“’Tis nice equipment they furnish, these Chinese. I’m handling the rear gun. There’s a couple o’ submachine guns in a rack back there. If I bail out, I’ll grab one o’ them, then Mrs. O’Malley’s boy will pot any Japs that try dirty tricks.”
Allison settled himself at the controls while Stan took over navigation and the forward guns. The big ship rocked to the blast of its two Pratt and Whitney motors. It spun around and headed down the field. Hoicking its tail, the plane eased off the ground. It was designed to fly as fast as most pursuit planes and to maneuver well in the air. They had been up only a few minutes when Stan discovered that the intercommunication phone was out of order and that they had no radio.
“This ship was never cleared for combat by the ground crew,” he called to Allison.
Allison smiled back at him and opened the Martin up another notch. He leaned toward Stan and shouted:
“You’re not in the R.A.F. now, son. You are back in the old brush-hopping days.”
They bored along, spotting two P–40 patrols who eased down to look them over. They saw no enemy planes at all as they knifed along above a layer of clouds. Stan checked the map and charted their course. After a time, he made a thumbs-down sign and Allison dropped under the clouds.
They drifted over the broad and muddy Salween River and Stan knew they were over neutral territory. He kept a sharp watch for Jap ships, knowing that they paid no attention to neutrality. They had an understanding with Thailand that amounted to an alliance.
After crossing the river, Allison went down and swept low over the jungle and land which plantation owners had cultivated. He was the first to spot the flag planted at the edge of a rice paddy. The field seemed smooth and the flag gave him the wind, but he did not go in. He circled low over the jungle bordering the plantation.
As they came back over, much lower this time, they saw three men dressed in uniform waving to them from the edge of the dense forest. Allison came around and skimmed low over the field. As he went past, he saw that the three men were dressed in Chinese uniforms.
“I’m setting her down,” he called to Stan. “I’ll roll in close to the spot where those men are and then I’ll swing around so that we head into the wind.”