We were
all second Lieutenants except for one first lieutenant, Martin DoLong
from Dansville, N.Y. and our commanding officer, Captain McCall. Our
commander was a very poor leader and was scared to death to fly a
mission. Most of the other groups in England were led by majors or
colonels and sometimes even by a general. Good leaders made all the
difference, and the squadrons had much better combat records than we
did because of this. Those squadrons with good records were sent to
the areas where most of the fighting was taking place. Most of our
missions were led by the first Lieutenant Martin DeLong. Years after
the War I heard that he was a colleqe professor down in Dansville But
never got down there to see him.
When we flew missions, our squadron flew four flights of four planes
in each flight and the other two squadrons the same. On occasions we
were down a few planes due to damage. Our flight was usually Tilsen
leading with his wingman and I with my wingman. 0n one mission I led
our flight. Most often Bruce flew as my wingman. When you were flying,
your wingman was supposed to protect you from an attack from behind.
It was good to have a friend there.
We had our own doctor at the field and he was a nice fellow a Michael
DeMaio MD. He was always checking us as he certified us for flying
duty and could ground anyone for sickness or flying fatigue. We also
had a dentist, Dr. Axelrod, to whom I went a couple of times.
Pages:
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116