 |
 |
Distant Thunder - A Life Remembered War "I pulled off all four throttles and dropped the nose into a spiraling dive straight down for five thousand feet, pulling it out at about 350 miles per hour on a heading the opposite of the one the German was on and probably passed under him at a high rate of speed. I held that heading for five minutes then asked the navigator for a new heading for Regensburg. 'Jetty K-King this is Nut-house. Over.' 'This is Jetty K-King, Nut-house.' 'K-King you're in the clear for now. The bandit is hunting for you off in the other direction. A Little Friend is vectoring in on you to escort you for a while. Over.' 'Roger, Nut-house. Thanks.' A few minutes later the co-pilot nudged me and pointed out the window. Sitting just off our left wing-tip was the welcome sight of one of our Black Widow night fighters. We waved to each other. He stayed with us for about half an hour then peeled off for home. As we approached Regensburg we started our bomb run. Flak was getting heavy. The ship bounced around. 'Coming up on bombs away. Five, four, three, two, one, bombs away!' 'Bombs away! Bomb-bay doors coming closed.' The ship bounced from a near flak burst. The left waist gunner was hit. The right waist gunner saw him on the floor and turned him over on his back and began to work on him." |
