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To the Azores
At midnight we took off for our first over-water hop of 81½2
hours, flying to Santa Maria in the historic Azores. We practiced
adjusting our Mae West belts which are self-inflating by means of
a cartridge similar to the Sparklet used in charged water bottles.
On our plane were seven good-looking young Lieutenants who
had just come from Okinawa and were enroute to a deployment
centre in France to instruct our G.I.s in Europe on Pacific war-
fare. These boys were decorated with the Purple Heart and
various ribbons for meritorious action under fire.
It was a perfect moonlight night, the air was calm, and the
sea was mirrorlike. Indeed, the ride to the Azores at 7,000
feet was more comfortable than a Super-Chief ride across
America.
Near the end of this 8½/2 hour flight, we sighted Ponta Delgada.
It is about 8 a.m. E.W.T. and approximately noon Sunday, Azores
time. The beautiful sunshine lit the lovely farms of the Azores
beneath us. I wished that I could be put down to spend a few
days in the charming environment.
There are three main islands in the Azores; we deplaned at
Santa Maria, an island 150 miles from Ponta Delgada, and were
met by a Lieutenant, a Belgian by birth; he heard last spring his
parents had been killed by rocket bombs.
Again we were treated royally: at each stop a Lieutenant or a
Captain would come aboard the plane and call for Messrs. Hanes
and Berlin. We were the first passengers to deplane and were
taken immediately to the officers' quarters where we were served
good meals. The War Department had seen to it that we were
properly cared for.
Santa Maria has a beautiful airport built by Pan-American
engineers. We were told that the British had refused to let
Americans land at Ponta Delgada, therefore the Santa Maria
airport was constructed by our people and will no doubt in the
future be used as a Pan American base.
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