He pulled the nose of the P–40 up and she zoomed with a lift that fairly hurled her into the sky. Allison rode up close beside him. They raised above O’Malley but he came on, leveling off to force his speed.
“Formation! Squadron, close in!” Munson was bellowing.
Stan grinned. This was the first flight the colonel had taken with the Tigers and they were not acting the way he thought they should. Finally, the nine fighters closed in and took up line formation.
“Up to twelve thousand,” Munson ordered.
The Tigers went on up, following their leader. Stan looked across and saw O’Malley’s head bobbing back and forth. Suddenly, he heard O’Malley’s voice:
“What kind o’ show is this?”
“We’re out for a bit of exercise,” Allison came back.
“We ought to be over in those clouds,” Stan cut in. “That’s the place to look for trouble.”
Far to their right rose a high-piled bank of clouds. Stan kept watching that bank and wondering when Munson would head that way. He also wondered if the colonel had ever been in combat before. A man who would lead his flight through the open sky with clouds on either side needed some practical training.
Stan chuckled. The Japs would give him that training if he stayed in this game very long and went upstairs every day. Stan was still looking at the big cloud bank. He blinked his eyes. Around from the far side of the cloud came a flight of Japanese planes.