The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1944-03-24

Buzz still watching-Russ pulled
up at the. end Of the field in 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 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 lakeland try to get away.
(Air force slang meaning his plane wens
into the ground.)
''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 P-40 could outrun a
Zero at sea level. Remember,
though, he said outrun, not outma-
neuver.
Gin 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
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 his 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 strafing back and
forth-they had Japs diving off those
barges in every direction
"That day." said Frank, ''my job
was the tower, not going on mis-
sions myself or even listening to
gossip. A little after noon I hap
pened to be looking up at the over
cast toward the roar made by one
of our planes which I thought maybe
would be trying to come in when
suddenly saw parachute bios
som just under the overcast-and
another-and another. I counted
eight, so it must be a Fortress-but
no ninth. Instead, at the very end
of these eight saw a dark object
go hurting into the ground. One of
our Forts, but whose? I didn't find
out until evening that it was Colin
Kelly. He'd been out there follow
ing his briefing that I'd heard that
morning, which was to attack Jap
transports and their naval escorts.
He'd laid a 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 to
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 in
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 60
down under him he can float away
from the bridge in his life jacket,
and pretty soon someone's giving
him a slug Of rye and a brisk rub
down in the wardroom of another
ship.
''But in the Air Force it's the
real Mccoy. Because if a Fortress
is on fire, somebody has to stay on
the stick to keep her level and right
side up while the other eight make
their jumps. That somebody is the
pilot, and that's one of the things
you must be ready to do in order
to wear those pretty silver wings on
your chest that the better
upholstered girls stare at in the
better-upholstered bars.