John E. Osguthorpe, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, June 24, 2004: Saving the Legacy tape no. 667

Page 20

JOHN E. 0 GUTHORPE J 24 2 04 of the water and up the ramp by the means of a tractor. It would return th am way. The maintenance crew lived on a ship, a seaplane tender named the U. 'S urti , anchored in the bay. At about this time, I was called to flight headquarters and told they had made a big mistake. They had heard about my complaints while awaiting a commission. I had been shanghaied into service. My ensign's commission had finally come through and I was to be returned to the States for training in the fruit, vegetable, and meat inspection division for six months. From there I'd be reassigned to a permanent stateside post. I thought it over for a couple of days and turned the commission down. I'd already been involved in combat and decided to stay. Three or four Catalinas and crews were left at Ford Island and flew daily reconnaissance but more personnel had been added to the remaining part of the squadron, far in excess of those needed. The reason for this became apparent within a month when three B-24 Liberator bombers arrived from Consolidated Aircraft in San Diego, California. They were land-based planes. The B-24 had a double tail, short wingspan, tricycle landing gear, four Pratt and Whitney engines, large fuselage, bomb bay, double­gun mounted turrets and other single freestanding fifty caliber guns. These were the first heavy bomber planes of this make and model to be furnished to the armed forces. Needless to say, we were all eyes. We had never seen such a plane in reality or even a picture. They had been flown from San Diego to Hawaii by private pilots hired to ferry planes. Those pilots would only stay two days for flight instructions. Ten or twelve pilots were given briefings on the ground by the ferry pilots and then taken two at a time for take-off and landing instructions and practice. Some of the ground crew were 20