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Show defenses for their homeland; there being a real threat of an invasion by German forces. As the Battle of Britain approached, one of the first self- defense efforts was the installation of 'blackout curtains' on every house and commercial building in England. The next great effort was enforcing the decree that they would be in place at all times during the hours of darkness, upon the threat of arrest for failing to do so. This made nighttime raids by German bombers, much more difficult for them. But the downside for all the people was the difficulty in moving about. There were bomb shelters for all of us on the base, as well as all over London; but they were difficult to get to in a hurry, with no light. We would occasionally get into London on weekends after the Friday work was done. I spent some time in the London bomb shelters almost every night. When the all-clear sirens sounded, we were allowed to come out for socializing. We were required to carry a musette (canvas) bag filled with short- term survival rations with us every time we went to London. The Brits were already pressed for food supplies in the shelters, without us creating a larger problem. We were forever yearning to get away from the air base and eat out in London. The problem was a severe shortage of food products throughout Britain. There seemed to be enough fish and chips but that got old after while. There was simply no chicken or beef to be had. We would often order these foods at what we heard were black market restaurants. We had been doing this for a long time before reading a newspaper article telling of the marked disappearance of most of London's cat and dog population! Further reading listed many of the restaurants which government inspectors had caught serving these animal meats, calling them something else, and were shut down! That caused me some moments of distress to say the least. My first 'combat' mission of the war was the 1,000-plane mission in support of the Rhine River crossing by allied forces. Our crew and airplane were carrying Polish paratroopers. They had been preparing for weeks for this moment. They had a lot of pent up feelings of revenge ever since Hitler had invaded their homeland early in the war. The first sign I saw that we were approaching the heavily defended area of the Rhine River bridge was the puffs of black smoke bursting near our flight level, just out ahead of us. They were from the German 88mm antiaircraft guns. Those innocent appearing puffs were deadly in nature. I saw one of them hit near the lead airplane (our wing commander) in our formation. The burst shot him down; as we watched the falling airplane, we watched for any parachutes - none emerged. This was a very sobering thought for those of us that would be following in just a few minutes. We were required to wear 'flack suits and flack helmets' on these missions. They were very uncomfortable, but the metal armor plates provided some body protection from the exploding shells. Our assigned drop zone was just behind the German lines, where upon landing; they were to contain the area for the advancing troops. They jumped from an altitude of 600 ft. above ground. This gave them just enough time for the static line to reel out above them then it would pull the rip cord. The idea was for the parachute to open, momentarily stabilize and then they were on the ground. This was to minimize their vulnerability to ground fire while unable to defend themselves. This required low flight level, exposed us to lots of ground fire before we got out of the drop zone. The flack suits helped, but our wing sustained some casualties. My second combat mission was hauling British paratroopers in the Battle of the Bulge in support of General Patton. All other flying was in support of the needs of the front lines. After D-Day, all attention was diverted to the war with Japan. There was an urgent need for these troops to be recycled through the States and on to the Pacific. We were assigned to what was called the 'Green Project.' My crew and I were assigned full time to the route from British Guiana to Miami. We would fly this long route twice a week, taking a load of troops north then go back for more, bringing support supplies. We never flew over the dense jungles of South America, but only along the shoreline. It was further this way, but a whole lot safer. People going down in the jungle were never heard from again! Having mentioned the Bermuda Triangle earlier in this epistle, perhaps some interesting stuff would be worthwhile here. Where is it? The beginning point for a description could be at Melbourne, Florida, out to Bermuda then down through Puerto Rico and back to the starting point. This forms a rough outline enclosing 440,000 square miles of ocean. The area's mysterious effects were first noted in ship Captain's logs centuries ago; spinning compasses, violent turbulence, luminescent fog, etc., have been documented. In our recent history alone; the Bermuda Triangle has claimed hundreds of planes and ships to say nothing of the lost lives - all lost without a trace! However, the Navy and Coast Guard officially deny the very existence of the Bermuda Triangle. I flew through the Triangle many times while transporting people and cargo during the period of my assignment. But one trip was very different than all the rest. I had a young copilot not long out of flying school and having absolutely zero experience in over water flying. This added nothing to the rest of the 52 crew's confidence as events began to unfold. I have no opinion one way or the other about the truth or fiction coming out of these stories. I will only report what happened to us. We were on a northbound route from Puerto Rico to Miami and over the far western edge of the Triangle. The magnetic compass first began showing erratic readings then began lazily rotating, not holding any heading for long. So we began using our gyroscopic compass. This instrument precesses after while, so it isn't a long term solution. It too began acting 'funny.' So we began looking around for ships below...any ships. None were sighted, just the vast ocean from horizon to horizon. By now, I was beginning to worry. If we had to ditch the airplane, not only were we crew members at risk, but we had 30 passengers on board. Procedures were for us to fly the last known heading, if possible until our original ETA for the turn point ran out. Our turn point opposite and east of Miami was out to sea beyond visual landfall. In those days, all of our equipment, including radios was ancient compared to now. I needed to notify the Miami ARTCC of our problem. But, guess what? The radios were erratic and mostly not working. Without ground check points to navigate with, one never knows what the winds aloft have done to our flight plan. A prayer or two was suggested, and done. In addition to other risks, this part of the world produced thunderstorms every afternoon, with the tops reaching above 60,000 ft. We had to dodge those for sure. When we had flown out our ETA, we turned to the originally planned heading for landfall. Just to make it interesting for us, if we had unknown winds from the east, flying on a westerly heading would cause us to miss the tip of Florida and keep on going into the Gulf until our fuel was exhausted. By the time our landfall ETA was reached, we still could not see the coast. We were committed to continue, and still no radios. In a short time, a scream was heard "LANDFALL" What a sight! We landed at Miami on fumes! Adverse winds and the other problems had about done us in. I stayed with the mechanics, explaining our problems. They contacted me in a couple of hours saying all instruments and radios checked out okay!! I have no explanation . . . maybe the Triangle? The Green Project was discontinued after the war in the Pacific began to wind down. I was sent to Ft. Douglas for discharge from active duty. I wanted to keep flying so I joined a Reserve Squadron at Hill AFB. Floyd J. Pell - KIA Floyd was one of the Weber students who gave the ultimate sacrifice during WWII. Although he never married, his life was a great example of his abilities and he contributed much. He was a major in the Army Air Corps and flew P-40s and commanded his squadron. He was killed near Pell Field in Australia in 1942. His plane was shot down by a Japanese 'Zero' as he was taking off, after re-fueling. Richard O. Perkins Richard Perkins was a sergeant in the Army Air Corps. He served in England with the 80th Fighter Squadron. He is one of seven brothers who served in WWII, and they were all fortunate enough to return. Robert C. Peterson Our crew flew a B-17 to England via the southern route from Florida, South America, Ascension Islands, and North Africa the first of February 1943. We were one of the first replacement crews; and when we arrived, they decided that the B-24 units were much more in need of new crews than the B-17 groups, so we became a B-24 replacement crew. We were assigned to the 44th Bomb Group, which was one of the first B-24 groups arriving in England in October of 1942. Transition training in the new bomber was short lived, and we soon found ourselves bombing German harbors, Nazi fighter fields and submarine pens along the French coast. Later in the spring of 1943, our group 53 |