War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1721: Hot Sauce in the Bomb Bay

On the day of March 3th, amid the roar of bombers landing one after another, Wei Ran slept particularly soundly. He even had a nice dream, so that when he was woken up, he unconsciously had a bright smile on his face.

"It seems you really didn't have a nightmare."

Brad said oddly, "The last time I saw such a bright smile was the day after my stupid brother slept with his first love."

“Thanks for the weird analogy”

Wei Ran said with a smile, no matter what happened last night or what he just dreamed, both made him feel particularly good.

"I just went to the Dumbo crew station."

Brad said as he packed his things, "I told them that I was going to help on the White Whale. Victor, if you are ready, we have to rush to Grant now. I am worried that there will be another airstrike mission tonight."

"Go, go."

Wei Ran had already climbed up as he spoke. He knew clearly that there would be no air strike mission tonight. He also knew that the next air strike would begin tomorrow evening and the target would be Nagoya.

"There may be another bombing mission tonight."

Brad said, "If you still want to participate, you can also go to the Dumbo crew, I mean"

"I understand. Let's go check out Grant first."

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already picked up his camera and hung it around his neck. Then he and Brad worked together to carry the aerial camera out of the cabin.

Before the sunset began to be blocked by palm trees and coconut trees in the distance, the two drove to the helipad of the Beluga and found the tent and Grant belonging to the Beluga crew.

It had only been one day since they last saw it, and now there was a tent here. Obviously, this might be prepared for them.

At this time, between the two tents, there were two wooden tables put together, and on the wooden tables, there were some food and drinks.

On both sides of the table, 10 crew members including Grant were already waiting for them.

Without even waiting for the car to stop, the other nine people except Grant had already gathered around enthusiastically, helping to carry their few luggages, the huge aerial camera, and even the camera base that was obviously removed from the bomb bay of the Dumbo, all to the extra tent.

"Grant, aren't you going to introduce us?"

Among these people, a blond man who seemed to be the oldest walked into the tent carrying Wei Ran's box and shouted outside, while bumping fists with Brad.

Obviously, the two men probably knew each other. Even more obviously, Grant seemed to be the "honest man" in this crew.

"You can definitely tell who my brother Brad is."

Grant, who did not enter the tent, said, "The other one is Victor. He is a professional reporter. My brother can only be regarded as an assistant at best."

Having said that, Wei Ran and others, surrounded by the crew members, sat down at the table between the two tents.

"This is our Captain Tom"

Grant pointed to the oldest blond man and introduced him, then pointed to a taciturn man with a stubble next to him and said, "He is the co-pilot, Paul."

After Wei Ran and Brad shook hands with the two men, Gran introduced the other three people. "The one holding the pipe is the navigator Bill, the radio operator wearing glasses Jonathan, and the one with a gold tooth is the mechanic Philip."

After introducing these five men one by one, Grant quickly introduced the other four gunners. "The one wearing only shorts is Anthony, the one wearing pants but bare-chested is Lewis, and the one wearing an animal tooth necklace is George.

The one who is almost drunk is Val, who is very good friends with our bombardier Roger."

After shaking hands or fist-bumping with them one by one, everyone sat down again. Brad also handed a cigar to everyone, including Wei Ran and Grant, in a familiar manner.

"We flew a little too high last night"

Captain Tom took a sip of his cold cola and said regretfully, "We were worried about being hit, so we flew 2,000 feet higher than required."

"That height is just above the ground-based anti-aircraft artillery coverage."

The co-pilot Paul also spoke with regret, "The shrapnel that exploded first took Roger's life. We hurriedly completed the bombing and immediately left the battlefield."

"He died because of Paul's and my cowardice and mistakes," said Captain Tom guiltily.

“I don’t want to talk about this at this time.”

Brad took a moment to think about his tone before asking, "So did you drop the incendiary bombs into the target airspace? Or did you fly back with the incendiary bombs?"

"After Roger was killed, we immediately descended."

"Before leaving the battlefield, we dropped the altitude to 6000 feet and hastily dropped the incendiary bombs," said co-pilot Paul.

"Our incendiary bombs did not fall within the range of the Fire Cross"

It was the almost drunk gunner Val who took over the topic, "The bombs landed on the edge of the cross of flames, which seemed to be near a bridge. I could clearly see the reflection of the river surface from the tail turret."

“There will be another bombing.”

Mechanic Philip said, "Brad, we need a low-flying bombardier. We heard from Grant that you are an excellent bombardier and your nickname is Home Run."

"I"

Brad was stunned for a moment. Apparently, in his brother Grant's explanation to the crew, the malicious nickname "Home Run" was given other explanations.

"Are you scared?" Grant asked meaningfully.

"I've already agreed to come to the White Whale to help," Brad responded with a pun, "as long as you're not afraid."

“We have learned our lesson”

"We're not going to be scared anymore, and we don't want to lose anyone anymore," said the navigator, Bill.

"Dumbo is back safely," Grant said, also with a pun, "No one will be afraid anymore."

"Regardless, Roger is dead."

A drunk Val said, "For Val, we have to do something even if we are afraid."

"For example, throwing more incendiary bombs on the heads of the nuclear recruits," gunners Anthony and Lewis said almost in unison.

"Brad and I may not be able to help you with other things," Wei Ran said, "but we can help you with this one thing."

"Victor is right."

Brad finally made his point clear, "Both of us can be bombardiers."

At this point, Brad and Wei Ran looked at each other, and then said the second half of the sentence, "The other person can serve as the tail gunner."

"In that case, we may receive a bombing mission at any time."

Captain Tom and co-pilot Paul looked at each other and said, "Why don't we confirm the crew first."

"Aren't you just short of a bombardier?" Brad asked. "We even have a gunner for free."

"We have our own gunners, and we want to do something for Roger, too." George, the gunner who had been silent just now, spoke up, "There are no cowards on the White Whale."

"We really just need a gunner"

Co-pilot Paul said apologetically, the meaning was self-evident, they only needed one of Wei Ran and Brad.

"Brad, no, Home Run will be your bombardier."

Wei Ran said at this time, "Captain, I guess there should be room for another reporter in your cabin, right? Of course, there's also my aerial camera."

"You want to follow the White Whale on a bombing mission?" asked the co-pilot, Paul. "As a reporter?"

"He had permission to follow any bomber on a bombing mission and conduct interviews," Brad made up a lie to help Wei Ran.

"Or I could go back to the Dumbo crew."

Wei Ran said indifferently, "I'm a reporter. I need heroes in the newspaper. White Whale or Dumbo makes no difference to me."

"Mr. Victor, welcome to Moby Dick." Captain Tom stood up very formally and extended his hand towards Wei Ran.

"It's my pleasure, Captain." Wei Ran smiled and shook hands with the other party.

The "work" was settled in a few words, and everyone started chatting about the food on the table.

In fact, before the chat, Wei Ran and Brad noticed the difference in this crew. Compared with Dumbo, the captain and co-pilot of the Moby Dick, as well as the navigator, mechanic, and radio operator, were all around 35 or 36 years old. The gunners, on the other hand, looked to be about the same age as Grant.

Obviously, the pilots of this crew probably have a lot of combat experience. Perhaps that's why all their gunners are so young.

During the conversation, Wei Ran and Brad unexpectedly heard the image of "brother" mentioned by Grant from this crew.

In Grant's description to his crew members, his brother Brad was an experienced and accomplished bombardier who earned the nickname "Home Run" for his bravery and accuracy in bombing.

Not only that, he also took photos with the big cigar and even got a cigar signed by the big cigar.

The crew even learned from Grant the habit of carrying streamers into the air as good luck charms.

Grant was remarkably calm about all this, but Brad was obviously embarrassed and overwhelmed.

After dinner with such casual chat, the sun had already sunk into the distant sea level, but none of them received any orders for the bombing mission.

By this time, everyone knew that there might not be any more flights to Zhaonu tonight.

As the dinner ended, Tom and others who needed to stay on standby near the command post were the first to leave by car. Soon after, except for Grant and the drunk Val, the other three gunners also left.

"I guess you two brothers must have a lot to talk about."

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already stepped into the jeep they had driven, stepped on the accelerator, and drove towards the wooden house in the night.

Wei Ran was not curious about what the two Tony brothers talked about that night. After returning to the cabin, he took a good shower, lay on the bed and lit a mosquito coil. He wanted to get all his energy ready for Nagoya tomorrow.

That night, there were no too many roars of planes taking off and landing, no mosquito bites, and no Brad's shrill snoring. Wei Ran got what he wanted and slept comfortably until dawn. When he woke up again, it was just dawn, and the airport was unusually quiet, with only two stray dogs mating unscrupulously on the runway.

“It’s a nice day today too”

Wei Ran muttered to himself as he stretched himself. After washing up leisurely, he drove around in this quiet airport.

With the help of the dim morning sun, he could clearly see that many of the planes that were seriously damaged yesterday had been repaired, while some that were still seriously damaged still had people working overtime all night.

By the time he drove the car to the side of the White Whale, the damaged skin of the bomber had been repaired with patches of various sizes, and the broken portholes had been replaced with new ones.

Just like he did just now, Wei Ran took pictures of everything he saw with his camera. He did not go close to the two tents, but continued to wander around the airport under the guise of a reporter.

As he walked and stopped, he saw the black kitchen helper who had already started preparing breakfast, and also saw the blonde girl who was kissing Jack, the bachelor from the Dumbo, behind a palm tree.

She was undoubtedly from the USO club, and there was no doubt that her relationship with Jack seemed to go beyond the rules of the USO club.

After a little hesitation, Wei Ran did not press the shutter button towards the couple. He was not sure whether the kiss between them could be considered love or passion, and it might lead to the blonde girl being deported.

Continuing to drive around, he also saw two B29 bombers that seemed to have completely lost their value for repair, and several crew members who had been standing beside the two bombers in a daze for who knows how long.

When he returned to the White Whale, not only had the Downey brothers woken up, but the gunners who had spent the night had also rushed over. They were busy preparing bombs for their bombers or installing aerial camera brackets into the cabin.

"Victor is coming"

Gunner Lewis was the first to notice Wei Ran, and naturally handed the chalk in his hand to Wei Ran, "Do you want to write something on the bomb?"

"certainly"

When Wei Ran took the chalk, he also noticed that this bomber was assigned the same E46 cluster incendiary bomb.

Most of the messages written on these bombs were related to the previous bombardier Roger.

After a moment's hesitation, he once again wrote a line of traditional Chinese characters on the outer casing of one of the cluster incendiary bombs - Tokyo is hot, Nagoya is also hot.

"What did you write?" Gunner Anthony came over and asked curiously.

"nothing"

Wei Ran smiled and said, "Gentlemen, if you have time, would you like to take some photos?"

Naturally, no one would refuse such an invitation. Just like when they took photos of the Dumbo crew members, everyone took an individual photo, and an additional group photo of the entire crew was taken. Out of respect for the bombardier Roger who had died, neither Wei Ran nor Brad took part in this group photo.

Towards the afternoon, the captain and his men finally brought back new bombing orders.

This time, Brad was the bombardier, but Grant was the gunner at the tail of the plane.

The two brothers just looked at each other, and Brad walked to Grant's side, took off his lucky gold coin from his neck, and hung it around Grant's neck without saying a word.

"You'll be scared to pee your pants." Grant did not refuse the kindness, but just gave Wei Ran and Brad each a streamer.

"If we all survive, remember to return it to me."

Brad took the streamer and said, "If I die, you take it home."

"What if I die?" Grant asked with a smile.

"If you die, I'm going to blow up the Statue of Liberty."

Brad waved his hand as if jokingly and climbed into the front half of the cabin without looking back.

"Even if it's for the Statue of Liberty, you have to survive."

After pressing the shutter button towards Brad's back, Wei Ran said to Grant.

"It all depends on what the Statue of Liberty decides."

Grant said this, stuffed the gold coins into his collar, turned around and climbed up to the back half of the cabin with Wei Ran.

"You just stay here"

Grant assigned Wei Ran to the position of waist machine gunner. "The machine gunners here are also responsible for aerial photography. I mean, if there is a need."

Having said that, Grant simply turned around and walked towards the tail turret with his back bent.

Reaching out and touching the patch on the bulkhead that was obviously installed yesterday, Wei Ran couldn't help but smile. In order to reduce the weight, the weapons in this position have been removed, and even the chair didn't seem to be a matching set.

Even so, he was still very satisfied. For him, as long as he could participate in these bombing missions, he had no objection even if it was standing or hanging tickets.

"It's a pity that it was invested by the Americans. I don't know if we will have such an opportunity in the future."

Wei Ran muttered to himself, sat on the simple chair prepared for him and fastened his seat belt. Then, he took out a bottle of Tabasco hot sauce from his arms, looked at it, and then stuffed it back into his arms.

Perhaps because the bomber was damaged in the previous operation, it was not ranked so high in the departure order this time.

But even so, after a long wait, the Beluga bomber finally took off smoothly amid the turbulence and flew towards Nagoya in the last rays of sunset.

When the flight area was stable, Grant climbed over from the tail of the plane and began to remove the last line of safety for the bombs. He allowed Wei Ran to hold up the camera with a flash and press the shutter at him several times.

Almost at the same time that Grant finished his work, Brad also rushed over from the front with a camera in hand and was included in the viewfinder by Wei Ran.

Wei Ran also allowed the other party to take a photo of himself and Grant respectively. He then took a group photo of the two brothers in the bomb bay. Then he followed Brad to the cockpit in front, lay in the aisle, and took a group photo of the people in front.

"Victor"

Captain Tom said, "Remember to take a few more pictures with your aerial camera. We will drop all the incendiary bombs into the designated airspace at the specified altitude this time."

"I'll take a few more pictures," Wei Ran responded loudly with an OK gesture, then turned around and went back to his seat.

The one-way trip still takes five or six hours, so Wei Ran has plenty of time to do something.

He first fixed the second ribbon Grant gave him before boarding the plane on the huge keychain. Then Wei Ran took out the bottles of hot sauce he had secretly brought with him, placed them next to the aerial camera, and took a few close-up photos for his own entertainment with the Kodak camera hanging around his neck.

"Victor, what are you doing?" Tranter asked loudly. He had crawled over from the tail turret without knowing when.

"I'm creating art, what's wrong?!" Wei Ran asked loudly.

"They were chatting on their internal comms, and when they got to you, they noticed that you didn't respond!"

Grant looked at the bottles of hot sauce next to the aerial camera with a tired look, "So I came to see if there was a problem with your internal communication!"

"no problem!"

Wei Ran said this as he put away the bottles of hot sauce, sat back in his original seat and put on his headphones.

"Remember to wear your oxygen mask and goggles when dropping bombs!"

Grant gave an extra reminder out of concern, then turned and walked towards the tail turret, pretending that he was blind and saw nothing.

At the same time, Wei Ran also responded a few times in the internal communication, perfunctorily passing over the previous "not online".

"Victor, Brad just said that you have a mixed-race girlfriend?" Mechanic Philip asked curiously in the internal communication.

"That's right"

Wei Ran responded, "What about you guys?"

“We are already married”

Jonathan the radio operator said, "And we all have children of our own."

"I have two daughters," Tom said first.

"I have a son and two daughters," co-pilot Paul also said.

"I have two sons," said the navigator Bill.

"I have a son, and another isn't due until summer," added Jonathan, the wireless operator.

"I have three daughters and a son," mechanic Philip followed suit.

"Bombardier Roger got married not long ago and his child is not born yet," Captain Tom added.

"So the front half of the Beluga is called the daddy's happy nest," said co-pilot Paul.

"What about the second half?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"A bachelor's kennel," Grant responded slowly.

"So Brad is a spy who sneaked into the nest of nannies," Wei Ran asked jokingly, "and I am a spy who sneaked into the nest of bachelors?"

“That’s pretty much it”

Navigator Bill said, "Brad, what are you doing? Why aren't you talking? Grant said you're not that shy."

He is afraid.

Both Wei Ran and Grant, who came a little later, came up with the same guess almost at the same time.

Regardless of whether they were afraid or not, after five or six hours of chatting, the navigator Bill finally gave the signal that he was about to arrive at the bombing area, and the White Whale began to lower its altitude.

At the same time, Wei Ran, who had put on goggles and an oxygen mask, rechecked his seat belt, then held two bottles of hot sauce in one hand and the remote shutter of the aerial camera with the other.

While he was waiting patiently, the White Whale bomber, which had been descending in altitude, opened the door of its bomb bay in the turbulent air.

Suddenly, a heat wave filled with a strong smell of burnt protein rushed towards him through the open hatch on the floor. Wei Ran also clearly saw the large amount of thick smoke and flames rising from the surface - this was a unique perspective and a unique view that he did not have time to see in Tokyo last time.

“Barbecue and hot sauce go best together”

As Wei Ran muttered to himself, he threw the two bottles of Tabasco hot sauce with the lids already unscrewed in his hand toward the ground ahead of the cluster incendiary bombs, and at the same time pressed the remote shutter of the aerial camera.