Evening star., 1943-11-26
Army Pilot, Downed
In Pacific, Ducked
To Avoid Strafinq
BY LIT. BENJAMIN H. KING.

10 AvOIu JndIlng
BY 1T. BENJAMIN H. KING.
UNITED STATES ARMY HEAD
QUARTERS, South Pacific (NANA) j..
1T was a perfect day, that July
II, for the Kahili strike. The
formation of B-24s was a beautiful
sight-they seemed to float along
with no effort, and our fighters were
weaving back and forth above and
all around the bombers.
! I was flying No. 4 position in our
flight. We were above and behind
the bombers at 27 900 feet when con-
tact with the enemy was made.
At about 9:15 am. saw the first
Zeros in four groups slightly above
and out of range, and two more
groups climbing up from below
coming toward us from the left front
quarter. 1 pulled up in a steep
bank and then tracers began to hit
my left wing and engine. I imme-
diately cut back to escape the line
of firing and aimed directly at the
lead Zero for head-on pass. l
kept firing until he half-rolled away
and down, about so yards off. The
Zero was burning and smoking bad
! ly as he went out of sight.
I turned back to join with my ele-
ment leader and about 500 yards
| to the left and slightly below were
! two Zeros making a turn. I began
shooting at the Zero on the. outside
led my tracers through his wing
and then through the cowling cock
pit. He began steep spiral to the
left and down. Flames were stream
ing from the left wing root. AN
other pilot verified the destruction
of this zeroD
Two Zeros Attack.
At that instant two Zeros attacked
me from the rear and above. Only
one was firing but he scored hits for.
ward of the cockpit and in the right
engine. All my guns stopped firing
and I started dive and aileron roll
to the right. I climbed steeply to
about $4,000 feet and a few seconds
later my left engine stopped. I was
able to fly on the right engine at
about ITO miles an hour. The con-
trolls seemed OK. and 1 had hopes Of
getting to Vella LaVella. Just about
halfway there, though, two more
zeros jumped me from the left rear
upper quarter and began firing.
Their tracers began to hit the plane
SO began series of violent skids.
Then my right engine stopped
and I decided to make a water
landing rather than bail out. I
dived to about $50 feet above the
water, then yanked the plane around
in violent stalling turn. I pulled
the canopy release. and had just
finished rolling down the windows
when the plane mushed into the
water, bounced, then hit again and
began to sink. 4
Jumps Out on Wing.
I jumped out on the wing and
slipped out of my parachute. II
was knee deep in water when the |
Zeros came in to strafe me as the
plane settled quickly. One bullet |
grazed my head above the right
ear, cutting off my helmet. held
onto the wing and let go ofs theI
plane about 20 feet under water
Looking up, could see bullets, bit
ting all around my chute. 1t seemed
like they made two complete passes
each while I was still under the
water. BY this time my lungs were
ready to burst and I had to come
to the surface. My Mae West in
fiated o. K. and popped to the
surface to see two Zeros, evidsiitly
out of ammunition, flying of. 4
Suddenly four Zeros appeared
from the direction of Kahih. Il
jumped overheard and turned the
boat over to put the blue side up.
then partially debated it to let the
yellow sides sink bit. Two Of the
Zeros dove down and made several
strafing runs on my chute, which
was floating about 200 yards from
me. Luckily, they were firing to-
ward the sun and evidently didn't
see me. Finally they Joined the
other two, which had been circling
and flew off.
I climbed in the boat and pad |
died the rest of that day and night. !.
Catches Rain Water.
I caught little rain water dur
ing that first night and was able
to drink it. About 8 o'clock in the |
morning I saw large formation
of BIAS and fighters returning
from Kahili. A little later a group
OF Navy planes passed by two miles
to the east. I tried to signal them
but got no answering signals.
The sun was really hot by then
I could feel 1t burning my face
and hands I kept padding. In the
early evening I shot bird with
my pistol. After eating 1t I felt
a little better.
Next day. about noon, more Zeros
circled overhead approximately 1000
feet up and again I went into the
water with the boat overturned.
However, they moved off to the south
and I continued that seemingly end
less job of padding. 1 tried to eat
some of the field ration D chocolate,
but salt water had got in and ruined
it. I shot and ate another bird, and