Midnight Flight to Nuremberg by Marcus Nannini

Author:Marcus Nannini
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Aviation & Nautical
Publisher: Air World
Published: 2021-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

Al unbuckled his seat belt and quickly disappeared into the back of the plane, returning about a minute later with the nurses, Chief and Sparky. In the interim, Harry began flying a circular course, staying well-off the sopped-in French coast.

“Listen up everyone,” said Harry, “I’ve been thinking about this fog situation.” He paused as he sought the best words. “I’ve calculated it cost Uncle Sam a good 250,000 bucks to train me, and it’s my opinion if we turned around now and went home because the weather’s not perfect, well, that just makes no sense to me. I have a flight instructor rating which, if you ladies don’t know, means I teach pilots to fly. I’m perfectly comfortable flying strictly by instruments and have probably experienced worse weather conditions than what we’re facing today. I think we must consider whole blood has a limited life, not to mention how many of our men might die if we don’t at least get our two tons of blood to Orly today. Who knows when this fog will lift and how much blood might go to waste while we wait? It could be tomorrow, but what if it’s not? Since I arrived in England I’ve lost more flying days to fog than I can shake a stick at, and I’m tired of it.” Harry paused as he made eye contact with each person. “I’m asking all of you to trust me. Let me fly us to Orly. I promise I’ll get us there in one piece, but I need all of you to be in agreement and to understand there is a risk, so if anyone has any qualms, speak up, and we’ll turn back.”

Al was the first to respond:

“Count me in Harry!”

The two nurses shook their heads in the affirmative and walked back to their seats, whispering to each other. Whatever their thoughts might have been, they didn’t choose to share them, nor did Harry ask.

Harry turned to Chief and Sparky: “How about it?”

“We’re in.” Chief paused as a smile came across his face. “And who knows, maybe we can spend the night in Paris after all.”

“Ok, let’s get to Orly,” said Harry, who re-buckled himself into his seat. He checked his airspeed, 150mph, and calculated a dead reckoning course for Orly.

It wasn’t long before he realized the fog extended more than one mile out from the coast. He lacked knowledge of what the coastal terrain was like and didn’t recall whether there were cliffs, trees, or houses awaiting him. He had to drop the plane to the point he was flying just above the waves to achieve minimal forward visibility. Though the altitude was perilously low, he could see just far enough ahead to know where he was. If he flew any higher, he’d be in absolute zero visibility, and he believed some visibility was better than none at all. He trusted his instincts, and they told him to hug the waves. Flying above the clouds was out of the question as there could be German fighter aircraft present.

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