Riding the C-46 Commando
7 Nov 07On 21 June 1944, Paul and his squadron mates departed Panagarah in a Curtiss C-46 headed for Agra to pick up some new P-47s. Paul, naturally, recorded his impressions of the aircraft and the trip.
We boarded a C-46 Commando this morning, which will take us to Karachi. I took over the controls for a while, and boy—what a crate. Real heavy on controls and sluggish after a fighter—it is strictly a clunker. We broke open our jungle kits on our parachutes and ate K rations about 10 o’clock, for we were really hungry. We also played bridge for a while but not too long as the noise from the two 2000 HP engines made us shout our bids too loud. I went to the radio compartment on this big ship and listened to a news broadcast and some music. I had to take a leak, and to do so one must use a “relief tube”—a funnel shaped affair which drains out the bottom of the ship. One of our pilots (Turner) was at the controls, and every time I’d start he’d dump the nose throwing me, urine, et al way to the ceiling. I finally gave up!
A good reason to be “pissed off”…
)
Jean.
Some days, it’s almost impossible to find relief.