MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
A friend of mine, named George, enlisted in the USAAF late in WWII. Initially he trained as a gunner, firing at RP-63's, and was told he was destined to be a crewmember abord B-32 bombers. They told him that for the invasion of Japan the B-32's would fly low and act as gunships, strafing. By the way, I have been told by some people that is ridiculous and was against USAAF doctrine, but if you look at the article I posted about being bailing out of a B-25 in Burma, that is exactly the kind of mission they were accomplishing.
When the atomic bombs ended the war before the strafer B-32's went into action, George was sent to Germany as part of the occupation forces. He became a radar controller and was approached by two "intel" types to assist with a special mission. A high speed aircraft had been overflying the US and British areas in Germany at night. It almost had to be a jet based on its speed but they did not know exactly what it was or who was flying it - although it had to be the Soviets. The intel guys said they would know the nights the aircraft would be flying and wanted George to direct an interception of it.
So they would come get George on nights when they knew the intruder was flying and he would vector P-51's or P-47's to attempt an intercept. The intruder aircraft was too fast and each time got away before the fighters could even get a good look at it.
Then some P-80A's arrived. The intel guys collected George one night and he vectored the jets against the intruder. This time it was different. The P-80 pilots reported they had the intruder in sight and in position and were going in to attack.
At that point the two intel guys unplugged George's headset, picked him up by his elbows and set him outside the radar station. He never found out what happened but he was pretty sure he was the radar controller for the first shoot-down of the Cold War.
When the atomic bombs ended the war before the strafer B-32's went into action, George was sent to Germany as part of the occupation forces. He became a radar controller and was approached by two "intel" types to assist with a special mission. A high speed aircraft had been overflying the US and British areas in Germany at night. It almost had to be a jet based on its speed but they did not know exactly what it was or who was flying it - although it had to be the Soviets. The intel guys said they would know the nights the aircraft would be flying and wanted George to direct an interception of it.
So they would come get George on nights when they knew the intruder was flying and he would vector P-51's or P-47's to attempt an intercept. The intruder aircraft was too fast and each time got away before the fighters could even get a good look at it.
Then some P-80A's arrived. The intel guys collected George one night and he vectored the jets against the intruder. This time it was different. The P-80 pilots reported they had the intruder in sight and in position and were going in to attack.
At that point the two intel guys unplugged George's headset, picked him up by his elbows and set him outside the radar station. He never found out what happened but he was pretty sure he was the radar controller for the first shoot-down of the Cold War.
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