The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-03-16


ssAs he approached Lingayen, first
he saw Russ, who fell in on his
wing, and then he saw his target
all those Jap planes on the ground
lined up just like it was for an
ordinary peacetime Saturday-morn-
ing inspection. I want you to get
this-to see it isn't only the Ameri-
can Air Force which gets caught
with its pants down and its suspen-
ders trailing.
"They started the long glide down,
circling the field, and then Buzz
peeled off and started in on them.
Russ was to follow, but at a good
distance, so he wouldn't pick up in
his propellers The fragments of Jap
planes tossed up by Buzz's frag
bombs.
$50 down they went-Buzz first,
then Russ, just skirnming the field.
AS the first target came into sight
Buzz let go first one and then the
other of his 30-pound augmentation
bombs, and looking back over his
shoulder, he saw old Russ was just
coming in behind him. Buzz went
on across the field and then pulled
up sharply to watch Russ bombs 60
right down the line. Russ tail was
on fire from Jap ack-ack, and he
knew it, but he stayed dead on his
run, making direct hits on those
neatly lined-up Jap planes, and then
Buzz still watching-Russ pulled
up at the end of the field in a slow
half-roll and-went in. Buzz says it's
just possible Russ was able to bail
out-he couldn't wait to be sure, for
now he was getting ready for his Sec
ond run, all alone He came in on
this second pass through the Jap
ack-ack with his six 50-calibers
pounding away at those parked
planes-some were already burning
from the bombs he and Russ had
dropped-crossed the field once, and
had banked to come in for a third
pass when Jap tracers began whiz-
zing past his cockpit from behind.
He looked over his shoulder to see
that the last two of those four Zeros
were diving on him. Of course
there was nothing he could do but
push his throttle up to the fire wall
jamming on all the gas his engine
would take-and try to get away.
(Air force slang meaning his plane ipent
into the groundJ
Inch by inch he pulled away
from those Zeros-he looked back at
the field once and saw about six
good fires going-and Buzz said it
was damned lucky he got back to
the field, because he could tell the
boys that a P-40 could outrun a
Zero at sea level. Remember,
though, he said outrun, not outma-
neuver.
''In those days everybody was
learning stuff that wasn't in the
book, and passing it on. Everybody
had to learn, which is why we don't
get bitter at being mishandled at
first.
'But Buzz always hated to talk
about himself. Did you hear about
the Rat?' he asked me, very excited.
The Rat of course was our old friend
Lieutenant Sam Marrett, who had
picked up this nickname at RAN
dolph Field because of his pointed
nose and small face. The Rat took
four winglings out on patrol, and
they were laying back above a
hillside on Lingayen when they spot
ted Jap landing party, so they
climbed to get altitude and then
peeled off out of the sun onto 1.-THE
Rat leading, of course-in one long
string, each picking bis barge. What
happened no one knew for sure. But
one of the Rats bullets must have
touched off the magazine racks in
the Jap barge he picked, anyway
the barge blew right up in his face,
and the Rats plane disintegrated.
But the other four kids continued on
their runs, first dropping their frag
bombs, and then strafng back and
forth-they had Japs diving off those
barges in every direction
'tThat day." said Frank, my jot
was the tower, not going on mis-.
sions myself or even listening tc
gossip. A little after noon / hap.
pened to be looking up at the over.
cast toward the roar made by one
of our planes which thought maybe
would be trying to come in wher
suddenly l saw parachute bios.
som just under the overcast-ano
another-and another. I counted
eight, so it must be Fortress-but
no ninth. Instead, at the very enc
of these eight saw dark objec,
60 hurtling into the ground. One oi
our Forts, but whose? l didn't fine
out until evening that it was Colin
Kelly. He'd been out there follow
ing his briefng that I'd heard that
morning, which was to attack JAP
transports and their naval escorts
He'd laid direct hit square on the
very biggest target any pilot could
hope for and had been on his way
home-had been about to let down
through that overcast onto Clark
Field-when two Jap fighters, who
had been hanging on ever since he
left the convoy, hit him. They put
a lucky incendiary into his oxygen
system, and of course it started tc
burn like cotton soaked in gasoline
But Colin wasn't ratified. He gave
the regular orders over the inter.
phone system for the other eight
boys of his crew to climb into their
chutes and abandon ship.
''Now a part of this procedure in
a Fortress is that the pilot must be
the last to leave. It's the same ir
the Navy, except that it's sometimes
just a gallant gesture, particularly
when the captain can't help much
by staying, and if the ship does &C
down under him he can float away
from the bridge in his life jacket,