| Show N W T on its N no I 1 I 1 E im PROUDLY F R 0 U V I 1 yr WHITE WHIM e ayt S THE STORY THUS FAR lacut col frank kurtz flying fortress p pilot flat tells the he japs struck I 1 in n ot of that fatal day when the philippines eight ot of his men were killed fleeing lor for shelter and old 99 was dem demolished fished before it could get off the ground 0 after escaping to australia what Is left of 0 the squadron ales to java where they go out on missions over the philippines on one ot of these missions ot at kurtz fort Is hit one of 0 the motors and they begin to lose altitude they stay with it however make the homb bomb run and try to make malang field on java but c hange change their minds turn back the boys are wrought up at a V U S magazine which publishes a complete diagram ol of the E model fortress CHAPTER XI pilot to radio 1 calls call s captain skiles over the inter phones radio answering pilot go ahead answers sergeant boudria 11 get the emergency rations out says skiles and the jungle kits and set them by the door given jusup us up at blem belem but when they heard us circling up in the fog they went down the field in a truck throwing out lighted flare pots to mark the runway our gas was so low that before the ship was parked the no I 1 engine cut out next morning we were off for natal and landed there at one we were gassing up and the crew chief was supervising the loading the natives rolling out the steel drums and the crew chief unscrewing their tops to hurry it up when he happened to stick his finger into one that seemed a little heavy and by george it was full of water the barrel looked like any other barrel the native looked like any other native of course it was sabotage but what could you do we took off for freetown africa at ten it was an eleven hour flight we stayed with the british there and got along with them fine it was a fighter station they gave us a nice feed and all the warm beer we could drink it was new years eve then we started across africa and finally sighted the nile and I 1 ate dinner at the british sergeants mess at khartoum when we got to iraq said the gunner we began to smell the war the british there told us not long ago the natives led by nazis had revolted and two thousand rebels had tried to take the field away from the little garrison all the british had on it was one plane so old it looked like a box kite cruised about seventy miles per hour so taken an empty gas drum loaded it up with brace chains rivets and bolts and in the middle jut a hell of a lot of sticks stick s of dynamite and nd a fuse it was so big it would hardly go into the door of the plane then they flew over the rebel army and when they had figured the best place to drop it they lit the fuse but when they tried to roll it out it got stuck in the door of the plane the british said they were quite worried for a bit while that fuse burned on finally they jammed it through the door and on out but it exploded about fifty feet off the ground they said it killed about fifty rebels A couple of hops later we were in bangalore in india where there was a welsh regiment stationed then we flew on down to palem bang sumatra and crossed the equator in a hell of a snowstorm at feet with snow packing in between our engines on the seventeenth of january we had reached java continued the gunner and were looking down on their rice paddies in a drizzle which washed everything a vivid green then we flew over surabaya Su and up between those two conical mountains that guard the pass into malang field then we went down to barracks to meet the well been quite a change As a bunch they looked nervous and hollow eve nervous eve eyed compared to the way wed remembered them back in the states we found out but they were sending us out on a raid the very next morning which should show how badly they needed us so after we came back I 1 went out to check again on my guns we needed the new boys badly said frank wed got word trouble was on the way you see the american navys big flying boats had come out of manila and now were operating off java from the big dutch naval base at Su but mostly from coastal coves and the wide mouths of rivers patrol wing 10 they were called and a swell gang they were they came in with the news that on reconnaissance picked up an enormous gang of jap surface ships coming toward us down ma cassar strait it was the same gang wed pounded at dabao they had to be stopped had to bet be so the colonel sent out everything he had which was just six forts and the dutch sent their little navy which scare them much alone plus some old martin B 10 bombers bought from us before the war takeoff take off was at in the morning said the gunner wed planned to bomb from a good altitude but the weather was so bad that we had to drop down to I 1 as we approached the target it broke light about seven and we began to see the gray hazy sea and the mountains piled up on both sides of the strait below us we were about ten miles from the target when we saw that jap surface gang im not a navy man but I 1 was knocked over by it they were strung out in two lines transports with escorts destroyers cruisers battleships riding the flanks stretching back as far as we could see when we sighted them we separated into two flights following radio command and almost immedi 4 4 e Y y A t r the next day we sighted the pyramids and dropped down to fly behind them abely their ack ack fire opened up on us we went in in a column of Vs each flight picking its ship and by the time we were over them the japs had their antiaircraft fuses just right just after wed dropped our bombs the jap pursuits hit us id been watching them spiraling up from their aircraft carrier in flights of three keeping formation as they spiraled fifteen zeros in all when got their altitude they paired off each pair would pick a fort and go in for the attack one hitting it from the side while the other would come in from behind remember it was the first time any zero had ever seen an E model flying fortress tr i ess the one who came in from behind would throttle down to our speed and in a leisurely way try to shoot the tail off well our tail gunner sergeant irvin schier waited letting them come on in then just as they were about to uncork their cannon he let them have it knocked hell out of them if they been dead have been terribly surprised wed finished our bomb run so then we headed for a cloud but major robinson the leader came back with his flight for a second pass and picked off another transport then we headed for home every fort got back and wed picked off seven zeros for days the damned fools kept up those tail attacks and it was the same old grind wed average four zeros a mission they tell it that one day five zeros are sitting under a cloud when we come by four of them go in tor for tail attacks and are shot into confetti so the fifth is smart he goes home with the news but for a while there it was a tail gunners heaven you never forget your first battle mission said the bombardier only I 1 of course had a bombsight bomb sight angle on the whole picture just before we took off major robinson called all pilots bombar diers radiomen and navigators into the hangar room for a critique he I 1 had a new idea my plane is to be in his ali flight when we make our pass over the target my navigator is to watch robinsons bomb doors and when robinsons bombs appear then he releases four of mine I 1 meanwhile sighting the target then the planes behind me release when I 1 do in this way well make a wide pattern and get away from the target faster than by making a double run we have clear weather climbing for our altitude through a few scattered clouds and thirty minutes away from the target we reach feet and then level off follo following w the borneo shore line of strait were all at battle stations I 1 fiddling with my bomb sight presently we hear the top turret gunner over the interphone planes hes calling formation of planes right rear high they were coming down at us from or feet but from the navigators compartment I 1 see them yet then they peeled off for the attack concentrating on robinsons plane I 1 could hear the gunners calling these plays over the inter phones see the zeros myself yet but I 1 could see their tracers going into the tail of robinsons plane then we turned in on our bomb run and id catch glimpses of the zeros as they overshot robinson some of them coming fifty feet from his plane but im busy on my bombing run ive picked my first live target a row of three transports broadside to our line of flight everything ery thing else seems to be going smoothly now were on the run coming in on the target and ive set my drift in the sight plus our true altitude and true air speed so I 1 can put those cross hairs on the target now the pilot and I 1 switch our earphones over to command so we can listen to any orders major robinson wants to give from his lead plane while the copilot stays on the inter phones so he can pick up what our gunners are doing and in a minute I 1 hear it major robinson is calling robinson to flight ive been badly hit in the tail having trouble holding the nose of my plane down im turning the formation we had been coming in straight at the coast of borneo now turning we go down the coast the zeros swarming around us like flies around a hunk of rotten meat the first one I 1 really saw came up from beneath us id known he was there because tracers had been coming up from under the ships belly past my face as it if someone down under there was throwing up hatfuls hatfull of live smoking coals As he pulls up out from beneath us and banks away I 1 get in a couple of good bursts at him with the little 30 caliber machine gun we have down there in the nose I 1 really see if id hit him or not then robinson to skiles go ahead I 1 skiles 1 iles answering robinson says our pilot take the lead robinson tells him 1 I cant keep up with the formation ill drop behind and slow the formation down so I 1 can keep up UD I 1 I 1 were still going down the coast remember and now skiles to robinson go ahead comes over the inter phones 11 robinson answering do you want to make mace another pass at the target asks skiles yes skiles take the formation over the target again we make our turn the rest following and head back just then a zero dives down on the formation from behind going between me and the plane on our right wing about a hundred feet away and then it levels off out in front of me I 1 happened to have the gun in the right hand socket of the nose so I 1 can really lay it on him with my little 30 caliber sewing machine its taking plenty of stitches but I 1 can see my tracers slapping into his wing close to where it joins his fuselage he wobbles goes into a dive he is well out in front with plenty of forward speed so its almost like watching a bomb leaving my plane which I 1 can follow all the way down this ha happen P often usually I 1 shoot at them they go on back behind and the wing gunners confirm whether I 1 really got thern them or not but now 11 robinson to flight use as your target that heavy cruiser moving out from shore TO BE CONTINUED |
