Evening star., 1942-07-29
(Last OF a Series.l
By KEITH WHEELER.


AT. SEA WITH THE PACIFIC
FLEET, July Delayed Six weeks
ago few a patrol with an observa-
| ton plane. I remarked that, while
I wasn't permitted to give the full
names of Bill the pilot and Willie,
the radioman, I wished I could be-
cause they had to fly patrols every
day and someday might be killed
doing it.
Out of ignorance, prophecy speaks.
Bill and Willie are dead.
On the ship we called Bill the
pilot Ace" partly because of his
considerable skill at throwing darts,
but more because of the great Sick
ness" he had.
He wanted to fight and the want
ing was a fire that consumed him.
He wanted above all the desires of
his life, to fly fighter plane in
combat. With hatred that was al
most an obsession, he hated the slow.
sturdy, dependable, lightly armed
observation plane to which his orders
condemned him. He abhorred the
monotony of his duty, which was
dangerous enough but not exciting.
Pleas for Fighter Duty Denied.
Day after day he few his un-
eventful beat out over the empty
sea and back, endlessly from ship to
horizon and beyond the horizon and
back to the ship.
He did his work and he did it
we'll. But between patrols he COM
posed appeals for transfer to a
fighter squadron. They were denied.
He tried to join the volunteer fighter
group in Burma, but they wouldn't
let him go. He pleaded for duty on
an aircraft carrier, but they told
him good warship observation pilots
were a rarity and too valuable to re-
lease.
Nothing prevailed and he tried to
content himself with planning an
attack If ever his monotonous patrol
should flush Japanese ship.
Possibly you do not understand
what planning attack with an OBJ
servation plane implies. But you
would understand If you knew war
ship planes, which are called pig
cons" in contempt.
These planes are the underdogs
of all naval aviation. They are
sluggish and awkward, and they
carry only a pair Of beanshooters
for defense. The fact that they
carry a couple of small bombs is
only an underdog's hopeless gesture
of defiance.
Dreamed Of Bombing Ship.
They were designed for one pur-
pose. an aim having no remote con-
nection with aerial combat. They
are extended eyes for the ships,
planes that can be depended on to
stand up under the beatings of sea
and weather but nothing more.
Their great value is their ability to
direct the fire of the Ships guns.
Nobody who knows anything
about them expects the pigeons to
fight. When the enemy is near they
are expected to keep as far from
trouble as cloud cover or wave-
hopping will allow.
But Ace planned attacks. He
dreamed Of bombing an enemy ship
and he believed sincerely that he
could get away with it. He even
thought, given altitude, skill and the
advantage of few seconds surprise,
that he could attack Jap Zero
fighter and win.
He was not afraid of death. He
was superbly confident in his skill
and there was pride in him as we'll
as discomfort. Probably he never
considered death-his own death
for there was no room to accommo-
date death in his flaming spirit.
Plane Dives Into Sea.
And so today he flew his patrol
Willie the radioman was with him
They few out to the end Of their
sector and started back. On the
way in they met a plane searching
another sector.
Ace signalled the second plane to
join up. Something went wrong
then, nobody knows what. AS the
other pilot drew toward him, Aces
plane swerved into a turn, swung
sharply around l80 degrees and dove
into the sea.
The other pilot landed in the open
sea, TAXED near the capsized wreck
age and, leaving the plane in the
hands OF his radioman. clambered
into the water and tried to reach