Evening star., 1943-01-12
Crash DeIuyed Rickenbucker 7oke-oH
Continued From First page.)

oCCOliA AL COllAAAdAlus Ullu LII JO1ll1
J. De Angels, "a. from Pennsyl-
vania, was our navigator. Stan
Sergt. James w. Reynolds, q smil-
ing young Californian, was our
radio operator, and Pvt. Johp Bar
tex, quiet kid from New Jersey, was
engineer.
But We never got aboard the
Fortress. At $50 pm. we were told
we were assigned to carry Capt.
Rickenbacker and . military aide,
Col. Hans Adamson, on . War De-
partment mission to the Southwest.
This was disappointment. but 1t
was q thrill, too, because We knew
that when Capt Rickenbacker
wanted to see something he usually
got close enough to look at it, and
that we would see some new terri
tory also.
A second Fortress was rolled out
and its four motors set to warming
up. At 1920 pm. we all were In
our places. / was beside Bill Cherry
in the cockpit. 1t. De Angels was
in the nose compartment plotting
his course. Reynolds was In the
radio compartment forward Of the
bomb bay, and Bartek was nearby.
Take on Passenger.
We had picked up a passenger,
Sergt. Alex Kaczmarzyk, 10, just
out after As days in the hospital
with yellow jaundice. He was 60
ing to rejoin his unit out there
somewhere. He was to ride inside
the bomb bay.
At 1923 I felt q hand on my
shoulder, and a voice said: my
name is Rickenbacker." It was the
first time had ever met him. He
introduced Col. Adamson to Capt.
Cherry and me. Our passengers
took seats behind us and strapped
themselves in. I fired up the four
motors, and two minutes later we
were at the runway. I ran up all
four engines, released the brakes,
and we were on the way to the
first Of the bafiiing series Of mis-
haps that dogged us for more than
| three weeks.
Half way through the takeof and
rolling at about 60 miles an hour
a brake expander tube let go, par
TALLY locking one wheel. We left
the runway and hurtled toward the
hangers. To miss them and keep
from running off the airport Bill
Cherry ground looped her at SO
miles an hour. CThis spins the
plane in tight circles until mo-
mentum is lost)
1t was a terrific strain on the
tires, but they held. We stopped
rolling, back on the runway. Just
before the ground lop Capt. Rick
enbacker half rose In his seat, ap-
peared about to speak, then sat
down without saying anything. A
truck towed us to the hangers, and
when we got out he remarked to
Cherry: Good job, but I thought
for while those tires weren't 60
ing to hold"
New Fortress Rolled Out.
1t was obvious that repairs that
night were out of the question, so
another Fortress of a later type
was rolled out and started warming
up. We transferred our gear and
! equipment over, and saw 1t. De
Angels looking at his octant. He
said that during the ground loop 1t
had shot across the. table and
banged against the side Of the plane,
but that it appeared to be all right.
Johnny had held on for all that's
good. I wouldn't have wanted his
seat there in the nose. If q wheel
had cave he would have been on
the ground, the plane on top Of
him. At 1:30 am. October 81 we
started our takeoff run. I adjusted
the DF direction finder) set to the
Honolulu towers frequency for take
off instructions, then we were in the
air.
We climbed straight away from
the field through haze and cloud
ceiling into clear air. Johnny came
up and gave us navigation instruc-
! tions. Bill Cherry swung us onto
our course. Capt. Rickenbacker
and Col. Adamson sat for a while,
then went back to cots prepared
for them in the bomb bay. Alex
Kaczmarzyk helped make them
comfortable, then came forward to
the radio compartment.
We droned along high over the
cloud bank until am, when Capt.
Cherry said he guessed he'd try for
a little sleep, and I took over. 1t.
De Angels came up from the nose
window to say he had gotten some
exceptional position shots just half
dawn while the stars still were out.
They showed us dead on our course.
He had found no variation in drift
as he had plotted it, he said.
Fly at 10000 Feet.
In an hour or so Capt. Cherry
was back, saying it was too ,cold
to sleep. We were up 10000 feet,
and at that height it makes little
difference whether you are over the
Equator or over Chicago in Janu-
ary. I flew until 8 am. over q
solid overcast. Then Capt. Ricken-
backer came up.
How are things going?" he asked.
We told him just fine. He asked If
we had spotted anything since day.
light, and told him no, nothing
but overcast.
would you like to fly her little,
captain?" I asked. He has colo
nel's commission, but I had heard
he prefers to be called captain be-
cause he won that rank as q combat
pilot and Americas No. 1 ace In
| World War /. Can't, Rickenbacker
grinned.s
1--we probably forgotten how to
fly by instruments" he said. But he
took the controls and held us right
on our course. I went back and
! brought up some coffee from a
thermos Jug and some ground ham
sandwiches. Rick-as I came to
call him-and Capt. Cherry were
trying to compare merits of World
War bombers and the Flying Fort
resses. But there wasn't much COM.