With the Possum and the Eagle: The Memoir of a Navigator's War over Germany and Japan

2. Across the North Atlantic

2: Across the North Atlantic en we returned to Syracuse from Harrisburg, we were inNewfoundland . that we should our flight to palm trees and were to make was to be Gander The night before we left, our group had a boisterous and raucous party at the Hotel Syracuse. We sang the air force song, "OfIWe Go into the Wild Blue Yonder," and threw our drinks and glasses into the fireplace. My guest at the party was a blind date from Syracuse know what a.s I escorted her we both after I returned morning, as we walked our aircraft for off from Syracuse, Sonny Collins turned to me and said, "This is it, Ralph. This is where we separate the sheep from the goats." I didn't reply. Ever since I had gone to the recruiting station I had tried to anticipate how I would react in combat. Now, in a matter of days someone would be at me. I hoped moment, I had than a hundred storm to rnore flying time, I had us across the Scotland. My concerns about combat against the Nazis were premature. We almost didn't make it across the ocean. Our troubles began before we reached Gander Lake. Mter less than an hour out of Syracuse, our number three engine began to run rough. Sonny Collins suggested his hometown of Burlington, Vermont, as an opportune emergency shrouded bomber field. We and landed lined with landed in VermonL symbol of the No fou 21amorous new " 17 18 WITH THE POSSUM AND THE EAGLE O'Neill approached the short runway as low as possible. We came to an abrupt stop at a New England stone wall and he then taxied the aircraft to an area in front of the control tower. As we walked to the tower, a Vermont University coed asked me what I was carrying. It was a small case containing my shaving kit, but I told her it was our secret Norden bombsight. She was impressed. They put us up in a University of Vermont dormitory. The next morning, O'Neill and a local mechanic made temporary repairs on our problem engine . O'Neill assured us that, ifnecessary, we could make it on three engines and obtain replacement parts at a Bangor, Maine, air force depot. Mter another day at Bangor, and further repairs, we headed for Gander Lake, thejump-off point for our flight across the big pond. Next to Muroc, Gander was the most isolated place I had ever experienced . An impenetrable evergreen forest surrounded all of the airport except for the end of the runway facing the water. We were warned not to venture into the forest because ifwe got lost, we probably would never be seen again. The weather at Gander was as forbidding as the landscape. There was always a chilling damp fog and low cloud cover. They told us an arctic storm was coming from the north. We waited for the weather to clear. Mter waiting another day, LeMay called a group meeting. He told us he couldn'twait any longer for the weather to break. We were overdue in England. His weather briefing was pessimistic. "Metro tells me there is rough weather ahead for us in the North Atlantic," he said. "I've flown this route to Prestwick many times ferrying B-24s. At this time ofyear, icing can be a very real problem. Be sure your deicers are working, and if possible check for icing in the carburetors. The weather will make it rough for you navigators. You may not be able to check your course with celestial navigation. At this time of year there is always the possibility of a blizzard coming down from the Arctic. If possible, you must check your course every few minutes. Ifyou don't correct sharply to the left, you will drift too far south. Then you will never hit England, let alone our destination in Scotland. "Without a correction to the left, if you don't run out of fuel by Land's End, at the south tip ofEngland, the Nazi fighters will be wait- Across the North Atlantic 19 ing for you off the French coast. You can't rely on radio aids or directional finders. The Nazis have set up a false beam with a frequency identical with the RAF [Royal Air Force] radio beam in England. Don't be fooled. You are on...