Soldier Up (21 page)

              “The old World War one and two airplanes at that museum Sir, we put it in the after action report from our patrol in San Carlos.” said the squad leader who had led the patrol.

              “We saw the planes Sir and wondered if they could fly again they were in excellent shape just sitting there.  If they could fly we could sure use some air cover.” said the Lance Corporal who had gone on the patrol.

              Colonel Clayton hadn’t considered any of the old military planes in the museums, after all they were museum pieces, but they did bring up a good point what if they could fly, people had restored these old planes all the time and fly them, they had no modern circuitry and were just about all engine.

              “Where did you say this museum was?” asked Colonel Clayton.

              The squad leader responded, “It’s the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos Sir.”

              “Thanks for the information,” said Colonel Clayton. “I’ll make sure I check it out after I leave here.”  The Colonel was very interested maybe there was something to this and the planes could be used.  If it were the case for the planes there then what about the military planes in the rest of the museums in the Bay area there were lots of them which included the USS Hornet and all of its planes, not to mention the ship itself was world war two and could it be run? It raised a lot of questions with no answers. 

After leaving the FOB at Redwood City Colonel Clayton decided it was time his staff got a little time off to visit an aviation museum and he knew were one was.  It didn’t take long for the small convoy of vehicles to make its way to the Hiller Aviation Museum; they entered through the door the Marines had described.

              They entered the museum and made their way to the main exhibition of world war one biplanes and world war two fighters and bombers.  The Marines were right the planes were in exquisite condition as they should be in a museum.  He could easily understand how the Marines could think they might run when he saw them it occurred to him but that would be too good to be true.  Some of his staff members started to climb around the aircraft to get a better look since there was no one around to stop them why not.  One of the staff members was a pilot and he climbed into one of the Curtis P-40 War Hawks and sat down.  You could tell he was studying the control panel and was playing with all of the gadgets, he did some more fiddling around inside the cockpit and all of a sudden the engine kicked to life.  It didn’t start right up but it turned over a few times and coughed a bit.  This got everyone’s attention and they all moved back to a safe location.  Colonel Clayton yelled at him to try it again, the pilot shrugged and figured what the hell.

              The plane started to shudder and cough as the engine turned over but it finally kicked over and ran nice and steady, it was an awesome site so see the vintage plane still had some get up and go.  The Colonel signaled to the pilot to cut the engine which he did and the engine died and the propeller came to a stop.  “Do you think you can fly it?” asked Colonel Clayton.

              “I have no idea Sir but I’d love to try.” replied Captain Flynn.

              The Colonel looked around to see how they got the aircraft in he could see a large type garage door opening that they were brought in from but there were about three or four other planes in the way so they wouldn’t be able to wheel out the War Hawk right now.  Colonel Clayton was thinking of all of the possibilities with planes like this, they may not have the bombs for them but they had the guns and ammo. 

              “Alright,” the Colonel said. “I want this place locked down and searched see what else we can find.  I need to speak with the General about this but I’m sure we will be back out here tomorrow.”

              The Colonel then sent his staff to make sure the building was all locked down except for the door they came in.  They then searched the building from top to bottom; they found the actual machine guns that went with some of the planes that looked to be in good working order. 

              After searching it they secured the back door they came and loaded up back into their vehicles.  The one plane that stood out to the Colonel was the C-47 Skytrain if that ran or they could get it running they would have an airplane that could travel great distances, it would open up a lot more area to them and maybe they could find out what really happened. 

              They returned to Richmond where the General had set up his HQ out of the City Hall, one of the benefits of having a lot of fuel now was that you could run the generators day and night for electricity.  The other benefit was being a Major General and you could get away with it.  Colonel Clayton made his way to the General’s office, knocked on the door and leaned in to the room, “Excuse me Sir do you have a moment? There’s something I would like to talk to you about.” said Colonel Clayton.

              “Certainly Colonel, please come in and have a seat.” replied the General.

              Colonel Clayton walked into the office and took a seat in front of the Generals desk, “What is it John? What can I do for you?” said General Watkins.

              Colonel Clayton recounted the story staring with the Marines at Redwood City FOB and how they had found the aviation museum.  His concern there was that the Marines stated they had included there search about the museum in their after action report but the briefing from the mission by the Intel folks never mentioned anything about it. General Watkins agreed that it was an issue and would have a talking with the MI Company Commander.

              He then went on to describe his tour and subsequent search of the aviation museum and how one of his staff, the pilot, was able to start one of the old fighters.  “Sir, if we can get any more of these planes to run especially the C-47 it would be a gold mine, we would be able to expand our search grids and better protect the troops on the ground.  Not only that there are other aviation museums that we may be able to take advantage of.”

              Colonel Clayton had the General’s attention now, “What do we need to make this happen Colonel?”

              “Pilots, Sir and aircraft mechanics.”

              “Things we don’t have a great deal of right now.”

              “Sir we know one of the aircraft starts but we need some manpower to move the other planes out-of-the-way to get that plane outside.  Captain Flynn believes he can fly it.” said Colonel Clayton.

              “The other planes wouldn’t start?” asked General Watkins.

              “We didn’t try Sir that would be on the table when we go back.”

              “When do you want to go back?”

              “Bright and early tomorrow Sir, there’s no time like the present.”

              “Ok Colonel let’s make it happen, any idea where you might get anymore aircraft mechanics?”

              “No Sir, but there’s more.” said the Colonel.

              General Watkins nodded and waved towards himself signaling to the Colonel to tell him, “Sir I think we should take the USS Hornet.  It’s a Navy museum and the types of aircraft would be incredible if they work or we can get them to work.  Then there is that fact that the Hornet may actually run, think about it Sir, all diesel engines.  Not a modern circuit any place on it.”

              General Watkins thought for a moment, “Alright I’ll order a Company of Marines I would think that some of them are familiar with aircraft carriers, but don’t get your hopes up Colonel it’s been docked there a while. Since we are securing aviation museums I will send a platoon from the 184
th
to take a look at the one in Oakland.”

              “Yes Sir that sounds like a good idea.” said the Colonel.

              “Ok Colonel anything else?” stated the General.

              “No Sir I think that’s plenty, thank you.”

              “Please keep me apprised of the situation Colonel I expect daily briefings especially if you can get that C-47 up.”

              Colonel Clayton stood, came to attention, saluted, General Watkins returned the salute.  Colonel Clayton did an about face and marched out of the office, he was excited to say the least.  He thought to himself, “We may not have all of the modern conveniences for the year 2016 but we will for the 1940s!”  It was time to get busy he needed to mind a couple more pilots and a few aircraft mechanics.

Colonel Clayton returned to his office wondering where he was going to find aircraft mechanics for aircraft that was sixty plus years old.  It was something he was going to have to think about and send word back to Camp Parks to put out feelers to the civilian community.  Regardless he contacted 1
st
Battalion, 184
th
Infantry to see if they could spare a couple of squads for tomorrow at the museum.  They had gotten a tasking to send over a platoon from one of the Companies over to Oakland Aviation museum to see what’s there.

              The Battalion Commander said he could spare two squads from Alpha Company and he could have them for the day.  Colonel Clayton thanked him and asked him to have the men report to his office at 0700 he should have them back no later than 1800, he assured the Battalion Commander if anything it would be an educational day for everyone involved.

              At 0700 everyone was present at the Colonels office; they loaded up into the vehicles and left for San Carlos.  It wasn’t a terribly long drive and as a Commander you have to be careful because you don’t want to arrive some place where your people have been sitting for a long time bored out of their minds and then jump them into a fight, it doesn’t work out that well.  Not that there was going to be a fight but they couldn’t afford to be complacent.  One lesson learned was that going into a neighborhood that seemed safe one day turns out to be gang infested the next because when you came through the first time they were hiding.

              With this knowledge yesterday and today when Colonel Clayton approached the Hiller he didn’t drive right up to it. He staked it out for thirty minutes to look for anything unusual, he peered through his binoculars.  He looked for vehicles out front or to the sides, any people around it, where any of the doors opened.  Today he got a sense that there was something wrong although he couldn’t nail down anything, his observation for the last thirty minutes didn’t show anything.  But still he felt uneasy, he ordered one of the squads with him to go take a look around the building and to check the doors front and back, it shouldn’t take too long.

              Within minutes the squad had made their way to the building and inspected the front and found no problems, they then checked each side and reported all secure.  The Soldiers turned the corner of the building and halted, there were several old cars parked there, Colonel Clayton wouldn’t have known because he couldn’t see the area with his binoculars.  They informed the Colonel of the presence of the vehicles and that the back door had been busted open.  Colonel Clayton told them to sit tight and if anyone came out apprehend them first and if they resisted shoot them.  They loaded back up into the vehicles and moved up to the Hiller.  Colonel Clayton had the squad that was still with him stake out the front of the building while he and some of the other men with him moved to the rear of the building to join the squad back there.

              Once there the squad told him they hadn’t seen or heard anything, “Great, just great,” Colonel Clayton thought.  Colonel Clayton carried and M-4 assault rifle and 1911 45 Caliber pistol, he pulled the door back and stepped into the building he yelled, “US ARMY US ARMY!” he got no response.  With the squad stacked behind him they moved from room to room repeating the same thing, nothing.  There was only the cafeteria left before the exhibit halls, so they were either in there or out with the planes and it would be a shame to have a firefight in the middle of all those planes.

              The squad leader pulled the door open while the rest of the squad with Colonel Clayton in the lead burst into the cafeteria with weapons up and ready to fire yelling, “US ARMY US ARMY!”  Sitting there at a half dozen tables were some older gentlemen possibly in their sixties, one of the men turned to look at the Soldiers, “Would y’all like a cup of coffee?”

              Colonel Clayton lowered his weapon and looked at each man; he then lowered his head shaking and then looked up, “Are you aware you could have all been killed? And why didn’t you answer?”             

              One of the men asked, “What was the question?”

              Another man spoke up, “Son we figure if it’s our time to go it’s our time, you and no one else is gonna stop that.”

              Colonel Clayton thought for a moment that they made a lot of sense, “Who are you?” he asked.

                The man who asked what was the question answered, “We’re the ones who restored, fixed and fly these planes, as far as we’re concerned there ours.”

              Colonel Clayton looked around the room a bit more closely; some of the men had to be into their eighties at least.  “Wait, what? All of the planes run? Have you tried to start them lately? You’re prior military?” he had so many questions.

              Again the same man who answered previously, “To answer your questions young man, Yes all of the planes run that are prop driven, yes we started them all a week or so ago and yes we are prior military, world war two, Korea and Vietnam. Now, who are you and why are you here?”

              “I’m Colonel John Clayton, US Army, I work for Major General Watkins I’m his XO, he’s also the Commander of Fort Irwin and I’m the Commander of Camp Parks.  As for your planes we are trying to get an Air Force back in the air.”

              “It’s about God Damned time the military got its collective asses back in the game,” said the man. “I’m Gus Pulowsky, US Army Air Corp.”

              From there each man in the room stood up and introduced himself essentially giving name and rank and what they did while in the Military, there were either Army Air Corp or Air Force retired.  Colonel Clayton thought there was a lot of history in the room and he wasn’t thinking airplanes.  Looking over the room Colonel Clayton said, “Can it be done?”

              Gus stood up and walked over to the Colonel, starred him straight in the eyes, “Damn right it can! We’re here to help you just give the order and will get it done!”

              “When was the last time the planes flew?” asked Colonel Clayton.

              “Most of them about a year ago.” said Gus.             

              “What do you guys know about the planes on the Hornet, work or not? And Oakland Aviation Museum?” quizzed the Colonel.

              Another man named Stan spoke up, “I can speak for the aircraft on the Hornet I used to work over there, the majority of the prop planes worked two years ago when I was there, can’t see why they wouldn’t now.  Have you thought about getting the boat underway? It should run too.”

              After Stan another man, Alfred said, “I’ve been over to Oakland, same as here.  The guys take a lot of pride in what they do, so you’re damn right they run and fly.”

Colonel Claytons head was spinning with all of this; it was a lot to take in.  He was thinking, “Look we need pilots for the planes and mechanics right?” he asked. “We will need ordinance, I don’t know about bombs but we have all sorts of ammo if the guns work.”

“Well Colonel,” said Gus. “We’re a bit old to fly combat missions but you get us the people and we’ll train the hell out of them!” Gus was enthusiastic to say the least. “As for the guns we got the guns and they work too and for bombs my guess is Travis might have what you’re looking for.”

Stan raised his hand, “Where you going to put all the airplanes once we get them out of here and Oakland?”