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 | Wingman |  | | | When in the Navy, I was stationed on the island of Samari, near the town of Guiuan in the Phillipines, during the months of April through June of 1945. My duties were at the aviation supply depot (ASD) near the airstrip. Army Air force, Navy and Marine pilots used the field.
One day a pilot of an F4U corsair was approaching the field. As he dropped low at the end of the runway, a guide jeep with a yellow flag fluttering above it was crisscrossing the field in front of the plane. There was a problem. The pilot raised the nose of his plane and circled the field for another attempt. A man on the field was using his arms trying to get the pilot's attention. He stood with one arm extended down along his side, and the other arm was folded almost to his chest. We watched as the plane flew by. One of his wheels was down, but the other was only partially extended from the wheel well.The pilot waggled the wings and began a climb to about 2000 feet, then put the plane into a dive. We heard the engine roar as the plane headed for earth. It pulled out of the dive and the plane circled the field. The man on the field kept the same stance. The plane's wings again waggled and it began another climb, this time to a higher altitude. Another dive commenced and the plane repeated the pullout and again circled the field. The man held his pose. Again the plane rose to an altitude and dove, but this time as the pilot was bringing the nose up, the plane's engine began to sputter and miss. It had ran out of fuel, but was moving at a high rate of speed, and the engine sputtered, as it passed behind our workshop. The plane was fifteen feet above the ground and heading at an angle to the runway. It was flying toward a twenty foot high bank of coral and earth, two hunded yards away.
We ran in the direction of the plane's flight and watched as the plane's right wing hit the bank and sheared off. The plane then spun around in a horizontal plane, flying until it's nose slammed into another embankment eighty feet away. We arrived at the site the same time as the crash crew in their jeep. The plane's engine was shoved back under the cockpit, and the greenhouse was only feet from the point of impact. The odor of gasoline and oil was heavy in the air. The jeep pulled up to the trailing edge of the left wing, which had only slight damage, and a crash member got up onto it. At that moment the greenhouse slid back and the pilot climbed out of the cockpit. He stood on the wing, then walked to it's edge, and jumped onto the rear seat of the jeep. He waved at the onlookers and had a big smile on his face.
The crash person said, "Are you OK?" then, "Let's get out of here. there may be an explosion." The pilot grinned and said, "I'm fine. I cut the switch before the plane hit." The other said, "Let's have a look at your head. There is a long gash in your helmet." The pilot put a hand to his head, felt the helmet, and when he pulled his hand away there was some blood on it. He fainted and lay crumpled on the seat of the jeep.
He roused seconds later, then said, with a laugh, "I never could stand the sight of my own blood." They removed his helmet and there was a tiny cut on the side of his head. He received minor bruises. He was a lucky man that day.
Submitted by James Russell Noland on February 13 2005 - 00:36:43
Posted by Tedd_C on February 24 2005 - 09:21:08 - 0 Comments |
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