The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1941-09-29
A YANK
III
THE r. AT.
rA6E TWELVE
By Horlon Themes


tionists. OF mapping out air routes
over mid-Afriesn iungles. When
they turned 20 Tim and asked hin
where he hailed from and What
he'd done. he could say that he had
flown the mails In the Southwest
for two wears. that he had worked
for a while IN transports. and that
before taking on his latest job ne
had done little test plotting
Maybe It was not very much, but
IL was good enough. The veterans
took him IN.
The chief danger Of the coming
flight - greater even than the
danger Of accident over the Allan
tic wsste-was that the planes. I'M
armed and heavy with fuel. might
fall into some German trap on the
way. Nazi radio signals. passing
themselves off as British. might
confuse them and send them 10
some fake rendezvous. a German
long-ranee plane might fall in with
them and be recognized too late
The flight commander stood in the
ready room" among the pilots. as
they sucked their pipes and chew
ed gum. and explained all this to
them. To each plane he assigned
batch Of flares whose colors
were coded in such a way that
friendly ships and planes would
identify them. He also gave each
radio operator a series of code
numbers which were to identify
his plane to others, and which
were TO be changed at stated fire.
quent intervals in order to make il
impossible for a Nazi plane TO
smuggle itself into their midst
Then he read off the weather re-
ports sho mapped out route with
them.
Tim Baker took down the long
instructions. He didn't think ne
had been nervous since the day of
his first solo flight. He hadn't
been scared the time he took that
Brewster fighter up on test, and
failed to come out of the roll for
thousand feet or so. As to- bis
flight now. there was nothing spe-
cial to it but distance-long dis
lance. No hit or miss about il, of
course: you were going to have to
fly very straight along the Great
Circle ne had never been much
good on celestial navigatiOn) and
well. he had to admit it was
different from anything he'd done
There was no getting around that.
It was an icy and northerly trip.
and there was that rather large
body" below it-and the farthest
he had ever been out of bounds
was Mexico.
But there was a reason for do
ing IT, He wasn't going to think
about that. though-not till he got
over there. If he got to wondering,
ne could put his mind on that
thousand dollars, and that ought
to hold him. And. after all why
not make the big jump? There had
been a time when from Dallas to
Tucson had seemed a big jump to
him too. He had liked the idea of
always keeping on. not stopping
The cities had never been homes
to him: they had been coffee coun-
ters. fuehng points and cheap. one
night hotels. One place was like
the next: Kansas City. San Diego,
and now London Il didn't make
the slightest difference. he told
himself several times: it was a
longer lap. maybe That was all
With good reason to keep him
going.
There We're no radio beams out
there. No emergency landing
fields. No possibility of coming
down in Ireland - or. rather. no
chance of being allowed to get
your ship out of Ireland again if
you did. or of getting your thou
sand and Of doing that other thing
you were going 10 do. Ali your
experience had been with conve-
nient beams. beacons and little
dead reckoning over the noun
tans. But this time
He shrugged. The pilot standing
next to him IN the crowd around
the commander felt the movement
Of his shoulder and threw him a
sideward glance. Tim stiffened up
The chief was telling them that
they were TO take off at one-min-
ute intervals and fly IN a broad
echelon- Then. casually. without
the slightest flourish. the COM
mander took mis- cap. said, Let $
take them up. shall We >" and
with quick. cheerful Good
luck" pushed out into the whining
cold.
The ships leveled off at 5000
feet The Atlantic lay in vast
blackness below them Tins CO.
pilot was taking the first bearings
by stars They had 10 check two
dozen instruments every hour. Nc
radio talking was allowed. Silence
fell upon them. Il was freezing
and lonely. Tney had lost the
leaders tail lights in the banking
clouds. Then they climbed higt
over a storm and breathed theii
j canned oxygen. The smell and the
taste OF the rubber mouthpieces
made them sick They munchec
chocolate bars and spelled one an
other
When they were over mid-ocesn
Inn stumbled aft 10 rest on a mid
ship cot Hours later. the rad.C
operators hand tugged al hi'