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36 CHAPTER TWO “We Came 4,700 Miles and Are Pigeon-holed!” it was christmas day in brisbane, and Bryce Wilhite and his buddy Mel Price had an invitation to dinner from an American businessman and his wife they had met the day before. The pilots’ taxi chugged to the front gate of Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland’s house, arriving at “the earliest polite hour” by Australian standards. During the course of the day Wilhite and Price enjoyed the meal—not mutton—the drinks, and the conversation. Then they excused themselves to return to Lennon’s Hotel—but not before Mrs. Cleveland had promised to introduce Wilhite to a young Australian lady the following day.1 Fellow flying school classmate Bob McMahon also had an invitation for Christmas Day, but in his case it was of a more exciting nature. He had made the acquaintance of a very attractive Australian girl in the hotel lounge, and she had invited him to spend the holidays with her and her parents at their beach house at Surfers Paradise, some forty miles south of Brisbane. Arriving in Surfers Paradise by train in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, McMahon found Mickey to be without inhibitions, and he managed to get himself seduced on the beach before dinner, then again afterwards. Christmas day proved equally eventful, with beers at noon with the family and a near run-in with three huge sharks sweeping by as he was swimming a bit too far out. And there were more adventures with his lady friend, who turned out to be married to an Australian officer serving in the Middle East.2 But for the other 35th Group pilots living “in the stables” at Ascot Race Track, Christmas was “rather dull,” at least in the view of Cal Smith. The Ohio farm boy thought it was “strange to be going around with sleeves rolled up and wearing a pith helmet in the hot sun on Christmas.”3 Boxing Day, December 26, continued uneventful for the Race Track Pigeon-holed 37 inmates, but not so for those still staying at Lennon’s. Bryce Wilhite had arranged a date with the girl introduced to him over the phone by Mrs. Cleveland. He was somewhat smitten on meeting her in the early evening at the entrance to the hotel—“a small girl with golden blonde hair and skin to match.” After a drink at the hotel bar, Wilhite and Mel Price with their dates repaired to a movie theater down the street, then after the show they returned to the hotel. The girls surprised them by suggesting they go to the airmen’s rooms, but the young men soon found out it was not for the reason they thought. The evening ended with a “smoky and smelly” taxi ride to drop the girls off at their homes.4 At Surfers Paradise that day, Bob McMahon was joined by buddy Mac MacLean and several other pilots for a day at the beach. Afterwards they all got together for a tea dance at Surfers Paradise Hotel and met some RAAF flight officers, with whom they became chummy. Ever the social animals, McMahon and MacLean decided on the spot to throw a big New Year’s Eve party at Lennon’s. MacLean took the train back to Brisbane and traded their room for a large suite, spreading the word about the party. McMahon himself decided to spend a few more days at Surfers Paradise with his lady love.5 while the young second lieutenants of the 35th Group staying at Lennon’s Hotel were living it up over the Christmas holidays, matters of a more serious nature were being taken up by higher-ranked AAF officers and the RAAF leadership. In a conference held between the two groups on December 28, they agreed to a plan that called for the assembly of the eighteen P-40s off the Admiral Halstead and the fifty-two A-24 dive bombers from the Meigs as rapidly as possible. As soon as assembled, the first ten of the P-40s and first fifteen of the A-24s should be flown to the Philippines immediately .6 But who would be the pilots to ferry them to the Philippines? The meeting identified three possible sources: (1) pilots brought in from the Philippines, (2) after sufficient training, the pilots off the Pensacola convoy, and (3) Australian pilots. As regarded option 1, at least some of the pilots flown in from the...

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