Air Force the Official Service Journal - Air Force Historical Studies ...

OK. \Vall takes out the blocks and Bccson ta:\IS the Boise
Bee to the rIlll\I'ay and takes off. He's squadron leader now,
and is first. The other planes of thc squadron follow in order.
Thcn comes the bad time for \\ 'all. lIe can't get at the
plane now. Let's sec, he cheeked cvcrvth ing, l Ic checked it
twice and three times. It's Or..:, Isn't it? But until the
Boise Bee comes back-
There's work to do while sll'eating it out. Ill' gcts belly
tanks ready for the plane's return, I Ie goes into the little
office of the :\issen hut and fills out forms. Then he strolls
up and down awhile, stopping ncc.rxion.rl lv to look at onc of
the hundred-odd pin-up girls. lIe keeps going outside, lookmg
up at the sky, lIc keeps listening, This is the hard part.
Tha t repaired ta il structure had n t begun slia king loose, had
it? He checked that, didn't he?
He starts writing a letter to the folks in ~lohnton, I'a.,
where he used to help fi:\ cars in his dad's garagc. It helps
to remember the old times. l Ic was a knitting mnchinc fixer
for a couple of years, Then he was gi,'en S 300 a month to
go to a Civil Service school and become an aircraft engineer,
but the Army snatched him two weeks before graduatiou.
He had had enough training that after his three months of
basic he went straight to England-and he's worked for
Beeson ever since,
He hears the drone of an cngine and runs outside, leaving
the letter unfinishcd. It's a ~lllStang aborting. Not Beeson.
He gocs back imide and looks at another section of pin-up
girls on the corrugated iron wall». The crcwuicn hale their
private scoreboard on a blackboard on the wall. Becson 21.
Gcntile 22. Sweating it out.
And then along in the afternoon they start coming back
from Bcrliu. lIe watches them as thcv come in. 'I'lrcvrc all
off the same asscm blv line, bnt he c;n tell the Boi~e Bee.
Every flyer handles hls ship differently, l Icll know Beeson.
They keep coming in, vvhcrc is Beeson?
"Hcv, Centile got five tod.iv!" somebody calls.
Wall's face is stiff ami wooden. \\'here is Beeson" l Ic'll
he in. He'll be back. lIere comes a stragglerl :\0, that Isn't
Beeson.
Finullv he hears it.
"Bees:lI\ went down." AmI, hurriedly, to rc.tvsurc him:
"Flak. The pl.iuc \las all right. hut the flak got the glycol.
TIII:y came down on this Lluu airfield. straflllg, and the flak
got them, onc, two. three, Beeson first, Carr second, Bicl
third. Thcy all got hit as they nude the first pass, Bicl got
back, hut Curr a ncl Becsou h.ulcd out. You ought to sec
Bicl's plane. It's a sieve."
"Beeson- b.ulcd out?" \\'all asks nu-cluru ic.rl!v.
"But he got two JUIICS first. .\ slug got hun iu thc gl:'Co1.
Biel hcard hill! mer the R/T.
" 'I\'C got a gl:'Col lc.i k, hut I'll make it home auvwav.'
Beeson said, But prclh' xoo n he Clllle in ~lg~lin: 'I\c got to
bailout m ~I m mu tc. \1:' tenlpcLlturc is np to I :;U.' .\11(1
then he b~lilec1. I le dichr'! S