Missions Remembered: Recollections of the World War II Air War
All combat pilots reserve one story for fellow flyers and close friends. "We prepared to attack--gun switches on, revolutions per minute high, fuel rich, sun goggles down, and hand on trigger. We got in position for a high-side run on the three nearest bombers. I rocked my wings and peeled off to make a run, and each of the other three Wildcats followed one by one."--Bill Burch over Guadalcanal. "The Zero began to flatten out. I fell in behind with all guns firing. The Zero began smoking and what appeared to be a piece of cowling headed directly toward me so I pulled up sharply to the left to avoid hitting the object, and when I dropped my right wing to look down, no Zero was visible, only pieces."--Frank Davis over Tinian. "I felt a terrific jolt and saw a big flash of fire. I was only 15 or 20 feet off the ground and I didn't know exactly what had happened, but I had to hold the stick clear over to the right to keep the plane from rolling violently to the left. I checked my left wing and there was a gaping hole in it just about where the insignia was supposed to be."--Herman Freeman over Anzio. "I jettisoned the canopy, disconnected oxygen and radio connection, as I recalled the procedures for bail out. One was to slow the airplane and dive out toward the trailing edge of the left wing. I stood up, but there was fire and molten aluminum coming back from the engine. I sat down, reconsidered my bail out procedure, rolled the airplane over, and dropped out."--Tom Ridley over  Czechoslovakia. Here are 85 electrifying tales told by 33 men of The Middle Tennessee WWII Pilots Association.