The midland journal., 1945-04-13
CHAPTER XXI

up TO the lGau 1-4O, WHO WdS SAioos
ing at the bombers from exceeding
ly long range. methodically aimed
for his engines, putting short burst
into one and then into the other.
The Jap must have felt the fire,
for he went into a steep, climbing
turn-which incidentally is very good
If you have a ship that will outclimb
your opponent. ! thought this climb
ing turn might be a trick; so !
watched closely for him to turn on
me. But when he rolled over ne
dove not for me but for the clouds. !
kept going after him and must have
put two hundred shots into him be-
fore he got out Of my sight in the
cumulus cloud. Pieces had begun to
come from his fuselage, and smoke
was trailing behind. believe his
engines were hit and were failing,
for the props seemed to be wind
milling" And yet I could only claim
it as probable" for I didn't see
1t catch fire or crash.
We got all our bombers back, OF
course, and the pictures showed
very good results for the bombing
of Gia Lam field. We claimed nine
of the thirteen enemy fighters def
nitely destroyed, and we hadn't even
gotten hole in one of our P-40's. In
eur opinion the new las had turned
out to be flop for the Jap. Either
~ was not all they expected or the
pilots didn't know how to use the
fast-climbing ship. Sometimes no
ticed that when I got on the tail OF
one, instead of climbing away from
me-and he could easily have
climbed away from a P-40-he tried
to dive away from me, which is def
nitely a poor thing to try with your
opponent in a fast-diving Kittyhawk.
Just as the General had been ex-
pecting, heavy movement began in
late September along the Burma
Road, from Lashio North towards
Lungling. The Japs were seen by
our observation to be moving many
trucks filed with troops. They were
evidently going to renew the at
tempt to cross the Salween that the
AVG had frustrated back in May.
Bruce Holloway and I caught
these trucks the first day and burned
twelve of them near Wanting. On
the next afternoon, I got through
the rain with single fighter and
caught four of them on curve in
the road at Chefang. From then on
for six days, until the end Of Sep
tember, we harassed every move
ment on the wet and muddy road.
Twelve of us burned ninety-six
heavy trucks in six days. We used
fermentation bombs as well as the
fifties. When we couldn't find their
trucks, we'd hit the dark green troop
barracks they were constructing
from Lungling to Lashio.
One day Daniels dove on a truck
column to find that the Japs had
placed light tanks along with the
truck convoy. When Daniels, who
was an offensive-minded fighter any,
way, saw the tanks he forgot about
the trucks and concentrated on the
more formidable vehicles. His Fif-
ties tore two tanks rather badly,
and his frag bombs knocked two
more from the road, but he was
wounded by heavy fire from tanks.
Lieutenant Welborn, his wing
man, saw the tracers from the
ground firing at his leaders ship
and went to the aid of Pat Daniels.
But the damage had been done.
One bullet had come up through the
side panel of Daniels P-40 and had
struck him in the shoulder. The
wound was very bloody, and the
shock had just about paralyzed the
pilots arm. Nevertheless, Cocky
Daniels few the ship back three
hundred miles to Running and land
ed it there with his left hand.
Maj. Bruce Holloway, the Group
Executive, had been leading several
fighters on the truck columns near
Chefang. AS he pulled from one
diving attack he felt something
strike his ship. At first he didn't
notice it and continued to strafe
from just about tree-top altitude.
Then his coolant light popped on.
Bruce turned Immediately towards
the friendly Chinese lines, which
were nearly twenty miles away. He
must have known Immediately that
the enemy bullet had punctured his
prestone tank (the coolant Of the
American iquid-cooled engine). He
had o very few minutes to stay in
the air before the engine would
catch fire or freeze
He must be getting closer to the
river, he knew, for he was indicat-
ing over two hundred miles an hour,
but in his anxiety it seemed to 60
farther away. With almost his last
gasp he crossed the river into
friendly Chinese country and crash
landed IN one of the ever-present
rice paddles.
Now begins Bruce's trip back