Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1941-07-04


bad. The Captain had also noticed
it and set his course more to west
ward. Hutch guessed that he was
going to swing around the point and
come into Brest from the sea, so as
to avoid going over land.
In a few more minutes, a strong
wind had entirely swept the clouds
inland, leaving them in the open sky
Far below and to the left, the rug
ged, heavily indented coast of Brit
tany stood out like an unfinished jig
saw puzzle, and from their great
height they could clearly see ships
on the sea, and sailing boats of the
fishermen. There was now not cloud
in sight, except far away to the east.
Again Captain Bliss was speaking
over the r. T., this time more to his
own pilots, but his message also con-
cerned the Spitfires. "On account Of
the sudden change in weather, we
will do power dive on the first OBJ
jective, dropping all bombs, and re-
turn to England at top speed. 1t
would be suicide to go further.
Ready?" He set the example and
started off in long dive, engines
roaring, in the direction of Brest,
clearly distinguishable below.
Hutch was about to follow when
something far to the south caught
his eye. Planes! He held his alti-
tude and advanced in their direction.
Fighter planes! At least four squad
rons. Four to one were terrible odds,
but he could not leave the Blenheims
uncovered. The Hornets must at
tack.
"Messerschmitts to the south, 9TH
er enemy to the southw Hutch call
ed over the r. T. Attack" He
wheeled over and headed straight for
the oncoming Nazis. They, too, had
certainly seen him, so it was useless
to manoeuvre for an advantageous
position until they came together.
The Mes were faster, but the Spit
fires handled more easily at close
quarters.
When Hutch judged that the enemy
was still about five miles distant, he
barked his orders. "The Red and
Yellow Flights will wheel off and at
tack from the right; the Blue and
Green Flights from the left.
Cheerio!"
Six planes banked sharply in one
direction, and six in the other. Then
they cut over again and came full
on into the two sides of the Messer-
schmitt formation.
What happened to the other planes
after that he could not tell. There
was as mad a scramble as he had
ever seen. The Nazi formation
broke and the dog fight became a
terrific mix-up of screening motors,
cracking machine-gun fire, and whirl
ing, dizzy planes. He got on the tail
of Me. and sent it hurtling to the
earth. He attacked another and saw
it's pilot turn it over and fall out.
For a moment he was clear of the
fighters and was banking to head
back when he saw one of his planes
harried by five of the enemy. He
headed for this group. 1t was Phil
lip, fighting desperately losing bat
tie.
Hutch dove into the thick of it and
brought down his third plane in as
many minutes. Then he felt "the old
tin can" culver like wounded ami
NAL. From the motor a column of
smoke shot up, then flames. Good
bye, old tin CAM" he said, and bailed
out. For some moments he watched
his plane as it broke into several
pieces and fell dizzily to earth.
Two more Messerschmitts hurried
by in flames, their pilots, unable to
escape, struggling to free themselves
from the narrow cockpit. Then one
of his planes (Rusty's) but his friend
440u &OLLCl Out was RAO000Ay
floating in the air above him. A
Spitfire passed very near and he
could see the pilot wave. 1t was
Phil, and he did a double victory roll
to show that the two Messerschmitts
which fell were his contributions to
the days bag. At that instant Da-
vid saw two of the enemy diving on
his young friends tail and signalled
wildly to draw his attention. He
shrieked uselessly, throwing his arms
and legs around like wooden dancer
on stick, and pointed, but when Phil
understood and went into a sharp
bank, it was too late
They had young Phil Bruce, and
his plane shook violently, then plung-
ed to earth before he could escape,
leaving behind it a long thin line of
black smoke. Tears streamed down