Chapter 3

It's December of 1944 (just before the Battle of the Bulge) and the days are very short. Almost any mission to a deep penetration target starts long before dawn and almost always ends very late in the day or near darkness.

There in the darkness on the hardstand sits the object of all this activity. Loaded with bombs, guns, and gasoline. The ground crew have been up most of the previous night preparing her for this mission. Less than a half hour ago the engines were "run up" to check their performance and insure that she is indeed ready. The only noise heard now in the immediate vicinity is the constant drone of the "putt-putt" also known as the APU or auxiliary power unit, a small gasoline-driven generator.

The crew is assembled in the ground crew's shelter near the hardstand. This is a regulation Army Pyramidal tent which provides some shelter for the ground crews through the long winter night. American ingenuity allowed the ground crew to fashion a very efficient stove for heating the tent. It's made of a 55 gallon oil drum cut in half lengthwise with a couple of hinges welded on. It lays on its side on a makeshift brick foundation. A stack goes through the tent roof. The fuel, drain oil from the engines, is in plentiful supply. There is a steel grating inside the stove and on this lie broken pieces of "bomb rings", which are rings of hard pressed paper cardboard used to cushion bombs during shipment. These are broken up into chunks and provide a base on which the oil can spread and combust more easily. These rings are also in plentiful supply on a bomber base.

It's cozy in the tent. It's occupied mostly by the flying crew right now, engaged in small talk. No mention of targets. Hardly ever any talk about the war. The talk is about home, home towns and relatives. The talk is low and subdued but in no way is it gloomy.

Soon it will be "stations time" when all crews must be at their aircraft and ready to climb aboard. This timing is critical. It considers the fine line drawn for fuel consumption. Just time to check the engines, check magnetos and instruments. Then Yellow/yellow flares from the tower will tell us when all aircraft are to move into a single file rank in order of takeoff priority. The movements are precise...almost ballet-like.

Just before "start engines" time, the props have to be "pulled through". This calls for crew members to manually pull through a propellor blade so that after nine blades have been rotated, each engine has been turned three revolutions. This ensures that the lower cylinders of the radial engines will be cleared of any possible "liquid lock" which might damage the engine upon starting.

It's now drawing close to to "start engines" time and the crew climbs aboard.