(Editor’s Note: James Q. Salter is a beloved local historian and writer who has contributed much to our local communities. He asked that we print his recollections of serving during World War II.)
In the last article I related some close calls through our 21 st mission of July 9. This conclusion to the article chronicles close calls for the completion of our tour of 32 missions, which consisted of 23 bombing missions, seven mining missions, and two air-sea rescue missions.
On one of our mining missions our light engineer was ill and could not fly. The group engineer was assigned to us for that mission. He almost got all of us killed by miscalculating fuel consumption.
Our pilot knew we were dangerously low on fuel, so he wisely got permission for a straightin approach for landing. Just prior to landing, our left inboard engine ran out of gas. When we came to a stop, the ground crew came running out to our plane. When the crew chief measured the gas for the other engine on the same side, the dip stick just barely touched fuel. If that engine quit it would have been a catastrophe. That was close.
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