Viewing page 42 of 140

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

pg.41

victor-six-six-three, thirteen-victor-six-six-three, come in please... No answer... The trailer was very silent save for the steady [[strikethrough]] pi [[/strikethrough]] muted pounding of the scan motors.Thirteen-victor-six-six-three, this is Darkie, over...No response.. Suddenly the large speaker mounted in the center of the trailer blasted and everyone jumped," Darkie, this is Agate Base. A plane just crashed near the beginning of the runway." Someone in the trailer acknowledged the message and then there was silence. I felt sick. No one moved in the trailer. Suddenly another pilot of a P-61 called for landing help. We worked him around the pattern but he was too far to the left on the final approach and heading straight for the unit. Just before everyone dashed out, he was told to pull up and go around. As I dived out of the door the shadowy outline of the plane flashed by fifteen feet away. We climbed back in again. This time we brought him over the beginning of the airstrip and he was on his own. We heard the steady thump-thump of aircraft machine guns from somewhere outside the trailer. We learned later that he drifted off the runway to the right and crashed into another P-61 parked by the side. The impact tuched off his machine guns. No one was injured. Then a report came in that a night fighter had crashed into the ocean while taking off to relieve the patrol now coming back. Two more of the night patrol called in for a landing and then a third. It was getting  to be impossible...How