When Vibrations Cease

By Jerry Maxwell Rowe

It is a fiction based on a true story about two teenagers who met at a boot camp in the Army Air Corps in the early 1940s. They became friends and decided to head off to a pilot training school in Marana, Arizona. Its about the experiences they shared in training and the crash that almost took their lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: May 26, 2017
• ISBN: 9781480843424

Jerry Maxwell Rowe

I am a retired floor coverings installer and the widower of the grand niece of a man who lived some of the experiences in this book.

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Copyright © 2016 Jerry Maxwell Rowe.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-4343-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-4341-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-4342-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017908096

Archway Publishing rev. date: 5/24/2017

Contents

Dedication

Prologue

Joining Up!

Boot Camp

Going To Marana

Area History

Edward’s Date

Flight Class

Austin Meets Girl

Double Date

Bt-13 Training

Thanksgiving

Christmas In Arizona

Corps Of Engineers And B-24 Class

Super Bowl

The Hiker

The Rancher

The Mission

Hiker Sees Crash

Rancher Sees Plane

After The Crash

Passing Time

Trip Back To Ranch

Caring For The Pilots

Getting Help

Field Hospital And Recovery

Epilog

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to

VICKREY MOORE OTTENWELLER

She so patiently read and

analyzed every word of my book Copper Creek.

THANK YOU VICKREY

It is also dedicated to

SANDRA HOLTSCLAW

She so patiently read this book and convinced me to change its title.

THANK YOU SANDY

PROLOGUE

ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland. Two days later France and Britain declared war on Germany, and on September 4, 1939 the Royal British Air Force attacked the German navy. The next day the United States proclaimed its neutrality. A week later the Japanese invaded China, and Canada declared war on Germany beginning the Battle of the Atlantic. On September 27, 1939 the Soviets invaded Poland. On January 8, 1940 rationing began in Britain. April 9, 1940 began the Nazi invasion of Denmark and Norway. A month later the Nazis invaded France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and Winston Churchill became the prime minister of Britain. Then on June 10, 1940 fascist Italy declared war on Britain and France. On November 10, 1940 Roosevelt was re-elected as the United States president and on July 26, 1941 he froze Japanese assets in the United States and suspended relations with Japan. The United States was still a neutral country in the war even though Britain had asked for help many times. The Nazis were in control of most of Europe; the Soviet Union was causing more deaths than any other country, and Japan had taken over many parts of China.

The United States has traditionally fought its wars with a citizen army mobilized and trained after the emergency arises. Its members on their induction into the Army face an abrupt transition to a life and pattern of behavior altogether foreign to their previous experience.

For their assistance the Army provided an initial period of basic military training, a course of instruction intended to transform the raw recruit into a soldier. This basic training includes instruction in military discipline and courtesy, close order drill, first aid and protection against disease, physical conditioning, defense against enemy attack, and the care and use of weapons. Only after completion of basic training are recruits, in theory, advanced to instruction in the technical specialties of the particular Army arm of service to which they are assigned. When implemented, however, it has not always been possible to follow the exact plan. Both in World War I and during the first year and a half of World War II, certain phases of basic training were sometimes slighted in order to speed the training in specialties for which a critical need existed.

There became a great need for fighter pilots in the United States and Marana Air Base in Arizona, among others, was formed to eventually train over 10,000 pilots for combat overseas.

The Chief of the Air Corps had stated in January, 1939 that the United States Air Corps was 5th or 6th rate. When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, the Air Corps had only about 800 first line combat aircraft and 25,000 men, while the German Air Force had 4,000 planes and 500,000 men.

In 1939, Congress authorized the Air Corps to expand its fleet to 6,000 airplanes. On May 16, 1940, with the war in Europe expanding, President Roosevelt called for the U.S. to increase aircraft production to 50,000 per year. America’s massive military expansion was now underway. The events of December 7, 1941, unleashed an unimaginable flurry of activity throughout the military, as well as massive expansion and mobilization of America’s industrial sector.

The United States military draft was initiated in 1940, and as the demands on World War II increased, the draft age was lowered to 18.

Then on December 7, 1941 the Japanese, without any cause, attacked Pearl Harbor, one of the United States territories. The war had finally struck a blow on United States soil. The next day the United States and Britain declared war on the Japanese. In a speech to the American people Roosevelt said, Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan….. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire. America had joined the war and three days later Hitler declared war on the United States.

The expenditures for the Army’s Aviation Program sky rocketed. They went from $74 million in 1939 to $3.9 billion in 1941 to $22 billion in 1942. Aircraft production soared from 3,611 planes in 1940 to peak at 96,270 planes per year in 1944. All told, the U.S. produced some 296,000 airplanes for WWII.

Between January 1941 and August 1945, 312,911 Aviation Cadets and Student Officers entered the USAAF Flight Training Program. Of that number, 85,491 or 27.32% washed out or were killed in Primary Flight Training. Another 28,474 or 9.10% washed out or were killed in Basic Flight Training, while 7,292 or 2.33% washed out or were killed in Advanced Flight Training.

On January 1, 1942 the Declaration of the United Nations was signed by 26 Allied nations and the alliance brought together one huge force against the Germans and the Japanese.

Joining Up!

AFTER THE WAR BEGAN, every man between the ages of 18 and 65 had to register for the draft. In this war, only men were liable for the draft. Women, who served, volunteered. Able-bodied men up to age 45 were liable for military service. Men over forty-five would be drafted if the need ever arose. Local draft boards were set up to process the registrants. Each registrant was given a classification indicating whether or not he was eligible to be drafted. It’s significant that farming was considered so important to the war effort that there was a specific deferment for farm workers. These are some of the classifications:

1A: fit for general active military service

2A: deferred for critical civilian work – including farmers

3A: deferred due to dependents

4A: already served in the arm forces or too old

4B: deferred by law, i.e. draft officials

4C: enemy alien, i.e. Japanese-American citizens

4D: minister

4E: conscientious objectors

4F: physically, mentally or morally unfit for service

All across the country, in urban and rural communities, military recruiting offices were jammed. Some offices announced they would stay open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to accept enlistments.

Christopher Austin was lying in his bed reading a poem in the newspaper. It was written by a man from Minnesota who now lived in Arizona. He read:

‘LUCKY BOY’

Uncle Sam has picked you, son,

For the job that must be done,

Lucky boy.

And we’ve got the strongest hunch

That you’ll give the knockout punch

To the pirate Axis bunch

Lucky boy.

With old glory around you furled,

Hear the cheers from all the world,

Lucky boy.

It’s the flag that makes men free;

Take it to its destiny –

Raise it high beyond the sea,

Lucky boy.

What a glorious time to serve

With your strength and brain and nerve,

Lucky boy.

When to Freedom’s ruthless foe,

With his guilt of blood and woe,

You can strike the telling blow,

Lucky boy.

And when you come marching home,

Wreathed with laurels you have won,

Lucky boy,

Liberty will write your name

On her scroll of lasting fame

Set in honor’s frame,

Lucky boy.

He fell asleep with the book on his chest and dreamt. It was the same dream he had been dreaming for over a month now. He was at the control of a United States war plane in pursuit of a German Mig-29. His guns were blazing as he gained on the Gerry. Suddenly smoke appeared from the rear of the enemy plane and it was on its way down to meet its fate. This was another successful kill for Captain Christopher Austin, the terror of the German skies.

As he flew through the smoke from the falling Mig-29 his nostrils were filled with the definite smell of something burning causing Christopher to awake from his dream. He opened his eyes and rolled onto his side, cuddling in the warmth underneath the quilts. As he lay there, he got another whiff of the smoke, but he slowly became aware that it was not the smoke from the Mig-29, but the familiar dying flames from the fireplace. He realized in his half awake state that the fire in the adjoining living room fire place was down to embers and it was his job each morning to stoke the fire, which kept the main part of the house from becoming the ‘frigid zone’. He threw back the covers, sat up on the edge of the bed and set his bare feet on the cold bedroom floor. The light from the sun rising over the hills in the east through his bedroom window, coupled with the smoke from the dying embers of the fireplace had awakened him as it did every morning. He thought how strange it is that something happening in a fantasy dream could correspond to something happening in the real world. The smoke of the German plane in his dream was actually the smoke of the fireplace.

The floor was cold and made his feet dance in repulsion as they searched for the slippers he had left there the night before. His feet started hurting from the cold as the blood in them began to turn frigid. When his feet found the slippers, he wriggled them into the warmth of the fur surrounding the slippers and he felt the blood start to flow in his feet again. He grabbed his robe from the bottom of the bed, placed there the night before, and threw it around his shoulders, stood up, and padded across the floor leading to the living room. The door was already open to let in as much heat from the fireplace as possible. He crossed the room to the fireplace, bent over, retrieved some kindling from the wood hamper, placed there the day before, and placed a few of them on the fire; then he moved them around with the fire poker until a flame appeared. Taking some of the larger chunks of wood from the hamper, he placed them over the kindling. He extended his palms out over the emerging flames as if he was willing the flames to grow. Soon the fire was roaring again.

Christopher Austin turned 18 on March 18, 1942. He had been 18 for almost three months now and just graduated from high school. He was reflecting on his almost nightly dream while being mesmerized by the glow of the fire. He imagined the German plan hitting the ground, causing a huge fireball to fill the sky. Not wanting to be a foot soldier, and knowing that if he didn’t join one of the branches of the armed forces soon, he would receive a notice in the mail from Uncle Sam, and a foot soldier is exactly what he’d become. Chris decided, to keep that from happening, he would seek voluntary enlistment in the Army Air Corps. Even though he had never ridden in an airplane, he was determined to qualify for Air Cadet training.

The age to sign up had been lowered to 18 and the requirement for two years of college had also been abandoned by the United States because of the severity of the war crisis abroad.

As soon as his parents awoke he would tell them that he was going to join the Army and become an Army aviation pilot.

Returning to his room, placing his robe on the foot of the bed, sitting on the side of the bed, and sliding his feet from his slippers he slipped back between the still warm covers. He placed his palms behind his head and lay awake daydreaming about more adventures of being an Army combat pilot fighting the Germans.

After about an hour, his thoughts were interrupted by noises coming from the kitchen. Ethel, his mom, and Don, his dad were finally awake.

He retrieved his robe and slippers and headed for the kitchen. His mom, in her night robe, was busy at the stove preparing her usual bacon and eggs and his dad, still in his pajamas and house coat, was sitting at the table reading the morning paper. The two of them owned a restaurant in town, where Chris frequently had helped out with the cooking and many other things involved in running a restaurant. But, his parents had now hired women in town to take care of most of the work at the restaurant. It would not be too much of a burden on them if he were not there to help any longer.

Good morning! he said with all the exuberating enthusiasm he could muster as he walked in.

Good morning, they replied together as always.

Breakfast will be ready in a jiffy, Ethel said.

Mom, Dad, I have been thinking and I’ve decided to join the Army and become a pilot! he blurted out. He stood there waiting for the expected derogatory answer.

Don looked up from his newspaper.

This has come as no surprise, answered his mom, Your dad and I have been wandering when this moment would come. We have already discussed it and agreed that it is okay, although your father is for it a lot more than I am, said his mom, Your dad sees the patriotism and glory in it and all I can see is the danger. But if we are to win this war, it will take every able-bodied son in America to see that it happens. So you go and join up with our blessing.

Thank you both, Christopher said, this was a lot easier than I imagined.

No thanks to me, responded Ethel.

I’m going to join up right after breakfast. Chris said as he sat down at the table.

Since permission had been reluctantly granted, he finished his bacon, eggs, and milk. He returned to his room, took off his pajamas, quickly put on his jeans, shoes, and a heavy flannel shirt. He retrieved his overcoat from its hook near the front door and said, "I’ll be back as soon as I can. I don’t know how long this will take. He opened the front door and stepped into the crisp morning air. On his half-mile walk to town his two emerald eyes gazed into the brightening sky to the east. A loud noise caused his gaze to turn to the west. An airplane went roaring into the sun.

I’ll be up there flying right beside you before long! he shouted at the plane. Then returning his attention to his mission, he continued on his way.

He entered a room at the front of the hardware store that was rented by the U.S. Army as a recruiting post.

I’d like to apply for the Army flying school, he said to the man behind the desk.

You and every other man in the country, fill in this form and take this test, as he handed Christopher the Army entrance exam on the spot. It will determine if you are even qualified to try for aviation training.

Chris sat down at a table for the aviation cadet exam. After finishing the tests, he walked to the desk where the Army officer was still sitting. The officer took the test from Chris and perused it for a few minutes, then put a check mark at the top.

You’ve passed the academic tests and you look to me like you would pass the physical exams, said the recruiter, "so we will skip those. Step on those scales over there and let’s see how much you weigh. He pointed to a set of scales against the wall.

Christopher walked over and stepped onto the scales. The recruiter slid the weights on the balancer at the top back and forth until the slide bar began to move. He then tapped the smaller of the weights until the arrow on the balance arm stood still matching the arrow on the scale.

You have only one problem, said the recruiter.

What’s that? asked Austin.

You are five pounds under the minimum weight requirement, replied the recruiter, so if you can gain some weight, you’re in.

Christopher’s lower jaw dropped in disappointment.

Give me two weeks, begged Austin.

Okay, see you in two weeks, responded the recruiter.

As Austin was returning home an idea popped into his head. He needed some advice on how to gain weight fast. So, he stopped by the local gym on his way home seeking advice.

Over by a punching bag, being pounded by a man in shorts, shoes, and gloves he saw another man carefully watching every punch the kid threw. He looked like he might be in charge. He walked up to him. Are you the gym manager? Austin asked.

Yes sir, how can I help you? he responded.

I have a question I need answered, said Chris.

And what might that be? asked the manager.

How can a guy gain five pounds in two weeks? Austin asked him.

Why do you want to gain weight? he asked, most people want to lose weight.

So I can get into the Army, replied Austin.

Well in that case, eat three meals a day, answered the manager. Have a milkshake and a banana with each meal and half way between each meal. Have another milkshake and banana before going to bed.

Is that all I have to do? asked Austin.

No! answered the manager, When your stomach is empty your body gets energy from three places; one is glycogen which is stored in your liver and muscles; two is from your body fat; and three is your muscle tissue. Eating six meals a day will make sure your body stays in a muscle-building state all day long. Lift weights that aren’t too heavy and repeat it 10 times. Two to four reps will increase your strength; 6-10 reps will increase your muscle size. Keep your exercise to less than one hour a day, anything longer than that will start tearing down your muscle tissue.

Anything else? asked Austin.

Yes! answered the manager, After you have lifted the weights, you need to run, but remember to keep all your exercise to less than an hour a day.

Thank you, very much, said Austin.

You’re welcome, answered the manager, and good luck.

Chris left the gym and headed to his home. He explained to his mom what had happened.

Will you help me? he asked.

I suppose I have no choice, she said reluctantly.

The next morning Austin started on his regimen. He ate the eggs and bacon his mom had set out for breakfast each morning and instead of a glass of milk he had a vanilla shake and a banana. At mid morning he repeated the milk shake and banana. At noon he had a sandwich, a banana and a milkshake. Then he took two buckets, filled them half way with water and sat them on the front porch floor about three feet apart. He found a four foot length of pipe and placed it under the handles of the buckets. Then by lying on the floor and scooting his body under the pipe, he began to lift the