Bomber

Bomber by Paul Dowswell

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Authors: Paul Dowswell
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we’re going to do,’ said Holberg. He sounded terse, but his voice was steady. ‘LaFitte, I need a fuel supply estimate as quickly as you can. Work out how long it’ll take to reach the English coast and what our optimum cruising speed should be to preserve fuel. The rest of you, watch out for night fighters. Skaggs, keep radio silence until absolutely necessary.’
    Harry knew what that meant. If they were going to crash, then Skaggs would be at his post until the last few seconds, transmitting a distress signal.
    Five minutes later, Holberg came over the interphone again. ‘OK. We’re heading straight for the British coast, but for now we’re in enemy airspace. Keep looking for fighters.’
    The next thirty minutes passed in an anxious silence. Then Dalinsky called out to report the exhaust plume of a Nazi fighter at three o’ clock level. Harry tensed up, expecting the Macey May to be raked with cannon fire at any moment.
    There was a rattle of machine-gun fire and at once the interphone sprang into life, with Hill, Dalinsky and Corrales all shouting excitedly.
    ‘Fellas, pipe down,’ said Holberg. ‘Was that them or us?’
    ‘I fired off a few rounds, Captain,’ said Dalinsky. ‘Thought I saw a shape over to the right.’
    Holberg was admirably calm. ‘Everyone take a good look and report back immediately if you can see any aircraft around us.’
    There was another minute’s silence, then the interphone came to life with all the gunners reporting they could see nothing in the black sky. Five minutes passed, then ten. If there had been a night fighter, it had lost them.
    Harry kept rotating his turret, looking out for any sign of a coastal outline but all he could see was the sea. Fifteen minutes later LaFitte came over the interphone. ‘We’ve only got fuel for another fifteen minutes, Captain.’
    ‘OK, Macey May , I want you to prepare to ditch,’ Holberg said. ‘I don’t think we’ll make it to land.’
    There was an ominous pause, then he said, ‘Skaggs, transmit our position as soon as Cain can give it you … And try to get a position for the nearest airfield along the coast. We should be close to the Wash by now, so we might get lucky.’ Then he added, ‘Sergeant Friedman, you can come out of the ball now.’
    As others in the crew carried out last-minute checks, Holberg told any crew who were not occupied to throw anything they could out of the Fortress. It was just like being on a ship that was in danger of sinking. Even the guns had to go – out through the open bomb bay doors.
    Harry passed his own machine guns up to John Hill through the open ball turret hatch. It was a relief to be out of that little steel ball, but he could die just as easily in the plane with the rest of them. Despite his fear he felt a fleeting regret that this magnificent machine, with its thousands of carefully assembled and maintained working parts,would shortly become a rusting heap of junk at the bottom of the sea.
    His duty done, he went to join the others who had congregated in the radio operator’s compartment between the bomb bay and his turret. Only Holberg and Stearley were left in the front of their aircraft. Harry didn’t envy them, with the awful responsibility of a night ditching. No one in their right mind would want to put a B-17 down in a choppy sea.
    If Holberg screwed up the landing and dipped the tail in first, rather than landing level, then the most likely place for the B-17 to break in two was the exact spot they were all sitting. He tried not to think of what would happen to them if that occurred. They’d be flying at 100 miles an hour. They’d be killed for sure.
    ‘Life vests on,’ said Bortz, the bombardier, who was the most senior officer there among them. ‘And don’t go inflating them before we’re out the plane.’
    They all placed their yellow life vests over their heads and they checked one another’s to make sure they had fastened the harnesses correctly. Skaggs stayed

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