The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-02-16

40u6llCo llyotCl1 Cd11y ao tWO A6SA 80
ran from a pagoda.
That day / landed back home tired
and happy. More orders had come
for me: I was to 60 to Delhi before
went to China. ! went there the
next morning with ''Long Johnny"
Payne.
When I had received my official
instructions from headquarters in
Delhi, and had been wined and dined
by good friends-war correspond
ents like Berrigan, Magoffin, and
Briggs-I came on back to pack my
things in Assam. tried to take the
old fighter ship with me, but my
crew had chiselled new Allison
engine from somewhere-had proba-
bly, stolen it from some ship, but I
didn't know where. So I went on
over in a transport, expecting to
come back later and ferry "Old Ex-
terminator" to his new home.
AS we came down into the rain
over the lake South of Running, ]
never have felt so good. This was
another step to the East, towards
Japan, and when 1 got out and saw
all those sleek-looking fighting ships
that my Group was going to receive
from the AVG in five days, my spir-
its scared another mile in the air.
was through with all that lonesome
"one-man war" stuff. From now
on we'd be fighting as team, with
bombers escorted by fighter ships in
proper force to represent America.
had already met most of the
members of the First American Vol
unteer Group, but it was an even
greater pleasure to meet them now.
Some of them were men who were
going to stay with the 23rd Fighter
Group and fight under me. Of all
the honors that I ever have re-
ceived or ever will receive, the
greatest to me will always be the
honor of being given command of
that great group of sky fighters I'M
der the Command of Gen. Claire L.
Chennault.
During the four days that followed
I took over the military equipment
Of the Group from the Commander
of the squadron that was based at
Running, and I got my headquar-
tiers staff organized. In this Army,
Master Sergeants showing officers
what to do have always been the
backbone of fighting force, and !
will never forget Master Sergeant
McNeven. was certainly expect
ing to lead the group in its fights
against the Japanese, and the adj
ministrative work that the Sergeant
Major of the 23rd Fighter Group &C
complished so efficiently made it
possible for me to fly and have the
paper-work 60 on at the same time.
Later in the week I heard that
"Old Exterminator" was ready with
new engine. But with the report
came another that some other Group
was moving into Assam, and that
the engineering officer had stated
he knew nothing about that ship Al
1856 belonging to the Chinese Gov
eminent. 1t would stay in India, he
said. I went on and flew back to
India in one of the PAGES that we
had just received from the factory
that repairs them in China.
Landing at my old base, I waited
until dark, and then had the num-
bers on the ship that I had flown in
exchanged with those Of my old
fighter. For morale purposes alone,
we had to have that ship in the
23rd Group. AL this change involved
was a stencilling operation to put
41-1456 on the ship that I had flown
from China, and another to put op
"Old Exterminator" the serial num-
Der of the fighter that was leaving
in India.
So, early the next morning, July
3, 1912, "me and the old Kittyhawk"
wendell our happy way across the
hills and jungles of Burma to Kun
ming and more adventures together.
From that moment, we left the Air
Corps number 41-1456 on that in
significant ship in India, and for all
practical purposes the old = PAGE
that ! had used for sixty-three days
over Burma became another num-
Der, but it would always be "Old
Exterminator" to me. In those two
months we'd flown together 371 hours
over enemy territory and we were
more than friends. That is some
what over eighty thousand miles,
and in combat that's a long, long
way.
Everything has happened fast in
this war, and the organization of the
23rd Fighter Group was no excep-
ton. There was no holiday, even il
it was activated on the Fourth Of
July. There was no time for cele-
bration. Radio Tokyo started right
off with a bang, and we definitely
knew hard work was ahead. On
the night of July 8, Radio Tokyo
the one program we could ever
hear in China-warned the new
American fighter group that they
would quickly annihilate them, for it
was common knowledge that the ex-