"Before entering the army I had just graduated from a well-known
eastern college, with a degree in journalism. I became very adept in
taking down notes and lectures in shorthand. This was to be a great
help to me afterward.
"I am a Lieutenant in the air force, and was the pilot of one of our
latest and largest B-29 bombers--never mind its number. The government
might not want me to tell my story but my conscience is clear. I feel
free to tell you what happened to me, as there are no military secrets
involved. You say you are an author. I am sure you will be very much
interested and perhaps you will write and publish my story."
Taking from his brief case a bulky typewritten diary he gave it to
me to read. That evening I settled into a comfortable chair with no
inkling of what this diary would mean to me. This is what I read:
On a day known to only a few, I was ordered to prepare my ship for
flight early the following morning. Ten educated boys of excellent
background had been chosen for my crew. Each was able to speak another
language beside English. Their families had come from various European
countries. I, with my crew, was to take this ship, fly it over the
Pacific, deliver it to the command on one of our airfields in Japan and
wait there for further instructions. I was given a supply of silver
dollars and five dollar gold pieces to use, if by accident we should
land in Asia among the Asiatic tribes.
Early on the appointed day, fully equipped with oxygen tanks, breathing
pressure suits and ammunition, with our guns ready for action and our
instruments, including the secret mechanism in our radio transmitter in
good order, we took off. We flew fast, upward to the highest possible
altitude of the stratosphere, to make a speedy passage across.
After flying rapidly and smoothly for some time, when we were at about
the middle of the Pacific, we suddenly felt our ship was being pulled
higher and higher from the earth into and above the atmosphere. Our
altimeter without reason was fast rising. We could not understand why
such a phenomenon.
Looking up, we perceived an immensely large plane of a very strange
design, nearly twenty times larger than our own. Hovering in the
distance right over us, it covered us like a large, dark cloud.
Too far away to get any help, and thinking that this was a new kind
of enemy plane, we, according to orders, destroyed certain secret
mechanisms including our high frequency radio transmitter. Then, we
used all the force of our powerful motors in an attempt at a nose dive.
But even with the strong gravitational pull of the earth, we could not
shake ourselves loose from the upward attraction. I ordered our guns
manned to shoot it out. But a loud voice called out to us to desist,
that this was not an enemy plane. At the same time, all our motors and
instruments stopped, and we ourselves became as if paralyzed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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