Lt. Leonard Pullin, pilot, Lt. Eugene Currie, co-pilot, T/Sgt Leonard V. Coccarelli, Aerial Engineer & Crew Chief, and S/Sgt Lyman J. Halbleib, Radio Operator.  Take off at 7 a.m.  Weather forecast altimeter setting at 29.59 (low), overcast and ceiling at 1000 ft.  Visibility 1/2 to 3/4 mile and slight drizzle.  Loaded with 15 [55 gallon] drums of 120 octane gasoline [at 440 pounds per drum] for PR [Peter Romeo, the designation for Liangshang, the other 1st CCS base at this time].  Coke & Hal just finished pre-flighting and Pullin and Currie approach with "How's the ship this morning, Coke?"  "OK" says Coke "there's a little left mag drop on right engine but she will check out OK in the air, I'm sure."  "And the radio, Hal?" asks Currie.  "Checks OK, Lieutenant, just checked all the tubes last 100 hour inspection, so everything should be shipshape for awhile yet.  How's the weather upstairs?" "Not so hot" replies Pullin, " but as long as there is no ice up there, we won't complain.   Let's go, fellows and get it over with."

     "Love Mike Tower (LM), this is 924.  Taxi and take-off instructions, please."  "924, this is Love Mike, Roger, taxi down to the west end of runway and take off to the east, call tower before takeoff."  "924, Roger, Out."  "Love Mike from 924, we clear to go?" "924 from Love Mike, Roger.  Clear to go, climb directly above field to 6000' before going on course & let us know what the icing conditions are."  "924, Roger, Out."

     Line up, generators and IFF on, throttles forward, airborne at 0705.  Enter the soup at 1000', climbing at 500' per minute, circling the field. 2000', 3000', 4000'.  The gas drums expand with the thinning air, making popping noises.  Gathering some ice at 4000'.  Be glad when we are above the 6000' mountains alongside the field.  Pullin to Currie, "Turn the deicing equipment on."  "OK" says Currie, "Coming on."   "Coke, see if the wings are gathering much."  "Not bad yet," says Coke, after checking "I'll let you know if it builds up too much, Lt." - 6000 ft - 8000' - 10,000 ft. "Lieutenant," shouts Coke, "better turn the boots on now as the wings are getting pretty heavy."  "OK" says Pullin tensely , as he is busy varying the prop pitch attempting to break loose the ice accumulating on them.  The plane is getting quite sluggish now, climbing only 300 ft a minute.  We are beginning to really sweat now. If we don't soon break out on top, we'll probably have to throw our load out and maybe bail out too, as we are steadily picking up more ice.

     Thump - Thump. Good, the props are throwing off ice and it's clumping on the fuselage.  We are at 13,000' now, must be nearly on top - 15,000' - just barely on top. CFR [Contact (visual) Flight Rules] part of the time and on instruments the rest.  We are as high as we can go with a load.   We all don our oxygen masks as we have too many hours above 10,000' without them and are very susceptible to high altitude headaches.  We also wish to remain fully alert in case of emergency.  "Love Mike, 924. Top is about 15,000, considerable icing between 4 and 12,000, over."  "Roger 924, Thank you, Love Mike out."  "Radio," from pilot "Hey, Hal, get the latest weather for P.R., please.  " Later, "Pilot," from radio, "PR weather overcast at 6000 ft.  Visibility      1 1/2 [miles] with drizzle.   Altimeter [29].89.  "Thanks Hal, How about a little music or news?"   "See what I can do, Lieutenant."  Listen to short-wave from San Francisco.  It breaks the monotony and we have no newspapers here so Communication Officers forgive us breaking regulations.

     2 Hours later. - "PR, this is 924 over your station at 15,000'.  Are we clear to let down?"  "924 from PR, Clear to let down.  Give tower a call when leaving each 1000 ft level.   You can expect to break through at 8,000 ft."  "924 - Roger. Coming down." Lt. Currie, "Wheels down, carburetor heat & deicing equipment on.   All set.  " We began our let down East & West.  There are 9000 ft mountains NE, 6000 ft mountains all around and a 4000 ft one parallel to southside of field.   Down to 10,000 ft now and picking up clear ice which our alcohol won't clear from the windshield.  It's not too bad yet.  Pullin follows the radio compass and magnetic compass simultaneously continuing our let down, while Currie checks against the automatic compass with the spare radio compass for an aural null.  Nobody says a word.   The engines roar smoothly.  We are all tense as Currie calls in each 1000 foot level - 8000 feet, no sign of breaking out yet.  Can't see a thing out the front windshield, our wingtips are barely visible out the side.  Cross the station at 8000' five minutes out on East leg, procedure turn and lock in again - down, down - 6000 ft and still on instruments.  What a hell of a weatherman they must have here, we think.   Cross the station at 6000', still instruments and ice quite bad too.  Pullin pokes the nose down as we have to get down fast before we go too far out. 5500' - 5000' - 4500'.  Gray!   Aren't we even going to break through?  How could they misjudge a ceiling so?  4000' - 3800' WOW!   At last, good old terra firma in sight now.  We are CFR in a little valley below the mountain tops.  Pullin and Currie have the side windows open as the windshield is still iced and the mountains close.   We cruise for about 15 minutes awaiting the ice to clear and finally line up and come in.  We all feel relieved and somewhat older.  Receive apologies for the misleading weather information on landing.  It's errors like that which sometimes cost lives.  We had no business coming in as the minimum ceiling is 7000 feet.

     Well, how do you feel?  You'll have to admit it's different from stateside flying.  Our boys do this everyday and sometimes it's a lot worse.  Maybe you can get them to tell you some of their experiences.  Like Gil [S/Sgt William J. Geldernick] in 904 and Sut [S/Sgt Regis J. Sutton] on 925 iced up and had to throw their load out to hold altitude. Stromis on 627 did same, and Walsh & Stebbins, lost and out of gas and hit the silk, before bailing out they were told to climb to 11,000 ft as another of our ships was bailing out at 8000 ft.  There are some too, which will never tell their stories like poor Nick and some others on the Burma deal.

S/Sgt. Lyman J. Halbleib, Radio Operator, 1st Combat Cargo Group, 1st Combat Cargo Squadron Submitted by M/Sgt Gerald A. White  The Great Snafu Fleet,  A WW II History of the 1^st Combat Cargo Squadron

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