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8. The Squadron’s Objectives
- University of North Texas Press
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97 Chapter 8 The Squadron’s Objectives With twenty-four flights in thirty days, June 1943 was the busiest flying month for Sgt. Herman Scearce since he joined the Army. He had more hours in the air during May, but May had included the long trip to Midway, the Wake mission, and the searches in the vicinity of Palmyra. June’s schedule was full of activity and Scearce liked it that way. Staying busy was the best way for Scearce to shut out the image of the man with the rectangular hole in his head. It was the best way to stop thinking about his friend Harold Brooks, or the loss of The Green Hornet with its entire crew, or the uncertainty of a future with a thirty strike mission requirement. And as May moved into June and July, keeping busy, having something to focus on for tomorrow, and the next day and the next, was the only way to avoid dwelling on tragedy. The squadron’s primary responsibility was protection of the Hawaiian Islands. They flew patrols and search missions and conducted countless hours of training to maintain combat readiness. The 42nd sent planes into combat during the summer of 1943, occasional sorties from Funafuti to Nauru or the Gilberts, and Midway to Wake, harassing Japanese airfields and photographing their defenses, but Scearce would not fly another strike mission until September. 98 Finish Forty and Home The 42nd’s photo missions gathered intelligence information needed for America’s developing war plans. It was not yet settled which Japanese-held island would be targeted next for invasion. The Gilberts Islands group, particularly Tarawa, was watched closely as the Japanese strengthened defenses there, and Nauru had not been ruled out as an invasion target.1 Three ships of the 42nd were scheduled to fly to Funafuti via Canton on June 14. From Funafuti, they would conduct a nighttime photo mission of Mille Island in the Marshalls, 335 miles beyond Tarawa, a total of 1130 miles one-way from Funafuti. Mille was home to a well-defended Japanese fighter base.2 Lt. Alf Storm in #073, Thumper, Lt. Les Scholar in #143, Sky Demon, and Lt. George Smith in #216, Thumper II, were scheduled to take off just before 8:00 a.m., heavily loaded with photo flash bombs and fuel. They would need the full length of Kualoa’s Marston mat runway to get airborne. From Transportation Officer Richard Lippman’s point of view, sitting in a jeep beside the runway, the first two bombers barely cleared the trees beyond the airstrip.3 Storm and Scholar piloted their B-24s into the circular pattern above the base as Smith released the brakes on his aircraft and began his take off roll, throttles held to the stops. Just past halfway down the length of Kualoa’s runway, Smith eased the control column back and Thumper II’s nose wheel came off the ground. As the aircraft’s weight rose from the main gear tires, and they were just about to leave the metal runway, the nose of the plane abruptly fell. The nose wheel was unable to absorb the sudden, heavy impact with the ground, and it collapsed under the plane’s crushing weight. Smith’s B-24 gouged itself forward, wrenching its nose partially from the airframe. It plowed ahead with speed and mass like a derailing locomotive. All four engines remained at full throttle, propellers The Squadron’s Objectives 99 flailing sickeningly into the prefabricated metal sections of runway. Twisted lengths of Marston mat and chunks of black earth were thrown by the bomber’s out of control propeller blades as the engines continued to spin at maximum speed. The propellers from engines 1 and 2 finally ripped themselves from their mounts. Number 2 propeller wildly slashed through the left side of the aircraft and into the fuselage, leaving a fearsome vertical gash several feet down the side of the cockpit before spinning over the top of the plane. Number 1 and 2 propellers cart-wheeled crazily 60 and 120 feet into the base officer’s housing area before their energy was spent. Number 3 propeller separated from its engine and jammed under the right wing. After grinding 600 feet down the runway,4 nose down and the main wheels still rolling, Thumper II’s number 4 propeller still whirled at full speed. The blade tips, bent backwards from thrashing themselves into the ground and the dragging number 3 propeller...