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i GOD IS MY i V CO-PILOT PkCol. Robert L.Scott wwrele-ase. The "lory lam far: alter tree muni (real Weet Point, Bakert Icon viae hie etui at Kelly Field, Texas, tad takes ap corabel trial. He hai been en lastractor tor toar yeera whaa the war breaks oat, sat la told he la aew Coo old lor combat gytof. After appeallai to aeoeral Ceo oral! he ts offered aa opportunity to pet late the flghL Oa arrlvlai la ladle he la aaade a terry pilot, bat this deea aet salt Scott, who talhs Gen Cheaaaalt Into (lotap him a Ktttyhawk lor combat fly to | Sooo ha la Aytai over the eklee 1 Burma aod heeomee known aa the "aae aaaa all force." Later he la made C.O. el the Ihd Flakier Group, hat he Itul keeps kaorklna lap plaaes oat al the eklee. CHAPTER XXVIII It looked as it we'd get the chance very, soon, too, tor the field in western Yunnan had been select ed by the newly formed Air Trans port Command, which was supersed ing the Ferry Command, as the Eastern terminus of the route to China. For the purpose of security in future operations, I will not name our base in western Yunnan. But there was a btg turquoise-blue lake less than ten miles away which the General and I called Yecking. To us that meant ''good hunting," for ducks and geese abounded. The landmark for our base was just one of the many lakes in Yunnan. Next morning I went out on Lake Yeching, and from the bow ef a native Bars pan I sooo shot eighteen of the biggest geese I had ever seen. Even if we were remote from the loved ones at home, we'd have meat for Christmas dinner that was filled with the vitamins we needed. i naa nurriea DacK 10 uie neia oc fore taking off for Kunming with my, report on the efficiency of the warning net, and was taking pic tures of some little mongol-appear ing Miaows who were holding my geese aloft?when we had an air raid alert. There was heavy en gine-noise from the reporting sta tions over towards Burma. We tossed the eighteen geese into the baggage compartment, winding their necks around among the con duits of the radio so that the cargo wouldn't shift, and I took off for Kun ming. Then as I heard more reports from the Southwest, I turned South, joined the other fighters on patrol, and looked for the enemy. In about forty-five minutes we spread out to cover more territory, and I caught sight of two enemy planes?Zeros I thought, at first sight. I called to the others and attacked. Even as I approached the Japs I knew they were too.slow and too large for Zeros. Then I saw that they were single-engine reconnaissance-bomb ers. I caught the rear one and gave it a short burst, keeping my eye on the other. The first one went down with most of dne wing gone. The next I chased down every val ley on the Mekong^ getting in sev eral good shots, but I never did see him go down or crash. From the evidence of the thin trail of smoke that I last saw coming from it as I dove and circled to look around again, I claimed it as a "probable." The first one I had confirmed as a ''certain." The others in our patrol engaged four other planes and prob ably shot down two of them. The General had been correct as usual? the Japs were keeping the end of the ferry route under closa surveil lance. Christmas night, white we were enjoying the geese, George Hazelett came in with his Squadron to report that the Japs had bombed our base near Lake Veching with eighteen ships on that afternoon of Christmas Day, and the (bet warning the field '? had was the sight of the enemy bombers in the clear blue Yunnan (ky. Luckily the bombing had '"Wisaed the .field and no ships were damaged, but many Chinese in the vtliage had been killed. Definite ly the warning net in western Yun nan made the ODeratinn nf th? Transport Command at Yeching hazardous. I could tell by the Gen eral's face that he had some plans he would tell rne about in private. The Geneiai had been sick with a cold over Christmas and had a fe ver that night, when he told me what he had to do at Yeching. At dju'D the next morning?December 2oth in China, but actually Christ mas Day in America?I took off with full instructions. When I left, the Doctor told me General Chennault was running a temperature of 103. All of us were worried about him, and knew that the defeats on Christ inas Day hadn't helped his spirits. As I flew West towards Yeching, 145 miles away, in the half light I saw the coolies carrying drums of gasoline -on wheelbarrows up the Burma Road. Come of these I knew would go on through Kunming to Chungking, 390 miles away by air. Trundling these crude wooden wheeled vehicles of the ages gone tay, these patient workers would re quire seventy days of constant ef fort, at their dogged trot, to reach the capital at Chungking. The two wheeled Peking carts with three drums would take a shorter time? 44 days. I saw coolie boys plowing in the rice paddies halfway up the sides of the mountains?paddies built like steps from the topof the hill to the valley, so that the irrigation wa ter could be used oyer and over. 1 laughed as 1 saw the ancient means ??? ? _ of cultivation?the boy, standing with his feet on the wooden scraper, was using his own weight to make it scratch the mud, but was holding on to the water buffalo, with his band gripping the tail of the ponderous animal. Landing at the threatened air drome. I put the General's plan into immediate effect. I commandeered the necessary transportation on Yeching field and placed it ready for the instant move ment of pilots to their dispersed fighters, which were scattered to all parts of the airdrome. The P-40's were pointed in the direction of a run for immediate take-off. All this was to save even the barest mini mum of lost time, for when the alert came we would have to move fast and furious. Every one of the thirty pilots was kept on alert, and constant patrols were begun at dawn. We sent two ships above the field at seven o'clock and doubled the number at nine. At eleven o'clock we dqubled again and con tinually had eight high in the sky. The Jap had attacked the day be fore at 2:35 In the afternoon, or 14:35. The General had told me Little Miaow children holding Christmas geese for Col. Scott. many times of the propensity of the Japanese for the exact duplication of former military operations. We were going to get gradually more vigilant and stronger above the field for the expected blow. At the same time we were going as far as was commensurate with safety to con serve the invaluable aviation gaso line. Most of the fighters kept right, over the field or slightly away tal the direction of the expected attack from Burmese bases. Four fight ers began to patrol from Yeching to the Mekong, on course to Lashio and seventy miles from v 'jera v,e were waiting. At two o'clock. X eer.c all planes into the sky except mine. I sat in that on the gromd, listening for Har ry Pike's expected report from his patrol to the Mekong River. I was within (heating distance of the ' ground radio operator, who would tell me of any developments on the weak-functioning warning net. The J?P would come today, I knew, be tween two and four?that's 14:00 to 16:00 hours. At 14:54 I saw the radio operator wildly running for my ship. He yelled, "Report from W-7 says heavy engine noise coming this way?the report is right recent." I was al ready energizing my starter when Harry Pike called excitedly: "Here they come?fighters and bombers? I'm Just East of the river." I knew then that the Jape were close to fifty miles away; we had all we< could do to get set and be waiting for them. **n. r?:i i? t . <i _ tt iku ruic Ldiicu in, as i goi me engine started, I beard that the Japs were at seventeen thousand, and I called to him to take the fighters, for I hoped by that move to make the bombers come in unescorted. From Yeching at its level of 6500 \ feet I was climbing with full gun, ; climbing for all the altitude I could grab. I watched the temperature but drew all the boost I could with out detonating too badly. At exactly three o'clock I reached twenty thou sand feet and picked up most of my Group, which today was made up of Hazelett's Squadron. Just six minutes from the time I had given the ship the gun, I saw flashes reflected by Japanese wind shields in the sun. They weren't far away, but I grinned?for they were below us. I heard from the chatter on our frequency that there was a fight going on towards where Pike had seen the formation cross the river. As the enemy ships materi alized on the horizon, I knew that Pike had done his job well, for there was only one fighter with the bomb ers as escort?one fighter with nine heavy bombers. I think I knew then that we were going to make it tough for the Japs. I called for the attack. In order to get the enemy before he could bomb the field. As I dove for the attack that I had always longed for, I saw one P-40 take the lone Zero head-on and shoot it down, and I knew from the way the shark nosed ship pulled up in his chan deUe of glory that Dallas dinger had become an aoe with his fifth enemy ship. We made the attack from three directions simultaneously. Lieuten ant Couch led his ships on a stern attack that I did not see, for I was diving on the course ot the bomb ers bom the flank where the low sun was. I was going in for a full deflection shot from out of that sun, for 1 had planned this method of how I wanted to attack a bomber formation long ago. On my wings were six fighters in two ship ele ments. In Couch's flight were four fighters, and Hazelett had four com ing from above the Japs on the oth er flank. , I had to dive from 20,000 feet to 17,000 feet to get on the level with the enemy formation, and when I got there I had plenty of excess speed over the Japs. I passed them rapidly from out of their range, but could see their tracers curving short of my flight. When I had over run them a thousand yards, I turned right into the bombers and we went after the three Vee's of Mitsubishi bombers. By being on the same level with them I'm sure we caused part of the enemy formation to blan ket out some of their own ships from firing at us. I opened fire from six hundred yards and led the enemy leader by at least a hundred yards; It must have been just right, for the tracers seemed to go into the top of the wing. I just held the trigger down and kept going into the sides of the Japs?they blossomed out of I the sky at me, growing larger and larger, "mushrooming" in my wind shield. As the bombers passed by, my bullets were raking them with full-deflection shots, and as fast as my formation turned the other fivo men were doing the same. I saw the lead bomber climb a little, then set tle back towards the formation with one wins down. As I saw the second Jap In front of me?the left wing man of the leader?I realized I'd have to dive under the enemy very soon or I'd run into them. Things hit my ship now, and with noise Ike a wing coming off, the side glass of mj windshield was shot out. 1 was three hundred to two hundred from the second bomber whan * got my long burst into & IT1 are was a flash ahead, and I dove as fast as I could shove the nor a down. As I went under thj smo'.e and or ange flame, I thought tfvat the Jap I was shooting at bed ,aught fire, but as I pulled around, 'jack to the direc tion the formation had been going, and cUrubed* " saw what had hap pened. There vas only smoke above, and the formation had broken, for I knew ths bomber had . exploded ? the bombs had been detonated by the fifty-calibre flre. Behind, over the trail the Japs had come were lour plumes of smoke where their bomb ers were going down. Below there were bomb bursts all over the pad dy fields where bombs had been jet tisoned in the unanticipated inter ception. I pulled up behind one of the lone bombers that I could see and began to shoot at it methodical ly from long range. Over on the left were three more, and I saw P-40'a making passes at them. Over the radio I could hear happy American English, with unauthorized swear words aimed at the Jap that the individual pilot was shooting at, and by the tone of the pilots I knew that we were winning this battle and that the General was also going to be very happy. From 800 yards I'd squeeze out a short burst at one engine, then skid over and aim carefully at the other engine and throw out another short burst. The Jap ship was diving with ?11 the speed he could get, but the P-iO kept moving up. I think all their ammunition was gone, for I saw no tracers. In my second burst an the right engine I sew eome gray smoke?thin, like gasoline overflow ing a tank and blowing hack into the slipstream. The next time I came over behind that engine from clos er range I saw two red dots near the engine, two dots that became flre. The flame ran to the engine and to the fuselage, but by that time I was over shooting at the other engine again. I last saw the bomber diving, with flames that were orange against the green of the mountains below. There were no more bombers to be seen, but I saw seven P-40's. dinger came over and got on my wing; as I recognised his ship I slid my hatch-cover back and waved at him. Even before we landed I thought that we had gotten all the bombers. As we circled the field, with me trying to dodge the cold air that eras knifing through the hole in my windshield and bringing a particle of glass against my face ev ery now and then, I realized why we still had to wear goggles in fight er ships in combat Below on the Yunnan hills, 1 saw eight forest fires that could have bee* started only by burning airplane, wrecks, for they had not been there when I took off. I kept some of the planes up for top-cover while we landed those that were shot up or low on fuel. Later, when I had the combat reports made out before the pilots could talk the battle over between them, the "cer tains" out at the nineteen that had come inf-nine fighters and nine bombers^sndjioo ubesrialiou plane (to m oommus-D) / L" IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL Sunday i chool Lesson RclUMd by VmIin Newspaper Union. Lesson for May 20 . Lesson subjects end Scripture texts se lected eed copyrighted by lateraetlonel Coundl of TUflftous Education; need by THE DEFEAT OF THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM LESSON TEXT?Jeremiah Iff: 1-1C, 11*, GOLDEN TEXT?Cora., and lat a* re turn tint. tb. Lord ?Ho... I:L o History repeats itself. Men never seem to learn from the experiences of others, whether they be personal or national. Judah, the southern part of the divided kingdom, saw the downward path of Israel and Its ul timate captivity. The same process went on in Judah, although hindered now and then by good kings who brought about a partial return to God. Ultimately the day came when Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's troops and the people carried off to their long years of captivity in Babylon. Jeremiah ministered as God's prophet during Judah's declining years, bringing them God's word of Judgment for their sins and urging them to submit His voice was un heeded and for his faithfulness he received only their hatred and per secution. God gave him the strength and graoe to be true in a very diffi cult mission. Our lesson for today tells how God in a graphic object lesson taught the prophet and the people that they were in the han^s of a sympathetic but at the same time a sovereign ClnA I. The Potter ul His Work (vv. 1-4). The maker of pottery took the lump of clay, placed it on his wheel, and with his hand formed it into the kind of vessel he wanted. If it became misshapen or showed a de fect, he could moisten and remold the clay into another vessel as it suited him. The clay was in his hand to meet his purpose and his will. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan fittingly suggests that there are three things to be borne in mind here: a prin ciple, a purpose, and a person. And as we apply the truth to ourselves as God's children, we spell the Per son of the Potter with a capital "P," for He is none other than God Him self. The principle is that God is abso lutely sovereign, that He does as He wills for His own glory. Until we recognize that principle, "life will be a failure. If, however, I have dis covered this principle alone, then my soul will be filled with terror. I must also see the purpose." The purpose Is the working out of His will for each of us. He knows us, and He has a plan for our lives, and is able to make that plan come to pass if we permit Him to do so. But, as Dr. Morgan says, "if I know principle and purpose only, I , shall yet tremble and wonder, and be fllledwith a haunting foreboding." But as "I press through the principle and beyond the purpose and discov er the Person of the Potter, then the purpose will flame with light, and the principle that appears so hard and severe will become the sweetest and tenderest thing in my life." God spoke to Jeremiah through the scene In the potter's house, and He also wants to talk to our hearts. H. God and Jadah (w. 5-10, 15a, 17a). The lesson Is plain. God had for His people a high and glorious pur pose. He wanted to bless them and use them for His glory. But they were a sinful and rebellious people, stiff-necke&md stubborn in,their un belief, and the vessel of honor which God was trying to form was marred | in His hand. God did not act in anger or in disregard of their rights. He was forced to bring lodgment upon them because of their own sin. That sin' is stated in verse IS?they had for gotten God. One trembles as he applies that test of God's requirement for bless ing upon a nation to our own land. There is a haunting fear that while there are some who truly worship God, and a larger number who pro fess to worship Him, a great host of the people of America have forgot ten God. Does our nation remember Him and seek His counsel and blessing in its national affairs? Do see in quire after the ways of righteous ness? Are we eager for spiritual revival and increasing grace even within the church? Judah was to be scattered "as with an east wind"?and who does not know that it came to pass. Where are they today? But even in the midst of Judgment the Lord speaks of mercy. The Lord who will "pluck up, break down and destroy" (v. 7) the people who forget Him, is eager and ready "to build and to plant" the nation when it turns to Him. The sure promise of God's future blessing upon a repentant Israel and Judah is written large in the mes sages of all the prophets. The same God, eternally sovereign in His purpose, is our heavenly Fa ther. The man or woman whose ves sel of life has been marred by sin and failure need only yield anew to the Potter's blessed hand. | Looking at HtiLLVHOUl I A FTER all hia years here the town hasn't yet been able to corral and brand Walter Boston as a complete Hollywoodian. It isn't that Walter's snooty. It's just that he prefers the outdoor life of a rugged man to the social stuffed shirt of some of our cinema gentle men. Give him uie wiue. open spaces and you can have your too - too swank small talk. "I don't live away from Holly wood because I don't go in for so cial life," Walter told me as we chatted on the set of "Ten Little In dians." "When you come right down to it, social lite isn't important any more. People say it is, but all that counts is the job you do on the screen. You can be perfectly happy here without ever doing anything but go to a drive-in for a hambur ger. It's just that I'm a funny kind of a guy. I have to get out where I can breathe?where I can get com pletely apart from pictures when I want to. But don't get me wrong? I love pictures." When he's making one he lives at the Beverly Hills hotel, but Walter has two other homes where he goes whenever he can get away. One is his huge and ultra mountain lodge in Running Springs, in the San Bernar dino mountains. The other, his 8,000 acre cattle ranch at Porterville, Calif. T ? _ ?_ mm Walter Boston i ne inner man It's in these two places that you'll uncover the real Huston, the man who is not an actor, but the man who has found that elusive some thing you're always hearing about and always wondering what it really is?happiness. When you're talking to this char acter actor who has dignified so many important films, conversation switches from his lodge and ranch to his favorite subject?his son, John. In Walter's mind John is the best director?and writer?in Flick erville. "Give John a story he likes, let him alone, and he'll come up with the doggonedest picture you ever saw," Walter told me. "There's nothing I'd like better than to go into the producing business with John when the war's over." Rare Bird far Hollywood Walter's modest. He never talks about his performances?just goes ahead, does his job the best he knows how, and shuts up. His whole life has been one^af plugging away at acting. Even when he was a kid in Toronto, Canada, he knew he was going to act. There was a matter of schooling. He was one of the worst students Canada had ever known, so it wasn't too hard to understand why he left school rather early and got a job as a clerk in a hardware store. From here he joined a dramatic out fit in Toronto, where he stayed un til a traveling repertoire company came along. Then he decided to go to New York. He arrived there frozen stiff; he had jumped a freight during a blizzard. Richard Mansfield was audition ing players and Walter was handed a part. Mansfield personally hon ored him that night by throwing him out of the theater. Electrician, Than Vaadavillitt Next he went to Detroit, tried elec trical engineering, then tried vaude ville. In one of the acta on the cir cuit he was playing there was a girl named Bayonne Whipple. She and Walter deeidsd to merge profes sionally?and maritally. For about 12 years they were headliners on the Keith circuit with their song and dance act. This marriage like a former one blew up. He decided to go on his own with a big-time act. The Schu berts paid him $1,7S0 a week. At 39 he turned to the legitimata stage. He managed to get backing, and made his Broadway debut in "Mr. Pitt." The play wasn't so hot But Walter was. He's never played anything but star roles on Broadway since. It was during the run of "Elmer the Great" that he met Nan Sunder land and later married her. They are still working happily at it. He began to make pictures in 1929, ! and since then has alternated be tween Broadway and Hollywood. I've known Walter for years. He's a square shooter. All he asks of life is a reasonable amount of security, good companionship, and the respect of his fellow men. ? ? ? ThayU Throw Weight Now The Lehman brothers move into the top list of movie moguls with their recent buy of a sizable Mock of . 20th Century-Fox. They bought the i Chase bank holdings of that com pany a couple of years ago. This gives them control of one of the most powerful lots in the industry. They also have their bands in Pars mount, RKO, and in Technicolor. . . . Twentieth Century-Fax thinks It has a second Judy Garland in a little blue-eyed redhead, Georgia Lea Battle. I SEWING CIRCLE NEEDLEWORK A Layette for the New Baby L5'859 m v. A PRETTY and easy-to-make layette for the family favor ite. This six piece set for a new baby can be for a little girl or boy?and will make a wonderful gift. 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The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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May 17, 1945, edition 1
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