I’ve seen B-17’s in action. On October 15, 1967, a brush fire broke out in the Whittier Hills near Whittier, Calif. As aSanta Ana wind pushed it toward the city, B-17’s attacked it, dropping chemicals. They were joined by a couple of TBM Avenger torpedo bombers. The fire burned 2,000 acres, but no structures were lost.
In 68 on the Liebre/Canyon Fire I was an 18 year old CHILAO HOTSHOT. Pete Trujillo was our Superintendent I was in Crew 1-53 as a hot shovel, Gary and I were out front of the crews hot-spotting when a yucca plant burnt out of the ground and went rolling down to the bottom of some little canyon (you know what the canyons look like there so I hope you know what I mean by little canyon). The yucca rolled down the slope like a basketball sized fire ball and stopped under a clump of class 14 brush. When we got to it it was about 20 square feet of fire and we started throwing dirt at it, a little cross wind gust caught it an in an eyeblink it was about 20 square acres of fire. All Gary said to me was RUN JAMES RUN. All the while I am running and thinking I don’t mind dieing; but I really don’t want to burn, oh GOD please don’t let me burn. We kept running up the mountain towards a rocky out crop and Gary is on the airnet radio telling the pilots where we are and where we are heading. We get to the rocks and Gary is still on the radio directing the pilots into us, and down below us is nothing but a literal sea of fire and I just knew it was going to get us.
No where else to go, no time to set up the fire shelters, then Gary yells at me to get down. Out of the smoke comes this great big beautiful B-17 with the bomb doors open and a solid wall of pink snot coming straight at us.
Stay down, get small, and hold on tight, when that stuff hits it’s like getting hit by a train. First B-17 hit us straight on, second B-17 dropped south just below us right on the fire front, and the third bracketed us on the south east. I swear to GOD all three of those pilots were cutting brush with their props. Those guys saved both my life and Gary’s that day. I never did find out who they were, but all they ever have to do is mark the spot on their ass and I will kiss it.
Only time I have ever feared for my life state side, one of only three times in my life I have ever thought this is it. You have a tendency to remember.