[music] [man: thinking to himself] No, you can't sleep. You envy that kid next to you. Swabbies can sleep anywhere But you can't sleep because you're keyed
up. You're going home. Home to Culver Springs. You've been out there 14 months and you're tired. Dog tired you're tired from flying 52 long tough combat missions in a p38
but you feel good about one thing you're going home and when you land she'll be
waiting for you at the airport Catherine she'll be there and when you feel her in
your arms those 14 months will melt away like a ground haze in the Morning Sun
Packard a cummings first lieutenant Army Air Forces dog tag number oh four five
one eight five nine you're headed for home and Catherine will be waiting well here you are lieutenant Cummings
home from the wars and you're scared stiff as you look for that one
beautiful face and then you see her brother she looks
so good it makes you catch your breath -Packie! -Hello mother Oh! Wonderful to see you Hello Aunt May! -Hello darling! Oh, you look so marvelous! -Welcome home -Susan!
-Hello, Packie! -Mike
-Hello, Pack -[internal dialogue] 14 months you've waited for this moment
and it's just as good as you dreamed it would be
-Packy Packy, my boy
-hello mr. Newton -I didn't want to miss interviewing the town hero how does it feel to get back
-feels good -you never were a kid to talk much how many planes
you knocked down many as your old man last war
-I got one zero mr. Newton -Oh but you said--
-Oh, you talk too much -what about the jet pilots huh
-George you can get your story in the morning he's tired we're all going up to
the house I have some nice coffee and sandwiches ready -it's funny first thing I get to eat when
I get home is a spam sandwich -Packy, you told mr. Newton you only got one
zero waiting in the citation that said that you were responsible for 200 jet
planes -records 26 Joe Fase
-[internal] but it was 200 even the general said so -Packy, what was it like out there Oh, it wasn't too bad
[internal] no you don't feel like talking about it not now but as you sit there with Catherine it all flashes
through your brain fast and clear -I [jumbled]
-Citizen of the United States -[Group repeats man off camera] Citizen of the United States -Do hereby acknowledge -[group] Do hereby acknowledge -To have voluntarily enlisted -[group] To have voluntarily enlisted -This day, December 8 1941 -[group] This day, December 8, 1941 -In the Army of the
United States -[group] In the Army of the Untied States for the duration of the war plus six months -[group] For the duration of the war, plus six months [music] there's no special thrill when they solo
you at primary you've got nothing to worry about
flying's in your blood and when you're in an airplane your home
-that your kid up there soloing -yeah but there's nothing to worry about
he can fly better than I can that's wild bill Cummings kid you breeze through primary and basic and
by the time you reach the heavier stuff in advanced you feel it won't be long
now until you get into the kind of airplane you know you are made for the
fighters well from then on things move quickly [airplane engine sounds] then you get your assignment fighters that's your baby
a custom-made job $75,000 FOB Burbank cash twin-tailed all the latest
features kingpin of the fighters -Hello Packy glad to have you with us
-Thank You Colonel Henry
-you were bound to wide open fighters what do you hear from your father
-he's in Australia, sir. just got his star it's commanding 138 Fighter
Wing I hope you get in his command he's a good man to fly with oh the
things wild bill Cummings could do with a spat twenty-two Germans he got in the last show
-gives me something to shoot at sir -yes I guess he's as good a fighter
pilot has ever lived well drop in and see me
-yes sir you learn
to fly that airplane you're doing good work and you feel good until that night
-lieutenant lieutenant -yes
-there's a long-distance call for you sir I think it's your mother -thank you oh hello ma
all right let's have it how'd it happen on a mission huh keep your chin up ma I'll get a pass
and try to get the first plane out in the morning
I should be there by tomorrow afternoon keep each other my father was killed in action Japs [music] full of hate, you practice gunnery until you can aim
that airplane like a shotgun then the CEO calls you and you know this is it
-sit down Packy well they tell me you're good you're number one in your
class ready to ship -like [garbled] sir
-Well, you're not going to [garbled] you're being assigned to a
reconnaissance training unit you're going in an F5 unit
-F5? Oh, but colonel -Well as you know it's a stripped-down p38 it's an awfully good airplane do close to 450 straight and level
-I know that sir but no guns that's right no guns
it's an airplane to do one job to fly a camera -sir you said I was number one in my
class I've worked my head off here to become a fighter pilot I want to kill
Japs that's what dad would want me to do why pick me to fly a camera
-because you're the best fighter pilot here and it takes the best to fly reconnaissance
look here Packy I'm all for good fighters myself but reconnaissance is important
and I know one thing if Wild Bill Cummings was sitting right here at this
desk he'd tell you to do the job they give you to do. now be a good soldier
good luck lieutenant -Thank you sir gonna fly a brownie -introducing you to the K 17 and K 18
aerial cameras this K 18 can take pictures from 30,000 feet that will pick
out the eggs in a robin's nest and they're the only excuse for ever taking an f5 into the air
-yeah think how many Japs you can kill with them -they pour it on at reconnaissance training navigation tests in the high altitude
chamber the link trainer radio the Allison engine photography and one high
altitude mission after another you have to fly high because you have no guns and
altitude and speed are your only protection you're not happy it's a
chauffeur's job you don't want to photograph Japs you want to pour led into
them but you do your job and beef as little as possible even though you're
sick of not being in fighters and then one day three months later you look down
and you're flying over the Owen Stanley Range in New Guinea on the other side of
the world it's your first mission and you're going a long way from your base
you're headed for Kawea your job is to photograph a big air drum the Japs are
building there according to the intelligence officer who briefed you this is a very important hall now we're keeping an eye on the Kawea air drum
because one of these days when it's finished the nips are going to start
piling airplanes up there for a big push south we have to be ready for it or
we're gonna be in trouble now takeoff at 1,100 and when you get within 150 miles
of the target be sure you're up at least 25,000 feet
-you're not too impressed you're playing Indian scout the only difference is the Indian scout had guns
and all you've got is that 45 automatic that's for snakes in case you're forced
down over the jungle you're all alone behind the enemy lines
you're your own pilot navigator radio man and photographer and that sky is
about the loneliest place in the world then you're near the target [garbled]
and accurate it's your first time under fire
and suddenly you realize something it's a surprise
those guys are trying to kill you you're too high and going too fast you reach
your spot and you reach up and push the button when you press that button you
start a camera going and the Kawea air drum is beneath you you don't see an
airplane and it beats you why they should want pictures of tractors and men
with picks some job for a guy that wanted to kill Japs it's all you start
for home you make it back to Port Moresby your
base without incident as they say in the communicate -well photo Joe what did you see what did you do
-got four zeros use spit balls -very unsanitary they unload your cameras rush the
negative to the portable lab develop it and make prints you're doing this
because you understand the conscientious recon pilot always follows his pictures
through to see how they turn out -very pretty I'll take 2 dull and two glossy
-you're now a full-fledged photo Joe and the name gripes you fed up to the ears but there's nothing
you can do about it you do your job as well as you can and
keep your beefs to yourself you fly the f5 on mission after mission you fly the
milk run to Kawea you photograph jungles and beaches but a trees a tree and a
strip of sand is a beach and from five miles up they all look alike the war
seems far away you realize that men are fighting and dying in those pictures you
get but it seems as a remote to you as if you read about it in the newspaper more
months pass today you're headed back for the Kawea air drum you've photographed
it so many times you know it like the palm of your hand but you've never seen
an airplane there as far as you're concerned the Kawea run is still a
waste of time you're knocking it off at 350 miles an hour at 28,000 feet and
you're getting close to Kawea then you see trouble and nip control of five
zeros you drop your belly tanks
they don't want you to photograph that air drum why your oxygens gone Down you go without oxygen you can only
stay conscious for 30 seconds at that altitude your heart hammers and you
fight to keep from blacking out you're out of range
you still got a job to do photograph that air drum below you you
get set for your camera run and head in they're putting up everything they've got
your cameras are running and you look down
and there's nothing there you can't figure it out get in those clouds Uh oh mr. squinty That Jap must be laughing at you look at him
waving his tail in your face he knows you haven't any guns and he better
pull out if he lets you get any closer you'll climb all over him
he's pretty cocky if he'll only stay cocky another five
seconds keep on his tail riding riding into the ocean and you're the first reconnaissance
pilot in history to down an enemy fighter without guns as
you head for home you feel swell your old man would be proud of you -there's someone
-that's Packy all right let us after the meat wagon he's been
hit -nevermind, it doesn't matter much
-nice going Packy I lost the spotter reports you got a zero
it's been confirmed congratulations -boy did we have fun
-lieutenant you must have flew the ears off that Jap let me shake your hand
-thanks man alright now let's get that hand taken care of
-okay I'm willing
you're pretty proud no matter how you look at it you were really flying that airplane well you gotta do better than that
-Wait a minute, that calls for a toast here's to the f5 the rabbit of the blue
New Guinea skies except when it's flown by Packy Cummings when it becomes a killer
-just come from the bomber command every bomber on the islands pulling out
must be a terrific mission
-well where are they going
-Kawea listen they're sending up the whole bloody airport
you got a career? what about it? I didn't say anything
Japs are gonna fight with bulldozers [music] two hours later the CO sends for you your
brains in a tailspin you can't figure out what was on those pictures and why
is the CO sending for you probably to give you the good word for knocking down
that's zero any way you look at it this has been a big day for you and it's
gonna get a lot bigger sit down lieutenant
-thank you sir
-how about Cummings mission very good pictures of the Kawea air drums sir the
conditions under which lieutenant Cummings got them were extremely hazardous
he was attacked by enemy airplanes but flew to the target and got his pictures anyway
-good very commendable Cummings you acted in the
best tradition of reconnaissance it's good stuff I'm gonna recommend very
strongly that you be sighted thank you sir
-how about the zero lieutenant got was it confirmed? -yes sir it was attacked by
this enemy plane lieutenant Cummings through superior combat flying forced him into the sea
-well for that lieutenant you'll be grounded and confined to quarters
you think you've gone nuts you can't be hearing right
what did you say sir
-that's right grounded and confined to quarters
-but why I'll show you pull up your chair here are
the pictures you took a Kawea airdrome you couldn't see anything but
your camera did this is the picture before-and-after see these camouflaged
airplanes there and there very clever disbursement there are 200 airplanes at
Kawea or were and all our bombers and fighters have gone after them you used
your head when you figured there was something up and that Jap patrol came
after you and you risk your life going over the target and a dangerously low
altitude to get your pictures and then you had to spoil it. Cummings, how did you
dare risk not getting those pictures back by going into that wild circus act
with that fighter do you realize those 200 plane in a surprise attack could
have wiped out our air insulation in this area that might have changed the
whole course of the war you wanted to be a fighter pilot didn't
you because of your father probably you never stopped to think that a
reconnaissance pilot is the greatest mass killer of them all did you why in
the Battle of the Bismarck sea a recon plane killed 15,000 Japs just by
spotting that fleet concentration a radio message from that single airplane
sent a whole Air Force into action that's responsibility my boy and that
kind of responsibility can't be handled by men who want to fight zeroes without
guns let me tell you a few facts about the reconnaissance it supplies 90% of
our air intelligence today in the Battle of Tunisia had saved thousands of lives
Montgomery and Eisenhower both stopped the war for two days because they
wouldn't move without pictures the fate of every soldier in this war determined
everyday by the pictures you men bring in think about that the next time you
want a horse around playing the big ace will you? that's all. first lieutenant Joseph Kilgore Air Medal
well it came out all right the destruction of that Jap air fleet taught
you your lesson because now you know that more and better aerial pictures
will end this war just that much sooner first lieutenant Packard a Cummings
Distinguished Service Cross congratulations lieutenant Cummings
thank you sir you can say and rightly so that you were responsible for the
destruction of 200 enemy aircraft your father would have been very proud of you
yes sir you know now that a photo Joe is a big
man in this scrap you've been on 52 missions now they're gonna send you home
to instruct think of the yarns you can spill your kids because brother you've
been to war she wants to know what it was like you'll tell her someday but
right now you don't feel like talking wasn't so bad wasn't bad at all of course you're gonna do without this the film you've just seen is fiction of
course that is the part about my being a general son and all that but the
adventures I went through are real and these are the two men who actually did
the things on which the film was based this is Major
Alex Gary the most decorated recon pilot in our Air Forces
he's the one who's blamed for forcing the Jap zero into the war and this is
Major Arthur L post who among other things spent a hundred days in the
jungles of New Britain before finally returning to his base that's the DSC
their home on leave and when that's over their return to the South Pacific is
there anything you'd like to say gentlemen I'm not good at this I get nervous
-major post
-we'd rather be in the South Pacific not as many automobiles and reckless
drivers you
