The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-08-10
@.wHirx
CHAPTER XIII

$50 the Major started out then on
trying to find this Cloncurry-you fly
so many minutes north, and then
east, and then south, and then vest,
and then, lengthening your time,
north again, and so on. We kept
this up for quite a while, but no
Cloncurry, and our gas was running
out. I'll say this, though, the Major
sure wasn't running short of advice.
What with his cockpit full of air gen.
erals of all nations, he had plenty of
that, and every different kind you
can imagine--they all knew just
what to do.
"They were all looking pretty wor-
ried by now, except the Swoose
crew. One particular high officer
was really carrying the ball here,
only he couldn't worry SO well sit
ting down, so he'd pace back and
forth from the cabin up to the cock
pit, asking Frank did he think he
had enough gas, and why did he
think so, and how could he be sure?
1.-THE trouble was, every time he
paced from the nose of the plane
back to the tail, it would throw the
plane out of balance, and Frank
here would have to trim ship, in
addition to all the questions he was
answering. l guess this PAGER had
never thought of that.
'By this time Frank had decided
the only thing to do was to make
a forced landing, so he was leaning
over the side trying to pick a spot. )"
eve have a saying in the Air
Corps that any forced landing you
can walk away from is a good one" !"
said Frank, land yet with all this
rank aboard I knew if ] spilled them
all over Central Australia, there
would be hell to pay. I wanted to
make it as easy as possible. None
of that country looked any too good,
but we finally spotted couple of
white houses where we thought there
might be some help in case we
cracked up badly and yet some were
still alive. So I dropped down to
what was the most likely place near
them and dragged it a couple of
times-fiew over low, circled to
come back and buzz again, looking
for gullies / mightn't have seen
from upstairs. The sun was very
low, and we wanted to get it over
with Whatever II was going to be-
while it was still light"
with all of those guys yammer-
ing at you, telling you what to dc"
said Red, land this guy pacing. Only
for while he stopped, but just for
a minute, while he was putting on a
parachute. Why, I wouldn't quite
know. Because we were down to
500 feet, and if he did jump of course
it would never have time to crack.
But I didn't say a word, because
buckling himself in was keeping him
quiet. Only right away he starts
this pacing again, with the poor Ma
jor trying to nose her down for q
crash landing, and he tells me to
tell them all to get back in the tail
SO it will act as brake, only this
guy starts pacing again.
'Now ! was getting the jumps,
for even if the Major is the best pi.
lot in the business, a crash landing
is no joke, even for old-timers. Sc
I grabs this pacing guy and Now
look I says to him. you may car.
ry plenty of rank on your shoulders,
but to this pilot you're just two hun
dred pounds of ballast. So now you
quit shifting around-you get or
back there and sit down. And
herded him back to the very tip enc
of the plane, and pushed him down
parachute and all, on that little seat
You've probably been wondering al
along, just where this little seat is
on bomber. Well, it's jus. where
1t would be any place else-even or
a farm-all you do is follow the
clothes line, back down to the END
of the grape arbor, and there she
sets.
.sWell, pushed him down on the
seat, and in about minute there
was quite bump, but still it was 6
perfect three-point landing. In four
seconds the Major had her rolling
smooth. The ground was soft
Twenty-Five tons is a lot of bomb.
er, and her wheels began TO sink ir
about six inches. But the Major
could sense this, so he gave gas tc
all four engines to keep her rolling