CR435N

Pearl Harbor by Rob Roy Carruthers, 1st Lt AAC

On the evening of Dec. 6th, 1941, in a little white building removed a few yards from the flying line, a group of officers and men held a brief meeting. The purpose of this assembly was for clearing up last minute details and giving final instructions.

Gathered here were eight crews of the 88th Reconnaissance Squadron who were departing on this night, flying their new Fortresses to Oahu on the first leg of a trip to the far East. This was a momentous occasion for these men. It marked a permanent change of station for them and it was the first flight of such a kind that they had ever made. Weeks of arduous careful work had gone into the preparation for this important flight; planes had been checked and rechecked, crew members had been given a thorough training, maps had been studied and routes charted; graphs had been made almost everyone was busy doing his best to make sure that there would be nothing left untouched.

With a few exceptions, the last minute discussion concerned merely routine matters and after a short while the engines were started up and seven of the group took off. One plane was found to have engine trouble and failed to leave.

As the huge Fortresses soared out over San Francisco Bay and turned slowly, gradually settling on a course with their noses pointed in the direction of a spot some 2400 statue miles to the southwest, the thoughts of these men were saying good bye to the life behind them and were expectant about the things to come.

And thirteen hours later as each of the now six crews (one having turned back due to ignition trouble) sighted the first island, the men knew that it was only a matter of minutes before Oahu and landing at Hickam Field and then a two or three day layover in the warm sunshine of the island.

But as they passed by Diamond Head, flew along Waikiki Beach and came upon Hickam Field at a few minutes after eight o'clock on Sunday morning their thoughts took a queer turn. Their bewilderment passed any confusion they had ever known, their surprise was equaled only by the great shock of realizing the awful significance of what they witnessed.

They saw full well what was taking place below them. They saw the planes afire, the bombs bursting and oil covered Pearl Harbor in flames and American warships belching smoke and anti-aircraft fire. Around them everywhere they could see small planes raining lead and bombs upon the personnel hanger buildings, planes and boats beneath. They noticed the black of anti-aircraft fire as ground forces attempted to shoot at the invading planes. Here were the deadly effective methods modern warfare exhibited before them and it is amazing to that during this melee all of the six ships managed to land safely on golf courses, emergency fields or regular runways. The pilots of these bombers successfully dodged the enemy.

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{A\FC\NAV-EC} Evacuation of MacArthur by E Carruthers Nav 435th sqd

[03-16-42 Aus Nav on Bostroms crew] General MacArthur and President Quezon could well have left the Philippines on the same evening so closely paralleled were the events and facts surrounding each of their flights to Australia. The fact that the first evacuation went off successfully no doubt contributed to the second one coming off in a like plan.

Major General (then Brigadier General) Ralph Royce, General Prott's Chief of Staff at the time, flew up to our base one Sunday morning with the exciting news that our squadron was to select three crews for an out of the ordinary flight to the Philippines. The reason was given at the time, but the utmost secrecy was kept by all who were to make the flight. Only the officers were told of the details and it was left to the navigators to map out a route that would not proximate any of the many Japanese bases on the way to the destination. The interest shown by the men participating was keen and all looked forward to the prospect of getting a view of just what was going on up in the Philippines.

So a couple of days later four crews left our base to fly to a spot in north central Australia which would serve as the hopping off place. The flight was practically all over water with frequent glimpses of islands on the way. The areas over which we flew were beset with severe tropical storms and on the second flight (Quezon's) we were forced to alter our course a bit to avoid them.

Due no the fact that the Japanese occupied most of the island on which we had the rendezvous, it was thought best to come in after dark. Naturally the place where the supposed secret field lay was in the blackout; the enemy was aware of the field and had any planes been seen there in the day time they would have been bombed, and even at night no chances could be taken. This made it a bit more difficult for the navigators and coupled with the fact that it was quite a long flight, there was not too much time available for cruising around and hunting for the place.

But the flight went off well and the only disappointing feature was that two of the four planes did not get up the first night due to engine trouble. One of' these flew up the next evening. Upon arriving the crews were fed and we spent a couple of unforgettable hours in swapping stories with the many men around the field. All of them were optimistic as to their chances of leaving on that night. Some came up and asked if they could stow away and when the last mail was in the second plane their faces showed their disappointment, but they gritted their teeth and hoped for succeeding planes to come. Many letters were flown out on that night and many people were glad a few weeks later when they received them. We had delivered a lot of medical supplies and other comforting things which were sorely needed. It was about two and a half hours after we’d landed that we took off again and started the long flight back.

The weather was excellent and it is doubtful if General MacArthur ever had as smooth a flight as he had that night. We were thankful for that. Mrs MacArthur and the General's son both stood up well under the long flight and the General himself was in high spirits as we neared the Australian coast. After landing, the party flew inland and thence took a train to Melbourne. We had delivered our precious cargo safe and sound and we felt pretty swell about it. The General thanked us and this was a big moment for everyone, the crew as well as the pilots.

[03-26-42 Nav on Dubose crew] It was but a few days later when we were notified that the squadron was again to send some planes up to the same place. The crews were changed with the exception of the navigators who were chosen a second time for it was figured that they would have less trouble finding the place, having once been there.

This time three planes were scheduled and three made the hop. The features were similar, except as noted the weather was considerably worse. The first time it was perfect but this time it was about as bad as it could have been. We were glad to get down on the ground when we did, even though we knew we'd have to fly back through it in a few hours.

President Quezon was a very excited person. Perhaps this was due to the fact that he hadn't flown before. His family marked a contrast as they were very cool and seemed to regard it all as merely another novelty in the modern art of warfare. We got a kick out of the President as he seemed very interested in our big plane and in the pilot who was to fly it.

The next morning when we arrived again in Australia, he had a lot of kind words for the crew and probably convinced that airplanes were pretty handy things.

The crews would have jumped at the chance to fly back there again. There was something about those flights that made them quite different from the routine bombing missions that we were engaged in at our base.