DEVILS CROWN

2-26-98

AW2

PAC RR #1

Sniff, sniff. "Come on in WC." Boa said as he put the last folder in the file cabinet.  "How'd you know it was me outside your office?" he said closing the door behind him.  "I could smell the sheep manure on your boots. " replied Boa to Wheel Chock's query.  "Have a seat, just keep your feet off my desk." said Boa with a wrinkled nose.  With the late afternoon sea breeze blowing through the open windows both friends relaxed a bit.  The days work was basically complete and it was nice to just enjoy the calm of the moment.
"You know its these days of peace and quiet that make this bearable." commented Wheel Chock.  "I know what you mean." replied Boa  "By the way, how are Star and Toad coping?"  "Coping?  Oh you mean after the last operation.  They seem to be coming around and accepting their new surroundings as it were. " Wheel Chock said.  "I just wish we'd had more time to initiate them before we went into combat." mused Boa.  "It must have been quite a shock for them to see Exile alive and well after he got caught in the explosion of his own bomb at Grog after I recalled everyone back to HQ to regroup."  Wheel Chock looked away at Boa's comment and both quietly sat contemplating their own uneasy thoughts as the wind rustled the window blinds.
Meanwhile, Awulf sat down at the beach quietly writing in his journal.  Every once in awhile he would stop to gaze out across the emerald waters.  And then his pen would pick up where it had left off.......
The last operation had been called Devils Crown.  We had been tasked with destroying and then capturing the three airfields that were on the atoll.  Crimson had used the carrier task force TADPOLE as our launch point.  I can still see the perfect formation we had all flown in on our way to hit Grog.  No more than 900' from the lead plane (Boa) and the tail plane (Modas) with Exile and myself wing tip to wing tip in the center.  Even with the perfect formation flying of my wing the operation had not progressed to well at first.  Damaging all three fields at once to hinder the enemy had been a good idea.  It was when we entered Phase 2, the capture of SUBBY, that things kinda bogged down for us.  I personally could not dive bomb anything to save my life.  The winds were gusting that day and I had a difficult time keeping the bomb sight on my targets with all that buffetting.
And to make things worse an enemy pilot by the name of SNOTZ (I think) was picking us off.
Boa told me later that he almost had him several times but that Snotz would pull an unexpected stunt and lose him.  I had a personally bad experience with this pilot as his niki came out of the sun onto my bird and I.  My first indication that I had made a terrible mistake came as sub sonic bullets and cannon shells began tearing through the wings of my F4U.  I had just been about to roll over and dive on a target at SUBBY and had bled off most of my speed for the dive.  Yanking the stick to the left and pulling back I tried to roll into my dive hoping he'd blow by me.  But to no avail.  He was on me like glue.  His tracers passing through the tail of my bird.  She shuddered as the engine pitch changed into the howl of a wounded and dying bird.  There was no aid to be had.  There was no miracle to ask for.  I had made a fatal error and now my bird and I paid for it as the last cannon shell finally found my fuel tank.  Searing pain...... blinding agony......
Once back at HQ, I saw that Boa had recalled the CMC.  It was time to regroup and try again.
I also noticed the confused looks on Star's and Toad's faces.  I figured someone needed to talk to them soon.  Or this would be a really tough transition for them.  When we headed back out again things changed for us dramatically.  With some concerted effort SUBBY fell to our prowess in short order.  After that, Phase 3 and 4 went like clock work.  ESCARGOT and then GROG fell like dominoes.  The enemies will to fight had been broken.  They were unable to man their aircraft fast enough to slow our onslaught.  I remember escorting Boa, who was flying a C47 with drunks, to ESCARGOT.  I was leaking fuel so bad I wasn't sure I'd even make it to our destination let alone return to SUBBY.  I wasn't sure I could do much for Boa should an enemy fighter show.
Lucky for both of us no one ever did.  I did manage to make it back to SUBBY but my landing fell short of being survivable.  It makes me shudder to remember that incident let alone all the others that have ended like it.  I understand the tense atmosphere now every time we prepare to go up.
Things went all right for the most part that day.  I really don't know how well everyone else fared.
I just know that we were all happy in our own ways when we finally returned to base after a hard fought battle.  With a few mistakes made here and there we managed to pull it off.
Looking up from his writing, Awulf quietly asked himself "Are we making a difference here?" and carried on the wind came the whispered but deafening answer, YES.