Evening star., 1943-01-13
Rickenbocker Calm As Plane Hit Sea

Fcrry Command, as Told 70
Charles Leavelle.
Our big flying fortress thundered
confidently along above the clouds
of the Southwest Pacific just as
though its pilots knew where they
were going. But we were hopelessly
lost. A takeoff accident at Hickam
Field, Honolulu, had damaged our
octant with the result that its erro-
neous readings had sent us of our
course.
Our distinguished passenger, Capt.
Eddie Rickenbacker. whom we were
carrying on a War Department
mission, appeared unperturbed.
Capt. william T. Cherry, jr, pilot
and commander Of the fortress, was
telling him that the only station
able to set a radio course for us
was 1000 miles away and that we
had only hours fuel in our tanks
What do you expect to do?"
Capt. Rickenbacker asked.
We'll try the box procedure first"
Capt. Cherry replied. And there
are a couple of other things that
may help"
Flying the Square.
In the box procedure lost plane
flies a course that describes a
square. This enables the crew to
scan vast area inside and outside
the box. At 5000 feet we were 1000
feet above the overcast, which now
had broken about so per cent, giving
us a good view OF the ocean below.
Capt. Cherry decided to fly As
minutes on each leg of the box
course-a total of three hours. AS
we went into the first leg, Capt.
Cherry ordered Staff Sergt. James
w. Reynolds, our radio operator, to
raise the island of our destination,
which we had overshot. When they
answered, he asked that they begin
firing anti-aircraft shells at five
minute intervals and timed to ex-
plode at 5000 feet.
They replied they were starting to
fire Immediately and were clearing
planes to search for us and guide
us in. Our crew was posted at all
windows and ports to watch for the
bursts and planes. Capt. Ricken-
backer and his military aide, Col.
Hans Adamson of Washington, as
sisted at this.
In the cockpit beside Capt. Cherry,
I strained my eyes for the grayish-
black shell bursts that would locate
our island and for the planes that
would lead us in. I searched the
far rims Of the cloud bank, the blue
vault Of sky above me and the
watery blue floor far below. Never
had I seen a world so ominously
empty. We completed the first leg
and the second. We drew to the
end Of the third. We banked into
the final leg, still without seeing
shell burst or plane. Capt. Ricken-
hackers CONFERENCE.-THE could
see Of twas inscrutable. The
home folks in Quail, Tex, would
have been proud Of Capt. Cherry's
poker face.
Emergency SOS.
The last of our three hours ticked
of. We were back at our starting
point. Capt. Cherry summoned
Sergt. Reynolds.
GO on emergency frequency and
start pounding out Sos" he said.
Some one will hear us and get
bearings on our course" Capt.
Cherry then gave Sergt. Reynolds
our speed and course.
"Jim," he said to me, well have
to set her down in about an hour.
Let's talk about how we're going to
do it."
So far as either Of us knew, no
four r-motored land plane ever had
been set down into the sea without
casualties. In most cases no one
Of the crew had lived to tell about 1t.
When plane is put into the
ocean against the wind it meets the
waves head on. If it touches on
the crest of a wave, the nose will
be plunged into the middle of the
next one and cave in. If the first
wave is hit too hard the plane
breaks in two.
I suggested, therefore, that we go
in croSS-wind and try to settle in
trough (the valley between two
waves. Bill agreed to this and said
he thought we ought to go in under
power while We still had gasoline
in the tanks. This seemed logical
to me. A controlled landing always
is better than an uncontrolled one.
Eventually, we had agreed on all
points.
Capt. Rickenbacker, who had sat
In on part of our talk, took over
disposition of the crew. He led
every one except Sergt Reynolds to