” Why? ” “Because when the station chief gave me mine, he said I was to use it on you in case it looked as if you were going to fall into enemy hands, and I figured he probably told the engineer the same thing.” Canidy looked at him incredulously. Whittaker nodded. “Jesus Christ,” Canidy said.
“Yeah,” Whittaker said. “NATS Four-oh-two, you are cleared for takeoff.
Maintain a heading of two-seven-zero magnetic until you reach seven thousand feet.” Canidy looked over his shoulder at the engineer.
“Stand by to give me takeoff power,” he said into his microphone. Then he released the brakes, tapped the throttles enough to get him onto the runway, and lined up with the white line down the center. “Give me fall takeoff power,” he said to the microphone, then switched to transmit.
“Understand two-seven-zero, seven thousand. Navy A.T.C. Four-oh-two roiling” The C-46 began to gather speed very quickly, and he felt the controls come to life. just as he lifted off, he saw the C-54 that had just landed taxiing toward the terminal area.
The C-54 stopped three minutes later in front of the terminal. Ground crewmen pushed steps to the door. An officer with colonel’s eagles on the –Mo. Unar1ran epaulets of his trench coat ran through the rain from the terminal and up the stairs. It took the flight attendant longer than he expected to open the door, and he was drenched when he finally stepped inside the aircraft. “Gentlemen,” he said, “welcome to the European Theater of Operations. We are delighted to have so many distinguished members of the press with us. We have buses waiting for you, which will take you to the press center, where we will serve breakfast. By the time breakfast is over, ’11 have your luggage sorted out and in your rooms. I must remind you we that from this moment you are subject to both censorship and military authority, Now, if there are no questions that won’t wait, gentlemen, I suggest you begin to debark the aircraft.” The last distinguished gentleman of the press off the aircraft wore a pink skirt beneath her brand-new green tunic with the shiny war correspondent brass pins. There was an official hat that went with the ensemble, but Ann Chambers thought it made her look ridiculous, and she had already ‘lost” it. She carried a canvas suitcase, a typewriter, and a Leica camera that had cost her an arm and a leg in Washington just before she left. Well, here I am, Ann Chambers thought.
Now the question is, where’s Dick Canidy?
I TWO I Over Exeter, England 0715 Hours August 19,1942
The P-38, with flaps down to dirty it up enough to slow it to the speed of the C-46, appeared so suddenly that Canidy was a little shaken.
They were over the soup, and the early-morning sun made the thick layer of clouds beneath them look like an endless layer of cotton batting.
Canidy reached forward, took the cans from the throttle quadrant, and held one to his ear. “Good morning big fat Navy lady,” the cheerful voice of the fighter pilot said. “Good morning Canidy replied.
“There seems to be some doubt that big fat Navy lady could find the ocean by its lonesome,” the fighter pilot said.
“We have been sent up to lead you to it.” Whittaker grabbed his microphone. “This is Admiral Wellington,” he said.
“Not only are you fifteen minutes late to the rendezvous point, but you have an intolerable notion of toper radio procedure. I recommend that you take up a position five P him re yar s above and in front of this aircraft, and maintain radio silence until directed otherwise.” The flaps went up, the P-38 moved ahead, and the fighter pilot came back on the air. “Tangerine, this is Tangerine Leader. Form on me in a V formation,” he said, considerably less cheerful. There were six P-38s in Tangerine, and they quickly formed a V five hundred yards above and ahead of the C-46. Whittaker went back on the radio. “Tangerine Leader, drop back to the rear of the formation,” he ordered. Very slowly, the other aircraft in the flight passed the P-38 that had been the point of the V. When the leader was trading the formation, Whittaker went back on the radio again. “Tangerine Six,” he ordered, “wiggle your wings.”