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I don't know if you are familiar with the movie "Bombardier" with Pat O'Brien as the star playing the lead as the original bombardier. Well, Col. Patrick J. Ryan was the real BOMBARDIER that he played.
He was commandante of Carlsbad Army Air Force Base where I went to bombardier school. He was a character indeed!
After I graduated and was sent to Carlsbad I met him briefly one day as I left the main officers club at about 3 minutes before 5 pm. I was stepping down the mail entrance when a finger tapped me on the shoulder and I looked around and there HE was. "Lieutenant," he said, " it is time for Retreat." And the bugle began to sound about a block away. Well, I could tell from the tone of his voice that he had been indulging
in his favorite Kentucky Bourbon.
"ATTENTIONNNNN!" he said and swept his right hand up into a smart salute. I did the same thing and we held the salute until the bugle stopped and the flag was down. Then he turned to me and said, "Son, that is the way it should be done every time. Be proud of your flag and our mission!!" And he briskly walked away. . .
Here's another about Col. Ryan. . . .
One night in the Officers Club, Col. Ryan was holding court at a table with officer of many ranks sitting around him. One young second lieutenant walked up to the table and abruptly said,
"Colonel, your eagles are on backwards"!! (And we all looked at his shoulders and sure enough the eagles were on backwards!!) But the Colonel was unflappable. He did not look at his shoulders. He whirled around and looked at the young officer and said:" MY EAGLES ARE ON RIGHT!!!"
That was the end of THAT conversation.
Fred Byars - Another REAL Bombardier
All told I have more than 700 flying hours in the Bombardier Flying trainer, the AT11. That is a lot of time and a lot of students to have trained. Some of the last hours, maybe 300 or so was as a check rider. That is, it was my turn when a student was on the brink of washing out, to take him up for a ride to see if he could be salvaged .
So, when the assistant base commander (a senior command pilot, too) wanted learn about bombardiering I was selected to be his instructor.
He had finished the ground school portion and was sent to me.
He came in one day and introduced himself to me. I was dumfounded! But I got over that fast. He was serious. And a man at least 20 years older than I. We got along fabulously and he was an excellent student. And he became a bombardier in regular time.
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This is all background for the real story.
One night I was flying the midnight shift. I rode in the co-pilot seat and acted thusly while on the ground. Our students were seat belted in the rear of the plane and we taxied out to prepare for take off. We pulled off the taxiway and angled
the plane at 45 degrees. The pilot locked the brakes and ran the left engine up (preflight check). He looked in my direction and nodded
for me to check the right side of the airplane and I looked out the window to check. Usually the wing lights are retracted from full on to the down-to-the-the-ground to keep from interfering with
traffic. That was the case, except the place next to me had fully retracted his lights and therefore I saw nothing out there in the darkness.
I yelled "CLEAR RIGHT!" The pilot unlocked the right brake and pushed the right throttle to cause the plane to spring to the left to go out on the runway. I heard 18 loud cutting noises! Our right wind tip had been cut by the propeller of the plane to the right of us. . . .!
That was the end of that mission!
We stopped and got our and surveyed the damage. It was there. All there!!
The next day the pilot and I were notified to appear before a board of inquiry. He and I showed up at base headquarters and sat in the waiting room. The pilot went in first. He came out about 15 minutes later and said," Now its your turn.!
I walked at attention into the room and there at the head of the Board of Inquiry was my Colonel student!! He said," Lieutenant, we want to hear your side of the story, in your own words. We have heard what the pilot said and now it is
your turn.
I started talking and related the situation as I had seen it. When I finished, the Colonel dismissed me and said, "We will talk to you later when the Board has finished its deliberations."
I said, "YES SIR" , and retreated. I went back to the waiting room and waited. About 20 minutes passed and the board left single file. The last one out was the colonel. He came over to me and said "Son, I know you told the truth because you told the same story the pilot told. I'm glad you
did!! It seems we have a wrecked airplane which has a good wing tip that can be put on the damaged plane with very little cost to the service. If you had not told the truth the new wing tip
would have cost as much as a Cadillac and it would have come out of your pay!!!"
I couldn't say anything then and not now.
- Fred Byars, July 1999
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