The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1946-10-31

AT L sS
p Must Come
$780,.
By Rolfe Tuve
: told Lee there were three
a;nss 7 definitely would never
usast about our experience. First,
Sa mountain we missed by the
a ~ mess Of campaign literature;
noond the amazing landing he
s.de on the mountain top, and
@ E;rG the Cream of Wheat.
Won may have guessed that l
referring to the forced land
re made Tuesday evening In
| 10 snowstorm in the Blue Noun
s;rs some Is miles north OF La
c "a: While it was novel ex-
s.r;ence for me as well as for the
Int similar things have happened
rany times in the history OF light
diane flying.
Zee Ice Brand was the pilot. He is
newcomer to Kennewick, recent
= mt of the Army where he was
eo-pilot on a B-24.. have moth
ns but the highest praise for his
,bility as a pilot and his plain
mr,on sense and craftsmanship.
| y L Ices wonder to me now that
OUT young pilots became such a
sn,ree to our enemies during
the war with their skill and dar-
ing. -
Getting back to the story, we
took off from Boise at 3 o'clock
Tuesday afternoon, in a low wing
Clobe-Swift. With a sharp tail
wind we were making excellent
time. Passing La Grande we en-
eountered a snow storm. We were
asily able to fly under it. Ahead
me storm looked no worse. We
ere going to take a look and If it
IS too bad were going back to
Ia Grande. .-.--...
Il got worse, definitely. We de-
dded to turn back, but it was too
late. In the matter of seconds the
storm had closed in from all sides.
Mountain sides loomed dimly. Lee
drcled the plane looking for an
opening. There wasn't any. On
one occasion we lost complete
sight of the ground. Suddenly a
mountain side appeared. Fifty
feet? A hundred?
That's when we decided to sit
down quick. Miraculously the at
mosphere cleared a little. Lee took
couple passes at the clearing.
The third time he let her down.
Swinging around a high stump he
leveled it onto the clearing. Once
It started to nose over. He gave
it a blast with the motor and the
tail sat down. There we were,
o. the ground all in one piece.
The plane was entirely undam-
aged.
The reaction set in quick. I'll
l@ foolish to claim I had not been
cared. But there were no visible
fleets. But when I found we were
sly on the ground I nudged Lee
at quick and piled out after
m. was mildly sick. And it
aad been such a fine Swiss steak
| ldn >lOyed in ROiSe @
VI .unately we were right
aongside a road and best of all
telephone line. We had no way
Identifying our position. From
ue compass we knew our direc-
m, but even that told us moth
as. We headed east. Either the
@ad would take us down the
Ii or to a lookout station. The
auer proved to be the case.
The place had been put ship
aape for the winter. A quick
afch disclosed a lantern with
Me OIL in it, a box full of light
sooa, plenty of we'll washed dish
Wnat about food? It was only
me second more careful search
se G discovered the box of Cream
we melted snow and had Cream
wheat for supper. After a fair
comfortable night we had
VAN OF Wheat for breakfast.
uur big disappointment was the
Ss mat the telephone failed to
.S Tuse any response. Had we been
s.s. 70 call out Tuesday night at
,i, NJ TWO wives and an anxious
s np9ft manager might have got as
'ou nights sleep as we did.
H. snow fell all night. In the morn
after we left the camp we
n0 usgled through a mile of deep
Ss NV 10 a fork in the road. Imag-
ss,S 1ur glee when we discovered
N sa car tracks. We continued
RAJ 70 the plane. 1t was covered
nv Nv snow. No one was there. No
ra aiOm the map at the lookout
sss soa we knew we must travel
ASso get out. We continued on.
H. Ut Two miles west of the plane
iad t sar tracks ended. The truck
NJ fned around and gone back.
!. '" :. went back, too. At the plane
ss. ssStopped and built a fire. The
pu na had cleared considerably.
oos',Is droned leisurely directly