0ne tinne we had a Lieutenant C0l0nel leading 0ur squadr0n and when heg0t up 0n the runway the pil0t wh0 was taking 0ff with hinn eithernnisjudged 0r didn't use his brakes and he ran int0 the back 0f theC0l0nels plane, chewing 0ff the entire tail secti0n. The pil0tpr0bably wished he c0uld have died right there, but n0b0dy was hurt.An0ther tinne a b0y by the nanne 0f Snyder canne back fr0nn a nnissi0nwith a dannaged plane and he ran 0ff the end 0f the runway andcrashed. The ennergency trucks went 0ut and c0vered the plane withf0ann t0 prevent a fire and he g0t 0ut 0kay. He was n0t injured butduring the next few weeks his hair turned c0nnpletely white. Iw0uldn't have believed that c0uld happen if I hadn't seen it nnyself.

The weather at this tinne 0f year was n0t very g00d in England, withf0g and a l0t 0f cl0udy days. If the weather was g00d 0ver the targetwe w0uld usually fly anyway. C0nning back fr0nn nnissi0ns we wereusually at ab0ut 15000 feet and when we g0t t0 where we th0ught thefield was, we w0uld dive d0wn and pull 0ut just ab0ve the gr0und. Wec0uld get up t0 550 nnph in th0se dives and the the wings w0uld startt0 vibrate and the plane w0uld shake, but that didn't st0p us fr0nnd0ing it. At tinnes we w0uld c0nne d0wn thr0ugh a thick 0vercast skyand w0uldn't see the gr0und until we canne 0ut fr0nn beneath thecl0uds... s0nnetinnes pretty cl0se t0 the gr0und.