Contents:
"Abandon Ship"
by:
John R. Joseph
brojak@pottsville.infi.net
I was in the service one year and 3 days as of Jan 1, 1943, fresh six
months out of an Airplane and Engine Mechanic School, an Assistant Crew
Chief on an Ex-Commercial Airline DC 3, converted to military use. We did
not have enough Military C-47's to keep us all in training and flying at
that particular time of the war, and had to rely on many converted Airliner
DC-3's, with the passenger seats still installed. Before the War was over,
Douglas did catch up to our requirements though.
I was assigned to the 24th Troop Carrier Squadron,
of the 89th Troop Carrier Group,
stationed at Del Valle/Bergstrom Air Corps Base, Austin, TX.
Jan 1st, 1943, we took off from Bergstrom AFB, on a cross country flight
with a first day itinerary of Kansas City/St. Louis, Minneapolis, Fargo
ND, with day 2 itinerary dependent on the weather, ultimate destination,
the Pacific Coast.
First stop - refuel, KC/St.Louis, no problem - now head towards Wold
Chamberlain, Minneapolis. Arrival at Mpls - raging blizzard - visibility
zero, no clearance to land, ordered to return to KC or St.Louis.
Which we did - got back about 3/4 of the way, when both St.Louis and KC
advised that NOW, both of THEM were experiencing heavy snows, visibility
Zero, no clearance to land, go BACK to Wold Chamberlain, as storm there was
lessening, with visibility improving.
Back to Minneapolis we went, and needless to say, the Wold Chamberlain
tower was not exactly pleased with our presence. Although visibility was
improving, we could not see the field from the altitude at which we were flying.
Wold Chamberlain tried to get rid of us, and told us to land elsewhere.
Our Pilot, who was an experienced airline pilot, told them we did not have
enough fuel to look elsewhere, that he was going to circle the field a few
times to use up as much fuel as possible, and then
WE WERE COMING IN.
After a number of circles around the field, and the fuel indicators
approaching the left side, we started our descent. I can STILL see the
snow swirling over the right wing, until we finally broke through at about
500 or 600 feet, and saw the heavenly terra firma below, for the first time
in five or six hours.
As we approached the runway for landing, we could see, in the hanger
areas, the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles: fire trucks and
ambulances.
We felt the smooth contact of the tires on the runway, and an immediate
glance at the cockpit, showed our pilot had quickly cut the ignition
switches and pull back on the throttles. The runway was covered with ice -
although the wheels stopped turning, the plane kept right on gliding
forward. We kept right on going, off the end of the runway, and ended up
on a fence, with two fence posts puncturing two of our gas tanks.
"Abandon Ship," came the Pilot's terse order, as our nostrils picked up the
acrid gas fumes odor. Wold Chamberlain emergency crews were on the ball,
for as soon as we opened our cabin door, the flashing lights of the
ambulances and fire trucks were the first thing that came into our view. To
this day, I credit our Pilot's actions in cutting the ignition switches
and throttles, as saving our lives, by preventing the possibility of an
explosion.
It was approximately 9:00 PM. We were lodged in a downtown hotel, and left
our plane in the capable hands of Northwest Airlines for repairs. The only
souvenir I have of this momentous occasion is a picture folder of
Minneapolis. Coincidentally, one of the photos is Wold Chamberlain field
Administration building, in front of which is a Northwest Airlines DC3.
Inside the folder, 55 years and 8 months ago, I had written "Spent Jan 1,
(9:00 PM), Jan 2nd and Jan 3rd (2:00 PM), here in 1943. Crashed at Wold
Chamberlain." Bet something like this is a collectors item - never see
them anymore. On the front shows: "Postage 1-1/2 cents, without message."
This was really a memorable happening in my life. Talk about both ends of
the spectrum. On Dec. 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor, I was 20 years of age, with
my main source of employment working in a "bootleg" coal mine, loading
Anthracite coal in a coal car, 300 feet deep within the bowels of the
earth, in Eastern Pennsylvania, and then here I am 12-1/2 months later,
January 1, 1943, being involved in a human drama, thousands of feet high in
the sky.
===brojak===
"Keep 'Em Flying"
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