Cap Mandrake
Posts: 23184
Joined: 11/15/2002
From: Southern California
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******2,000 ft above Charter Towers Field, Australia, January 31, 1942*******
Ensign O'Boyle has to bend his neck a bit to fit under the canopy of the aircraft. You might say, "why the SBD has a capacious cockpit, what is he some kind of circus freak?"
You might say that but I am pretty sure you would feel bad afterward because he is not a freak, he is just sitting on another pilots lap. Now, you might then say, "wait, you mean what I heard about the Navy is true?"
You might say that too but you will surely be revealed as an intolerant, bigoted, jerk as he is merely sitting on the other pilot's lap as part of a clever accomodation to wartime shortages. You see, VB-6 fought hard and played a major role in sking one Jap CVL a CVE and Akagi. In the process, they lost 15 aircraft and 5 crews. That leaves 26 crewmembers and only 3 aircraft. They have been ordered to Charter Towers for refitting and the railway that used to be present in WITP is now gone, so they have to fly in to Charter Towers. Now, you can do that math, but you can plainly see they will have had to fly multiple shuttle flights putting further wear on the scarce SBD's...or they can "double up". In the event, the entire squadron voted to try to make the transfer in one hop.
What started like a frat house prank with much hilarity and ribald jokes has, after the three hr. flight, become an epic test of endurance, especially after Lt. Tomlinson ate 3 helpings of boiled cabbage shortly before take off.
Ensign O'Boyle banks the plane to the left and enters the race track landing approach used to scrub off speed and altitude for carrier pilots. There are groans of pain as the load shifts for the crewmembers at the bottom of the scrum. Someone yells, "Godamnit Tomlinson! How can you have anything left?"
At the end of the downwind leg, those that can see out of the cockpit are treated to an awesome sight. A section of tarmac is set off with bright orange flags fluttering on a rope. Inside the rectangle of flags are 5 rows of 10 each of beautiful, spotless, new or low mileage SBD's. Most have some message scrawled on the canopy in white paint. One reads "Lo Miles", another "Radio Included". A third says "Try Me". A smiling young man in fine linen slacks waves up at the three SBD's overhead.
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