A Tale of Two Pilots

Walter Stewart started his flying career as a young man when fate intervened in his life on December 7th, 1941. He had attended collage at the University of Utah where he obtained a law degree and took R.O.T.C. After graduation he served as a missionary for the Church of Latter-Day Saints in Scotland. He was highly regarded and respected by everybody that knew him. Probably most of them never knew that he was a descendant of the great firearms inventor John Moses Browning who designed the 1911, 45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, the Browning Automatic Rifle and the 50-caliber machine gun still in use by our military today. Walt would go on to attain hero status in his own right brought on by the events of a desperate mission during World War Two. When Pearl Harbor was attacked Walt had already joined the Army Reserve. He was activated that very day and assigned to flight training. He got his wings in February, 1942 and he was assigned to the 8th Airforce. When he checked in to the squadron he was told “you’ve been asked for”. Hugh Roper was a B-24 pilot with the 93rd Bombardment Group also from Walt’s hometown in Utah and shared the same background as Walt. He had heard a lot about Walt and his performance during training and requested him as his Co-Pilot. Roper mentored Walt in the B-24 and the two men formed a strong bond and friendship. Before very long Walt was given command of his own bomber that he unabashedly named “Utah Man”. When asked about the name he simply stated that he wanted the Texans to know that Utah was in the war too. On one of Walt’s first missions as an Aircraft Commander they were jumped by Ju 88 and Me 110 fighters. One of the Me 110s got on Walt’s tail and fired a volley of cannon shells that shot past the B-24’s cockpit windows. They could see tracers all around them and couldn’t believe that they hadn’t been hit. Walt’s waist gunner, John Conley fired back and he could see the hits all around the cockpit. The gunners watched as the 110 bursts into flames, spiraled down and crashed. Walt and his crew had been saved from being shot down by the skill of his gunner and by his great Uncle’s magnificent machine gun design. One morning while Walt was going for a walk out on the flight line the field was buzzed by the 44th Bombardment Group as it arrived for deployment. Walt was somewhat insulted by this rude intrusion of the 44th buzzing his base. He expressed his displeasure to the Group Commander who told him not to worry about it that the 93rd and the 44th would be joining two other groups and deploying to North Africa for a special mission. After a briefing with very little information about what the final mission would be Walt’s group flew the long trip from England to Libya. They flew at night to avoid detection. Their first destination was Benghazi. Once all four bomber groups had arrived there were 178, B-24s on the ramp with their aircrews consisting of 1736 men and hundreds of men in ground crew. They were awed by the shear size of the bomber force and wondered what target would be so important to require such an armada to attack it. Their curiosity was satisfied at the next mornings briefing. The target would be the oil refineries at Ploesti and that this would be like no other mission they had ever flown before. Ploesti’s air defenses, they were told, were second only to Berlin itself. Now Walt understood why they had received all the low-level training they had done in England. Flying cross countries with very complex routing as low as 50 feet. Using this strategy and maintaining complete radio silence would be their only hope of surviving the murderous anti-aircraft guns that were awaiting them over the target. Walt’s commanding officer of the 93rd was LtCol. Addison Baker. After the brief was starting to break up, he called on Walt to remain. Even though Walt was only the rank of Captain at the time, Col. Baker had selected him as the Deputy Lead for the mission because of his combat experience and demonstrated ability. Walt remembered that the Colonel had a very somber and serious expression on his face. He told Walt that this mission would not be recalled under any circumstances. This would be unlike cross channel missions from England where missions could be aborted when unfavorable conditions were encountered. The mission could be scrubbed and all records of it destroyed. Col Baker’s instructions to Walt were very clear; “We know that this mission is going to be a very rough one, but if we fail in our mission today, we will be doing it again tomorrow. If we are successful it will shorten the war. So, we are going over the target today even if I go over it in flames and you, you are my Deputy Lead if I don’t make it to the target you lead them through”. Captain Walt Stewart understood Colonel Baker’s instructions completely. He understood both the importance of the mission and the high cost it would inflict on the four bomber groups that were committed to the attack. Walt answered with a simple “yes sir,” stood at attention and saluted to communicate that he understood the mission and the duties that were expected of him. The next morning when Walt and his crew went out to the flight line to preflight his B-24 he alerted his mechanic that there was no strut extension showing on the landing gear. The mechanic explained that because the plane was overloaded with fuel and bombs there would be no strut showing and he further informed Walt; “Hell sir, we haven’t even loaded your ammunition yet”. When it was time to go, they taxied out in formation with the group. They didn’t bother to do a mag check because they were going anyway. The takeoff was very difficult and very dangerous. One of the B-24s crashed on takeoff and only two or three of the crew survived it. As they flew across the Mediterranean the weather was perfect but as they crossed into Bulgaria, they encountered severe turbulence and scud layers forcing the formation to break up. One of the groups went into a holding pattern which compromised the timing of the attack and made them a ripe target for AA guns below. Many of the planes and crews of that group were lost during the confusion but Walt’s Group led by Col. Baker pressed on. What they didn’t know then was that the plane with the lead Navigator had been shot down. This resulted in the lead group to misidentify an initial check point resulting in the entire formation doing an early turn. Walt’s Navigator had noticed the error but strict radio silence prevented them from alerting their lead Addison Baker. They tried everything even breaking their position in the formation to get Baker’s attention. A short time later Col. Baker also realized the mistake. He could see the tall smoke stacks of the refinery ninety degrees off their heading. He changed the course of the 93rd to head for the target. This violation of protocol would be grounds for courts-martial if his actions were proven wrong and found him guilty of violating orders. He took the action none the less to guide the bomber formation to the refinery. As they closed on the target all B-24s dropped to an altitude of fifty feet. But the earlier navigation error had steered them right into the teeth of the heaviest anti-aircraft guns. As they flew in towards the target an anti-aircraft gun disguised as a chicken coup opened up on them. One of the planes in the Group pitched up and the wing came off. Walt watched helplessly as his friends plummeted into the ground. They saw another chicken coup ahead. The top gunner blasted it to hell. This time it really was just a chicken coup and guts, feathers and wood filled the air as the B-24 flew through the debris. Flying tight on the lead of Colonel Baker they neared the release point for the bombs. Just then Colonel Baker’s plane was hit badly and caught fire. Addison Baker did just what he had predicted in his talk with Walt. They continued toward the target in flames and crashed just before the release point. Walt was now the Lead for the 93rd and continued the bomb run. He successfully bombed the refinery but suddenly noticed a large radio tower right in front of him. He was too close to pull up or turn to avoid it. At only 50 feet above the ground Walt banked the aircraft sharply to the left and hit top rudder. He managed to slip the big B-24 around the tower but clipped it with his right wing. The plane sustained substantial damage to the wingtip and right aileron. They had lost some control but discovered that they were also losing fuel at a very rapid rate. Walt didn’t turn to the right with the rest of the formation. To do so would have put his crippled plane back through the intense anti-aircraft fire they had just come through. The speed of the aircraft was now down to below 100 knots. Walt decided on a belly landing with the whole crew looking for a suitable landing site when one of the crew members came up to the cockpit shouting; “There’s a hung bomb and an incendiary still in the Bombay!” With hung bombs and a bad fuel leak Walt decided that to attempt a belly-landing would-be suicide. He pushed all the throttles up to the stop. The plane accelerated and begun to climb. Because of his left turn he ended up ahead of the main bomber formation. He spotted his old friend Roper and tried to join on him. They tried signaling him but he made no response. Walt thought, there must be something very wrong on Roper’s plane. Probably somebody died aboard. At their reduced speed they could not keep up and watched as the formation flew out of sight. They hoped that they could get to the Mediterranean. Walt asked his crew chief about the fuel leak. “I think it has stopped but I’ve never seen a B-24 so out of gas either in the air or on the ground”. Walt asked what their best possible fuel endurance would be with all stores jettisoned overboard and max endurance power setting. The mech answered with; “Maybe two hours, if we are lucky”. They continued on evading fighters and flack guns and against all odds made it to the water. The crew managed to free and jettison the bombs. Walt did not believe that they would make it all the way back to Benghazi but at least they would have a chance to ditch the airplane successfully. To help the morale of the crew Walt dialed up the BBC radio frequency on the ADF. They were playing American music. Ironically the song “Coming in on a wing and a prayer sung by Dina Shore began playing on the radio”. With what Walt considered divine intervention the Utah Man somehow made it all the way back to Benghazi landing two hours after the rest of the formation. He used a straight in approach landing downwind because of their extremely low fuel state. After taxing in and climbing out of the crippled B-24 Walt and his crew were met by Red Cross nurses with coffee and doughnuts. When they returned to base operations, they learned of the terrible cost that the mission had exacted. Out of the 178 airplanes on the mission 54 were shot down. 532 of the 1736 crewmembers were either killed or missing. The Chaplin that welcomed Walt and his crew back gave him some bad news. “Roper didn’t make it back”. Another pilot from the 93rd said; “I saw two black smoke columns over Yugoslavia”. Walt’s friend and first Aircraft Commander along with his crew were among the dead. It was their 25th combat mission. They counted 355 holes in Utah Man along with the damage to the wing caused by the collision with the radio tower. Walt flew only one more mission in Utah Man with his crew. The crew was very upset by Walt’s leaving fearing that his replacement wasn’t up to the job. A short time later Walt received the news that Utah Man was shot down killing all of his old crew. In all he flew 32 combat missions making him a fugitive from the law of averages. For his heroic actions leading the Ploesti raid, Colonel Walter Stewart was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He retired from the Air Force Reserve after 32 years as a full bird Colonel. I ended up crossing paths with Colonel Stewart as a result of a mutual friend that we shared who was introduced to me by another great friend and great tanker pilot, Billy Hoskins. We ended up at a hangar party across the ramp from Sis-Q Flying Service at the Sonoma County Airport. It was a general aviation flying service called Nation Air. Billy presented Bobby Pixton to me as the greatest Cessna mechanic on the west coast. He had a reputation for his expertise and knowledge of all the big Cessna single and multi-engine series airplanes. I bumped into him again when he started flying the relief air attack position at Santa Rosa. Bobby was easy to get to know because he always had a big smile and a kind word for everyone. He was also a longtime friend and flight student of the resident tanker pilot at Sonoma Air Attack Base Bob Valette. Bobby was also famous for tending to a stable of elderly pilots at the airport who needed help maintaining their airplanes. It wasn’t quite charity work but it was close. It kept him so busy that it was hard for him to keep up with his paying clients. Bobby was well liked and respected by the Air Attack Officers who flew with them and also by the tanker pilots that worked with him. One afternoon while Bobby was on duty, he had a visitor. He was an elderly gentleman but there was something different about him. He had a commanding presence. When Bob introduced him to me, he simply said; “Hey Jimmy I want you to meet my friend Walt”. Walt shook my hand and we began to visit. It wasn’t long before the topic of discussion was airplanes. Like every aviation organization we had our share of bullshit artists at the base and as usual we were talking about war stories and war birds. Walt was very friendly and offered a couple of corrections about misconceptions and inaccuracies we had. It was as if he had a duty to answer and correct any falsehoods or errors about the aircrews, units and aircraft that fought in world war two. I was very impressed. There didn’t seem to be anything that Walt didn’t know about Bombers or German fighters. When he left, I asked Bobby; “Who was that guy”? “Oh, he’s just a good friend of mine”. At the time I didn’t think too much about it because several of his old friends were combat veterans in world war ll. One of them even flew a P-47 and was downed by a mid-air collision. Bobby helped him with his airplane too. The second time I saw Walt at the base my curiosity deepened. He was such a wonderful guy to talk to and if you could get a war story out of him it would be the most interesting story you would ever hear. I finally asked Bobby; “How did you and Walt come to meet”? “Well Jimmy, I have to come clean with you. Walt is my real father” I had known Bobby’s dad, Jack Pixton, for some time visiting with him at the tanker base for years. Jack was a wonderful guy and he was also a pilot. It was clear that he and Bobby had a very close relationship. “Walt and my mother separated when I was a small baby. I really didn’t know him. Then one day my mom asked me to come over because she had something to show me. It was a television documentary entitled “Utah Man”. I watched as Colonel Walt Stewart narrated the story of the Ploesti mission and we decided that I should re-establish a connection with him”. That is amazing I thought. It all came to light about why Bobby was such an exceptional A&P mechanic. He was the great, great Nephew of the greatest firearms inventor of all time, John Moses Browning. The first thing I did was get a copy of the VCR of the Utah Man documentary. Walt was not only a great man and a great aviator he was one of the greatest story tellers of all time. Watching Walt tell this incredible story I felt the entire range of my emotions. Laughing one minute and on the verge of tears the next. The next time I talked to Bobby I asked; “Bobby, do you think we could get Colonel Stewart to come to the AAP meeting and give us a talk about the Ploesti raid and the story of Utah Man”? Bobby thought for a minute; “Why don’t you call him and ask him? I have to be respectful of Walt’s wife and his family. It’s a little sensitive”. “Ok Bobby, I’ll give it a try”. Bobby gave me his number and I called him. His wife answered the phone. “Is Colonel Stewart there, I would like to invite him to speak at an airtanker conference”? “Without skipping a beat, she said, Walt, It’s the Air Force, they want you to speak at a meeting”. Perfect, I thought. We sprung Walt and didn’t ruffle anybody’s feathers. We paid for Walt’s room at the Eldorado, Bobby paid for his plane ticket. It was like a vacation for Walt and a reunion for Walt and Bobby. Walt’s talk at the tanker pilot’s meeting was a smash hit and at the end he received a standing ovation. That night at dinner we all got together at the Roxi. Walt Stewart, our guest of honor, and another great man Walt Smith who was a former tanker co-pilot, Governor Regan’s body guard, a National Guard General and the supervisor of all the bay area towers was there sitting next to Colonel Stewart. It was one of the greatest nights and one of the greatest honors of my life. A little later on I had the great honor of having my friend Bobby Pixton as an airtanker trainee. Because it was well known that both Bob Valette and I were Bobby’s close friends we had to guard against the appearance of favoritism. The result was that we put Bobby through the ringer to a far greater extent than the other trainees we had. One day I was riding with Bobby across the Sacramento valley to the Rollins fire up near Grass Valley. Before we got to our assigned fire just crossing into the foot hills Bob banked the airplane to the left and said; “Hey, there is a fire down there. It’s making a run on a house and a bunch of cars in the driveway. Should I call ECC and get permission to do a drop”? “Well, we could do that or you can roll in and drop on the fire, we don’t have time to do both”. With that, Bobby jinked around and rolled onto a final to place a drop between the fire, the house and the cars. It ended up being a perfect drop. It stopped the fire before the engines came on scene. Had we not dropped the house and the cars would have been toast. Bobby then called ECC and told them what we had done. There instructions were for us to go to Grass Valley, get another load and return to our prior mission. That night we learned that a news crew had arrived on scene just prior to our drop and recorded the whole event for television. The home owner, covered with retardant, was interviewed by the news crew. “I couldn’t believe it. I was about to lose my house when an airtanker came out of nowhere and stopped the fire.” The Maintenance Technicians at McClellan told us all about it. Bobby was the hero of the day. Eventually we had to palm him off on the toughest instructors in the cadre to keep our credibility. They put him through ringer too. Bobby’s nice guy image was working against him. We finally had to teach him to get pissed off to dispel the myth that he was not tough enough to be a tanker pilot. In spite of all of that he made it through and I have been proud of him every day since and I am exceedingly proud to call him my friend. One of Bobby’s sons is now an Aviation Maintenance Technician and a Corporate Jet Pilot keeping the family tradition alive into the next generation. And that, as Paul Harvey used to say, is the rest of the story.