Berlin Candy Bomber by Gail Halvorsen

Author:Gail Halvorsen [Неизв.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Casemate Publishers & Book Distributors, LLC
Published: 2017-01-06T20:00:00+00:00

Some New York children receiving instructions on how it is done, September 1948.

On the next flight the weather forecast for Tempelhof was for worse-than-usual conditions. “Don’t be surprised if you have to bring the load back this trip,” the weatherman warned. “It doesn’t look good.” John picked up a big box of Little Vittles. “From the sound of things we’ll probably have to drop these in a location identified by radar this trip,” he said with a chuckle. “A blind drop makes for a big surprise.”

The closer we got to Tempelhof the more accurate the forecast looked. We were getting bounced around and were picking up some ice. I said, “Sgt. Elkins, get ready to flip the windshield anti-icing switch on, and follow up with John to see he opens the control knob just off his right knee. If we’re lucky enough to break out in time, I want the ice off the windshield.” Elkins really didn’t need the reminder. He wanted us to see through that windshield as much as we did. The ice on the leading edge of the wings was thick enough to activate the deicer boots. Elkins had the Aldis lamp checking every few minutes. The prop deicers were working. The rat-tat-tat of ice coming off the props against the fuselage was keeping us awake.

“Give radar a call and ask for a fix over the Britz area. Let’s unload these little parachutes before we hit the Wedding beacon. They don’t need anti-icing,” I said with anticipation. We didn’t have long to wait.

Elkins was dispatched to the escape hatches in the cargo compartment and returned a short time later to report that he had not only deployed the chutes but had been over generous by contributing his wristwatch. The expansion wristband on the watch was very loose and the slip stream had caught it just right to include the watch with the candy and gum. “Hope that darn thing works better for them than it did for me,” he said without a great sense of loss.

We all had a much-needed good laugh before the seriousness of the immediate approach and landing again demanded all we had. The sleet was coming down in torrents and the turbulence tested our abilities to stay on course.

“Hope the GCA doesn’t blow a fuse tonight,” John said with some concern. Into the approach pattern we picked up GCA right on cue. After turning final and responding to the Final Controller’s request for a communications check he took over with:

This is your final controller. You need not acknowledge any further transmissions. You are approaching the center line from right to left. Your landing gear should be down and locked. You are five miles to touch down. Approaching the glide path, approaching the center line. Turn right five degrees, heading 269, prepare to begin rate of decent at 550 feet per minute in about 30 seconds. Heading is good, on the center line, approaching the glide path. Begin your rate of decent now. You are drifting left of center line; turn right two degrees to 271.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.