Reminiscence of a Replacement Pilot
From An Escort of P38s

The constant complaint in the 1st Fighter Group was, "When do we get more planes!" The old F models were nearly gone and the G's were showing definite wear and tear. This was evidenced by the number of early returns. Elmer Hartman mentions one mission with six returns out of fourteen planes due to faulty radios and/ or engine troubles. He was one of the returns. However, replacement pilots were beginning to appear in many cases bringing additional P-38s. In at least one instance the replacements were asked to return to England and make a second trip bringing more planes.

Fifteen pilots, sent from the U.S. West Coast to England in January 1943, flew fifteen Lightnings from England to Algiers via Gibraltar with bomber guides. After one attempt to deliver the planes to the group in Biskra was turned back to Algiers by weather, Colonel Stone, went to Algiers and said he had pilots but not enough airplanes. He urged the pilots to return to England and bring back more P-38s. Departing on February 14th they did acquire more aircraft at the Lockheed installation in Belfast, flew to Southwest England and then to Casablanca. In mid-March these pilots were assigned to the 1st and joined the group at Chateau d'un. They included Lieutenants William Whelan, Dee Johnson, Max Rayburn, Robert Holcombe, Jim Hagenback and Archie Jackson assigned to the 94th; Frederic Kohn, Robin Hansen and Arthur Franke to the 71st and Alden Freng and Robert Anderson to the 27th. It should be remarked that the replacement pilots had, on the average, much less experience in the P-38. Jim Hagenback had 35 hours when he joined the 94th and was considered trained, some of the "new guys" would have even less.

Robin Hansen describes the England to Africa flight in the words of an inexperienced pilot. The first group of pilots to make the trip had more P-38 hours than anyone else on earth. Hansen had forty hours in the P-38 and little more than 200 hours overall which was typical for the new replacement pilots.

"Of the fifteen or so of us who started out, at least four were lost on that flight. We were loaded down with two 300 gallon belly tanks and staggered off the runway, B-26s were to provide navigation. Radio silence was imposed because the Germans were patrolling the Bay of Biscay. There was an overcast ceiling of several thousand feet. About a half hour or so out of Portreath an undercast materialized. Not too many minutes later the undercast and overcast merged and the B-26s went on instruments. You have to realize that instrument flying in that era was haphazard at best. Needle, ball and airspeed. Don't trust the artificial horizon. The formation being flown was not exactly tight, probably half because of inexperience, the other half because of the need to conserve fuel. At any rate most of the flight, including me, lost contact with the bombers. I remember the cardinal rule of instrument flying in those days. 'It you don't know where you are never go down, go up.' I climbed to get over the overcast and broke out a few minutes later. We must have been somewhere in the Atlantic but you couldn't prove it by me. I don't think we had much of a briefing on the headings to take. If we did I don't recall it. I was just following the B-26s. When I broke out on top there wasn't another aircraft in sight. I thought I'd had it and I hadn't even gotten to combat yet. I set course due east, but discovered after a minute or so, that I was following the adjustable course indicator on the flux gate compass and not the compass itself, I was turning to the proper direction when suddenly one, then two then three P-38s popped up out of the overcast. They were a welcome sight. A few minutes later as we were joining up, there was a break in the overcast and I spotted a B-26. Two of us dove down and this time closed in tight. The remaining P-38s set their own course and stayed on top.

"In another hour we emerged into beautiful sunshine. We were a few miles off the northern coast of Spain or Portugal. The B-26 maintained 500 feet or so and stayed a distance from land. We began to see fishing boats. By this time most of my courage had returned and I left the B-26 and went down and buzzed several of the ships. When I was on the deck I noticed that my altimeter was reading almost a thousand feet although it had been set to runway elevation at Portreath. The drastic change in weather systems caused the altimeter to read high. I think that those who were lost on the flight chose to get under the clouds and not above them trusting their altimeter to avoid the water.

"We continued down the coast of Portugal through the Straits of Gibraltar landing at Gibraltar more than eight hours after take off.  When we got on the ground I found that my companion was 'Sully' Sullivan.  "We spent the night at Gib and flew to Algiers the next morning. The next day we got to Telergma which was another experience all its own. Telergma was a B-26 base and also home to the 82nd Fighter Group. As I pitched out to land, I could see that the B-26 just touching down was firing red flares for wounded on board. I landed and the B-26 which was to land after me burst into flames at the end of the runway. This was the real thing! That night I got together with classmates and drank wine in the makeshift club which was lit by candles.

"From Telergma we delivered our planes to the 1st at Biskra. P-38 and B-17 missions were being flown. I recall seeing a B-17 with the tail almost severed coming in for a landing with the fuselage collapsing part way down the runway. During our short stay there the French had caught several Arabs preparing to bomb our hotel. The trial did not last long. They were sentenced to be shot and taken by van with barred windows to sand dunes a mile or so from town. Most of us walked out to watch. I had seen scenes of this in the movies, but I was not prepared to see the Arabs looking out through the bars knowing this was their last day on earth. I would not watch again.

"A C-47 took us to Ain M'Lilla to join the 71st. When I arrived a mission was returning from strafing near Gabes and a number of planes were missing. I believe that I was the first replacement that had been assigned. The remainder of the squadron had been together since before Pearl Harbor. I was not given the warmest welcome that I have ever received. In fact I was ignored. There were no provisions for billeting us. I was assigned to a sleeping bag vacated that morning by one of the pilots who had not returned from the day's mission.

"A poker game was in progress in the tent with the players extolling the virtues of the missing pilot while ignoring my presence. I was wakened in the dark the next morning and asked if I wanted to go on a mission. This is an offer that is difficult to refuse. Off I went with a flight of four to Telergma where we were to be briefed on a mission. I think we were to be a part of the 82nd but I'm not sure. For some reason it was called off and I returned to Ain M'Lilla where I discovered that the missing pilot had returned and I had no sleeping bag. I also discovered, as time went on, that the missing pilot had fewer virtues than those he had been credited with.

"Thus were Robin Hansen and the other raw replacements introduced into what probably seemed like a nearly closed society of the original squadron members. Nonetheless, replacement pilots as well as replacement P-38s would become more and more of a routine as the war took its toll.