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Show ROBERT THAYER D MB '20 2 those missions were real rough ones and when they'd see how far it w nt into ermany and that, they groaned. They just hated to see that. And they'd cheer if it was just going over to the French coast and hitting something there. But then, in addition to that the commanding officer told them about the mission, what he expected of them and everything, and he told them who was leading the formation, and usually one of the commanders, a squadron commander, or our commander, or our deputy commander, or operations officer, one of those high-ranking officers would lead our formation. BEC: I see. ROB: And then the intelligence got up and told them what to expect on fighters and the flack, and gave them alternate airfields to fly to. Oh, just all kinds of intelligence that they had gathered for them. And then the ordnance got up and told them what kind of bombs they had on there, and when they were to be released, and how they had to activate the fuses before they dropped them. When they took off they had little pins in them so they wouldn't explode so when just before, when they were due to drop them, they activated the fuse. Actually, as I remember it-and a lot of it's a long time ago-but there was a little wheel that when the bomb went down that little thing spun off, and then the fuse was activated. BEC: ROB: BEC: ROB: BEC: ROB: I see. I'm talking too much; going into to great a detail. No. This is exactly what I want you to tell me. Is it? (laughs) Yes. Well, you tell me if I'm talking too much, will you? 21 |
