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Upstarts
method. I tried to lead Rizzo through a rather difficult problem, but it soon became
apparent that he could not or would not be led. I expect that he felt, with some reason,
that he already understood the method he would be using in combat, and that he didn't
want to clutter up his mind with a technique he was not going to use anyhow. If that was
what he felt, time proved that he was quite right, but at the time I found him irritating.
In less than a month he was back to flying, a job at which he excelled. He handled
the Piper Cub beautifully, taking off and landing on almost any reasonably flat surface.
This was especially important when we went to the California desert for maneuvers,
where for part of the time he was our only pilot.
Since during maneuvers it was never practicable nor desirable to have him land in
the middle of the battalion position, every evening before dark Rizzo had to scout around
and select a place to land and set up a temporary airstrip as close behind us as he thought
feasible.
There were times at which he and his crew forgot to report their location before
turning off their radio for the night or to drive their jeep in to the CP and tell us where
they were. Then the following morning, when Major Costain wanted to see Rizzo and
give him instructions for the day, I would have to go out in my jeep and hunt for him.
One might think that on the open desert anything as tall as an aircraft would be easy to
spot, but the terrain was full of swells and swales, not to mention scrub vegetation, and it
might take several hours to locate it and its pilot.
Finally we got a second pilot and could use our second plane. That took
considerable pressure off of Rizzo. However, the second pilot, whose name I have
forgotten, was not as skillful at handling a plane. One time, when we moved at night, I
failed to pack my toilet kit and found myself without shaving or toothbrushing gear.
Second Pilot offered to fly me back to our old position to get it, and actually bounced to a
landing less than a stone's throw from our old CP. Unfortunately, though, he misjudged
the width of the space where we landed, so the tip of the right wing grazed a greasewood
branch and tore the fabric which covered the wing (I told you the plane was like a box
kite). He assured me that it didn't matter, that it could be patched up as soon as we got
back, but all during the return flight I worried for fear the rent would enlarge under the
strain of flying and rip open the whole wing.
It didn't. And I got further evidence of the durability of the Piper Cub later, in
Great Britain, where we saw our first barrage balloons floating above anything that might
be considered a target for enemy fighter-bomber aircraft. Barrage balloons were huge
bags of helium tethered by heavy cables. Their purpose was to discourage hostile planes
from flying low above the target for fear of getting caught on a cable and shearing off a
wing, a propeller, or some other vital part. This was a very real danger to heavy, high-
performance aircraft, whose inertia when flying fast would break it apart if it hit a
substantial obstacle. However, one of the 90th Div Arty Piper Cubs did strike a barrage
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