J Lippard Trip Overseas

We were not told our overseas destination and since the U.S. was engaged in battle throughout the world, speculation of the assignment was rampant in regard to our future assignment. Our first leg of the assignment was to Wright-Patterson Field in Ohio where we were to get one hundred new airplanes. This time our wives and families stayed behind as instructed. We spent only one night at this base.

Early in the next morning we were informed that our destination that day was the Air Force Base at Bangor, Maine. This seemed to eliminate the South Pacific as our assignment, but we still had Northern or Southern Europe, Africa, Middle East or the China-Burma-India theaters of operations as options for our foreign duty.

Since we would be flying over the Atlantic Ocean and none of us were trained in celestial navigation a navigator was assigned to each plane for our flight across the Ocean.

When we went to our airplanes after briefing, our assigned navigator was taking a nap under the airplane using his parachute and a wheel of the plane as a pillow. He informed us he would be glad to aid us in any way that he could. From previous experiences, he said we would probably not rely on him as long as we were in the states where we could get good radio signals for navigation. He then made a bed in the cargo bay and continued his nap once we were airborne.

The fuselage of the planes had been equipped with four fifty-five gallon drums lying on their sides. These were fitted with tubing leading to our regular wing tanks. These would be filled before we left Newfoundland to provide us with enough fuel for the long ocean flight. This proved to be a very crude but effective way to increase fuel capacity.

We had two complete flight crews aboard our plane plus some additional cargo for our operation once we arrived at our destination. Lt. Carl Rice was our plane commander and I was assigned as his co-pilot, but all the pilots shared flight and observer time with Lt. Rice. He as an instructor in the training of B-26 pilots before being assigned to our Group in Louisville. He had considerable more flying time than I, so I was well pleased with this assignment. During our stay at Louisville he and his wife Anita became good friends of Clara and me.

Not too long after taking off from Wright-Patterson Field we were notified that weather conditions were worsening and a few of us were ordered to land at Buffalo, New York and spend the night. The next day we proceeded to Bangor, Maine where we spent a couple of days waiting for the back log of planes scheduled ahead of us to clear. There were planes of all descriptions using this base as a departure point both to Europe and North Africa.

Looking back it is truly amazing how effective these Flight Operation Officers were in scheduling these planes with their various altitude limits, speed, fuel capacity and other variables to keep us separated in the air. This had to be done with pencil and paper. We may hate to admit it but we did function without the use of computers which at that time had not been invented.

On the morning of August 13, 1944 while taxiing to takeoff position when one of radios we were monitoring, announced that the Allied forces led by Americans were invading Southern France from bases in Africa. Thus while flying from Bangor, Maine to Gander, Newfoundland we surmised that in some way we would be involved with this operation, since we were within three or less flying days of this invasion. This seemed logical but was wrong,

The flight to Gander was uneventful and again our Navigator told us that if needed he was available even though this flight was primarily over water we still were within several stations range which we used for navigational purposes. After our arrival at Gander weather conditions worsened on the route we would be flying and also at our destination, the Azores. We had to wait until it appeared that weather conditions would be satisfactory at our destination. This flight had no alternate landing site and for the first time I really became aware of what the point of no return meant. This was point in the flight that no matter what the problem, we were to continue to our destination and not to return to the base which we had just departed.

We took off from Gander in a rainstorm two nights later which did not appear very encouraging but again the weatherman was looking at the predicted weather at the Azores. We were all assigned altitudes designed to prevent us from colliding either with a plane going to our destination or one flying from the Azores back to Bangor.

Our Navigator was briefed with us and he plotted our course relying on the best available data on wind direction and velocity. We flew strictly on instruments until three thirty when we broke out on top. The Navigator was able to get a fix for us. The wind had changed more to a northerly direction which caused us to make better time than was forecast and we were only about fifty miles off course. We changed our heading and soon encountered instrument flying weather again. We broke out again just before sun-up when we again woke the Navigator. He gave us only a slight change in our heading and told us that we should reach the Azores an hour earlier that what was predicted before takeoff.

We had our radios on even though the large set operated by our radio operator was the only one we would be able to use this far from the small stations. Just before daylight we heard a pilot report that he had lost and engine and after a rather short pause he said his other engine had also stopped. The we heard another voice ask if he had been changing fuel tanks which he answered in the affirmative. The second pilot suggest he turn on his booster fuel pumps. After another pause we heard "thank you". That was the total conversation believe it or not. We tried, but never learned the identity of either pilot.

When about an hour out, we were in good radio contact with the Azores tower and were informed there were some fast moving thundershowers in the area but shouldn’t present any problem other that perhaps delay us landing only a few minutes. This was good news because we had enough fuel for a long period of time but while in the approach pattern the showers moved over and we made a normal landing without delay. As the wheels touched down there was a terrible noise as if we ere running on two flat tires. Shortly we realized we were landing on a steel mat rather that a paved runway. This was one little detail on which we had not been briefed but we made many landing on this surface while overseas.

We only spent one night at this base before leaving for Africa. That night at chow I ran into a former college classmate whom I did not know too well but we enjoyed catching up on the news from each other. He as a bombardier on a B-24 heavy bomber headed to a North Africa base from which they would be flying missions to the Polesti oil fields in Southern Europe that were so important to the Nazi war machine. I later learned that the losses on these missions were very high and he was killed on one of these early missions.

The next morning we were briefed on the next flight to Marrakech, North Africa a rather large air base south of Casablanca. It was a pretty day and we were getting good radio reception and after a little while in the air the Navigator came to the cockpit, He, tongue in cheek, told us he really did not believe even this crew would be needing his services since Africa was so large it would be impossible for us to miss it. He was to leave us and catch the next available plane back to the states to aid another crew navigate the Atlantic. I may have sounded a little critical of him but he did his job in perfect fashion when needed and actually we got along fine in spite of all his sleeping.

We spent one night at Marrakech and from there flew to Tunis, Tunisia which again was routine uneventful leg of our journey. The only thing I seen to remember was all that sand over which we were flying and not encountering a problem which could have caused us to land in that desert.

Cairo, Egypt became our next destination after Tunis and again the flight was routine in good weather. Once again we flew over hundreds of miles of sand. This route took us over the area where the fierce battles of North Africa had been fought. It was truly amazing to see all the tanks, funs, planes and other vehicles of war left destroyed and abandoned on this North African desert sand. Rommell, Patton, Montgomery and other Generals led armies in this area as the Germans were turned back as they made a valiant effort to get to Cairo. If they could have been successful it would have allowed them to control the Suez Canal.

When we arrived in Cairo we were given a note left by our Commanding Officer which told us our ultimate destination was Sylhet, India. He also told us he had spent three days in Cairo before continuing to India and that we had permission to do the same.

Our nights were spent at the base in BOQ’s and we used the days to tour the town. This was my first time in a town outside the U.S. because on our previous layovers we did not have a chance to leave the confines of the bases. I first was amazed at the density of the population and they by the unsanitary conditions which emitted odors which I could not believe. I later earned that these conditions existed in all cities in the Middle and Far East.

The pyramids and sphinx were awesome sights and so much larger than I expected and we really got a good look as we flew over them before leaving Cairo history as told in the Old Testament had always intrigued me and I was glad to have this opportunity to visit this historical area for a short period of time. I could almost envision the children of Israel in this land with Joseph rescuing his family from starvation at the beginning, to Moses leading the Exodus of them as slaves as they escaped the tyranny of the Pharaoh.

My age, the intensive training, lack of Army encouragement, and my own indifference had made religion as I had known it in the past fade in comparison. This, in spite of the may good things that had happened in the past year and a half. This stop in Cairo caused me to give more concern to spiritual matters.

Our next stop was Aabadan, Iran but this flight consisted of a dog-leg rather than a straight line flight. There was only a narrow corridor across the Suez Canal we could use without being shot down. We had to notify the ground control and make sure our identification signals were working. These precautions were taken to prevent any possibility of someone or something blocking the canal indication to all how important this narrow body of water was in transporting troops and supplies.

After crossing the Suez flying in an easterly direction and approaching a point where we were to turn south toward Abadan we noticed it wasn’t far from Jerusalem and Bethlehem so we turned north and flew over these two historical sites. This was unauthorized but being so close we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to say we had flown over these towns. We only say the lights since this was a night flight.

Due to sever daylight sandstorms all airplanes did their landing and take-off’s a Abadan at night during this season of the year. We only spent one day at this base and the outside temperature reached one hundred and thirty degree F. We got a little sleep in a barrack which was cooled some by running water slowly dripping over burlap bags through which the air was blown by a box fan. Not to modern but we were lucky to have electricity for the fans and every little bit of cooling helped.

Abadan was a field operated jointly by the Americans and Russians. During WWII as an ally we furnished the Russians with airplanes to use against the Germans and this was the transfer point where we delivered the planes to the Russian pilots, I remember the mess hall was operated by a rather hefty Russian women.

Our flight out of Abadan took us to Karachi, India. On arrival we were summoned and carried to meet a British Colonel. He informed us we had been volunteered by our CO for a little mission for him and his unit. He told us that our CO knew we were checked out to tow gliders. We were to tow a glider from Karachi to Agra containing some special lumber. This flight required good weather and that resulted in our spending a couple of extra days waiting for the weather to clear. We were kind of pampered by the British at this base before our departure since we were doing a small job for them.

We towed the glider to Agra with the British glider pilot releasing from us go in for his landing. We then landed to leave the tow rope and refuel. Neither of these operations were really necessary because we could have flown low and dropped the tow rope which was standard procedure and we really did not need fuel for the final leg of our flight to Sylhet. Our primary reason for this landing was, if possible to visit the Taj Mahal. We had decided that since we had been volunteered for this mission we would volunteer ourselves enough time to visit this historic building. The next morning we visited this shrine and marveled at the architecture of this structure which was dirty and in need of repair but surprised how well it had survived the ages. We had been privileged that within a week we had visited two of the seven wonders of the world plus a fly over of the Holy Land.

That afternoon we flew to our assigned base at Sylhet, India and reported to our Operations Officer who told us we were the last plane in the Group to arrive. Our CO came in and jokingly told us we were so late he had reported us AWOL. We informed him from what we had learned the last few minutes we were the only crew that had done any worthwhile task since arriving overseas and someone had gladly volunteered us for that job. We then told him about our visit to the Taj Mahal and it was about ten days later before we started doing any meaningful flying.

Lt. James F. Lippard (From original manuscript made available by James F. Lippards widow, Clara Lippard, which was written after his retirement.)