| Show 04 14 1 4 mi aa 6 AM jelmo U SAS 0 11 it W UBLY WHITE THE STORY THUS FAR col frank kurtz flying fortress pilot tells tell of that fatal day when the japs struck in J I 1 philippines eight of his men are J jail ald in old 99 before the fort could get abe ground the step by step escape to australia Is described and how christmas christinas day is spent by U S flyers in australia but kurtz Is worrying about two forts on a mission radio report comes from saying held hed be in after dark with one body aboard and babe have ambulance ready general baere ton lands on batchelor field and orders all bombers moved to java at once kurti kurt reaches well camouflaged field in java with load of bombs describes social system of the dutch CHAPTER VIII next day we headed out over the java sea toward borneo and following instructions found a likely looking river dropping down to low altitude and began following it back im country and then just on sched ns b we made out Sa marinda field adie late afternoon sunlight in spite of its camouflage and it was the best job wed ever seen better than malang wed had practically no time for camouflage at all in the philippines but here the dutch had hewed this field out of the teeming jungle uprooted the stumps leveled it off planted it with grass and then covered it with wooden saw horses that would knock the stuffing out of any plane that tried to land through them only when you circled the field out came a crowd of natives on the run I 1 suppose they were wild men of borneo the dutch had tamed they would remove the sawhorses saw horses only from that particular runway you were supposed to use and the minute your wheels touched the ground start recovering the runway behind you they intend that the japs should sneak in and take that field by surprise we took our hats off to the dutch for that job done everything to defend their islands that apy any people can do with its bare hands no sooner had we taxied up to the revetment than up came a pretty blonde dutch nurse in a starched white red cross uniform looking anxiously at us as we climbed out just in case wed been hit by zeros on the way in and some of the boys were wounded right away we went to pilots meeting where we lined out the mission for dabao day bay we knew it was a long pull out there and back with the target itself more heavily defended than anything south of for apa also it made you mad to sw theft this heavily defended jap target was in our own philippines where our boys were still fighting it was even on the same island of mindanao with old del monte field so why put it off lets eat and then get going out there where we can paste them the crews were putting some final touches on the motors and gassing the big brutes up so we taxied out from our dispersal places and were in the air and gathering into formation about one the japs we knew seldom flew at night but we were flying in a V of Vs jim connally george and I 1 made up the third flight which I 1 might point out is the dirty spot because in those days you C could expect most jap attacks inao the rear then we started an api ant long climb for altitude which means me safety for the fortress a hell ot of a big and vulnerable target near the ground but while we are arc still climbing george is lagging engine trouble we later found out george drops out entirely which leaves jim connally and me alone to handle the dai ty spot presently the formation levels off and then ahead of us we see an enormous black mass of weather in what is left of the dwindling twilight its laid out horizontally right across our path starting at about feet it seems to go on up forever so what do we do our orders are to keep in formation so we can all hit dabao at the same time and not go over dispersed at intervals where the zeros rising at the first alarm can slaughter the stragglers but it if we go into this cloud bank maybe it goes on for miles and well lose each other inside of it and never be able to assemble for the attack the leader decides well try to go around it so turning we fly parallel to it but it seems endless and after flying for forty five minutes we see that in this attempted detour weve wasted precious gasoline our margin of safety to get to the target and get home is down to almost zero which means we cant go on although its heartbreaking to turn back with bomb bays and guns still loaded and quite a bit of gas in the tanks better come back now though for a fresh start than hit the target and then drop into the sea on the way home we returned to Sa marinda landed gassed up and then without any rest or sleep started to take off again for dabao at midnight this time we were sure we miss again we run into thick fog went on frank when we go up next night my copilot co pilot collvin and I 1 fly alternately our eyes smarting and streaming from the strain and staring through the windshield at those formation lights of the planes ahead not daring to lose sight of them for fear we will then be lost and alone in the night As dawn breaks I 1 see fortress by the number on its tail it is too late to go on into dabao just two of us so we turn and start mournfully back to Sa marinda at one in the morning we again took off on the long flight to the target between four and five hours for the first few hours we were lucky the clouds were well stratified and we flew between two layers of them so we have to fly both weather and instruments this time we arrive at the previously agreed point where we are to make that degree turn and come directly in on dabao and as we swing up and over for that sharp bank I 1 get my only glimpse of the target which ordinarily the pilot never sees in detail from where he sits he can only see the sky and the distant horizon ahead its the bombardier who can look straight down and a little ahead who pulls the plane in over that tiny pinpoint to be attacked but now im about to see it for myself just one look when my wing is cocked high in the air oh please god leave the target open let there be no ground fog over the city or the bay burn that mist away with the dawn sun so we wont have to salvo in the sea and go home and then I 1 get my only glimpse out of the tilted side window the city still asleep the upper bay of dabao silver in the first dawn light and then oh lovely lovely sight a big boat sitting well offshore surrounded by a protecting circle of destroyers all of them motionless not a wisp of smoke coming from a funnel weve caught them asleep with no steam up the japs are snoring like so many pearl harbor brass hats this is what weve been waiting tori fort but now comes a change over my inter phones I 1 hear stone bombardier of the lead plane calling to combs who is leading 0 us do you mind if we change over sir he asks 1 I see our real target now weve now roared in almost to our bomb release line but combs agrees we bank up and change over now heading apparently for lower dabao harbor peering out of the window on the bank I 1 get one glimpse of it and now understand the reason for the change the most tremendous concentration cent ration of ships I 1 ever saw in my life everything big boys cruisers of all sizes transports submarines destroyers gunboats gun boats bunched in there dotting the water so thick we possibly miss but now were on our bomb run and im steadying the plane down to go on the pilots direction instrument to you its just one of many Y 4 1 aj up came a pretty blonde dutch nurse in a red cross uniform wavering needles on this big instrument ment panel but its hooked up with the bomb sight in the compartment below the bombardier has his sensitive fingers on those controls keeping the target ahead framed in the cross hairs every time he moves them a fraction of an inch the change is registered in that needle on my instrument panel I 1 cant see the target of course but it if I 1 follow the needle I 1 cant miss it now our nerves are tightening up I 1 glance fleetingly ahead and see cecil combs in the lead plane going over the target sin since ce were bringing up the rear cecil is about nine miles away and his big fortress looks about the size of a wren that sky ahead is filled with dirty soot gray ack ack puffs making a spotty layer above him the japs on the ground have cut their fuses just a little too long to pick off cecil but I 1 know that in a very few seconds more im going to get a closer view of this ack ack I 1 pray cecils bombardier wont miss although hes too tar far ahead for us to see his bombs leave damn it stone now lay em down the alley boyl boy V but that kid wont miss hes one of the best bombardiere bombardiers bombar diers lers in the business now hes laying his train pearl harbor style on those japs who are lying there without steam up only again im raging here we are with a pearl harbor setup for a target but only ten of us while the japs hit hawaii with many scores my navigator has laid faid aside his tools in the compartment below and now comes crawling up through the trapdoor to squeeze back through the bomb bays between the rows of bombs and gas tanks into the radio compartment where hell man a machine gun against jap fighters theres no interphone talking now except between gunners weve broken radio silence the hell with it now we see them down there and of course they see us up here anything we can do to bring the formation in right is okay so now the earphones crackle with the excited cross talk balk of machine gunners all peering out their windows on the lookout for zeros 1 I take a quick glance out of the side window to make sure im not ahead of jim ive got to stay even with him so my gunners can protect his tail and his gunners can protect mine and I 1 wonder how in hell that first flight has done but dont dare look up to see if combs has turned off the target yet I 1 must stay glued to that needle my copilot co pilot is glued to it too giving me the corrections on my run it must be as carefully timed as a violin duet my bombardier below there needs the gentle touch of a violinist on his controls and I 1 must follow with equally gentle pressures on the rudder it if he gets excited and in correcting an error moves his controls too tar far then following that weaving needle ill push a pedal too far and well throw the Fortress out of her groove im almost praying he wont do this come on boy I 1 mutter to him dont let it run down your leg now dont overcorrect now I 1 take the risk of just one glance away from the needle through the windshield to see the second flight just going in on its bomb release line the ack ack fire which tor for the first flight wa was too high is now breaking below the second flight that means see bracketed us and next time they make a change changmin chan gein in fuses down below about the time our third flight is going over have us square just then I 1 hear a gunner shouting over the inter phones fighters coming up at nine I 1 cant see thern them yet wonder where coming from maybe off a carrier then why we make a run on that maybe cecil did and missed maybe my bombardier sees it and we are making our run on it no I 1 think probably off the ground the japs have probably got the countryside around dabao laced with landing strips by this time the enterprising little so and sos lay your watch down on the table in front of you at twelve the hour hand points straight ahead at three 0 clock it points to the right at nine 0 clock it points to the left now my own gunners are talking They tre coming up in a long slow spiral like hornets out of a nest coming up so straight you can even see their bellies I 1 get the first rumble of the antiaircraft f fire ire as the ship flutters A quick glance ahead shows the puffs are right on our level now then I 1 get mad again because it said in our schoolbooks that the jap antiaircraft f fire ire hit anything L above here we are laying it to them from almost that altitude and putting it right back up to us then I 1 get a feeling of exultation because down under us and not far ahead now is that jap pearl harbor setup big ships with stone cold boilers now they must be running frantically around the engine rooms trying to stoke the fires and get steam up knowing while hurrying that its too late just as they knew at pearl harbor but all you can do is hurry so you do it anyway well weve got them where we wanted them even it there are only ten of us got them where they had old 99 just about a month ago then I 1 jump for the ship quivers from a burst of fire from our own 50 caliber guns then quickly another and another zeros coming up banking to come in and rake us with their fire but when nothing is said of them over the inter phones I 1 know my boys are only firing little bursts to warm the oil in their auns funs guns making sure the guns wont jam when we are really hit by fighters suddenly the planes nose lurches upward and to the left and hardly have I 1 straightened her out onto ev even e n keel when she tries to make another twist its the blast from the ack ack fire invisible billows of air air sent out by each explosion and now its as rough as though we were boun bouncing cine in a model T over a missouri s 0 uri dirt road three days after a rain at my side my copilot who has been looking out through the wind shield hollers jims bombs are an on their way I 1 dont dare take my eye from the needle just then I 1 get the click from my own bombardier our bomb bay doors are open now I 1 feel the slight drag on the plane and with my rudder correct for it and then that double click on the interphone which means hes telling me ship level frank please and I 1 dont answer except with my feet so firmly but gently on the rudders giving him that absolutely level bombing platform he has to have if were to hit the target and at last the precious amber light glows on my instrument panel which means hes now actually flicking the bombs off one by one and I 1 keep my feet so softly on the rudders that they hardly touch so as not to give the tiniest sidewise throw to the bombs up in the cockpit we hold our breath we know down below the bombardier is flicking them off four at half second intervals then as he calls bombs away at that split second we quit working for the government and begin to work for our wives and families because that means the last bomb has left the plane and we can now close the bomb bay doors and our oui objective is now only to get home safely TO BE CONTINUED ha raw AX Z fr V t 11 n pip BOMBS AWAY |
