For instance the other day a trio of these P-38 pilots salmmed into another hair-raising mess over the invasion coast.Lt. Ernest C. Fiebelkorn of Lake Orion, Mich., Lt. Walter F. Keummerle of Cologne, N.J., and Lt. Benjiman N. Rader of Findlay, Ohio, were the culprits this time.

    Rader was leading the element and they had been strafing an enemy convoy of trucks. One mwmber of the flight was forced down near the target, but Rader, Kuemmerle and Fiebelkorn headed back home, somewhat the worse for wear. Approaching the French coast, Kuemmerle saw he couldn't possibly make the Channel because his right engine was out entirely and his left was skipping the odd beat.

    " I was about four miles inside our invasion lines," Kuemmmerle told me, "and I decided to bring her in for a belly landing. I held my breath, just imagining what would happen if I hit a land mine.

    "But I scooted right into the middle of a British infantry division. It was a hot spot too and I was pretty scared. Sheels, bombs and small arms fire were raing Cain. I spent the night in atent near a foxhole, but I didn't get much sleep. The following day I caught an air ambulance back to England."

    Fiebelkorn turned back too, when he heard Kuemmerle calling that he was in trouble.

    " I scouted around and tried to find him, " Ernie explained, "but he was nowhere in sight. By that time I was running low on gas; so I decided to land, too. I came in on one of the newly bulit air strips near the beach and almost lost my lunch when I discovered I still had a 1,000-pound bomb hooked to my ship.

    "A British infantry unit took goos care of me, but it wasn't much fun crouching in a slit trench all night while German planes bombed and strafed our airfield. Next day I got passage back on a subchaser."

    Rader was well over the Channel before he gave up hope of making it all the way to England. His story goes like this.

    "My left engine was dead as a mackerel and I knew there was danger of the other conking out. Most of the electrical sysytem in my ship was shot away and the general situation looked bad, so I turned back towards the French coast.

    "A few miles off shore I bailed out, after making sure I was near some boats. My lfe raft had blown away and I had todepend on my Mae West and a rubber cushion to keep me afloat. I shivered there for about fifteen minutes before a British frigate came and picked me up. I was later transfered to a destroyer, given warmclothing and food and the next day the destroyer took me back to England."

    It seems every guy in this Loco Group has a story something like this, but one of the funniest comes from the record of Lt. William K. Coon of Compton, Cal. Coon was returning from Frankfurt, but still wasn't satisfied with his day's bag of locomotives, so he went looking for more trouble. He found a ship steaming across a certain body of water and began to get goofy ideas. Putting his Lightning into a dive, he swooped down and raked the ship from stem to stern with machine gun and cannon fire. A cannon shell sent the flagmast toppling and for some minutes the falg itself was draped over his wingtip.

    Now Bill claims tobe the only Yank in the E.T.O. who has flown in active service under the German flag!

    When the Loco Group can't find planes or locomotives, they try anything -- anything to keep their hand in.

    For instance, the other day Capt. Donald H. Rheimer of Elmhurst, Ill. saw a large barrage balloon which had broken from its moorings and was sailing all over France. Rheimer figured that would be a hazard to any of our bombers, since it was still dragging a long length of steel cable. He gave it a couple of bursts and watched it collapse like a paper bag. Lt. Jack E. Davis of New Castle, Pa., also went balloon strafing when he found two Jerry weather balloons up over France. With Lt. Arlon D. Payne of Detroit and Lt. Irwin D. Fernandes of Oakland, Cal., he went in pursuit and the three of them had as much fun as a trio of kids in a shooting gallery.

    But it's not all fun and games in the Loco Group. Once in a while one of them gets clobbered properly, as they put it.

    Coming back from over Holland where he had been shooting a Nazi Me-210 into junk, Lt. Jack Martin of Whittier, Cal., (they call him Smiling Jack) was jumped by twoMe-109s. Jack was tired after a long day and the Huns attacked out of the sun.

    The first Jerry burst was a pip. A chunk of 20 mm shell cut a deep gash in his head and a piece lodged near his brain. He was dizzy and half blinded with shock and the loss of blood, but he fought his crippled Lightning through the concerted attack. His radio went out and the enemy slugs slashed his craft from nose to rudder. It later had to be scrapped.