|
Mission 21
February
9, 1943
Another long
tiresome raid. Briefed at 10 o'clock off
at 11:40. Picked up the 97th at Biskra and
proceeded to the target -- an airport at
Sousse. Another co-pilot and I had a ship
today, flew on the Colonels right wing. We
were loaded with fragmentation bombs again
and the bombardiers say they really plastered
it. We didn't get but very
little fighter opposition. Two of three started
in but they changed their minds and dived
away and I can say that I don't blame them.
There was some flak but inaccurate. Gen
Doolittle was along today.
February 10,
1943
Haven't been out
of my tent today except long enough to eat
and go take a bath. It has been raining and
cold all day. About
six o'clock, it started snowing and
the ground was covered in no time.
Naturally all the officers got out
of their holes and had a snowball
fight. Pretty rough too for a while.
It's still snowing, guess we will
have to shovel our way out in the
morning.
February
11, 1943
It didn't
let up all day, snow a while, rain a while,
sleet a while, then all three at once. I
borrowed the Captain's Jeep to go wood hunting
and like to have frozen and is still going
strong. Couldn't
even stay outside long enough
to eat, so we had to go get our
meals and run back to our tents
to eat.
February 12, 1943
Oh
Brother, what a night. Kuncel and I awoke
this morning to find our "nice little
home" three inches in water. Luckily
I had a cot but Frank didn't, his bedroll
was water proof to a certain extent and that
saved him. Everything he
and I have got soaking wet, clothes and all.
We spent the morning hanging our things out
to dry. This afternoon,
I was determined not to have just shelter
halves for a cover so I out-right stole a
wing cover and he and I both worked like
slaves building a frame for it. We
didn't dig down either.
February 13,
1943
Worked all day
covering up that d-- hole and fixing up our
new home and it is much better than the old
one and more room, too. Frank
had to go to the hospital today because of
the previous night. I
built a stove this afternoon
and if I can ever start
the smoke going out instead
of in, I'm gonna get
a patent on it. The ideas
is original and if it
wasn't for the smoke
problem it would be wonderful.
February 14, 1943
More
or less took it easy today except for a little
piddling around. Played a little baseball
and went to the show tonight, "Argentine
Nights." The third one we've had here. The
field is so muddy
that they don't dare
to move the planes,
even had to take
the bombs out to
keep them from sinking.
No telling when it
will be dry enough
to take off.
February
15, 1942
Pete came
up and gave us 30 minutes to get everything
ready to take off on verbal orders and to
report to operations at Telegrma, a field
about 12 miles from this field. Thomas
was up flying so McConnell took his place
as pilot. After
reporting we
were told to
stand by and
be ready to take
off at 10 the
next morning
to ferry some
big shots, we
don't know who.
February
16, 1943
We were bright
and early and about nine o'clock, we went
out to the plane to find out that #3 wouldn't
start -- so we said this is it. We got busy
and changed the plugs hoping that our party
would be late. Well, they were but the plug
change didn't do any good. About
12:30 General Marshall and General Eisenhower
drove up to base operations with their aides.
Thank God we weren't there to break the news
to them but the operations office instead. They
got in their cars and went back to Constantine. We
tried to
start it
all afternoon,
but so soap,
so another
night away
from home.
February
17, 1943
We called
headquarters the afternoon before and asked
for some mechanics to come over and fix the
darn thing. They came over early this morning
and finally got it started after putting
on a new booster coil and draining water
out of the carburetor. Just
before
we took
off,
we saw
a B-26
spin
in about
5 miles
from
the field.
The explosion
rocked
the countryside.
February 18, 1943
When
I took off #2 supercharger went out completely
and it caused me to take off at an angle. After
landing,
I
proceeded
to
take
to
our
parking
area
dodging
mud
holes.
Got
within
10
yards
and
the
left
wheel
almost
went
out
of
sight.
So
I
got
out
and
left
it
there.
February
20, 1943
Gave
a farewell party for Colonel Walker last night,
he is going to Bomber Command at Algiers much
to our regret.
|
