O’Malley peeled off and went roaring down the chute. Allison followed, and Stan eased over and opened up. The P–40’s engine hammered a smooth tune as the air rushed past the hatch cover. Stan grinned. He was glad to be back at it again.
The bombers below were very slow. They did not break formation until the P–40’s were on their backs. Stan drove down on a big killer and opened his guns. He cut his burst short and knifed past. As he went down and over in a tight, twisting dive, he saw the bomber burst into flames. Up he went at the belly of another bomber. His Brownings rattled a hail of lead and sheared away the bomber’s wing.
As Stan went up, he saw, coming down the chute, a flight of Jap fighter planes. They were roaring in to save the bombers from destruction. Stan made a quick guess and decided there must be at least thirty of them.
“Air superiority,” he muttered. “So this is the way they get it.”
He laid over and sprayed another bomber. It dived and circled, heading back the way it had come. A glance showed that the bomber attack had been riddled and put to flight. But there was still the flock of fighters darting in on the P–40’s.
Stan went up and over and around. He held the P–40 wide open and shot under the diving Japs. He was remembering what the captain had said when he gave them instructions. “Go through them and on up. You can outfly them and be back for a kill before they can get at you.”
As he went up and over in a screaming loop, he saw that O’Malley had forgotten his instructions. The Irishman was in the middle of the enemy formation of fighters and he was stunting like a madman, his guns spitting flame and death. One Jap plane went down and then another, but O’Malley was in a tight spot. Smoke was trailing out behind him, not exhaust smoke but black smoke telling of fire inside the P–40.
Stan came over and went down. He ripped through the formation, darting around O’Malley. As he went, he saw, on his right, another P–40 shuttling across the sky. He clipped a wing off a fighter that tried to intercept him by diving at him. He saw his companion take another one out. Then he heard Allison’s clipped words.
“O’Malley! Get moving. Shuttle across. Use your speed.”
“I’m havin’ some fun stayin’ right here,” O’Malley called back.