Little Friend, Big Friend

In London, CBS Correspondent Bill Shadell found a U.S. fighter pilot with an odd story of war in the air, and the strange, anonymous comradeship between bomber men and their "little friends," the fighter escorts. Captain James B. Chancy, of Briggsdale, Ohio, told the tale:

"Last Wednesday I was just flying all over Germany, after escorting bombers which had just blasted targets in Berlin, when I noticed a Flying Fort break away from its formation. The left engines were dead. Then I heard the bomber call me in: 'Little Friend, Little Friend, I got two engines on fire. Can you see me, Little Friend?' As I was coming down to them, I said I'm crossing right over you. Let's go home.'

"Even though he knew he was badly hit, he didn't seem worried. Seven other P-515 came down with me, so I pulled up alongside the big ship, lowered my flaps to slow down to his speed, and then noticed a big hole about three feet square on the bottom of the wing, with flames burning inside and eating the skin away. I cut in and told him that the aluminum was melting away on his wings, and the flames were beginning to break through the top.

"I kept alongside, and tried to suggest different stunts to put out the fire. Step out to the right or to the left. Dive. Pick up speed to put out the flame. But nothing seemed, to work.

"Finally, he called: 'Little Friend, I'm afraid I'll have to bail out. Will you stand by and count the chutes as they go out?' I watched seven of them open out one by one.

" 'How does that make us now, Little Friend?' he said. 'That shoots seven men out,' I told him.

"A few seconds later, another chute opened and then the bomber pilot gave us his parting shot: 'Thanks for the escort, fellows; see you after the war.'

"That hit us all pretty hard. About all I could say was 'Okay, Big Friend. Lots of luck to you all.' Then the pilot's own chute opened just before the bomber flipped over her wing and went streaming down in flame."

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