Posted:
By: Ben Mallon
On: 04/12/2004
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My dad, Richard W. Mallon, flew mostly as co-pilot, mostly in Stormy Weather, for the 615th. He arrived around late October 1943 and left May 22 or 23, 1944.
Dad told me that once they were flying an aircraft on a test flight after some maintenance. So they had no bombs, ammo, or guns, a light fuel load and a partial crew.
They were bounced by a Miles Master, the British advanced trainer. Dad's pilot (maybe Vince Kaminski from Minneapolis?) advanced the throttles all the way, and for several minutes they chased that Miles Master all over the sky. Dad says that in those conditions, they were faster and could outclimb the Master. And although the smaller aircraft, with it's shorter span, could roll into a bank faster, once the Fortress was up into a steep bank, it could turn inside the Master.
After a while, the Master rolled almost inverted, then dove real steep, almost a split S. Dad's pilot said "We're not gonna do that" and the 'engagement' was over.
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