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More stories from
Fred . . . We were flying in a new type airplane — the AT16. It had two powerful engines and a slim wing area. It was very streamlined and extremely fast for a trainer. The bomb capacity was the same as the AT11. It also had a higher altitude range. And that was what we wanted on this day We were to bomb at 12,000 above the terrain today. At Carlsbad that made the indicated altitude close to 16,000 feet (without oxygen, too). DWe had the usual load of bombs with two cadets. So we took off and headed for the target area, all the time climbing to altitude. The first cadet unbuckled and was sitting on his ankles ready to go forward. The pilot nodded that he was ready and I was giving the signal to the cadet to move when there was an enormous silence. The engines had stopped and the props were idling in the forward motion of the plane. The pilot looked at me and said, "What happened???" I lifted my hands in an " I don't know" gesture. He frantically looked at the instrument panel. The RPM was 0. The throttles were at half position. The plane began to nose down and glide like a rock. The pilot said," God, what happened??" I'm not God, but I remembered I could pray. So I lowered my head and almost closed my eyes when I vividly focused on the floor between the seats. There is a circular lever there where the fuel tanks are controlled. The lever was pointed to the left auxiliary tank. That was the solution to our problem! The pilot had not moved the lever to main when he put the wheels up! I reached down and shifted the lever to mail and almost immediately the engines came to life! The pilot yelled,
"WOW"!! I said, "Let's go!!" And we did.
There are events fully unexpected that occur many times in a lifetime. This is an account of one of those times. The wings of a bombardier which show a 0 and superimposed on it is a bomb. Thus Observer and Bombardier are combined. The talents too are combined. Sometimes in an unexpected manner. Most of the time the takeoffs of an airplane are uneventful. You sit down and lock the seatbelt and you are off. This time was no exception, except the taxi out and preflight run up was prelude to what was to come. The engines roared into action and we began to roll. The AT11 is an easy to plane to fly. And this one was no exception. We began the fast roll preliminary to take off. Except it did not happen. I looked to the pilot and his puzzled face showed me that all was not well. He yelled, "The elevators don't work!" The end of the runway was much too close. I yelled back, "Pull the throttles!!!" He did and the plane slowed rapidly and with brakes he stopped the plane at the end of the runway. "Go back", I shouted. He braked to the right and we rolled down the taxiway. The crew chief ran out and I motioned him to the rear of the plane. Moments later he opened the door and ran up to the cockpit. "We forgot to pull the chocks out of the elevator" he said. "Did you check everything else?" I asked. "Yeah". And he retreated to the door and locked it. I turned to the pilot and motioned for us to go again. We did without any further trouble..
Balloons.
. . . I was injured in a tennis game in April 1944. Treatment was light at first. Then the swelling became very severe. It swelled to twice the normal size. They aspirated it and when the swelling returned they tried to make a shift splint, which did nothing. Finally the flight surgeon decided I should be sent to the hospital in Santa Ana, Calif. I was scheduled to fly and I went to the place where I met four other airmen who were also going. All of the others-- were in casts or slings or completely immobile. We were an unsightly bunch. We boarded the AT11 (which had been modified to hold passengers instead of bombs) and took off for Phoenix. At that point we refueled and after a brief rest we were off again. A while later I looked out the window and saw a range of mountains to the North and West. I asked the pilot what range it was and he said it was the Rockies which were East of LA. When we were about to cross over the range, I could then see fog on the other side. The pilot said that when we were over the fog we would be at the point of no return Our gas was just enough to go on and not back. Well LA was socked in, so to speak. We went ahead anyway. The Pilot got on the radio to get landing instructions and give his position as close as possible. He was told to descend slowing into the fog. We did that. And suddenly there were all kinds of tethered balloons in the area! The recent threat of Japanese airplanes on the Oregon coast had prompted the deployment of the balloons. We headed South to try to get out of the fog and the balloon threat. It seemed to no avail .... They were all around us! There we were all - - of us were not in any way ambulatory and we could not survive a crash. Finally in the South the fog seemed to clear. Radio contacted us and directed us where to fly and gradually let down. We did eventually land softly. 'We were helped out and taken to the Santa Ana hospital. What a Day that was!!
Regarding the photos: Fred can be reached
at: lfbyars@swbell.net
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