The Deputy Director of the National Air & Space Museum, Donald S. Lopez, was a P-40 fighter jock in the 23rd Fighter Group of the 14th Air Force in China which replaced the disbanded Flying Tigers AVG on 4 July 1942. He joined the outfit at age nineteen and shot down five Japanese planes to earn his "ace" status before being transferred back to Eglin Field, Florida as a fighter test pilot.
What really makes Lopez 'one of our own' is that he qualifies as a Marauder Man by virtue of the fact that Squadron 6IIB, Eglin's fighter test squadron, had a tow target version of the B-26 and all the test pilots took turns flying it.
Lopez writes:
BRIEFEST 0F B-26 CHECK-0UTS
By Donald S. Lopez
"Upon reporting in at the Eglin fighter test squadron the operations officer greeted me pleasantly and gave me pilots' handbooks for the various types of planes in the squadron, saying that I would have to pass a written exam on each plane before I could be checked out in it. Since virtually all the planes were single seaters, the first flight would, of necessity, be solo."
"My squadron roommate turned out to be Dick Jones, one of my best friends, whom I had known since my first day of active duty and who was my roommate in China. As I was studying the pilots' handbooks that night Dick told me we had found fighter pilot's heaven. We had P-51Ds and Hs, P-38s, P-47s, P-63s, P-61s a P-59 (the first U.S. jet), and all the ammunition in the world. What more could a fighter pilot ask?"
"The next morning I hesitatingly told the 0perations 0fficer that he had given me the pilot's handbook for the Martin B-26 Marauder, a bomber, by mistake. He said it wasn't a mistake, that the squadron had a B-26 to tow targets, and all the pilots had to take a turn at flying it. I protested that I'd never flown a twin-engine airplane much less a bomber, but he replied that neither had any of the other pilots in the squadron until they checked out in the B-26!"
"A few days later, after an orientation flight as co-pilot in a C"-3 (a Beech C-45 rigged as a mother ship for drones), I saw that I was to fly the next morning as co-pilot with our Squadron Commander, Major Muldoon, in the B-26. I carefully reviewed the pilot's handbook and questionnaire, somewhat apprehensive about checking out in a bomber, and with no less than the commanding officer."
"Early the next morning I attended the flight briefing and walked out to the B-26 with Major Muldoon. I climbed into the co-pilot's seat, and after we were strapped in I said, 'What do you want me to do?' He said, 'Nothing.' That was well within my capabilities, so I put my hands in my lap and watched him closely. We took off and climbed toward the gunnery range over the Gulf. It was much quieter and smoother than the B-25 I'd ridden in while in China. He set it on course roughly paralleling the beach, and the tow-reel operator reeled out the target. He then told me to take the controls and hold it on course. When we got to the end of the range he took the controls, made a 180-degree turn, then gave it back to me. A squadron mate was firing on our target with a P-38, and before he went back to re-arm he flew formation with us for a few minutes. I had never been close to a P-38 in flight; it was a beautiful sight with its twin booms and two counter-rotating propellers, all shining in the bright Florida sun. We P-40 pilots liked to tell P-38 pilots that the P-38 was nothing more than two P-40s with a Link Trainer in between, but I chose not to mention that to Major Muldoon."
"After about three boring hours we landed, and as we walked back toward operations Major Muldoon said, 'Well, Lopez, now you're checked out.' I asked him, 'What do you do if one engine quits"' He said, 'In this squadron, engines don't quit!' and he was right. We never had an engine failure in the squadron while he was C.0., although we had several in later years."
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