Show 2 m NR mat QUEENS PROUDLY ae alts WH ITE e WN THE STORY THUS FAR FAH aleut col fr frank a kurtt pilot of a flying fortress tells is of 0 that that fatal day when the japs struck in the philippines eight of 0 his hh men were killed fleeing for or shelter and ana old 99 with many other fortresses Por tresses was before it could get off the ground alter after escaping to australia what Is left of the squadron flies to java where they jo go out on many missions mission over the P philippines six FO fortresses rt go on a mission over strait where there Is a huge concentration of jap ships they make their tomb bomb runs rum and on the return trip major robinsons plane goes into a dive and crashes into the sea U S planes circle over the dead queen CHAPTER XIII 1 I now watched this last four falling through what was practically a striped fog made by jap pom coming up at us we could see the japs crowding the rails trying to jump overboard as the bombs gathered speed the first bomb plunked flunked into the water alongside but the other three went smack smack smack right down what had been her promenade deck and it looked like she was coughing up into the sky a kind of confetti made up of planking splinters and jap infantry my right wing man who was releasing his bombs synchronized with me scored four hits across the back of this ship you ought to hear beardshear our tail gunner tell about it not having any zeros to keep him busy he was enjoying the scenery and playing yankee doodle on the deck planking with his 50 calibers he says we passed over so close that he looked down the funnels and he called to us over the inter phones that he could see what they were going to have for chow rice and fish heads then we made our turn and went on back to Bat batavia ivia which was crowded with refugees from singapore about this time said frank kurtz 1 I got word from the colonel that at last some american P 40 fighters were on their way up from australia equipped with belly tanks so they could take it in hops landing for fuel at kaupang airdrome on timor island it was part of my liaison job to get them settled with the dutch fighters at their airdrome at anoro it was another beautifully hidden field the dutch had to lead them to it with an escort plane when they landed I 1 found there were nine led by my old friend major bud sprague whom I 1 seen seen since the philippines I 1 asked him where buzz wagner was and he said buzz just been lucky told them in australia that one of them had to stay behind and give the newly arriving fighter pilots a little extra train training ipg while the other would lead the squadron in java buzz and bud had tossed an australian shilling to decide it and buzz had lost he was stuck with that thai training job the dutch fighter pilots who are just as as ours were all excited and doing their stuff led bud in formation and now they were putting on a show for him dive onto the field in an attack string and just before they hit they turned almost straight up in the air and then a few thousand feet up that string opened out in all directions like the petals of a rose bud had to admit the dutch were good but he said he had to take one of his planes up for a test that afternoon and show em how to fly bud hit it off with them right away he praised the camouflage on their field when he came back next day I 1 heard him ta take ke his own youngsters in hand of course it was the old hooey but he gave them one serious warning this is the best camouflaged field well ever operate on he told them so remember I 1 dont want anyone to cross this field with a zero on his tail bail out beach it but dont come back here with company As a result the japanese find anoro field until two days before the end not long after they came I 1 rang bud up with a queer assignment for the boys we were doing everything possible to stop the taps japs from swarming over onto sumatra from malaya the forts were out pasting their landing barges morning and night we were using them practically as heavy pursuit skimming down under the weather to chase landing barges going up the rivers so we asked buddo deliver a little strafing and off they went carrying belly tanks to get them there and stopping off at aldir they went to work with 30 pound fragmentation bombs and t their heir machine guns and when they got back bud reported the P had had japs diving off those barges in fulla full field equipment he sank quite a few and drowned hundreds of japs and every P 40 got back to java but they were closing in on us from still another direction we could no longer operate from those advance fields at kenyari and sam arinda across the java sea the japs had moved into borneo and the celebes so we waited for what we knew was coming they must be stacking jap bombers onto what had been our own fields there within easy range of java we have to wait long one morning I 1 was at the airfield at Su checking on a transport plane which was supposed to be bringing in ground crews for bud spragues fighters when at operations erat ions they reported in great excitement cit ement that a jap bomber force was over java itself headed do down wn the island abbreviation for neder handsch Lucht Luchi vaart pi meaning royal dutch indies airplane company 1 I was panic stricken for fear they might branch off at malang and catch our forts on the ground there luckily the pass was bottled up with fog so they came on down toward us at Su at almost exactly eleven we could hear them hitting the city off in the distance we knew they miss us ill never forget he had been anxious that his wife know that he was all right he died at three in the morning poor old Ba alerts the head of that field hed never been bombed before and asked me what to do he had already crawled into his car I 1 told him that was the worst thing he could do that we should run for the concrete slit trenches at the edge of the field As we ran we could hear the second wave coming in over the harbor next to our airdrome hear the hollow echo as the bombs crashed into the oil storage base they practically leveled moro kamban gem the dutch naval base there coming in out of the sun it was really a beautiful job from the professional standpoint its second in size only to singapore the docks were left a shambles our american navys of patrol wing 10 were anchored there one or two were burned on the ways but the rest managed to take off although the japs strafed a dingy full of sailors rowing out to them they also scored a direct hit on the barracks there so for the second time those poor guys of patrol wing 10 lost all they had the first had been at cavite in the philippines now came the third wave h headed ead right for our airdrome echoing around in the cement of our slit trenches the sound of the crashes was terrific poor old Ba alerts was down there lying on the concrete floor his white bridal suit soaking up half an inch of dirty rain water we were all thankful when we heard that bomb pattern moving away laid a nice strip across the field but only one bomb happened to hit the macadam strip 1 I was just hoisting out of the trench what was left of our bridegroom there had been a lot of noise and im afraid his condition was pretty grave when the zeros hit so we got Ba alerts back down again we watched one dutchman comi ing in to hr fuel when two zeros crossed his tail their guns going full blast hammering tracers into his tail watched his plane roll over and dive into the red dust at the edge of the field now another dutch pilot comes in with a zero streaking for his tail the dutchman dodging all the way to the ground fifty feet from the ground he slips to the right to avoid that stream of tracers but its too late flames come gushing out yet he manages to land and jump out of the burning pl plane fi ne its a terrific fight overhead we can hear the faraway rattles as they clear their guns the brave dutch kids are fighting for their homeland and se seven v planes were lost that morning 0 of f the twelve which had been javas only defending dutch fighter force As I 1 climbed out I 1 realized the picture was darkening fast we were depending on our fortresses to keep the jap transports away from java but we had to have fighters to defend our flying fields but it until later in the day that I 1 found out the zeros had got major one of our own squadron commanders hed been piloting a B 18 we used for transportation and was coming from malang to Su to talk with general brett the zeros hit and from the ground they saw him go over the hill on fire while the liaison work lasted I 1 was quartered at the big hotel in Su and the whole thing feel right you sure of these natives as you had been of the filipinos that night a few were shot sha who were caught flashing lights into the air and at the hotel the barefooted waiters who slipped silently between tables and in and out of the high rooms began to disappear my own boy turned up a couple of days later however with tears in his eyes said he was back and to stay he sure what this war was about but hed taken his mother and sister to the country and was back for the rest of the war jap intelligence must have been very good because one bomber had peeled off the formation and made a direct run on the newly completed dutch army navy building they had just moved in scoring a near miss the forts of course had been pounding away at the japs and had come back with ominous news spotted a jap carrier out in the java sea and sent it away limping if had more strength and could have laid down a denser bomb pattern have sunk the damned thing the navys flying boats of patrol wing 10 were doing a wonderful reconnaissance job finding targets for us every morning or so you might wake up to find a jap carrier at almost any corner of the island the would sight a little task force in the evening but by the time I 1 got word to our forts to be out there next morning often it had slipped away most important of all ten more fighters presently arrived hopping up from australia via our stepping stones of timor and bali they were led in by captain will connolly a commercial pilot who flew a Beech Beeche craft raft and did the navigating for the fighters that part of their training he reported only lost one which cracked up in landing at timor field but had plenty of excitement just as they were approaching timor the boys had engaged and shot down a jap fighter it made connolly plenty jittery he was an old hand at flying but his little Beech craft had no guns and have lasted a minute in combat so he hurried on out of there to land at bali for lunch but en route he sighted what was either a twin tailed Messer schmitt or a twin mitsubishi bomber on patrol which altered course and was coming toward them will connolly had no radio in his Beech craft to warn the ten P in the formation he was leading so he started going up and down frantically to signal them sure enough the kids got the idea and the two fighters on his wing peeled off and headed for the jap the first one put out his port engine but the jap feathered it and kept on going but then he was hit by the second P 40 which in spite of the fact that only two of its six guns were working knocked out the starboard motor you should have heard those american kids when they got in most of them were just out of flying school and had never before flown a P 40 except for the three hour practice buzz wagner had been able to give them as they passed through brisbane but now they had drawn first blood and they were excited and yipping like a bunch of fox terrier pups chasing their first rabbit TO BE CONTINUED |