The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1944-04-28


up some of the others, and won't
have to 60 in on the target alone.
Meanwhile the radio operators Of
the two planes have started talking
to each other by winking their Adds
lamps back and forth. We're so
near the target ! don't want to use
the radio any more than necessary.
And just then l spot third plane
about 500 feet below us and far
Their west down the canyon. Just as
I'm wondering which one 1t Is, my
radio operator reports that the plane
we're circling on isn't Jim at all, it's
Bill Bohnaker. So we drop on
down the canyon and sure enough,
that third plane turns out to be old
Jim. l can read his number plain
now on his tail. Now there are three
of us in the circle, wondering what in
hell has become of the other six.
We haven't got the gas to stay in
this golden dream castle much long
er. But just then my radio operator
comes in with a message from
Combs, the leader. God knows where
he is, but he's telling us, Continuing
to target and he's sending it out
by key, where he can use code, be-
cause he daren't use voice so close
to the target as he must by now
be, because most Of these damn
Zero pilots seemed to have gradu-
ated from Los Angeles High School
and understand English as well as
you do.
"All right, continue it is, so now
we plunged back into that damned
front-the opposite canyon wall-and
the gray mist packed down around
my windshield again. We continued
to climb in that deathly Wilderness
first one wing and then the other
surging into my view. I flew it
for forty-five minutes and decided it
was just too much to risk crashing
into each other when we were SO
close to the target. So without any
message to Jim or Bill decided I'd
spread out. I flew AS degrees for
thirty seconds, then back thirty
more seconds, and then continued on
the old course-fying on instru-
ments, of course. But now that we
were staggered both in altitude and
in interval, it wasn't so bad.
FINALLY we broke out into the
clear at q 1000 feet at quarter after
ten and discovered we had lost in
terval only by very little. But I
was groggy-we'd been on oxygen
@o,, fo,,x o~J - bo1R Lo,,re o1ra,Jx,
"But the weather was still playing
tricks. Now the mist was coming
in great tufts, thicker than cotton
wadding, while below us was thin
layer of overcast. 3
"We were getting close to the tar
get now. Should we climb higher?
There wasn't much point, because If
we did, that overcast layer might
thicken so that we couldn't see the
target, and we'd have to come down
below it to unload.
"But where's Bill Bohnaker? I
look back and see that he's very
slowly peeling off. wonder why.
Probably supercharger trouble. Then
I think to myself, There he goes,
and I'd hoped maybe at least three
of us could 60 in together Because
in my mind is that rain-check idea
the score isn't settled yet, and if
that target is open at all, I've made
up my mind I'm going in. And I
think to myself, Here we 60 again,
Jim, just you and me-
"About this time I hear a gunner
on Combs ship-they've broken ra-
dio silence, which means they're on
the target--saying, Lots of enemy
fighters sighted!'
"But they're still far ahead, out
Of sight. Here we are again, in
a staggered attack-the stragglers
to bear the brunt of what the first
flights stir up. We ought to know
better, but still I'm going on in.
''The weather gets crazier and
crazier-these enormous tufts not
stratified at all, but floating around
at almost any altitude. And my CO.
pilot seems to be fascinated by
big black one that isn't shaped quite
like a thunderhead. 1t might be
one of those Dakota tornado tunnels,
only it doesn't revolve.
"Then suddenly he says, staring
at it: Hell, Frank, that isn't cloud
at all-look!' / follow his finger, and
down at the base of that cloud, on
the ground, is cracking, flaming
oil field! The gallant Dutch are
scorching the earth for fair-burn-
ing up their Borneo oil fields right
in the face of the advancing Japs,
millions of dollars worth of it. Imag-
inc all of East Texas cracking and
pouring black smoke into the sky.
"We can't stop to watch bill
lion dollars 60 up in black smoke.
The Dutch are doing their job and
we have ours, which just now is
scanning for fighters. l realize that
in this weather and so close to the
target they might be anywhere, only
for some reason I never think of
them when my No. / starboard en-
CINE starts jumping around in its
mount, rafting the whole plane.