Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-02-25

ooh, 1 say Barron!"
The ex- sergeant wheele d
smartly with rigid formality, for
he had been a soldier too long to
enter promptly into the intimacies
of officer life.
&C Eyes sir" he said primly.
g RETICENT TO TALK
y He was reticent too about
talking for publication-strictly
against the Raj code, y'know!
But Simpson, who had previously
demurred against the same thing,
treasured him.
"Quite all right. c. O's per-
mission -. subject to censor an
all that sort of thing"
Barron thawed slowly. Yes!
He'd flown a Fairey-Battle light
bomber in the back areas of the
Nazi army during the first days of
the blitz. A bit of merry hell,
quite! Piecemeal and grudgingly
1t came out and then in a gradual
articulate crescendo - for, once
past the fear of regulations" the
Raj veterans loved to spin their
tales.
When the Nazis had launched
their blitz last May, Barron had
piloted his bomber from a base
near Rheims, over the lines at
Luxembourg and deep in the rear
of the battle area.
SPOT THEIR QUARRY
I'VE few very low at that
time" he explained, barely 80
feet. The strategy then-but
since abandoned, was to spy out
the approach of Jerry tank,
troop and supply columns, then
buzz off and steal through a
deep-woOded valley, and catch
them from the rear"
AS a pilot, Barron and a COM
panion bomber, spotted their
quarry-a long train of tanks,
armored Panzer trucks and mobile
shock troops, and scooted away
behind some neighboring hills.
It was a simple matter in that
cross Matching of hump-backed
hills and rutted valleys, he said,
to sneak around a mountain crag!
"There was a medieval castle
on top one HILL" he said irrele-
vanity, "and terraced vineyards
coming down. I remember look
ing up at the turrets and think
ing, I'D like to see the inside
your mind wanders amazingly
at such times"
MISCHIEvOUS MIND
And he told about once finding
himself in a reverie about a Gin
ema (movie) he'd once seen at
Piccadilly while squirting through
his bomb sights and about to
spring his load on a Junker air.
drome.
THAT'S something all airmen
try to guard against" he said,
"wandering inattention. Your
mind gets mischievous!
1--WE banked around a noun
TAIN" resumed Barron, "and
came Just over the tree tops.
The Jerry column could hear
us, but they didn't suspect that
an English plane would dare fly
so low.
mot q shot was fired. They
didn't even look around! So we
got 'em between our bomb
sights. dropped the first stick
squarely on their h e a Is and
gunned the motor to get clear
OF the blast. Then the second
stick. as the forward section of
the column craned their neclxs
to see what happened-I could
see their faces clearly, mouths
open under their 'coaI-skuttles'
thelmets).
WRECK LEFT BEHIND
Then we dumped our second
stick and opened up with our
machine guns like splitting a
herring down the middle. We
teit quite wreck In that road,
bet-tanks and trucks scat
tered everywhere, craters in the
ground, slumping figures lying
about. Made quite a traffic
JAM
IT, was on this raid that Barron
was wounded NOT above the
bombed column. but 25 miles
nearer home. still flying low TO
escape the overhe a d Messer.
schmitts.
I'VE had the choice between
the snappers (fighters)." said
Barron. who wears the coveted
D f. NJ cor the German ground
guns-not much TO choose either
way. So we got chewed up
pretty badly, chunks out Of our
wings, gaps about the size Of