By Land and By Air

I set course five minutes early and then cutoff all the corners. Luck was with me as in all my efforts to gain time, the Pilot said, ”I have not seen a plane for hours.”

I looked at my log and found that I should be flying at 20,000 feet instead of 10,000 feet where the wind was much greater. I said, ”I was just going to elevate.” ”How fast?” he said. ”Full speed” and I settled for that, as I was late. I still feel that plane shudder as we climbed, then full speed to the target; as a result I was two minutes early.

Chester Hull who was the C/O. of the Ghost Squadron, and the head Navigator, was 24 minutes late. The average time late was 17 minutes. When I got back and walked into the debriefing room, Chester had just announced that no man alive could make it on time. He asked me “How did you do?” and I said, ”I was 2 minutes early, Sir” I never saw him so mad - he blasted the Pilot - all our files were checked and I checked Chester Hull’s.

The next day when I was passing his office, he called me in for an explanation. I explained that I gave the lecture on timing that day, and none of the Navigators took my warning. They were blown far to the south of track, and his plane was off track, while I stayed to the north. He thanked me.

The next day at briefing, Hull apologized for his mean words to my Pilot, and said I had explained why so many were late. I thought that I should get some pleasure for my efforts, but I read a report that said one Navigator got there early and aroused the fighters. When we got to the target, no markers were down, so I said “I’ll do the bombing on a blind run” as I could pull a switch and all bombs would fall. As soon as I decided to do the bombing (my first and last) P/O Gibbons, who had just got his commission, said, ”Right” and directed the bombing on

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