DOUG HARVEY - World War Two
World War Two, Second World War, W.W.II
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DOUG HARVEY
" You know I can remember, sitting here now, that first take-off,
to a target run, turning on at the end of the runway, in the dark,
in the rain, waiting for that green Aldus lamp to give you the
signal, the crew are all ready, sitting there in their positions,
and starting this thing; and you start building the speed, slowly,
slowly, like a great lumbering truck, and then finally, with the
stick forward as far as you can get it, you get the tail up, with
the tail wheel, and you've gotta get the steering, and then
finally, 60 miles an hour, 70, and you're watching the end of the
runway, and the trees just off it, in the dark, straining forward,
everything, watching that, but.. the clock, the airspeed, and then
finally, 80, 85, 90, the engineer with his hands behind the
throttle so they won't slip back, finally, a hundred, and you start
easing, easing back, 'cause you don't want to jerk it off in case
you stall, lose an engine, you're gone, and the engineer snapping
the wheels up as soon as he can, when you give him the order,
"Wheels up!", he gets them up for you. And then finally, you've got
flying speed and you start to climb, and you can turn. And the
sweat's dripping down... " |
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