og to Australia what Is left of the squadron files flics to Java where they go on many missions over o the Philippines and Strait Sergt Sergi Boone Doone gunner tell ens how Queens die Nine Forts are out oat look looking g for lor Jap carriers when they meet leet a flight of 01 P who fly ny with them Too late they discover the forged I suns itar UlI The P P Jap Ja Jap planes planes open open up op at t close range on the Forts and three I Queens go 0 down In flames CHAPTER XV XVi i When that chute cracked open the Jerk pitched him out of the harness harness harness har har- ness head-first head and as the chute billowed billowed bil bil- bil lowed loosely back of the planes plane's tall till we saw him dropping down with 1 his clothes smoking getting littler and littler Oh Heaven 1 I couldn't look any more The plane was settling faster t In that curve now because because be be- cause it was all over So we who i have seen a Fortress die In battle I can tell you how they do It They die like the men who fly them and fight In them would want them to todie todie die diel They die like the great Sky Queens the they are arc And Queens die proudly Just then I heard our pilot Captain Captain Cap Cap- tain tamn Strother over the telling Jim Worley our bombardier that hed he'd opened the bomb-bay bomb I doers and for the bombardier togo to togo togo go back and salvo all the bombs and the gas tanks carried there Well Jim Worley Is about to obey but just then he sees a D Zero d coming right In on us on head and his gun there In the nose Is the only one who can handle this attack so hes he's got to stay on itHe It ItHe He gives her one burst and then starts to salvo his bombs and gas tanks hanks but theres there's a crashing sound and the controls dont don't work He doesn't realize a bullet has wrecked his controls controls doesn't doesn't know what has happened Then all of a sudden sudden Bang BangI theres there's a hell of an explosion Inside our ur plane and dust and the stink of f gasoline After seeing what had just happened to the other two planes we thought It could mean only one thing We must be on fire And later on ask me about that railroad spike But somehow there were no flames so we kept on pounding away at the Zeros swarming around us us-It us it was the only thing to do What had happened was that a bullet had smashed Into our oxy compressed gen tank and also DIso cut a gasoline asoline feed line so that gas was spurting I all over the cabin but we didn't know it then Finally the tail gunner gunner gun gun- ner ner seeing gas streaming along the planes plane's belly past him to trickle off oft the tip of the tall guessed what bad tad happened and called out to the rest jest of us over the for Gods God's sake not to smoke With that cabin filled with pure oxygen and gasoline fumes it would have been beenA A bad idea Dont Don't forget to ask me stout about that railroad spike When we got back to our field and were telling about It someone asked our tail gunner If he wasn't scared cared when right after watching those other two go down In flames that bullet burst our oxygen system with a big bang No he said there wasn't time to be scared But if someone had pushed a railroad railroad rallI rail rall- I road spike Into my mouth I would have bave bit hit the head of it off clean and sharp harp The Flying Fortress was deIgned designed designed de de- de- de signed for the high skies and if it you keep her in her groove for her herI I crew she's the safest plane in theair the theair air and for her enemies the most deadly We found this out not from any book but we learned it that day In comb combat t which is learning it the hard way And we hoped ItT it T 1 wouldn't take too long for this lesson lesson lesson les les- les- les son to percolate upstairs On the way home said Frank Kurtz three of the remaining Forts hit kit a heavy afternoon rainstorm Visibility and ceiling were zero and andlor for lor hours they flew fiew around the Is Isi Island island Is- Is i land of Madura of off the coast of Java looking fora for a place to land t When gas was almost gone they decided decided de de- to beach them Luckily no noone noone one ne was killed but two of the three were completely washed out on the seashore cashore rocks they rocks they set fire to the wreckage so the Japs couldn't find out anything about the planes But Lieutenant Fred Crimmons did a magnificent job of setting his plane I i down on the beach In the rain He HeL L' L made two passes looking at his r gas in in between then squared away and brought her in she in-she she held firm sinking only a little I had the harbormasters harbormaster's harbormasters harbormaster's harbormasters harbormaster's har har- bormaster's wrecking barge with tools and ind Dutch engineers on its way WilY before daybreak They were having a little trouble with the natives natives natives na na- na- na tives there they were warned against Jap parachutists and our boys had to yell at them a password the Dutch had taught them to use If I i I we were shot down Kom- Kom f anee It means Our Army they explained to us l They worked a n full day shoring day shoring J n tup up the plane building a base of logs fogs and sand under It clearing a runway strip And then in Javas Java's regular afternoon rainstorm in carne came old Freddy onto Surabaya Field He explained hed he'd stripped 1 the plane lane of every everything thine he could un WJ I H. H screw to lighten it and then turning turning turn turn- ing the motors on full blast had made a Jump takeoff take from that little little little lit lit- tle strip He Hc grabbed a sandwich and went on in to Malang The raid air-raid alarm in Surabaya was now going off oft regularly sometimes sometimes sometimes some some- times three times a day because the Java Sea was stiffer than an nn old sock with Jap carriers Colonel Eubank Eubank Eubank Eu Eu- bank was now faced with a n real problem The three main bases for our Forts were at Malang and another town which was spelled but the American boys couldn't chew this one so they all gave it up and everybody Just called It Jockstrap The Dutch had no system to detect detect detect de de- planes coming In from over the sea Their only warning system was a tiny Island about seventy five miles mUes out It had a radio so Surabaya Surabaya Surabaya Sura Sura- baya got fifteen minutes' minutes notice and Malang about thirty So what was the Colonel to do Our P were badly overworked so when the alarm sounded if the Forts took to the air the Zeros might shoot them down while If it they stayed on the ground the Jap bombers bombI bomb bomb- ers might blow them up Never were we able to keep more than twelve planes in the air even Including reInforcements reinforcements reinforcements re re- for we were losing them about as fast as they were coming in and a number were always always always al al- ways under repair and therefore un un- flyable Also we had some bad breaks In luck One afternoon Lieutenant Ray Cox had l his s plane up on a high alt U LWI L J WI 1 J We saw whim him dropping down with his clot clothes es smoking Ie getting tUn littler and littler tude test test giving giving the superchargers a With him in the cockpit cockpit cockpit cock cock- pit was Johnny Hughes who had been checked of off as a first pilot just after we arrived in Java They finished the test and at two o'clock were spiraling down when Zeros came over to strafe the field below These strafing Zeros also had a top cover of Zeros hanging up at feet In th case our P P might come comeIn comeIn comein in to break up their ground party Well when the strafing began our boys In n the control tower remembered remembered remembered re re- re- re that Ray was up and they tried to tell him by radio to fly south over the sea for an hour until the Zeros were gone that gone that was war our usual procedure But Ray and Johnny alone In Inthis Inthis inthis this plane probably intent on their test must have had their headphones off Anyway they couldn't be reached although the boys on the ground tried frantically to let them know what they were coming down Into Finally they saw three Zeros hit them at feet Ray immediately Immediately Immediately Imme Imme- turned out to sea while Johnny Johnny Johnny John John- ny probably did what he could on the guns But one gunner cant can't cover every side at once and they didn't stand a chance against three Zeros Next day the plane was found shot down and burned about twenty miles from Malang Field It Shortly after alter that said Boone the gunner we had a tough little mission a mission a night flight to bomb a Jap task force which was attacking one of the Islands down toward Aus Aus- I forget which one it was if u uI I ever knew that knew that was the navigators navigator's navigators navigator's navigators navigator's tors tor's business Six of us took oft off from Malang but before we started for or the target we had to fly Oy over overto overto overto to Jockstrap and load up with Dutch I bombs bombs they they were running low at i Malang and the Dutch at Jockstrap had plenty Then we took off at eight o'clock at night In some of the dirtiest weather I ever hope to fly In that country a storm at night is so black Its It's like going into the closet under the stairs where all the old overshoes are and pulling pulling pull pull- ing the door shut For our rendezvous rendezvous we turned on the wing lI lights But even with them it took look us forty forty- five minutes to assemble Then we went up to trying to climb I out but we were still stUlln in that storm It was waa darker than the Inside of a ablack ablack black cow but every now and then the lightning would rip everything wide open the open the whole cloud around us would flame up and you could see seeto seeto seeto to read fine print In the cabin We were like a bug In hi a neon tube Then blackness would close In and It would be a long time before your eyes could make out the little blue- blue pink exhaust flame of the plane next to you After Alter about an hour we had plow plowed cd through the storm and were flying above scattered moon-flecked moon I overcast down below us at about At 1030 we were over the target and we glided down to feet to see what was going on Through the hunks of clouds we could seethe see sec seethe the gun flashes of Jap warships lobbing lobbing lobbing lob lob- bing shells into that poor old town Then we would see the flash when the shells exploded They had fires already going in several places and of course the town had absolutely nothing to hit back with But clouds protected the Jap fleet so we couldn't make a run on just where we guessed gu those gun i flashes were the thick thickest cst Bombs were scarce Orders had b been en If I we didn't find a good target to bring i them home so we did We had no flares aboard to light up that harbor harbor harbor har har- bor or any Installation for dropping them The old Forts were never cut out for but of course In a war you sometimes get Into cracks where you use whatever youve you've got to do what wha t must be done We hated It leaving that poor old town burning while the Japs sat out there and tossed shells into her without giving It even a little help- help but it lad had to beOn be be beOn On our return we found that storm had moved on down Java and was squatting right on Malang Field The turf was soaked Into apple apple apple ap ap- jelly and our pilot did a wonderful wonder wonder- ful Job on the landing We were worried because we knew that a single pound weight on the brakes would start our twenty five tons slIdIng sliding slid slId- ing lag over that slippery field like it was the frozen surface of a pond So to keep from piling up In a crash at the end of the runway remember remember remember ber we had all our bombs aboard and couldn't dump them because they were precious our pilot looped ground her BO ao she would start sliding sideways In that muck Skidding along he waited wafted until she had revolved in hi a degree ISO turn and was sliding backward Of course she would then have crashed tall- tall first Into the end of th the field and blown up all of us but he was able to stop her by gunning the motors Even If the wheels couldn't bite Into that slippery ground the propellers could bite the air It was neat Another gripe we had on Malang Field was the food The mess was in charge of the Dutch They served only one hot meal meala a day and this was always alway at noon usually noon usually hot soup with boiled beef and potatoes But I only got to eat this hot noon meal three times I times I was always out outon outon outon on missions which should give some Idea how busy we were They had baskets of food for u uto us UI to take up In hi the plane plane pineapples pineapples tropical fruit and then sandwiches which were either a slab of cheese or else raw bacon In hi between two thick hunks of bread We found this heavy stuff stull made gas in hi your Intes Intes- tiles titres and just as you got to high altitude altitude al al- going over the target this gas swelled up giving you the gripes So wed we'd eat the fruit and throw the sandwiches away Also Malay cooks dont don't know hot food the food the breakfast soft-boiled soft eggs were always hard and they'd bring out a No 10 can of Jam for a hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred and fifty men What with getting getting get get- ting two or three hours' hours sleep a night we all lost weight two wrIght two of ofa us a alost lost nineteen pounds and Charlie lost twenty-three twenty and it wasn't scared off us either We all felt that with a decent meal we could do a lot more So as much as we needed sleep at eight or nine o'clock at night wed we'd take the Dutch bus hus into town to a restaurant owned by a Javanese wl which ch had a Dutch waitress who spoke English just to buy us a thick rare steak Americans have got to have red meat to fight on Give them that and they'll manage to sleep when they can We finally took over the mess but that didn't help much because by then the field was being bombed regularly The mess sergeant had his kitchen blown up three times Ina ina In Ina a single day and this didn't Improve the flavor of things But the worst thing was hed he'd got hold of three truckloads of pale beer and had the cases neatly stacked when a Jap bomb scored a direct hit leaving leaving leaving leav leav- ing not more than three dozen bot bot- I never saw men any madder than we were when we came out of our foxholes and word went around they had blown up our beer moved us over to Madun MadI- MadI un Field said the Bomb Bombardier and we had your you troubles and some more besides When we first arrived arrived arrived ar ar- ar- ar rived there were no P or antiaircraft antiaircraft antiaircraft anti anti- aircraft guns for miles to keep the Zeros up But we did have three model D-model Fortresses out of commission commission commission commis commis- sion we were using for tor spare parts So Lieutenant McGee dismounted their guns and Master Sergeant SUva Silva SU- SU va and I decided to mount them In hi holes around the airfield At least these would keep off TO BE DE CONTINUED |