Battle of Bermuda Part Four
Simons Air Field
99th Fighter Squadron HQ
January 29th 1939, 1057 Local Time
Captain Cortez was on the phone with the Army Air Force Commander on Bermuda when the air raid alarm when off for the second time today. He dropped the phone and when running to the P-45 he was using as it’s pilot was still at the base hospital which was overflowing with wounded from the first strike that had come this morning. The airbases across the island had been hit hard in the early strike of the day with the USAAF down to just under 40%. Many units were just getting airborne as the first wave hit and didn’t stand a chance. This allowed the British to get a number of easy kills and gutted many units. The 99th Fighter Squadron was no different.
This time through there was no mistaking the US was now at war and the base commander at Bermuda was one of those who died in the first attack of the war the new commander was ordering every flyable fighter into air as Point Baker was reporting in that they had another huge return coming in on their scopes. This was because he didn’t want a repeat of earlier in the day. He had already send the maritime patrol aircraft he had in an effort to find the British fleet along with sending out the bases submarines out to clear out some of the harbor. But the rest of units in the harbor were destroyers, tenders, logistics, or auxiliary ships. With more tenders, logistic, and auxiliary ships in the harbor than destroyers caused the base commander was keeping the support ships in the harbor with the destroyers running ASW missions off the coast for a possible submarine attack.
As Jim reached the shot-up P-45, First Sergeant Williams looked at him, “Sir don’t push her past 5Gs as I’m not sure if she would hold up.” He had been working on the aircraft ever since 2nd LT Jerry Wright had brought his shot up earlier today. It was flyable, but still needed more work as there still a number of patches that needed to be done to it before it was fully repaired.
“I will keep that in mind top, but no promises.” Cortez said as he strapped himself into the P-45. The radial engine was within moments roaring to life as the ground crew started the 45. The other seven aircraft were also roaring to life as their engines were being started by their ground crews. As soon as the ground crews were cleared the P-45s of the 99th Fighter Squadron started to taxi down the runways to take off for another battle with the British.
The minutes passed as the P-45s climbed into the sky to meet the challenge. The problem for Captain Cortez who was now the acting commanding officer of the 99th Fighter Squadron was the fact he lacked a radio now. He couldn’t hear nor speak to his fellow pilots as he was trying to get up to the altitude the British were act as they were trying to meet the British as far out as possible. So he wasn’t taking up the lead slot that would be normal in squadron flight. No he was currently flying the number three slot in the finger four formation in a game of following the leader. But the one thing he couldn’t get out of his ears was the sound of the wind rushing through the holes that top didn’t patched.
With his moving he spotted the British at a distance of about a few miles away. It seemed other pilots were also making the spots at they were gunning their engines to get more air speed before they mixed up with the British. Neither held the altitude as the British were coming in lower than their earlier strikes to hopefully hide in the clouds. But the clouds of this morning have when away leaving nothing but clear skies and fighter weather. All total there were 137 British aircraft against 47 American fighters. Of the 166 aircraft launched in the first wave only 14 were shot down by the Americans, the other 15 that had been with the first wave had been damaged. Some were able to land on the British carriers others ditched to be picked up by escorting destroyers.
Jim Cortez was making his way for an Amberjack torpedo bomber as he was entering the merge. When he thought he had enough of a lead he opened up with his 50 cals. Only this time he came up short and his rounds didn’t go where he wanted. But he knew he wouldn’t have another shot at that Amberjack. The Griffons they were facing were attack and forcing the USAAF fighters to defend themselves instead of attacking the bombers. Some of the Griffon pilots were dropping their bombs to mix it up with the Americans as only a few Griffons were in pure fighter mode as it was believed they had dealt a deadly blow to the Americans in their earlier wave and this would allow them to use their Griffons more in a dive bomber than fighter role.
A pair of Griffons singled out Jim’s P-45 along with his wingman. The wingman was fresh out of flight school and had only been with the 99th for a few weeks now, he didn’t stand a chance. He was downed within seconds of the two Griffons picking the pick with these 45s. Jim however was pushing his P-45 for all it was worth. He was jamming the rudder pedals as hard as humanely possible along with moving his stick around like his life depended on it. With nothing to lose he forced his P-45 into a high speed stall to get the Griffons that were chasing him to overshoot. It worked but as he pulled back into something close to level fight the rear gunners on the Griffons took over trying to kill this crazy American.
Grunting he put enough lead and put a good burst of fire into the Griffon closest to him. He watched as the wing snapped off from the Griffon and sent it going into Atlantic Ocean. His victory was short lived through. He could feel the .303s from the other Griffon putting rounds into his right wing. The stick stopped answering his commands as pieces started to come off the wing. Then flames started to come out of the fuel tanks.
Cortez put his aircraft into a slow roll using only his rudder as he fought to open the canopy. Once he was upside down he stopped the roll then with a quick prayer to god he undid his straps and fell out of his P-45 as flames on the wing started to spread.
99th Fighter Squadron HQ
January 29th 1939, 1057 Local Time
Captain Cortez was on the phone with the Army Air Force Commander on Bermuda when the air raid alarm when off for the second time today. He dropped the phone and when running to the P-45 he was using as it’s pilot was still at the base hospital which was overflowing with wounded from the first strike that had come this morning. The airbases across the island had been hit hard in the early strike of the day with the USAAF down to just under 40%. Many units were just getting airborne as the first wave hit and didn’t stand a chance. This allowed the British to get a number of easy kills and gutted many units. The 99th Fighter Squadron was no different.
This time through there was no mistaking the US was now at war and the base commander at Bermuda was one of those who died in the first attack of the war the new commander was ordering every flyable fighter into air as Point Baker was reporting in that they had another huge return coming in on their scopes. This was because he didn’t want a repeat of earlier in the day. He had already send the maritime patrol aircraft he had in an effort to find the British fleet along with sending out the bases submarines out to clear out some of the harbor. But the rest of units in the harbor were destroyers, tenders, logistics, or auxiliary ships. With more tenders, logistic, and auxiliary ships in the harbor than destroyers caused the base commander was keeping the support ships in the harbor with the destroyers running ASW missions off the coast for a possible submarine attack.
As Jim reached the shot-up P-45, First Sergeant Williams looked at him, “Sir don’t push her past 5Gs as I’m not sure if she would hold up.” He had been working on the aircraft ever since 2nd LT Jerry Wright had brought his shot up earlier today. It was flyable, but still needed more work as there still a number of patches that needed to be done to it before it was fully repaired.
“I will keep that in mind top, but no promises.” Cortez said as he strapped himself into the P-45. The radial engine was within moments roaring to life as the ground crew started the 45. The other seven aircraft were also roaring to life as their engines were being started by their ground crews. As soon as the ground crews were cleared the P-45s of the 99th Fighter Squadron started to taxi down the runways to take off for another battle with the British.
The minutes passed as the P-45s climbed into the sky to meet the challenge. The problem for Captain Cortez who was now the acting commanding officer of the 99th Fighter Squadron was the fact he lacked a radio now. He couldn’t hear nor speak to his fellow pilots as he was trying to get up to the altitude the British were act as they were trying to meet the British as far out as possible. So he wasn’t taking up the lead slot that would be normal in squadron flight. No he was currently flying the number three slot in the finger four formation in a game of following the leader. But the one thing he couldn’t get out of his ears was the sound of the wind rushing through the holes that top didn’t patched.
With his moving he spotted the British at a distance of about a few miles away. It seemed other pilots were also making the spots at they were gunning their engines to get more air speed before they mixed up with the British. Neither held the altitude as the British were coming in lower than their earlier strikes to hopefully hide in the clouds. But the clouds of this morning have when away leaving nothing but clear skies and fighter weather. All total there were 137 British aircraft against 47 American fighters. Of the 166 aircraft launched in the first wave only 14 were shot down by the Americans, the other 15 that had been with the first wave had been damaged. Some were able to land on the British carriers others ditched to be picked up by escorting destroyers.
Jim Cortez was making his way for an Amberjack torpedo bomber as he was entering the merge. When he thought he had enough of a lead he opened up with his 50 cals. Only this time he came up short and his rounds didn’t go where he wanted. But he knew he wouldn’t have another shot at that Amberjack. The Griffons they were facing were attack and forcing the USAAF fighters to defend themselves instead of attacking the bombers. Some of the Griffon pilots were dropping their bombs to mix it up with the Americans as only a few Griffons were in pure fighter mode as it was believed they had dealt a deadly blow to the Americans in their earlier wave and this would allow them to use their Griffons more in a dive bomber than fighter role.
A pair of Griffons singled out Jim’s P-45 along with his wingman. The wingman was fresh out of flight school and had only been with the 99th for a few weeks now, he didn’t stand a chance. He was downed within seconds of the two Griffons picking the pick with these 45s. Jim however was pushing his P-45 for all it was worth. He was jamming the rudder pedals as hard as humanely possible along with moving his stick around like his life depended on it. With nothing to lose he forced his P-45 into a high speed stall to get the Griffons that were chasing him to overshoot. It worked but as he pulled back into something close to level fight the rear gunners on the Griffons took over trying to kill this crazy American.
Grunting he put enough lead and put a good burst of fire into the Griffon closest to him. He watched as the wing snapped off from the Griffon and sent it going into Atlantic Ocean. His victory was short lived through. He could feel the .303s from the other Griffon putting rounds into his right wing. The stick stopped answering his commands as pieces started to come off the wing. Then flames started to come out of the fuel tanks.
Cortez put his aircraft into a slow roll using only his rudder as he fought to open the canopy. Once he was upside down he stopped the roll then with a quick prayer to god he undid his straps and fell out of his P-45 as flames on the wing started to spread.
