“That’s puttin’ ’em in the right pocket, Scoot!” It was the voice of his squadron leader over the radio. “But watch out behind you! A little sneak attack coming!”
Yes, there were two Japs coming in on him. Now where did they come from, Scoot wondered. But he didn’t spend much time on that question for he had other things to do. If these Japs weren’t familiar enough with what the new Hellcats could do he’d show ’em. So, instead of diving to get away, as he knew they expected, he put his fighter into a steep climb that pulled him up toward the clouds as if a giant hand had reached down and grabbed him.
That took the first Jap by surprise, as Scoot hoped, but the second had just enough time to meet the maneuver. As Scoot closed in on the first, he knew that the second was coming in behind him. He concentrated on one thing at a time. Maybe, he thought, he could take care of the first one fast and get away quickly enough. With a roar of speed, he brought the first Jap into range, opened fire, saw smoke, and waited no longer. He plunged into a diving turn, looked back over his shoulder and saw the second Jap ship already plunging earthward in a cloud of smoke.
“Who did that?” Scoot demanded, almost to himself.
“I did, my friend!” It was Turk Bottomley’s voice.
“What are you doing here?” Scoot demanded.
“No Jap planes showed up at the carrier,” Scoot said, “so the Old Man let a few of us come over to have some fun. I just got here.”
“And just in time, lad,” Scoot said. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” Turk laughed. “The pleasure was all mine.”
So that is how Scoot managed to paint two little Jap flags on the side of his plane the next day, as the Bunker Hill steamed westward, away from a smoking and flaming Truk.