JANUARY 2010 ARTICLES
JANUARY
2010 ARTICLES
"AND THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS" ...Editor: Following is a first-hand account of the World War II raid on Tokyo in April 1942 as told by one of the participants...(continued from November) I received my orders to report to Pendleton, Oregon and join the 17th Bomb Group. Neither of us had traveled much before, and the drive north through the Cascade Range of the Sierra Nevada was interesting and beautiful. It was an exciting time for us. My unit was the first to receive the new B-25 medium bomber. When I saw it for the first time I was in awe. It looked so huge. It was so sleek and powerful. The guys started calling it the "rocket plane," and I could hardly wait to get my hands on it. I told Aggie that it was really something! Reminded me of a big old scorpion, just ready to sting! Man, I could hardly wait! We were transferred to another airfield in Washington state, where we spent a lot of time flying practice missions and attacking imaginary targets. Then there were other assignments in Mississippi and Georgia for more maneuvers and more practice. We were on our way back to California on December 7th when we got word of a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. We listened with mixed emotions to the announcement on the radio, and the next day to the declaration of war. What the President said just rang over and over in my head, "With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God." By gosh, I felt as though he was talking straight to me! I didn't know what would happen to us, but we all knew that we would be going somewhere now. The first weeks of the war, we were back in Oregon flying patrols at sea, looking for possible Japanese submarines. We had to be up at 0330 hours to warm up the engines of our planes. There was 18 inches of snow on the ground, and it was so cold that our engine oil congealed overnight. We placed b big tarps over the engines that reached down to the ground. Inside this tent we used plumbers' blow torches to thaw out the engines. I figured that my dad would be proud of me, if he could see me inside this tent with all this machinery, oil, and grease. After about an hour of this, the engines were warm enough to start. We flew patrols over the coast of Washington and Oregon from dawn until dusk. Once I thought I spotted a sub and started my bomb run, even had my bomb bay doors open, but I pulled out of it when I realized that it was just a big whale. Lucky for me! I would never have heard the end of that! Actually it was lucky for us that the Japanese did not attack the west coast, because we just did not have a strong enough force to beat them off. Our country was in a real fix now, and over all things looked pretty bleak to most folks. In early February we were ordered to report to Columbus, South Carolina. Man, this Air Corps sure moves a fellow around a lot! Little did I know what was coming next! After we got settled in Columbus my squadron commander called us all together. He told us that an awfully hazardous mission was being planned , and then he asked for volunteers. There were some of the guys that did not step forward, but I was one of those that did. My co-pilot was shocked. He said, "You can't volunteer, Mac! You're married, and you and Aggie are expecting a baby soon. Don't do it!" I told him," I got into the Air Force to do what I can, and Aggie understands how I feel. The war won't be easy for any of us." We that volunteered were transferred to Eglin Field, near Valparaiso, Florida, in late February. When we all got together, there were about 140 of us volunteers, and we were told that we were now part of the "Special B-25 Project." We set about our training, but none of us knew what it was all about. We were ordered not to talk about it, not even to our wives. In early March, we were all called in for a briefing and gathered together in a big building there on the base. Somebody said that the fellow who's head of this thing is coming to talk to us, and in walks Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle. He was already an aviation legend, and there he stood right in front of us. I was truly amazed just to meet him. Colonel Doolittle explained that this mission would be extremely dangerous, and that only volunteers could take part. He said that he could not tell us where we were going, but he could say that some of us would not be coming back. Here was a silent pause; you could have heard a pin drop. Then Doolittle said that anyone of us could with draw now, and that no one would criticize us for this decision. No one backed out. From the outset, all volunteers worked from the early morning hours until well after sunset. All excess weight was stripped from the planes and extra gas tanks were added. The lower gun turret was removed; the heavy liaison radio was removed, and then the tail guns were taken out, and more gas tanks were put aboard. We extended the range of that plane from 1,000 miles out to 2,500 miles. Then I was assigned my crew. There was Richard Knobloch the co-pilot, Clayton Campbell the navigator, Robert Bourgeois the bombardier, Adam Williams the flight engineer and gunner, and me, Mac McElroy the pilot. Over the coming days , I came to respect them a lot. They were a swell bunch, just regular, All-American boys. We got a few ideas from the training as to what type of mission that we had signed on for. A Navy pilot had joined our group to coach us about short takeoffs and also in shipboard etiquette. We began our short takeoff practice. Taking off with first a light load, then a normal load, and finally overloaded to 31,000 pounds. The shortest possible takeoff was obtained with flaps full down, stabilizer set three-fourths, tail heavy, full power against the brakes and releasing the brakes simultaneously as the engine revved up to max power. We pulled back gradually on the stick, and the airplane left the ground with the tail skid about one foot from the runway. It was a very unnatural and scary way to get airborne! I could hardly believe it myself, the first time I took off with a full gas load and dummy bombs within just 700 feet of runway in a near-stall condition. We were, for all practical purposes, a slow-flying gasoline bomb! In addition to takeoff practice, we refined our skills in day and night navigation, gunnery, bombing, and low level flying. We made cross-country flights at tree-top level, night flights and navigational flights over the Gulf of Mexico without the use of radio. After we started that short-field takeoff routine, we had some pretty fancy competition between the crews. I think that one crew got it down to about 300 feet on a hot day. We were told that only the best crews would actually go on the mission, and the rest would be held in reserve. One crew did stall on takeoff and slipped back to the ground, busting up their landing gear. They were eliminated from the mission. Doolittle emphasized again and again the extreme danger of this operation and made it clear that anyone of us who so desired could drop out with no questions asked. No one did. On one of our cross-country flights, we landed at Barksdale Field in Shreveport, and I was able to catch a bus over to Longview to see Aggie. We had a few hours together, and then we had to say our goodbyes. I told her I hoped to be back in time for the baby's birth but I couldn't tell her where I was going. As I walked away, I turned and walked backwards for a ways, Taking one last look at my beautiful, pregnant Aggie.... (Continued next month)
PAPERED PLASTIC PROP Plastic props do weigh more than balsa ones but we most often need ballast in the nose anyhow with scale models, so the extra weight is not always a penalty. But here's an idea from Bob Overcash, taken from Scale Staffel Newsletter (Gerald Sullivan, Editor). It's well worth a try - but don't overdo it! "While trying to think up a way to have a lighter prop without carving one out of wood, I came up with this idea. With a plastic prop, I hogged out these parts of a 5" prop with a Dremel tool and a bit with burrs along the shaft which allow you to cut in all directions, the thicker the prop the better. Now simply glue tissue over each blade and dope. My prop came out two-thirds lighter. I only covered the front of the blade but you could cover the back also.
PROP BALANCING
COMET DIMERS
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