The Nineteenth
Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas · September–October 1944
He missed the crowded civilian train at Alamogordo, cashed the ticket, and caught the troop train at midnight. Two dollars and eighty cents bought a berth among the train commanders. Hutchinson first — a Navy town, WAVES, the Stamey Hotel — then a bus to Great Bend. Flying started the next morning.
Hello Folks, Well I'm on the base now […] We begin flying tomorrow so they did start us off quick. […] I'm assigned to the 19th Bomb Group & 93rd Squadron. Ill get my mail if you just address 19th Bomb group. Love to all, Austin
Historical note — Great Bend and the 19th Bomb GroupGreat Bend Army Air Field, on the Arkansas River in central Kansas, was a B-29 combat-crew school. The 19th Bombardment Group had been one of the first American heavy groups in the Philippines in 1941. Rebuilt as a very-heavy group, it trained at Great Bend in the autumn of 1944 for the Marianas. The 93rd Bomb Squadron was Austin’s squadron. Captain Cook, his airplane commander from Alamogordo, was made flight commander of A Flight. The crew would lead formations and instruct newer B-29 crews.
On a B-29 the Army did not use the old co-pilot title. There were two pilots. The airplane commander sat in charge. The other pilot — Austin — flew the ship on his share of the long legs and was second in command. “Just to make it simple,” he told Cherry, “say I’m a copilot.”
A 700-mile morning took them over Minneapolis, Wichita, Pratt, and Salina. Lt. Hicks of Kentucky came on as bombardier. The officers of the 93rd each put up twenty-five dollars toward refrigerators and washing machines for a club overseas. On 9 September Austin flew the group commander, a colonel, to Colorado Springs in a B-17 and slept at the Alamo Hotel.
In October the crew won “best of the week” — first in the group — and with it a B-17 they could take anywhere in the country. Eleven men could not all go to Cherry. Los Angeles was the compromise. The first date was cancelled when the training line needed the Fortresses; the airplane they had meant to use went in north of the field. No one was hurt. A note on the bed at midnight of the 23rd finally sent fourteen of them west at 2:00 a.m.
Dear Mother & All, Just 2 months till Christmas! Well I'm back from Hollywood & Los Angeles. […] 14 of us went in a B-17. We flew for 7½ hours & arrived over L.A. To find it all covered with clouds & also a fog. We made an instrument let down though & broke out of the fog right on the field. […] The trip was non stop as she had 2300 gal. of gas on board. Love To All, Austin
Historical note — Leyte, Formosa, and 20 October 1944He marked 13 October as two years to the day since he had sworn in at Memphis. On the 19th the headlines in the club were “Philippines Invaded.” MacArthur’s army had landed on Leyte the next morning. B-29s out of China were hitting Formosa. The 19th’s own commander, newly a full colonel, had been with the group in the Philippines when the Japanese came in 1941. Austin guessed they might go back that way.
A letter to an Oshkosh roommate came back stamped deceased — a fighter pilot still in the United States. Another roommate was already in the Eighth Air Force in England. Austin put down that he wanted out of the Army when the war ended, and that a permanent commission would not be bad. He asked Cherry not to buy overseas presents after the 15th. He did not, in the event, leave that month.