Evening star., 1942-12-19
Rickenbucker
Continued From First Page

elgQLh Gay on the ra1t, WHen tney
ran into black squall, something
ordinarily avoided, but this time
highly welcome. =
Shirts, socks and handkerchiefs
were used to soak up the rain water
and squeeze it into containers Then
the water was rationed-"about two
sips a day-about half a jigger per
man"
Capt. Rickenbacker told Of taking
off from Hickam Field. Hawaii
There came the first difficulty on the
Inflated inspection trip. A hydraulic
brake locked on the right wheel of
the plane and he said it looked like
we were going to take down all the
hangers"
After a ground loop. the men left
the plane and shifted baggage, mail
and all other materials to a ship
which took of several hours later.
He described the ship as purring
along beautifully at $50 the follow
ing morning, three hours before it
was due to land at an island in the
Samoas
At 1890 am, he said. they had
not sighted land. AL began to worry.
They called for radio beam direc-
tions and then found that they had
difficulty with their radio. The COM
pass was also off several degrees
| due to faulty adjustment.
Il though we had overshot," Capt.
Rickenbacker said. because we had
more of a tailwind than the boys
(pilot and NAVIGATOR thought they
had"
He interpolated in his story then
prediction that conditions which
permitted faulty forecast of the
tailwind strength and OF other
weather conditions will be elm
mated in the near future"
They left Hawaii, he said, with a
forecast showing a 10-mile tailwind
and later were advised that instead
the tailwind on their flight was more
than thrice that.
Material Things Worthless.
He told of efforts to obtain loca-
tions-of one radio station trying
unsuccessfully to give them a beam,
OF trying to locate ship or an island
for direction point when finally
island eyes" developed. He explained
that island eyes" come to men
watching closely for land or ships,
objects appearing to be on all sides,
but being only shadows.
Time was fieeting," he said, gas
was running low We didn't know
where we were - = There was Moth
ing We could do = We shut of
the two outside engines to conserve
gas Our last message out was
we had about an hours gas left
''' then we pounded out the SOS
80 dumped mail. tools, everything
that was loose. If you ever think
material things are worth anything
just have that experience and you'll
find out how worthless they are"
Capt. Rickenbacker praised ex-
pert plotting by Capt. William r.
Cherry. plus a lot of luck, for land
ing the plane in the trough of an
ocean swell.
| All OF us were so anxious to get
away from the ship before it sank, -
he continued. that we went OF
without our rations and water"
Fortunately a few oranges were
available in the life RATS.
Il carved up those oranges and
I rationed them out. II you ever
have seven hungry pairs OF eyes
watching you. you will learn to be
q pretty good carver"
Those oranges, he said, were the
only sustenance they had for the
f1rst six days Of their u days At sea
Young Sergeant Dies.
Capt. Rickenbacker then told Of
the death Of Sergt. Alex Kacz-
marczyk Of Torrington. Conn. The
young sergeant, he said. was in the
smaller nfeboat which overturned
He went overheard and swallowed
salt water and was very seasick
| During the night, when no one VA