Great description, Cap! Sounds like you've been there, done that.
i sometimes wish i could say i had been. i admire those guys like no others. i know/knew a few fighter pilots in rl, a top turret gunner, a phantom driver from vietnam......i manage to get them all to talk. sometimes they don't want to, but eventually, they slip into the past a little, and talk to us.
the phantom driver i know is a marine. he's the guy that took me up in his super decathalon. he came to our CAP squadron, and talked to the kids about his service.
one of them asked him if he was ever scared, and what was the hardest mission he ever flew. he told them that only a liar would say that he was never scared in that situation.....and he was on every mission. his hardest run was in support of ground troops, flying low, below the cloud cover. he came in, was lining up for a run, and took ground fire. one single bullet hit a main electrical harness in the belly. he lost most everything.
he climbed above the cloud layer, got out his charts, and pointed himself in what he thought was the right direction. when it was time to descend, he was at 400ft before he broke through the clouds, and a couple miles past his base. he couldn't get his ords off the wings. he had to pull the emergency gear handle to get his gear down. he was lucky to get back, and on the ground.
i met a bombardier from a b17...flew 23 missions before the war ended. he came to cap for us too. he still had the piece of shrapnel that nearly killed him.
one of the mustang drivers in our r/c club passed 2 summers ago. he used to talk about the mustangs, how they flew, how he used to make sure he burned off the aft fuel tank first........
when we get these guys started, we all gather 'round like a bunch of ten year olds, all googly eyed and entranced listening to them.
one of the things that really struck me, was tom. he told us he cried when he had to give up his mustang at the end of the war. he was attached to her, and they had been through a lot together.
