Oral History Interview with Eugene R. Cronin, February 1, 1972 Page: 16
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Cronin
16Marcello:
Cronin:
Marcello:
Cronin:
Marcello:
Cronin:
Marcello:
Cronin:the only thing that could keep you off a mission.
Well, it was considered more or less a court martial
offense, was it not, of the pilot brought his plane
back again and really didn't have a good reason for
continuing through with the mission?
Oh, yes, if you aborted without reason . . . we did
not do that. We saw some instances of men bringing
ships in under conditions that I don't think were too
manly, but I was never around any of them that did that.
I certainly wouldn't abort one. You hate what you're
doing but you do it.
You want to get those twenty-five over and get out.
You asked something a minute ago about what the roughest
part of a mission was. A lot of times it's getting the
aircraft in the air. I mean, you're loaded and you've
got a lot of gas, and we had a 5,000 foot runway--5,500.
How many pounds of bombs were your planes carrying?
Well, let's see, we had about 5,000 pounds. I think
we had nine 500's and ten . . . I think we had places for
ten 500's, or you'd have all types of bombs. But just
to get that plane in the air was a sweat a lot of times.
You mean with all that weight?
Yes. You've got a lot of other weight in there. You've
got every ounce of gas you can get; you've got all your
ammo; you have what flak suits are given to you and all
that you can steal, borrow. You've got a loaded airplane,
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Marcello, Ronald E. & Cronin, Eugene R. Oral History Interview with Eugene R. Cronin, February 1, 1972, book, February 1, 1972; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1529237/m1/18/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Oral History Program.