Chapter 15

Test Pilots

 

The enormous bomber lumbered through the dark skies over southern California. Emily and Madge were returning to the airfield at Long Beach for a landing after completing a lengthy test run. All four engines of the B-17 Flying Fortress were running smoothly, the engineers had corrected the problem; the bomber was ready to return to battle. They lowered altitude to start the approach for landing, when Madge shouted, “What the hell was that?” Emily noticed it at the same time and then it went pitch black below them. It seemed as though a massive explosion had occurred; a moment later, the whole area was in total darkness. Madge was certain it happened somewhere in the Santa Barber area. They circled around the airbase once again, they had no idea what was going on below them. Madge radioed the tower for clearance to land, but they received orders to stay on a hold pattern, so Emily circled the tower once again. “I hope we do not run out of fuel before we are cleared to land,” remarked Madge sarcastically. They were both tired after a long day test flying serviced B-17 bombers. They wanted a drink with some dinner and a good night’s sleep.

Emily and Madge completed additional training in early 1944, this time on the B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber. The military needed test pilots to fly the overhauled B-17 Flying Fortress 4-engine bombers at Long Beach, California. Their job was to report any problems with the aircraft before they handed them over to the military for combat duty. The test pilots received checklists to note the performance of takeoff, landing, speed, handling as well any other snags they might experience for each B-17. They handed the checklists to the engineer at the end of each test flight with their results as well as any additional comments or problems they may have noticed. The engineers would work out any glitches in the aircraft that the test pilots referred to them. After the corrections and repairs were completed, a test pilot would take it for another flight test to verify that the problem had completely cleared.

Finally, after the fourth pass around the tower in the B-17, they received clearance to land the bomber. They climbed out of the aircraft and immediately asked the ground crew what had happened. What was the big explosion? Did one of the fire balloons or ‘Fu-Go’ as the Japanese called them explode? No one knew all the answers, but there was plenty of speculation. The two pilots headed for the barracks to stow their gear. They decided to walk over to the canteen to see if anyone could shed some light on the subject. They ordered soup and a sandwich and sat at a table with some other pilots and ground crew members.

Everyone was talking about the Japanese attack on California. Japanese submarines had fired shells at the Bankline Oil Company about twelve miles north of Burbank, California. Air-raid sirens screamed and the city went black so the Japanese could no longer see their targets. The American Military did not fire back as they did not want to give away the positions of the guns. The Japanese submarine immersed into the depth of the sea when four B-25 bombers took to the skies heading in their direction.

The Japanese shells had hit a single oil well derrick, but there were no reports of injuries in the attack. The County Sherriff’s office apprehended four armed Japanese and one Italian after receiving reports of flares sighted in several areas along the coast. The four men were signaling a Japanese submarine off the coast of California. Mage and Emily were beginning to feel like they were back in England, with bombs dropping on the cities around them.

After several months of test flying the B-17, Emily and Madge attended transition training for the B-29 Superfortress. The B-29 Superfortress was the largest 4-engine bomber built in the world. It could fly at an altitude of forty thousand feet, safe from anti-aircraft fire as well as enemy fighter planes. The huge heavily armed bomber with twelve M2 Browning machine guns could carry twenty thousand tons of bombs with a crew of eleven. The cruise speed was 250 mph with a maximum speed of 350 mph and a distance of 5300 miles. The B-29 had a pressurized cabin, an electronic fire control system as well as remote-controlled machine-gun turrets. The Superfortress was ‘state of the art’ despite some technical drawbacks it had experienced. Emily and Madge could not wait to fly one of the huge bombers.

There were many reports of mechanical failure as well as difficulties on takeoff, which gave the pilots cause for concern. At the first sign of oil leaks, the pilot aborted the takeoff before the engines could catch fire. The B-29 had other issues that required some modifications, so every time they made a change, another test flight was mandatory. The engineers were working out a few electrical problems as well on the B-29.

Although it was an impressive aircraft, the male pilots did not feel confident flying the new B-29 Superfortress, as it had not undergone years of testing as its predecessor the B-17 Flying Fortress. There were more B-29s lost from mechanical failure than were shot down by the enemy. Emily could not blame the pilots for feeling apprehensive about flying a B-29 into battle after witnessing some of their fellow pilots crashing to the ground due to fires in the engines after takeoff.

Emily and Madge flew a B-29 Superfortress to a transition-training base where male student pilots would train to fly the B-29. It was unknown to Madge and Emily that the purpose of the flight was to prove to the students that the engineers had solved the problems of the B-29 Superfortress. The aircraft had passed all the lengthy flight tests, so the aircraft was now flightworthy.

The military figured that if the pilots witnessed women flying the aircraft, they might feel more assured that the aircraft was safe to fly into battle. Emily could not blame the pilots for not wanting to put their lives in danger before they made it to the bombing destination. The missions were dangerous enough without having to worry about crashing when an engine caught fire just after takeoff.

Emily felt certain that the engineers had worked out all the problems. The most severe incident that Emily reported was during her first flight in a B-29. As she attempted to gain altitude; the engines started to overheat; she landed the aircraft right away and reported the problem to the engineer. She had not experienced any problems with the aircraft during the last twenty test flights. Now that the engineers solved the mechanical and electrical problems, they had a powerful weapon to use against the Japanese and the Germans.

Emily and Madge had hours of practice taking off and landing the B-29, so when they landed the enormous aircraft at the training airbase, they made it look easy. When they climbed out of from the B-29, she overheard the instructor telling the students that two women test pilots had flown the B-29 to the base. The engineers had worked out all the problems on the Superfortress, so it was safe to fly otherwise the women would not have flown it here.

Emily felt that the pilots could confidently fly the B-29 Superfortress into battle without a second thought, but she did not agree with the idea that the military used Madge and herself to show the students that if a woman could fly the B-29 than it was safe to fly and they could fly it without any problems.

B-29 Superfortress