Excerpt
Frank was leading a patrol of six P 35 Severskys fighters when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. Franks first warning of the Japanese attack came over his radio from his home base, which was under attack from Japanese bombers at the time. He ordered his flight to turn back toward the field. As they approached the field they could see the fires and explosions caused by the bombs.
Frank spotted a flight of nine Japanese bombers below and to his left. He ordered his flight to follow him and attack the bombers. As the flight of six Severskys dove down toward the nine Japanese bombers they were intercepted by a flight of six Japanese Zero fighters that dropped down upon them from above.
Frank, in the lead, continued his dive toward the bombers while the other five in his flight turned to engage the Zeros. Although the Seversky was considered a United States Army Air Corp front line fighter it was no match for the Japanese Zero. The Japanese pilots were veterans that had flown missions in China, while not one American pilot had ever been in combat and fired a shot in anger at an enemy. Within a few minutes four of the five were shot down by the Zeros. The fifth was in a dive and was being chased by the Zeros. Evidently none of the Zero pilots had spotted Frank. Frank closed the distance between him and the bombers. He came up behind the last twin tailed bomber, later to be designated as Nell by the allies. The Nell was painted a dull brown. He could see the red rising sun on the wing and the fuselage. He could see the machine gun in the top gun blister pointed toward him but the gun didnt open fire.
Frank opened fire with his four machine guns at close range and slightly higher than the Nell. He watched as his tracers walked up the fuselage exploding the gun blister and continuing up and into the cockpit. The Nell dropped its left wing and dove toward the ground the seven crew members had been killed by Franks hail of shells.
Frank turned his attention to the second Nell to his left. The top gunner had now spotted Frank and was firing wildly in his direction. Frank foolishly ignored the gunner and closed in. The pilot of the Nell took evasive action which further hampered the wildly firing top gunner. He turned left, then right, trying to evade Frank. When he foolishly went into a climb Frank opened fire. His shells slammed into the Nells right engine then moved on to the wing root and exploded the fuel tanks.
Frank continued his turn and ran into a hail of bullets from the third Nell in line. The battle-wise pilot maneuvered his plane to place his top gunner in a better position to fire on the attacking P35 Seversky. This gunner was much better than the others. Frank could hear and feel his shells slam into the P35. He knew that the Seversky was a sturdy fighter and could stand up to a lot of punishment. The Japanese pilot of this Nell was good. His evasive actions made it difficult for Frank to get him into his sights. He kept anticipating Franks moves and countering them with his own that would keep him out of Franks sights. Frank finally got into a position where he could open fire. His first burst killed the top gunner. He then shifted his fire to the right wing root. The Nell exploded and Franks third victory of the day floated down toward the ground in little pieces.
Frank looked around. The other six Nells were diving for cloud cover. He started to follow but a glance at what had been his instrument panel made him have second thoughts. The gunner in that third Nell had been good. He had shot out the instrument panel. In the excitement of the battle he didnt even notice.
Frank put the Seversky into a shallow dive and headed for an auxiliary field forty miles south east of his home base. When he landed he found he had made a wise choice. This field hadnt been attacked as yet. His home field runways had been bombed and were in such bad shape a plane couldnt land. Three other Severskys were on the field when Frank landed. They were being serviced at the time of the Japanese attack and never got off the ground.
As Frank got out of his plane the three pilots of the grounded Severskys started toward him. As he watched them approach two of the pilots looked familiar. As they got closer Frank recognized Kelly, the cadet he had in his last class at Randolph. He couldnt place the other pilot but knew he also was a former student. When they stopped before him and saluted, Frank said, in a calm voice, Well Kelly, how are your landings these days?
Kelly dropped his salute, extended his hand, smiled and replied, Fine, Captain Drum, fine. Then he added, Thanks to you. He turned, pointed to one of the pilots and said, Of course you know Taylor also a former student of yours. Then he added, This is Carson, introducing the third pilot.
Frank was the ranking officer so he assumed command of these three planes. It took most of the day for Franks instrument panel to be repaired. Late in the afternoon Frank led a flight of four Severskys on a patrol but encountered no enemy planes.
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