The Ordeal of Captain Mahoney

Grant Mahoney shot down his first Jap plane at the beginning of the war in the Philippines. In Java he got three. To be an ace he needed only one more plane.

Then he was shunted to India, to be a general's aide without a chance to shoot down his fifth Jap. Finally, last month, he was shifted to a front line in China and was made operations officer of an air base, where he could make his own assignments.

Last fortnight Captain Mahoney assigned himself to strafe the Jap field at Sonla. No planes were there, so Grant Mahoney shot up a steam roller on the airfield. Last week he took off for Burma, but found no planes, only a railroad train. He strafed it from tail to engine, engine to tail, left it blazing and steaming.

"Anyway," said Captain Mahoney, still only four-fifths an ace, "this gives me one confirmed steam roller, one train."

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