Published: May 13, 2008 04:42 pm         

Small Talk- Speaking of directions

GREENVILLE — Speaking of men not stopping to ask for directions, one local man wished that he did. Because when he didn’t think to ask for directions, he said that he endangered his life and the lives of his men.

As a young pilot in WWII, local resident Chuck Davis recalled the time when navigating to find an island in the Pacific Ocean.

Davis said that the article about drivers getting lost brought back memories of his one particular mission and how that episode may have prevented a worse tragedy months later.

Davis was assigned to train as an advanced pilot instructor and to train other men to receive their wings.

“I was lucky enough to be trained to fly P-40s in order to join the flying tigers after their reassignment from China. However, when fate enters the picture, the air war had changed to the bombing of Japan.

“Someone had a great idea of having pilots fly B-29 super bombers on radar so that weather and visibility wouldn’t slow down the attacks. After radar school, I was assigned to a crew headed west from California for the island of Kwajalein for an over night stay and then on to Tinian Island — the main B-29 island.

David, who considered himself a “hot rod” back in the day, said he was assured by the navigator that they would come across extra, strong tail wind, so he plotted the course and time.

“When time was approaching, he called me to start looking for Kawajalein and the plane was now under the control of this ‘ex-hot rod’ trained flghter pilot,” Davis said.

Davis said he found the island through the clouds, turned the control over to the senior pilot, contacted the Kawjalein tower for landing instructions, lower the flaps and landing gear and lined up for the island.

“Seconds later, my day as a hot rod was over, as the Kwajalein tower said that their radar couldn’t find us and diplomatically suggested that we may be near Wotje Island — an island heavily occupied by the Japanese.

“But they made no apparent action to attack. They may have thought that a Japanese pilot had stolen a B-29.

“So from that day on, everyone said I had just wanted to stop in and ask for directions. Even one of the gunners asked me why I hadn’t seen a Japanese flag. And yes, I made a big mistake and placed everyone in grave danger.”

Several missions later, Davis said that fate gave him a second chance.

“Two days after the surrender, we and another crew were chosen to fly to the distant island of Hokaido to drop supplies to a prisoner of war camp.

“That meant landing for fuel on Iwo Jima on the way — where we had landed a month before, after being shot up. Our route was to stay over the ocean because planes flying over that main island had been shot down.

“As fate would have it, a full-blown typhoon had just arrived on Hokaido, which forced us to fly a couple of hundred feet over the water to avoid higher altitude winds.

“My initial monster error before taught me a lesson to explore the configurations of the island first.”

Once the radar saw the landfall, Davis said he knew exactly where they were and which directions to set for the senior pilot. Davis said that the location of the prison of war camp was vague but that it was next to a river that ran down a deep gorge.

“We flew over tree tops in order not to miss the POW that was painted on the roof,” he said. By then, the typhoon had grown to monster size.

‘Within an hour, our day was made. If you think we were excited, you should have seen the wonderful site of those guys below, waving, dancing and yelling at us in the cold rain. The emotion that swept across the whole crew was just as heart warming.”

As the crew started to drop supplies via parachutes, Davis said that some were blown into the cold river.

“Without a pause, the men jumped in for them, and it was a heart warming sight that we’ll never forget.”

After the successful drop, Davis said their fuel was running low because the had to climb over the storm.

“It was an impossible decision, but not for our senior pilot,” Davis said. “He picked up the intercom, announced to everyone that I was going to fly us on radar into the gorge, just above the river, and all the way to the ocean to save our fuel.”

About an hour later, after Davis was able to maneuver a not so easy mission, he said they saw the ocean in front of them. “I told the guys, you may breathe now,” Davis said.

After they neared Iwo Jima, Davis said they picked up a distress call from another B-29, which had ran out of fuel and ditched into the ocean. Davis said they circled the ditched B-29 and waited until all the men were rescued from the ocean.

“Our final mission was to fly over the USS Missouri, as the peace was being signed and with the war over, we all went our separate ways and with our memories. This memory, however, is my favorite.

As for stopping and asking for directions, Davis said, “Before any mission, we all should stop and ask for directions.”



Chesney is a Herald-Banner staff reporter.