Rozell, Matthew - The Things Our Fathers Saw 02 - War in the Air: From the Great Depression to Combat by Rozell Matthew

Author:Rozell, Matthew [Rozell, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

Earl Morrow, first row, far left and his B-17 bomber crew. 1944.

Source: Earl Morrow

chapter Eight

The Pilot

Earl Montgomery Morrow was born on June 27th, 1921 in West Pawlet, Vermont. His father, a school teacher, decided to take up farming across the border in Washington County, New York.

Earl first came on my radar when he called me up twenty years ago, having heard of my interest in World War II veterans and their stories. ‘I just had to call you, and ask—why are you doing this?’ Why are you interested in our stories?’ Later, he would be a frequent visitor to my classroom, and I even got to introduce him to the granddaughter of the man who liberated him, General George Patton. I would also be invited to sit with him and two other B-17 veterans at his dining room table as they reunited after many years to swap stories of the day they were shot down and their prisoner of war experience, to be detailed in the sequel to this book.

This interview was recorded in 2009 when Earl was 88 years old in the rural farmhouse he grew up in, B-17 memorabilia and photographs adorning the walls.

***

Duties of the Pilot

Your assignment to the B-17 airplane means that you are no longer just a pilot. You are now an airplane commander, charged with all the duties and responsibilities of a command post.

You are now flying a 10-man weapon. It is your airplane, and your crew. You are responsible for the safety and efficiency of the crew at all times--not just when you are flying and fighting, but for the full 24 hours of every day while you are in command.

Your crew is made up of specialists. Each man -- whether he is the navigator, bombardier, engineer, radio operator, or one of the gunners -- is an expert in his line. But how well he does his job, and how efficiently he plays his part as a member of your combat team, will depend to a great extent on how well you play your own part as the airplane commander.

Get to know each member of your crew as an individual. Know his personal idiosyncrasies, his capabilities, his shortcomings. Take a personal interest in his problems, his ambitions, his need for specific training.

See that your men are properly quartered, clothed, and fed. There will be many times, when your airplane and crew are away from the home base, when you may even have to carry your interest to the extent of financing them yourself. Remember always that you are the commanding officer of a miniature army -- a specialized army; and that morale is one of the biggest problems for the commander of any army, large or small.

Crew Discipline

Your success as the airplane commander will depend in a large measure on the respect, confidence, and trust which the crew feels for you. It will depend also on how well you maintain crew discipline.

Your position commands obedience and respect. This does not mean that you have to be stiff-necked, overbearing, or aloof.

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