When they pulled back the drape there was a red ribbon
from our base to the target and back. If it was a short ribbon
everyone would cheer and a long ribbon would fill the room with
groans. Our first mission was across the Channel to France to see if
any German planes would come up. We ran into no opposition and it was
an easy time. It is not too clear after all these years, but I
remember that first mission we were short of equipment and I flew
without either a parachute or a life raft. I believe it was a
parachute I was missing because that usually fit into the bucket seat
to raise you up and I filled mine with a jacket and rags. It was on my
mind the whole mission that if anything happened I would have to land
the plane and not bail out. We were ordered to fly ... and we had to
go, but that never happened again.
I will not be able to describe the missions in order, so I will simply
describe experiences as I recall them. We had a nice concrete runway
at this base but Captain McCall only flew a couple of missions as our
squadron leader. lieutenant DeLong led most of the early missions and
McCalls record was so bad he was soon replaced. We got a West Point
grad who wasn't much better, but he was big on discipline. This was
completely lost on a bunch of fighter pilots. When you go through long
missions and lose a lot of your best friends, you are not about to
spend time worrying about West Point rules and regulations.
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