lipping through pretty nicely when
an Me winged us with an explosive cannon shell. After that we got hit
plenty. We picked up a shell which went off inside our outboard engine.
It started rolling smoke but no flames. Then a shell smashed the
intercom system and communications went dead." Allison bit down hard on
his pipe.

"Must have been tough," Stan said.

"We couldn't hold our altitude. We lost about a thousand feet a minute
and nothing the copilot and I could do would hold her up."

"Sure, an' you did a good job of it gettin' in," O'Malley praised.

"When I couldn't talk to the crew I turned the controls over to the
copilot and went aft. I got to the top turret man and told him to get
the gunners together in the radio compartment. I figured we'd smack
right down into the channel." Allison fingered his pipe and stared into
the fire.

"I went back to the copilot and we fought her head. She sagged in over
the coast and came right on home, smoking like a torch. As we came in,
we found we had a belly landing on our hands, so we skidded her in. Poor
Old Sal is a mess right now."

"Anybody hurt?" Stan asked.

"Bombardier got a piece of flak in his leg. The tail gunner had his
greenhouse blown into his face and is in the hospital. I forgot to say
we dumped our guns and everything else we could pry loose. I guess that
saved us." Allison leaned back. "When you fellows going to shift over?
This is the real thing."

"Sitting duck stuff," O'Malley snorted. "You jest sit there an' take it.
You never fired a gun on the whole trip."

"No," Allison admitted. "But we bagged six Jerries and there was plenty
of shooting. You should see my boys work those 50's."

"We aim to stir up a bit of excitement," Stan said.

Allison frowned at him. "You birds better remember this is modern
warfare, not the Battle of Britain or the Pacific. They'll bounce you
high and quick for breaking rules. This Eighth Air Force is big stuff
now."

"Thanks for the warning," Stan answered. "But we plan to go through
proper channels."

"And it's a deep secret," O'Malley added.

O'Malley's pie arrived and he dropped out of the talk for a time. Stan
and Allison chatted about the changes and the amazing way the Eighth had
grown up until it took a large section of British farmland to house it.

Stan and O'Malley left early and hurried back to their own mess. They
wanted to corner Colonel Holt. They found him in the mess looking very
dour and gloom