A Sword in the Darkness by Jeffrey A. Romero

Author:Jeffrey A. Romero
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781512786521
Publisher: WestBow Press
Published: 2017-08-17T07:00:00+00:00

XXIX

Captain Tegan Braden walked from the Bachelor Officer’s Quarters to the Flight line.

For eight months he had been instructing advanced combat tactics.

Several of the students he instructed had already made significant impacts on the war effort. Many had made ace and exceeded his score.

Tegan was amazed at how many of these pilots were so very young.

He instructed many pilots who were eighteen and nineteen years old.

As Tegan walked, he could never get use to the combination of heat and humidity of a summer at Majors Field in Greenville, Texas. He liked the state and the people, but he was a northern Colorado boy.

Tegan was used to the warm dry summers in Fort Collins.

The summer nights in Fort Collins were the best. Tegan’s last leave after his return from North Africa, was in the dead of winter. Fortunately, Tegan also loved the winters in Colorado.

The one thing Tegan didn’t like about Texas was the two visits he made to Moore Field in McAllen for gunnery. Tegan didn’t think much of McAllen.

The problem for Tegan was that a raging air war was occurring in Europe and he was stuck training the young men for fighter combat. He knew it was important, but he was built to be involved in the hardest and most dangerous part of war. Furthermore, he had proven he could excel. The air war had escalated in the last six months with increased fighter support for bomber missions into Europe.

The B-17 was designed to be self-defending and not need fighter coverage.

Once again, the experts got it wrong. The B-17, though an exceptional bomber and probably the best in the world, still needed fighter protection.

The last six months saw an intense buildup of the 8th and 9th Air Forces in England for the inevitable invasion of Fortress Europe and as the allies gained islands in the Pacific, more fighter groups were needed for the expanding front.

Tegan was stuck again stateside watching a world at war, but he was very serious about his job because men’s lives were at stake.

Tegan’s only sign of justice was that Ridder was relieved due to incompetence. Ridder could not gloss over his inability to lead by constantly sucking up to his superiors. He finally found a commander who would only accept performance and Ridder didn’t measure up.

Tegan also heard that Stevens was court-martialed for misuse of his position and lying to 12th Air Force HQ investigators concerning 132nd Fighter Group’s final mission.

Stevens’ statements concerning Tegan’s conduct were found to be slanderous and were meant to ensure Tegan was convicted. He had no real corroboration for the charges and there were a multitude of contradictory statements by a vast majority of the men of the 132nd.

Doolittle was a national hero and a Medal of Honor recipient. He led by example, especially in April of 1942, when the Aircraft Carrier Hornet carrying Doolittle’s Raiders, was spotted by an enemy ship a couple hundred miles short of their intended launch position.

Doolittle took off first. He had the shortest

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