Unsung Heroes

Much has been written of the heroism of bomber and fighter pilots

Just before the Battle of Berlin, two guys in a Piper Cub shot down a German plane with a handgun.

Actually, they were Stinson Sentinels, often used in the Pacific because of their greater range and power. The Piper Cub became the L-4, the most populous of the 'grasshopper' aircraft.

But you are quite right about the pilots. Some books I recommend are Low and Slow (Don Moore) and Janey (Alfred Schultz). Both of these have L-4s as their heroes. Moore was in the Pacific, and has an interesting chapter about the Brodie Device, a cable suspended over the side of a landing craft, from which L-4 and L-5 pilots could take off and

Me: Mea Culpa

My dad flew the Hump out of Chabua in 44 and 45. On is days off, he would go hang out and fly missions with the 10th Combat Cargo and somehow, he got recruited to do some L-5 missions. Those missions did not count in his hours for rotation home. I will have to ask him about them.

Not so 'totally' as all that. Check out

L-Birds: American Combat Liaison Aircraft of World War II by Terry M. Love

hth

Lest we forget, troop carrier aircraft were only slightly faster, perhaps better armed (since each of the normal 4-7 men crew carried sidearms), were not a bit better armored, and went wherever they were sent.....sometimes well and fairly deep into enemy territory. They too were shot at, and presented a somewhat larger, easier-to-hit target!

At the very least, they deserve equal if not greater credit than the liaison