October 26, 1943. Operations Order Number 40.
Fifty-two pilots. Ten missions. Takeoffs beginning at 0910 and running through 1435 in the afternoon.
The day started with Captain S. Combs (89th) leading Mission F-230 off the strip at 0910 — eight aircraft in the Bomb and Strafe role: 1st Lt. D.A. Coll (89th), 1st Lt. E.R. McMillin Jr. (89th), 2nd Lt. S. Dare (89th), Captain W.S. Harrell (89th), 2nd Lt. J.P. Smith (89th), 2nd Lt. P.R. Adair (89th), and 2nd Lt. J.M. Matulovicz (89th). Eight men lifting out of Nagaghuli in the grey morning and turning south toward Burma.
Twenty minutes later, F-231 followed — 1st Lt. J.J. Ferguson (89th) leading a four-ship patrol: 2nd Lt. B.G. Milne (89th), 2nd Lt. M.A. Morgan (89th), and 2nd Lt. J.R. Brooks (89th).
At 0950 two flights lifted simultaneously. F-232 put eight aircraft into the air split between top cover and strafe. Leading top cover: Captain K.M. George (89th), with 1st Lt. R.W. Rowntree (89th), 2nd Lt. G.E. Sparling (89th), and 2nd Lt. J.S. Grinnan (89th). Leading strafe: Major A.L. Evans Jr. (88th), with 1st Lt. J.R. Gring (88th), Captain O.K. Allred (88th), and 2nd Lt. A.T. Curtis (88th) — four men from the 88th going low while four from the 89th watched from above. F-233 put Captain R.H. Powell (90th) up with 2nd Lt. G.P. Weller Jr. (90th), 2nd Lt. R.E. Ward (90th), and 2nd Lt. J.N. Wright Jr. (90th) on a parallel patrol thirty miles to the north.
F-234 followed at 1020 — Captain B.L.W. McQuillen (89th) leading eight more on Bomb and Strafe: 1st Lt. C.G. Whitley (89th), 2nd Lt. J.A. Hartswick (89th), 1st Lt. D.P. Taylor (89th), 2nd Lt. E.C. O’Connor (89th), 2nd Lt. W.C. Orr (89th), 2nd Lt. R.L. McCarthy (89th), and 2nd Lt. N.K. Snyder (89th). By now there were thirty aircraft in the air or recently returned, and the day was not half over.
At noon, F-235 lifted — 1st Lt. C.D. Evans (89th) leading 2nd Lt. E.F. Johnson (89th), 1st Lt. O.M. Smith Jr. (89th), and 2nd Lt. J. Wilson (89th) on the midday patrol.
At 1355 a two-ship escort — Captain M.J. Cobb (89th) and 1st Lt. W.F. Duke (89th) — climbed out of Nagaghuli and headed for whatever they had been assigned to protect.
The last of the bombing missions was F-237 at 1455 — eight aircraft. Leading top cover: 1st Lt. S.J. Miller (89th), with 2nd Lt. R.L. Burns (89th), 1st Lt. A. Boldman (89th), and 2nd Lt. E.A. Gomo (89th) above. Leading bombing and strafe: Major D.M. Terry Jr. (89th), with 2nd Lt. C.H. Sisler (89th), 1st Lt. V.C. Burpe (89th), and 1st Lt. H.C. Broadfoot (89th).
Then, at 1400, two more aircraft lifted off on a VHF radio test — F-238: 2nd Lt. H.F. Johnson (89th) and 2nd Lt. D.C. Roane Jr. (89th), each in a P-40N-1, climbing to check the communications equipment that kept the day’s operations tied together.
The final mission of the day was F-239 at 1435 — four P-40s on patrol: Captain J.M. Roberts (89th), Captain J.V. Milke (89th), 1st Lt. H.C. Staulcup (89th), and 2nd Lt. J.B. Patton (89th), watching the sky above the routes while the bombing flights returned and the mechanics began their work.
By the time Patton cut his engine on the strip at Nagaghuli, the 80th Fighter Group had put fifty-two men over Burma in a single October day — pilots from the 89th, the 88th, and the 90th, flying ten separate missions from first light to mid-afternoon. The operations officer marked the order complete. The intelligence officer began the debriefs. The mechanics started the post-flight inspections. The mess hall served whatever it was serving.
Tomorrow’s schedule was already being written.