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Saved As: Crew Bailout.413 292 words
BAILOUT #2
by Edwin C. Pakish
France
March, 1945
As I said, I got kidded a lot about my crew bailing out of the plane, especially by the sergeant tail gunner from Texas.
I don't remember the date now but it must have been a few weeks after that incident that we were going on another mission. We all got into formation and headed towards the target. one of the pilots of the plane called on the radio to the group leader and told him that he had to abort. Usually an abortion is due to engine or mechanical problems, but in this case the pilot said that two of the crew men had bailed out.
After we returned from the mission, everyone wondered what had happened. It turned out that the big Texan who had kidded me about my crew bailing out was one of the guys who jumped out of the plane. He told me that as he was getting into position at the tail guns, he happened to look back and saw the radioman, who is the waist gunner, putting on his parachute, after which he opened the waist hatch and then jumped out of the plane. When the Texan saw this, he thought something must be wrong even though he did not hear the alarm bell and nothing was said on the intercom. Well, if the radioman jumped out there must be a problem so he jumped out too!
We all found out later that the radioman had "cracked" from combat fatigue and was in the hospital. He thought that the airplane was hit by flak and was on fire which was the reason he jumped out.
of course, the Texan never kidded me again.
go to another "Bail Out" story by Edwin C. Pakish
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