The map man would describe the coast of Europe at the
entry point and additional points of identification along the way so
we would be certain of our location. He explained where we would be
likely to encounter flak (the big German guns) and where we could
anticipate the most enemy fighters. We wrote down all of this
information on a pad fastened just above our knee so we could refer
to it in a hurry.
All this time you could hear the steady roar of the bombers taking
off. When there were about a 1,000 four engine bombers taking off you
could hear it all over southeastern England. It took a good hour for
all the bombers in a squadron to get into the air and another half
hour for them to get to the right altitude where they would circle
until in formation and ready to head for the target in Europe. They
used a lot of gasoline and time just getting ready to go. After our
briefing we would all make our trip to the bathroom and then to the
equipment room to get our parachutes and other equipment. We didn't
have to leave the field until about two hours after the bombers
because we were so much faster. We would catch up with them soon
after they crossed the coastline of Europe and it was a very pretty
sight to see the formations of B-17s in the sky for miles ahead,
especially on a sunny day. Some days there would be big white clouds
and the B-17s would create their own clouds from vapor trails.
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