Jimmy Stewart

On 17 Mar 2004 18:48:26 -0800, (bryan chaisone)
wrote:



Let's hear some more flying stories or war stories, which ever you may
have.

I truely find them enjoying to read. Thanks again.

Bryan "the monk" Chaisone

Here's one my father told me once. He flew for the Navy "somewhere in
the South Pacific". I've always loved that phrase. He'd write
letters to my mother from the South Pacific and of course was not
allowed to mention where he actually was, so he'd always sign them:
"Love Bob, somewhere in the south pacific".

He trained in big airplanes, flying the PBY and the PB4Y-1. He
deployed to the south pacific in a PB4Y-1 as a co-pilot. The PB4Y-1
was a Navy modification of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. The
modifications had to do with removing the belly turret and using a
Bendix ball turret in the nose instead of the standard nose turret,
and having more fuel tanks for extended patroling.

His first tour was in 1944 and he flew llloooooonnnnnnggggggg patrols
out of Guadalcanal and Green Island, among other places. 12 to 14
hours in flight were routine. He told me that they would take off,
heavily overloaded with fuel, and wheeze up to around 5,300
feet, then throttle back and lean the engines out to their cruise
settings, and gently dive down to 5,000 feet to get it "on the step"
to maximize their crusing range. Now adays I know that "the step" is
an aeronautical myth, but it's interesting that that's the way they
were taught.

He told me about an incident during one patrol while flying around
some of the outer islands and inlets of the southern Phillipines, just
basically swinging wide of the land to stay over water. So they were
cruising back and forth at around 2,000 feet or so, checking out
inlets. They rounded one penninsula and spotted a Japanese patrol
boat in the middle of the inlet. There was no way for it to get away
and the bomber held the advantage of surprise so the pilot yelled that
they were attacking and ordered everyone to their battle stations.
They wheeled in and headed straight for the boat. The nose and top
turret opened up and the tail gunner blazed away as they roared
overhead and banked away.

Everyone in the airplane was REALLY excited at the action, which was
one of the few actual combat incidents they had experienced during
their entire deployment. It for sure was more fun that just sitting
in the droning fuselage watching endless blue water. The pilot,
overwhelmed with first time combat fever, yelled that they were going
back in to finish off the now dead in the water and smoking patrol
boat. He wanted a confirmed sinking.

So around they came and headed in again, thus violating two of
Murphey's Laws of combat: 1. Never make more than one pass at a
target. 2. Never approach a target from the same path as the previous
one, if you are going in anyway.

See, the problem was the boat, while dead in the water and smoking,
wasn't completely disabled. There were lots of guys still alive on
board and apparently all their weapons still functioned.

So in they came, low to the water and boring straight at the seemingly
helpless enemy, which now began returning fire, ACCURATELY.

Dad told me that he saw huge tracers zip over his head and he
involuntarily ducked his head down to peek over the instrument panel.

The tracers moved to the left and struck the left wing and engine no.
1. There was a loud explosion and the airplane jolted violently and
yawed.

The pilot shouted these now immortal words: "HOLY ****, THEY'RE
SHOOTING BACK AT US, LET'S GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE."

So they wheeled up in a bank and aborted the attack, avoiding any
further damage from the furiously firing patrol boat.

They feathered the smoking and belching no. one engine successfully
and watched anxiously at the left wing as it bent alarmingly in the
middle near the now silent engine where the enemy cannon fire had hit.

The pilot, now sweating profusely, made every conscious effort to be
easy on the controls as they suspected that the spar had been damaged.
They had a long way to go yet as they were at the outer ranges of
their patrol and now had many hours of flight to return to base.
Encountering one of the ubiquitous tropical thunderstorms would have
been disasterious. Luckily they saw none.

When they landed, which was very carefully handled by the pilot, they
taxiied to the hardstand and climbed out exhausted. Inspection by the
ground crew chief confirmed that the spar was indeed severed, and the
entire wing was replaced.

Such was the war of the long range patrol planes.

Corky Scott

In article ,
(Corky Scott) wrote:


His first tour was in 1944 and he flew llloooooonnnnnnggggggg patrols
out of Guadalcanal and Green Island, among other places. 12 to 14
hours in flight were routine. He told me that they would take off,
heavily overloaded with fuel, and wheeze up to around 5,300
feet, then throttle back and lean the engines out to their cruise
settings, and gently dive down to 5,000 feet to get it "on the step"
to maximize their crusing range. Now adays I know that "the step" is
an aeronautical myth, but it's interesting that that's the way they
were taught.

The Navy did some amazing work with the PB4Y-1 and -2. I've read/been
told of patrols as long as 18+ hours. They worked as single-ships or
two-ships most of the time. Brave men.

Getting "on the step" is worth about 15 knots in cruise speed. I know,
no such thing as a step in airplanes. But grab a B-24, I'll grab one
and lets race. I'll be "on step" and I'll beat ya every time. G

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 07:27:28 -0900, Dale wrote:

In article ,
(Corky Scott) wrote:

The Navy did some amazing work with the PB4Y-1 and -2. I've read/been
told of patrols as long as 18+ hours. They worked as single-ships or
two-ships most of the time. Brave men.

Dale L. Falk

He returned to the states after his first deployement, and worked up
in the PB4Y-2 as a plane captain. The -2, as you probably know, was a
B-24 with a single vertical stabilizer/rudder instead of the twin
rudders of the Air Force version. I saw a few photo's of him
practicing attacks on submarines, shot from another airplane. He said
he had to work hard to overcome "target fixation", which is the
tendency to concentrate on getting your aim correct on the approaching
target that you forget to pull out in time. I'm sure that happened to
more than one crew during WWII.

Anyway, he was headed back out for his second combat tour when the war
ended. He was "marooned" on Hawaii for several months, eventually
hitching a ride home on the aircraft carrier Saratoga, along with MANY
other returning Navy people.

Corky Scott

(Corky Scott) wrote

He returned to the states after his first deployement, and worked up
in the PB4Y-2 as a plane captain.

Corky, if your father was a Naval Aviator, he probably was not a
"plane captain". In the Navy, a "plane captain" is an enlisted
man who is responsible for the preparation of the aircraft prior
to flight. He "owns" the aircraft while it is on the ground.
The terminology for the PIC of a patrol plane has changed a little
through the years. When I first qualified in P-2V Neptunes, the
PIC was called the "Patrol Plane Commander" (PPC), this being the
final step of the PP3P, PP2P, PPC qualificaion procedure. The Navy
allowed a nugget pilot 18 months to qualify as a PPC, however
there was no garantee that there would be enough aircraft in the
squadron for every PPC to have a plane and crew. It was common to
have a copilot who was a rated PPC in the aircraft but was not
senior enough to command a crew. Later, just as I left the Navy
after a tour in P-3 Orions, non-pilot tactical co-ordinators were
replacing the PP3Ps back in the "tube" running the tactical aspects
of the mission. As time went on, these "TACCO"s became senior to
the PPCs and the conduct of the mission was turned over to the
senior qualified man on board as the "Combat Aircrew Commander".
The Brits had used this system for many years.

Bob Moore
PPC P-2V VP-21
CAC P-3B VP-46

Talk about the Devil, Strategic Air Command is playing tonight on
Adelphia cable Channel 53. I'm planning to watch it.

"11:55PM Wednesday, Mar 17 on Channel 53 Get All TV Listings
Strategic Air Command
Movie / Adventure (1955) 1 hr 54 min NR TVG
The Air Force recalls a baseball player (James Stewart) who has a
pregnant wife (June Allyson) to fly long-range bombers.


director Anthony Mann
cast June Allyson, Bruce Bennett, Rosemary DeCamp, Frank Lovejoy,
James Stewart, Barry Sullivan
details (CC) "

"bryan chaisone" wrote in message
om

Talk about the Devil, Strategic Air Command is playing tonight on
Adelphia cable Channel 53. I'm planning to watch it.

It would help to post the name of the network. Even if we were all Adelphia
subscribers, not all Adelphia networks may have Ch.53 running the same
network.

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
http://www.pocketgear.com/products_s...veloperid=4415
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