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1275psi -> Angry and exhuasted (10/8/2005 3:24:28 AM)
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20/8/42
dawn, and the speakers blare -all pilots to the ready room.
Lt sato is there -grim faced.
The news is not good.
The enemy will not come to battle here in the pacific, but is heavily engaged in burma. Thus will strike a sharp blow against him there.
the news unfolds almost un believably before our eyes -never, never have i left a ready room with a stomach knotted like this.
After a month of no flying, i am headed towards burma -1st stop kendari
Kendari!!!
The zero squadrons are departing, the Vals are going to Lae -I guessed partially right -training combat missions for them.
Our lucky kate pilots grin, they will remain onboard.
Within the hr, as the sun began to rise, and with Truk a grey smudge on the horizon we launch, 200 plus zeros.
Lt sato leads.
we settle down, and begin the job of squeezing every last drop of fuel from our fighters.
It has been so long, the launch was poor, far too much rudder, and i find myself snatching at the controls.
but after a while the feeling settles back, and I begin my favorite trick for these flights -tucking in as tightly as i can to masuyama's wing tip, and sticking there.
As the ocean slides endlessly below us we poke tongues at other, and make rude gestures.
the flight goes on and on, and ones back and arse become stiff and numb.
land -Biak -and several squadrons peel off, we plow on.
sorong, ambonia, and the sun is already getting low as the celebes begin to come into view.
a simple description, but how can one convey the stress of the navigation -the worry of crossing so many miles of empty ocean and jungle
To die in battle i can accept -to be killed by a mechanical failure is intolerable.
we are lucky, the weather at kendari is clear.
we land, heavens, to open the canopy, to stiffly remove ourselves from the cockpit
Ones legs literally tremble when one walks to the small facilities here
Dust, dust and more dust.
Nobody expected us -and we arrived totally by surprise, imagine if we were B17's!
never met such a feeling of complacency at a base -how different to rabual.
the night will be a nightmare -we will be sleeping under our planes wings tonight.
i am just grateful to be here -we did lose one pilot, a fellow I never knew enroute -no one knows where he went
Tomorrow we accept replacements -rookies all.
supplies and food at least are plentiful in this part of the empire.
Lt sato will decide tomorrow if we continue.
if it rains tonight I will be very annoyed.
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