PROJECT SEVEN ALPHA: AMERICAN AIRLINES IN BURMA 1942

219 Pages·2009·1.17 MB·English

by  Leland Shanle

Project Seven Alpha
Revised Proofs
Lamorna Publishing Services
September 2008

First published in Great Britain in 2008 by
Pen & Sword Aviation
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Copyright © Leland Shanle, 2008
ISBN 978 18441 5826 3
The right of Leland Shanle to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Contents
1. Project Seven Alpha
19 June 1984
2. War
7 December 1941
3. Flashback
24 September 1918
4. The White House
8 December 1941
5. The Fall of Empire
9 December 1941
6. Goodbyes
10 December 1941
7. C.-in-C. Pac. Fleet HQ
10 December 1941
8. The Journey Begins
10 December 1941
9. The Conquest of the Malayan Peninsula
10 December 1941
10. Feet Wet
10 December 1941
11. Pearl Harbor
11 December 1941
12. Wake
11/12 December 1941
13. Philippine Islands
12 December 1941
14. The Road to Calcutta
12 December 1941
15. Calcutta
12 December 1941
16. Shangri-La
12 December 1941
17. The White House
12 December 1941
18. The Hump
13 December 1941
19. China
13 December 1941
20. C.-in-C. Pac. Fleet HQ
17 December 1941
21. Zero
24 December 1941
22. Ding Hoa
5 January 1942
23. Invasion of Burma
21 January 1942
24. Shangri-La
24 January 1942
25. The Grind
16 February 1942
26. Shoot Down
17 February 1942
27. Rescue
18 February 1942
28. The Governor’s Ball
19 February 1942
29. The Grind, Part Two
9 March 1942
30. Ambush
25 March 1942
31. Homecoming
8 May 1942
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Dedication
To the Seven Alpha men of
American Airlines
This book is dedicated to all the men and women of aviation, past, present and
future; the airline trail blazers of the twenties and thirties, my grandfather
William among them; the aviators who flew through the war torn skies over the
past 100 years, my uncles Bob, Bill and Larry among them; and the fallen
aviators, my uncle Larry among them. To the aviators catapulting from carriers,
circling for hours on a tanker track, hovering over a hostile mountain peak; or
shooting a localizer approach to a mountain-encircled airport, after flying all
night; and of course, to the men and women on the ground who keep them in the
air. The past and present is meaningless without a future; to the next generation
of aviators, my children among them.
But mostly, this book is dedicated to my family, whom I literally dragged
around the world in my pursuit of aviation: Leland, David, Kaitlyn, William –
and especially Laura, the love of my life.
Chapter 1
Project Seven Alpha
19 June 1984
The Hawaiian sun had begun to set over the Pacific, casting long shadows across
Honolulu International Airport. An American Airlines captain sat in the cockpit
of his DC-10 Luxury Liner and watched as the sun started its journey below the
horizon. On any other day in his life, this would have been a non-event. Not that
he hadn’t enjoyed, even reveled in the many passings of the sun he had
witnessed. Sometimes he thought he could remember each one individually. He
had always marveled how magical it was that a twice-daily event could hold
such mystery, such diversity, as it unfolded so many times and in so many ways,
right in front of him.
He had seen most of his sunrises and sunsets from the cockpits of aircraft. He
had watched many from the ground, but to him, to truly experience a rise or set
of the sun, you had to be in the air. You had to be a part of it. This sunset, he
mused, was not only an announcement to the world that the day was done; it was
a very private message to him that the biggest part of his life – his professional
life – was coming to an end.
The best part of his life had been his family, but to say that flying had not been
the most consuming part of his life would not be honest. When the sun rose
again he would be sixty years old, the FAA’s mandatory retirement age. “Sixty!”
thought the captain. “How can that be? My mind, my essence is unchanged –
how can I be sixty?”
He would watch the sun set, then rise, one more time as a professional line
pilot, a wide body captain for American Airlines. He’d still have his old
Stearman biplane, the plane he’d learned to fly at the age of seventeen; it would
be fun to putt around in it, but it would never be the same. No, like the day he
had retired from the reserves as a naval aviator, this chapter in his life would be
complete tomorrow when he landed in Dallas.