|
On June 15, 1953, the Chinese armies launched a major assault on part of
the 38th parallel that was defended by South Korean forces, which pulled
back 30 to 40 miles. I flew four dive-bombing and strafing missions on
that day. We attacked positions that had been on our side of the front, so
we had some easily recognizable targets (buildings, bridges, roads, etc.).
On my
third mission of the day, I was flying element lead (number three
position) in a flight of four. After my dive bomb run, I felt the normal
release thump, pulled out of the dive and broke into a left climbing turn
over enemy lines. This was standard procedure in the event you had a hung
bomb. The number four man called for me to break hard right; they had
zeroed in on me. During the climb I "safed" the bomb switch
without realizing that one 1,000 pound bomb was hung on the R/H pylon.
When the switch went to the safe position, the hung bomb left. The flight
leader, Lt. Paul Gushwa, went down to see where it hit and I followed him.
It appeared that the bomb hit in an open location with no activity around
the impact area.
After
RTB (return to base), I told the debriefing officer what had happened and
he passed it on to 5th Air Force Headquarters. No report of hitting
friendly troops turned up. I was relieved because there were cases of
bombing on our side of the line. Normally, a T-6 spotter aircraft talked
us into the target and in approximately 50% of the cases he would fire a
"Willie Peter" (white phosphorous rocket) on or near the target.
The pilot would then give us directions based on where the WP hit. There
were no T-6s directing us this day. On the 16th of June, this process
started all over again. Luckily, there were no hung bombs that day.
Back to
Pilot Stories
|