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Pilots, recall History

Note: Tom Ridley is currently a part time flight instructor for Eagleville sailplanes and a active member of “ Sons of the American Revolution”

By DAN WHITILE
Staff writer

"The P-51 lost power, so. I retarded the throttle in an attempt to coax more power from the engine ... 1 was hit by anti-aircraft fire an the left side of the fuselage ... the engine made a slushing sound ... I called Captain Weaver that I was bailing out ... I asked that he write my parents with details."

 -Air Force Lt. O.T. Ridley.

 - "An interesting thing happened to me on my first wedding' anniversary Aug. 12, 1945. On this particular day our target was a petroleum refinery and a large above ground tank farm ... on arrival, each fighter dropped two napalm bombs and made several passes firing a series of rockets and many rounds of .50-caliber ammo. ... the explosions casts the Japanese dearly in gasoline."

 -- Air Force Lt. William H. Pickron.

"I slid behind ·the Zero and fired my 50-caliber machine guns ... the Zero began to smoke heavily, and I can remember screaming, 'Burn, damn you, - burn.' "

 - Navy Lt. Willlam T. Sellers.

"As the doc continued to. fish the, fragments from (fighter pilot) Bill's eye, the head parachute rigger and his no l assistant came into the (operating) room like a pair of grinning possums ... They said, 'Here's what happened to your back.' . They held up a big Hershey bar, and in the center of the candy bar was embedded the steel core of a Japanese 7.62 mm: rifle bullet."

 - Air Force Capt. William S. Miller.

"I was not too hot in doing-it in the beginning," Pickron said. "As the book started, it was mainly for our descendants down the road to read."

"There are thousands and thousands of war stories more earth-shattering than our accounts, but now I think the book turned out OK"

Pickron - upon completion of flight training in the war  had the distinction of being the Air Force's youngest pilot to complete training at that time in U.S. flight aviation history.

"When graduating in 1942 from pilot school, I was the youngest in the Air Force since I would be 19 years old two weeks away," Pickron noted. "I went in early in 1941 at age 18."

Pickron ,began his war account in the book by telling how the time period related to his life back home.

"An interesting thing happened to me on my first wedding anniversary - Aug. 12, 1945 ... we flew missions over Shanghai, Korea and Kyushu, the southern part of Japan," , Pickron began in part. "On this particular day our target was a petroleum refinery and a large above-ground tank farm ... this will not be news to fighter pilots, but the (Japanese) tracers floating past the cockpit and in front of my' enlarged eyeballs, seem 3d so thick one could almost get out and walk on them."

A front page story in The Daily News Journal details how Ridley was reported missing in action somewhere in Czechoslovakia' after being shot out of the sky.

Ridley describes in the book how his plane came to be hit.

' ... I was hit by anti-aircraft fire on the left side of tin fuselage in the vicinity of the number five exhaust stack," Ridley wrote. "The engine made a slushing sound ... fire immediately started in the area of the number five exhaust stack."

In the next paragraph, Ridley bails out of his plane hoping to avoid falling into German enemy hands.

"I jettisoned the canopy, disconnected oxygen and radio connection as I' recalled the dash one procedures recommended for bailout ... I stood up, but there was considerable fire and molten aluminum coming back from the engine ... I sat down, reconsidered my bailout procedure, rolled the plane over and dropped out." The P-51 disintegrated when, hitting the earth, Ridley said.

Planes take on their own life and personality during the bonding relationship with pilots, many former air fighters will tell you.  "The airplane had' its own personality and peculiarities, together with a colorful history, including over 25 kills. It was probably the demise the airplane preferred," Ridley said.

Ridley recalls how he began falling, floating and descending toward the earth. "I got out of the plane at about 3,000 feet;" Ridley remembers. "When I stabilized I was in a face-up position. I could see the horizon between my boots, with clear blue sky above. My departure from the plane was in such disarray I had difficulty locating the parachute ripcord… the parachute opening came with quite a shock. I lost helmet and oxygen mask and later found my knife and personal survival gear had gone through the bottom of right lower flying suit pocket” “I swung in the parachute through two oscillations and was on the ground at the third.” Ridley continued.  “ I was in a wooded area with some undergrowth – no bones broken” Ridley describes how he walked in circles in trying t find his bearings to get back to American lines. "My map study was interrupted by what sounded like someone coming slowly through the woods. The sound came closer. 1 eased as far back into the brush as possible. I could hear the person humming so 1 slowed my breathing but could do little to slow the beating of my heart ... it had to be audible. The soldier was very close by then. The black boots went by my bush clump.  I could have reached out and touched the boots."

Ridley is proud the fact he escaped capture and got into the hands of the Czech underground resistance force against the Germans.