The Wilmington morning star., 1947-04-04
Vacation In The Air
ERWIN d. CANHARN

ERWIN ID.
Since l returned from Is, 900 miles Of flying
over Or about the Pacific, my friends have
approached me with an air Of well-simulated
compassion, and said: How was it,"
l have replied: Wonderful. Really the
equivalen: of a five-weeks vacation"
They haven't believed me.
The following "pages'' from that mote
book" which newspapernen pretend to carr.
ought to convince anybody. Your trip to Eas
Asia, unless you happen to be the guest Of the
War Department, won't be exactly the same
But this may give you an idea. .
A C-54 airplane fitted up for the convenience
Of an American general is really a hand,
little vehicle. This one was used by Lieut.
Gen. Albert c. Wedemeyer during his service
in China. 1t was named "Dede' for Mrs.
Wedemeyer, and 1 salute her.
It's large central cabin has four seats across
two large tables. It had eight other seats
without tables, as in an ordinary passenger
aircraft. Then, up forward in the cabin, i
had two desks, and the pilots, compartment.
In the back was a big galley, where two
mess sergeants ran a pretty continuous smor-
gasbord for us. And in the tail, a dressing
room and toilet. Altogether a very plush job.
No bucket seats, good temperature control,
tasty food. lively companions, good books .
Well, / said vacation, didn't 1?
From Washington, where this incompatible
vehicle makes it home (and whence it has
now taken a load of delegates to Moscow, we
intended to 60 straight to Fairfield = Suisun
field, between San Francisco and Sacramento.
Blu: a minor mechanical difficulty brought us
down at Omaha. No time to go into Joe's for a
steak, but time for telephone calls to friends
and neWspapermen.
Thence to Fairfield, but not to land. Ground
control approach is fine up to the last Is
feet. And there was Is feet of fog at Fair
field, so our pilot decided not to land after
at Is feet he discovered himself crosswise
of the runway with a jeep in the path. In
stead, he went 80 miles away to Mcclellan
Field, Sacramento.
Here. a sleepy attendant at the officers
club said sure, he had plenty Of vacant rooms.
Unfortunately, they all proved 70 be occupied
at 3 am. with soundly sleeping gents who
had drifted in from the great nowhere, unde-
tected and unsung. Remained only two rooms,
reserved for generals. We asked when the
last generals had been there. About two years
before, said the attendant. We moved in, al
though we were temporarily without generals.
Then, a little later in the day, We went
over to Fairfield, which is the great Air
Transport Command jumping : off place. for
Asia. It's an exciting terminal. After checking
on your papers and producing new and hither-
to unknown serums with which they would
like to inoculate you. they show you a half
hour movie on "Ditching at Sea-" This is a
most reassuring job. You learn how to COM
bine the wearing of a parachute and a mae
west. You learn how to launch a rubber
boat, how to wear an exposure suit, how to
work the radio set and catch fresh water
and do all the other things incident to ditch
ing. You pay attention, but you know the
plane won't ditch.
Finally, you take off - uncomfortably buckl-
ed into parachute harness and mae west,
which, of course, you know, is simply an in
flatable life preserver. Fifteen minutes after
the take-off, you forget about these things
for the rest OF the trip. But they are under
the seat, and if need arose you would be able
to use them.
Pacific weather is much better than Allan
tic. It's usually sunny, and you fly at about
5000 feet. At night it is exceedingly smooth,
and almost as smooth in the daytime. Indeed,
we struck practically no bumps. Travelling in
a C-54. which is like most of the four-motored
private airlines planes, you will have approx
mately this schedule:
Flying Hours
California to Honolulu
Honolulu to Kwajalein II
KWajalein to Guam Ia
Guam to Tokyo 8 "a
OF course, you are gaining time all the while,
chasing the sun. But out in mid-Pacific. be-
tween Kwajalein and Guam, you lose a whole
day. You gain an entirely different dav on
your way back, but it doesn't compensate
! you.
Sergeant Hummel. our mess-sergeant, was
to have been married back in Pennsylvania
On the day we lost at the international date
line. It didn't seem to worry him, although
his finance was gravely troubled and insisted
on talking ID minutes on the telephone when
he called her from Honolulu. The set of dishes
he bought her in Tokyo, the Kimonos, the
obi cloth jackets, the culture pearls. and his
many other acquisitions, must have squared
things in the end.
We rested nearly "a hours at Honolulu, with
asleep in a shoreside bed and a swim at Wal
XXI. We breaktasted at 2 am. in the officers
club beside the windswept surf at Kwaialein
atoll. And We took another "a hours in the
troplc sunshine. of Guam. If the airlines are
able to-, they should arrange for comparable
stops. That will make it a short four days
most comfortably from San Francisco to
Tokyo. If you're in a hurry, you'll probably
go by way of Minneapolis, Alaska, and the
lAleutlans anyway.-Christian Science Monitor