I then caught a Greyhound bus and rode round the Gulf of Mexico from San Antonio to Miami, Florida where I was scheduled for over water training in the C-46. The instructors and other classes were very envious of our assignment. Our class was assigned to the Ferry Command which meant no combat. The class three weeks behind us went to the Martin B-26 (the flying cigar). That is the class I would have been in had I went on furlough from Houston. I don't know of any of that class that made it back except our friend Ken Parks. His plane was hit but they crashed in Switzerland and were not allowed to leave until the war was over.
When Sandra was born I was given a few days leave. I was an officer now and didn't go on furlough but take leave. I rode the train to Louisville. It was so crowded that I stood most of the round trip. I was flying out of Homestead AFB in Florida. Wanda and Sandra joined me in Coral Gables in about a month.
Lloyd had completed pilot training and received his commission about the same time as I did. We got together in Florida the latter part of June 1943. After a few more weeks training there I was sent to Romulus AFB near Wayne, Michigan.
Late in November 1943 I went to the base as usual but I didn't come home as usual. We didn't have a phone so I couldn't notify Wanda. I was assigned to a crew to fly a brand new B-17 to England. Our first stop was Goose Bay Air Base in Labrador, Canada. The weather was miserable with snow piled 9 feet high along the runways. The base was jammed with B-17's. After a few days they thought we could make it across. We were one of the last ones to take off. We couldn't get below weather and we couldn't get above it. We couldn't find a level where there was no icing. After several hours I suggested the pilot try to climb out so I could get a celestial bearing. I found a break in the clouds for sighting on one star, remember you have to know which star it is. He descended to a lower altitude immediately. I plotted the sighting and advised the pilot that he had 20 minutes to decide to keep going or turn back, but if we kept going we would not make the airbase. We might reach land. Well, we went back to Goose Bay. We learned the next day that several of the later take-offs didn't make it. That was my trial by fire. I decided to trust in my work no matter what.
We tried again in a few days and made it to Prestwich, Scotland. Normally we would catch a plane as a passenger and return. However they needed a crew to fly a B-25 from Cornwall England to Casablanca. Morocco. The co-pilot volunteered me to help him.
Navigator
Newly minted officer with 8 1/2 months pregnant bride, San Antonio, TX
B-17
Goose Bay, Labrador
B-25
Casablanca
“Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. Now, now. Here's looking at you, kid."
One of the messages of this military history is that the problems of three little people do amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
No comments:
Post a Comment