Evening star., 1951-10-17

moonlight, and the ocean glows,
too, with a line of foam along the
shore, white and phosphorescent.
Little pinpoints Of light down
in the valleys are trucks. some
times tanks, crawling along over
dirt roads, and when they hear
you coming. they blink their lights
to signal others. and they're all
blacked out when you pass di-I
rectly over them.
When the moon Is full and the
weather clear, they drive without
their lights. and the countryside
is really peaceful. Occasionally q
red or green flare goes up to sig
nal some one a little further down
the road that you're coming.
The Appearance OF FLAX.
I'm the cities. the areas slightly
darker than the rest are the
buildings. probably burned and
gutted by bombs and napaln-
but you can't tell that at night,
Automatic weapons send up 40
nm. shells, q steady stream Of
glowing little balls that are up
swiftly from the ground, then
gradually slow down. hang for an
instant in the middle Of nothing
and then disappear. They look
like a mess OF red balls from 100
Roman candles, all pointed at you.
"on the ground there are pulsing
flashes of reddish white fire from
the muzzle blast like the crowd at
night In Yankee Stadium. all light
ing cigarettes before the last half
of the seventh inning.
1.-THE big flashes Of white fire
that look like a flrecracker ex-
ploding In the dark are the 90-mm.
guns and you don't see the shells
from them. just great big flash
at your level. of to one side, or
in front Of you. Once In a while
one goes of, just below the air.
plane and there is a flash. a bang
and lurch. as though some giant
had spanked the bottom of the
airplane with an enormous hand.
And on q camera run. your flash
bombs 60 of at about six-second
intervals with a 3-million candle
power flash that makes just an
instant of daylight that you need
to take a picture.
"On nights when the weather is
bad, it's pretty up there, too. The
clouds are heaps Of cotton washed
all clean in moonlight and the
black B-26 is just shadow scoot-
ing along above them.
A World OF Gray and Damp.
when the weather is really
bad. and there is no getting
around. under or over the clouds.
you can fly in q world OF gray.
with rain pelting against the
windshields Of the cockpit and
dripping through In the seams.
making everything damp.
"The plane jolts along like Q
heavy truck on a washboard road.
and sometimes hard enough and
suddenly enough to Lift YOU out Of
your seat. bump your head % the
|plexiglass and slam you back hard
on your rump.
IF you're wise YOU strap your
self In rough weather.
"And II it's an electric storm,
st. Elmo's fire fans out around
the props. the radio antennae
and sometimes the entire air.
plana. It's a cold, eerie electric
glow that you'd have to see TO
appreciate. Sometimes It's a
steady glow and sometimes 1t will
dance and pulse like Q thing alive,
THE whole business of flying
at night is q very beautiful ex-
perience-and It's enough TO scare
you out OF one years growth.
q. But the United States has
been pretty good 10 you and me.
and I want it to continue to be
good to our children. ] think.
though. that after this trip I'll
call the debt settled and let
younger men with less family fight
the wars. I'll do my serving on
the home front from now on.