15th Combat Cargo Squadron, 4th Combat Cargo Group

Pilots Report of Bailout

Airplane 220 Lt. Richard W. Schmidt

     Our left engine caught fire at approximately 0600 IST 25, July 1945.  We had taken off from Bhamo at 0235 IST with a load of gasoline and were on course on the "Oboe" Route.  I pulled the fire extinguisher at once, but noticed no slackening of the flame, which was coming out of the air vent behind the cowling.  I turned and shouted "FIRE, EVERYBODY OUT!" to the co-pilot, and the radio operator in his seat.

     The ROM and CC went back to the cargo door. After I helped the co-pilot get his chute loose from his seat, he went back.  I could not set the auto-pilot as the gyro horizon was out of order (on take-off) I trimmed the ship for nose down.  It flew all right when I took my hands from th4 stick. The three other crew members were just starting to jump.  The cargo door seemed very far away.   I jumped over the gas drums and out the right escape hatch, after two leaps.   I did not even scrape over the wing.  When my chute opened I saw three chutes floating above me just before we all went into the overcast.  We had all cleared from the ship within two minutes of the emergency.  I saw the ship still flying as I went down.

     "I landed in a tree and climbed down without thinking of my jumble pack.  After walking for two hours along a trail, I met a native who took me back over my path and then east to the wreckage.  Five hours after our bail out, the crew chief, CPL. McCall got back to the ship.  The co-pilots jungle pack had broken loose in the air.  Neither pilot got out with his gun (pistol).   The crew chief had a vest, Emergency Sustenance Type C-1, and his gun.  We fired a shot, hoping to find ROM S/Sgt. Sanchez, and heard two shots apparently in reply, but never made contact with him or heard of him.

     "The ship was badly smashed and it was impossible to get inside the fuselage. The left wing had burned off before the crash.  All the cargo (gasoline drums) was missing, and also all but one of the six huge tents we were carrying.  We found our navigation map, Flight Strip number 133, and one crushed canteen. We were all wearing khaki uniforms. I  had on paratroopers boots, the co-pilot combat boots, and the crew chief GI shoes.  We each had Winter Flight jackets, which were carried for us by guides.

     "At 1200 IST we three started north, then NNE along a trail for nine hours.  That night we slept in a farmer’s hut.   After our first hour our native guide had turned us over to another native who stayed with us through part of the second day.

  2nd Day (26 July 1945)

     "After three hours walking we arrived at a Chinese GO Wireless station from which we sent a message giving our aircraft number and our names and serial numbers.

  3rd and 4th Days (27 days 2S July 1945)

     "We continued our daily walks, ending each night at a village.  On 2S July we stayed at Chungkuli (24 degrees 21 "N – 100 degrees, 57" E) on the Pa Pien River, which we had been following upstream since the second day.

  5th through 9th day (29 July to 2 August 1945)

     "On the 5th day we rode unhappily on saddle mules.  We rode them thereafter, sparing our feet and ruining ourselves elsewhere.   We arrived at Kingtung (Chengtung) at the end of the 5th day, only a three hour trip (by air).  Here we were received royally by Mr. Ho Chee Ka (District Magistrate, Kingtung District Yunan Province, China). This was the first time we were sure of our location. On the following day, (30 July) we rode to Lungkay. On the 8th day (1 August) to Mokai. On the 9th day to N Nankien.

  Last Day 10th (3 August 1945}

     "From Nankien we rode with a Chinese driver in a U. S. 6x6 to Motai. This was a wild and rough trip of two hours, covering perhaps 15 air miles.  At Motai we found a mess hall storage truck with an EM driver. Four hours later we were in Yunanyi.  We three stayed there all night and returned to our base, Myitkying West on 4 August 1945.

  SHELTER:

     "On our entire trip we stayed each night, after the first one, in the village magistrate’s house, which was usually the best home in the area.  We slept on bamboo matting placed over boards, and used our flight jackets as pillows.  It was never cold.  On our first day we each had only a half dozen ears of boiled corn and a peach.  Thereafter we ate two meals a day. Food was plentiful and various but not very good.  We had tea, coffee (once) rice, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, ground meat (once at Kingtung), chopped chicken, squash, clear grass soup, greens on rice, noodles, potatoes, eggs, pomegranates and fruits.  Fortunately chow mien and chop suey has not yet got from San Francisco to Yunan Province.  The chopped chicken contained craws, heads, feet, guts – -none of us could eat it.   By necessity we became expert handlers of chopsticks. We drank only boiled water, or water from mountain streams which our guides indicated were safe.

  HEALTH:

      "The co-pilot and crew chief were in excellent condition all the time.  In contracted dysentery on the 7th day at Chukai from it until the morning of the 10th day.  We washed each night, (sometimes only our hands and faces )in a pan of hot water.  We were given either lifeboy or Lux soap.   The people seemed very clean. Nodded of us had trouble with feet, although we had no spare socks.  Of course, we rode after the fourth day, but at the time our socks were almost worn out.  We rationed ourselves on atabrine tablets, one every two days.   Then a Chinese gave us atabrine tablets, thereafter we took one a day.  We suffered from mosquitoes and other insects at night.  At a few places we were furnished a head net to sleep in.

  THE CHINESE:

     "The Chinese were at all times helpful and considerate.  The head man at each village took care of us to the best of his resources.  At different places we were given rock candy, tea, sugar, and a Chinese copy of the German Mauser machine pistol with 22 rounds of ammunition.

  COUNTRYSIDE:

     "There was no wildlife, except birds. In the entire trip we saw only two snakes which were leaving the area themselves. We were in no jungle country. Our trails were generally good, but cursed with the usual steep ascents.

  GENERAL:

     "We say no search aircraft at anytime.   A general overcast through the 10 days period would probably have prevented sighting us or dropping supplies successfully.

Submitted by S/Sgt. Nick M. Sanchez, 15^th Combat Cargo Squadron

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