Robert E. Irion, Sandy, Utah: an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann, September 20, 2002: Saving the legacy tape no. 537, 538, and 539

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Robert E. Irion eptember 20th, 2002 So anyhow, about three weeks later or so I'm flying with the same guy Bert Stiles, on my wing. And Boyd Jackson by this time was leading the squadron I think on this next mission. I'm flying in the second flight with Tom Rich leading our flight. And we're up on a mission that was terrible, terrible weather that day. And as we get within about seventy-five miles of the target area, the front was building up higher and higher and the bombers were trying to climb and couldn't get up and over it. And finally, they scrubbed the whole mission. They called the abort call sign for everybody to turn back. The whole mission was aborted - all the bombers turned around, start turning back. As they're turning back, we- Boyd didn't know it, but he slid us right in under a bomber formation! Somebody looked up and here's the bomb bay doors open- they're going to jettison their bombs because they're not going to carry them home! And somebody's screaming, "Get us out from under here, Boyd!" So we get out from under there and probably, it hadn't been five minutes later, and we're up about between twenty-five and twenty-seven thousand feet. And all of a sudden I can't breathe and I get this feeling like I'm choking. And I thought, "What the hell?" And I look at my oxygen gauge and it's sitting at zero. Now, I'm at twenty-five, twenty-seven thousand feet, with no oxygen. At that altitude you've got about thirty seconds of consciousness left before it knocks you out and you pass out. And I remembered that Owen Farmer, my flight leader I was telling you about when I first went into the squadron, one of the things he said: "If you ever lose your oxygen at altitude, don't try to figure out what's happened - just get the nose pointed 76