FROM THE AUTHOR: Pearl Harbor galvanized America to convert
peacetime production capacity to war levels, intensify recruiting,
and expand every facet of its military training system. Those of us
who wanted to fly found on Monday, 8 December 1941, that a
difficult written test would satisfy the two years of college
prerequisite to enter the Aviation Cadet aircrew-training program.
We still faced a rigorous physical exam and batteries of
psychological and intelligence evaluations plus specific aptitude
tests. The process was intense, demanding, and time consuming. Only
41 survivors of several hundred original applicants in the Boston
area became aviation cadets on 18 March 1942. Five days later, we
reported to Santa Ana Army Air Base, California, for preflight
training-the first of four phases en route to pilot, navigator, or
bombardier wings. Santa Ana was a new base with no roads or
buildings. Tents were used for every purpose. The wettest rainy
season in years converted the base into a muddy quagmire.
Amazingly, the program stayed on schedule despite almost impossible
living and working conditions. I found a remarkable can-do attitude
to be characteristic of Army personnel in every step of the
training process. Our class opened a new primary flight school in
Scottsdale and a new basic flight school in Marana, both in
Arizona. Neither was ready for occupancy, but the Army made do and
opened on time, producing graduates who met course completion
standards despite obvious handicaps. On 4 January 1943, Class 43-A
graduated from Luke Field on schedule with more than 400 new
pilots. Other advanced flying bases produced similar numbers to
provide a steady flow of young Americans to support theater
requirements for combat aircrews. Operational P-40 training in
Sarasota, Florida, started two weeks later. The schedule provided
the necessary 40 hours for each of us in eight weeks. By the end of
March, we reported to Dale Mabry Field, Tallahassee, Florida, for
overseas processing. With our gear, we boarded a new four-engine
C-54 for Africa via Miami, Trinidad, Belem, Ascension Island, and
Accra. Many of us volunteered to ferry P-40s from Lagos (down the
coast from Accra) through equatorial Africa to Cairo-an unlikely
saga, completed successfully-without maps or navigational aids.
That ferry trip was the first example of an indomitable can-do
determination to complete the mission. That attitude became the
defining characteristic of leadership philosophy in the 57th
Fighter Group. Those selected for positions of greater
responsibility had to demonstrate leadership capability-the ability
to think under pressure and the determination to get the job done.
The last two chapters focus on highlights of the more memorable
missions that took place during two years of bitter fighting
between implacable enemies-one who never gave ground willingly, and
one who never quit trying to find a better way to get the job done.
For the most part, the events are accurate accounts with due
allowance for fallible memories of participants who have survived
some 60 years since these events demanded and received complete
concentration from all who were part of the 57th Fighter Group. At
a recent gathering of old fighter pilots, everyone agreed with the
sequence of the missions but each of us had a different memory of
where we were flying in the formation. Air University.
General
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