Double Ace by Robert Coram

Author:Robert Coram
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466835429
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

21

LEAVING CHINA

Chennault’s genius for tactics and Scott’s genius for colorful leadership turned the Twenty-third into a fast-moving, nimble, and unpredictable combat organization that had an impact far out of proportion to its size. It would be more than four decades before the qualities manifested by these two men would become codified by a retired Air Force colonel named John Boyd, who talked of “OODA Loops” and “getting inside the enemy’s decision cycle.”

An example of the agility displayed by the Twenty-third came in September, when Chennault issued orders for Scott to launch an attack against Japanese shipping at Pajang. Within an hour, Scott took off with four aircraft, picked up four more at Changi, and then landed, refueled, and loaded bombs for a mission that would launch at daylight the next day. He and his men arose at 4 a.m., had a preflight briefing, took off at 6 a.m., and began dropping bombs at 7:45 a.m. They sank seven of the ten vessels in the harbor.

Scott’s group landed and refueled, attacked a troop train, landed and strapped on more bombs, and in an unexpected and slashing attack, again bombed the harbor north of Nanchang.

Scott’s skill at low-level bombing was rarely equaled. When his men asked him how he became so good at such an esoteric art, he said that tossing crenshaw melons out of the cockpit taught him most of what he knew. They did not know whether or not to believe him.

* * *

After Chennault and Scott linked arms in China, they took the initiative from Japan. And the Japanese were never again able to regain that initiative. The two Southerners were legatees of men who had been fighting all their lives, men who knew how to use the old rules of war and to invent new rules. Masters of surprise, speed, and violence—the three ingredients of any successful attack—Chennault and Scott showed the Japanese they no longer ruled Chinese skies.

Chennault craved respect, but he knew he would never have the respect of Arnold and Bissell. Scott craved the approval of his mother, but because he could never please her, he could never please himself, and he was always looking over his shoulder out of fear that the people in the Training Command would call him home.

Chennault and Scott often escaped administrative chores by going bird hunting. And the monsoon never sent enough rain to stop their hunting trips. In September, Scott and Chennault went on a four-day dove-hunting trip and, as they often did, shot dozens of birds for their Chinese cooks to prepare for the mess.

Both Chennault and Scott liked an occasional drink of scotch. But it was rare for either to drink to excess. The scotch was a lubricant so the stories could come easier. The scotch was a propellant for griping about Bissell and the grinding administrative orders being sent down by the Tenth Air Force. The scotch was a fuel for head-shaking complaints about Stilwell and his nonsense about infantry soldiers.

While scotch eased the rigors of constant combat, both Chennault and Scott were serious men engaged in serious work.

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