Trevor spent the entire weekend milling about El Toro and pondered his next move. He wondered if he should try sneaking out of the base to run back to 1995 and risk getting arrested for going AWOL. Then he wondered if he should risk the chance that Sewickley doesn't pull through and he gets stationed somewhere else. Then he wondered if he should risk the chance that Sewickley pulls through with orders to Engebi.
He opted to take a chance on Sewickley getting orders to Engebi
Trevor walked back to his barracks.
It was Monday morning and April 17th, 1944, and it was a beehive of activity in the personnel office with typing and answering the phones.
Sewickley did his usual two fingers typing at his desk with another cigarette that dangled from his lips.
Trevor walked up to Sewickley's desk.
"Did my orders come through?"
LtCol Burns heard Trevor from his desk, and he looked curiously over at Trevor.
"Not yet. But don't worry. I promise you'll get them," Sewickley said while he stopped typing and looked up from his typewriter.
Trevor walked away, disappointed.
Trevor moped around the base all day, and then that night he tossed and turned in his bunk.
The sun rose, and it was the start of another day at El Toro.
After breakfast at the chow hall, Trevor made a beeline to the personnel office.
Sewickley was already on his third cup of coffee and a third cigarette while he scanned through a pile of papers.
Trevor rushed up to his desk. "Did my orders come in yet?"
Sewickley got up from his desk and rushed over to Trevor. He looked to make sure the coast was clear. "My Pentagon contact is working it as we speak."
Trevor looked concerned with Sewickley's response, thinking he was being screwed again.
"What's your name, Lieutenant?" LtCol Burns said while he walked up behind Trevor.
Trevor looked concerned when he turned around saw LtCol Burns.
"Trevor Walker, sir."
"What's your status?' LtCol Burns asked with a stern look.
"Still waiting for my orders, sir."
Burns looked at Trevor, and that made him nervous, thinking he was caught.
"Send him over to Colonel Francis for some flight training. We can't have our pilot's sitting around getting rusty," LtCol Burns ordered.
"Yes, sir," Sewickley snapped back.
LtCol Burns walked away.
Trevor sighed a sigh of relief.
Sewickley went back to this desk and picked up his phone, and he dialed a phone number.
"Colonel Francis, Gunny Sergeant Sewickley over in personnel. Listen, Colonel Burns has a pilot here, a Lieutenant Walker that he wants you to use for some flight training," Sewickley said into the phone.
"What's his story?" Colonel Francis asked from the phone.
"He's waiting on orders, and the Colonel didn't want him becoming rusty," Sewickley added.
"What plane is he checked out in?" Colonel Francis asked from the phone.
"What plane are you checked out in?" Sewickley asked Trevor.
"Corsair," Trevor replied and got nervous, as he wasn't expecting to be flying.
"Send him over. I'll make sure he doesn't get rusty," Colonel Francis replied from the phone.
"Yes sir," Sewickley replied, then hung up. "Go see Colonel Francis at the flightline. You can't miss his office near hangar three," said Sewickley.
"Will you please work my orders?" Trevor pleaded.
"Yes, sir. Consider it done and I promise it this time," Sewickley replied then sat down at his desk.
Trevor walked away and headed over to the exit.
Trevor rushed over to his barracks, where he quickly changed into his flight suit. He removed his Corsair checklist from his uniform pocket and rushed out of the barracks.
While Trevor walked down the streets of El Toro, he studied his Corsair checklist so he wouldn't look like an idiot. "Don't screw this up!" Trevor quietly said while he read his checklist while he walked toward the flightline.
Twenty minutes later, Trevor entered Colonel Francis' office.
"Lieutenant Walker reporting as ordered," Trevor said and stood at attention and saluted. He remembered this from some of the war movies he watched on TV.
"At ease, Lieutenant. "So I hear you're a Corsair pilot?" the Colonel asked Trevor who stood at ease.
"Yes, sir."
"Good, report to Major O'Brien over at hangar two. He's doing a training flight today."
Trevor snapped to attention and saluted the Colonel who saluted back.
Trevor did an about-face and left the office.
Colonel Francis picked up his phone and called Major O'Brien to inform him that Trevor was on his way for some flight training.
Trevor walked to hangar two and saw four Corsairs on the flightline.
Trevor walked up to the planes where pilots, Kent Boyer, and Chuck Madison, both 1st Lieutenants, were performing their preflight inspections on two of the four Corsairs.
Trevor walked up to one of the Corsairs and looked it over.
Major William O'Brien walked up to Trevor from the hangar.
"Are you Lieutenant Walker?" he asked Trevor.
"Yes sir," Trevor replied and followed up with a salute.
O'Brien saluted back. "You can fly that Corsair and today, we'll be practicing some formation flying," O'Brien said then pointed over at Trevor's plane.
"Gentlemen," O'Brien called out to the other pilots.
Kent and Chuck stopped their inspections and looked at O'Brien."
"Lieutenant Walker will be flying with us today," O'Brien called out to them.
The pilots waved indicating they were good with Trevor.
"Okay, perform your preflight, and we'll get airborne," O'Brien said.
Trevor started his preflight inspection, and he was glad Grandpa Carl let him perform this task numerous times.
Twenty minutes later, and all the Corsairs were ready to fly.
"Okay gentleman, we'll be practicing formation flying. I'll be the flight leader," O'Brien told the three pilots.
They all acknowledged and climbed up their fuselages and got inside their planes.
Inside his Corsair, Trevor removed his checklist from his shirt pocket.
Trevor configured the fuel selector and opened the cowl flaps.
He configured the propeller, carburetor air, supercharger, throttle, battery and instrument switches, the electric auxiliary fuel pump, and the electric primer switch.
He placed the mixture to rich, turned off the auxiliary fuel pump, and turned the ignition and starter switches. The engine of his Corsair started.
He looked proud while he watched the other three Corsairs startup.
Then Trevor looked through his checklist. How the hell do I do formation flying? He thought to himself a little concerned, as he never was instructed on that technique.
"Okay gentlemen, let's go," O'Brien said across the radio net.
After receiving the proper clearance from the control tower, the four Corsairs taxied to one of the runways.
The four Corsairs taxied over to runways 16L and 16R, and they waited their turn to take-off.
"Okay, Walker and I will use sixteen left while Boyer and Madison can use sixteen right," O'Brien instructed them from the radio net.
O'Brien lined his Corsair up on the centerline of runway 16 left while Boyer lined up his Corsair on the centerline of runway 16 right.
O'Brien and Boyer gave their planes full throttle and rolled down the runway.
Trevor and Madison both lined up their Corsairs on their assigned runways. They waited a few seconds then they gave their Corsairs full throttle and rolled down the runway.
O'Brien and Boyer's Corsairs took off and flew toward the ocean.
Trevor and Madison's Corsairs took off and flew toward the ocean.
"Okay, let's climb to 6,500 feet and level off," O'Brien said from the radio net.
All four Corsairs ascended up into the sky.
At 6,500 feet over the Pacific Ocean, the four Corsairs leveled out.
Trevor was doing great so far, and he felt at ease.
"Okay, gentleman. Let's get into a close echelon formation," O'Brien ordered from the radio net.
Trevor looked very nervous, as he didn't know how to fly in a close echelon formation.
The other Corsairs got in close echelon formation to the left of O'Brien's Corsair.
Trevor's Corsair stayed way behind the other planes.
Inside his Corsair, Trevor looked nervous the second he saw the other Corsairs in formation.
"Where the hell are you Walker?" O'Brien yelled out from the radio net.
"I'm on my way, sir," Trevor replied into the radio net.
"Get your butt in gear," O'Brien yelled back with a tone that indicated he couldn't stand anybody that slacked off like what Trevor was doing at this moment.
Trevor flew his Corsair closer to the other two planes.
He got in close echelon formation to O'Brien's right-wing.
Trevor's Corsair got closer to O'Brien's Corsair.
Trevor's Corsair got closer to O'Brien's Corsair.
Trevor looked nervous while he got closer to O'Brien's Corsair.
"Watch it, Walker!" O'Brien screamed out from the radio net.
Trevor's eyes widen with fear when he saw he was about six inches from the tip of O'Brien's wing.
He quickly made a steep banked turn to the right and flew away.
"Where the hell did you learn formation flying, Walker?" O'Brien yelled from the radio net.
"Sorry, sir. I can do better," Trevor replied into the radio net.
"I know you will!" O'Brien yelled back.
Trevor looked determined while he stayed about 100 feet from the other planes. Then he flew his Corsair into a barrel roll.
He came out of the roll then flew to O'Brien's Corsair. He immediately flew into formation with the other planes.
Five minutes later, Trevor flew in perfect close echelon formation with O'Brien and the other Corsairs. He felt so proud of himself and felt like a real Marine pilot.
Hours later, the four Corsairs took turns while they landed on runways 16 right and left.
They taxied back to the hangar and shut off their engines.
O'Brien, Trevor, and the other pilots climbed down their planes and walked away.
They walked over to the hangar.
"Walker, you got off to a rocky start. But you pulled through like a champ," O'Brien told him. "Come on by tomorrow for some more training," he added.
"Yes, sir," Trevor replied.
O'Brien and the other pilots walked off to the hangar while Trevor walked in another direction.
Sewickley ran up to Trevor with a piece of paper in hand and handed it to him. "My brother at the pentagon pulled a miracle. Your orders came through," Sewickley said out of breath and started to cough.
Trevor read his orders and hollered for joy. He jumped up and down then ran away.
"Like I said, those pilots are whacky," Sewickley said while he watched Trevor run away.
Sewickley removed a cigarette from his pack and lit it and took a drag while he walked away.
While Trevor ran down one of the base streets, a Corsair flew overhead. He stopped and glanced at the plane and had a gut feeling he would succeed with his mission.
He ran down the street toward his barracks.
Then he stopped and looked back at the Corsair. He forgot about the fact that the Japanese would be trying to shoot him down, and then he got really nervous.
He walked down the street and looked concerned.