Chaos AboveBy: Rory

Author’s Note

During 1940-1948, America thoughtfully

assisted England in the war against Germany in

the WWII. Most of the war planes crashed when

they reached England at night, because the

pilots were lacking knowledge of landing safely.

This was because during the day they were able

to see the ground, but the darkness of night

created difficulty in landing.

Around 12,530 heroic people

died from the crash landings.

When people started to hear

about this, they automatically

wanted to help the cause. Over

the years there had been development in

landing airplanes in the dark. No one could

guess the amount of mournful people affected

by this event. The legendary method was to talk

the planes down. However, in the end,

technology faced the problem and produced a

method that helped save people, airplanes, and

the world.

Family Tree

My Grandpa

Chaos Above “YAWN,” I glanced at my clock and prayed that I woke up before the ear-piercing bugle sound. “Yes!” I blurted out while slapping my hands over my mouth, making sure no one detected me. Finally, I thought, a relaxing morning. Looking out at Langley Field, Virginia, with its powdered clouds so early in the morning, I could smell the delightful ocean breeze. While I brushed my milky-white teeth, I had my radio earpiece turn on. Sounds of a distraught woman were heard over the announcer’s voice. “Again!” I glumly murmured, while I began to amble towards the sink. “Plane 369 crashed due to the dimness of the surrounding area, making it impossible to land the plane safely,” the radio declared. My emotions switched from excitement to awaking before the bugle, to distraught as my eyes started to water and my face became pale. “How could this keep happening? Don’t the pilots ever learn?” I thought uneasily to myself.

Instantly after I heard the news, I rushed through my morning. As I swiftly hurried out the door, it accidentally slammed behind me. In the canteen, I shoved breakfast into my mouth as I processed the information in my head. Once finished with breakfast, I walked to the office, breathing in the fresh ocean air, trying to clear my mind to focus on my work for the day ahead. Due to our proximity of the ocean, the misty air nearly distorted my vision and I almost missed a crumpled up newspaper that lay on the dirt-covered ground. After reading it, I tightly crumpled the paper in anger. On the front page, printed in black and white, it showed that yet another plane had crashed. Trying to stabilize my emotions, I gently placed the newspaper back from where I found it. As soon as I got to the wooden door of my office, I spread the news from the morning radio announcer, but most of the men had already heard. Papers were flying around, as if a hurricane was in action, because hearing about the event panicked everyone. Faces were bursting with an array of reactions. My fellow

Sergeants were as red as fire, some already in tears. Being the head Officer, I had to hold it together for everyone. Sitting in shame, I wondered why the United States Army Air Corp hadn’t found a way to land our planes and boys safely yet. Shortly after the reactions, a blanket of silence spread throughout the building. “As a group, we will generate a method for landing airplanes in the dark,” announced our General, standing sternly at the front of the room. We all jumped around jubilantly with our faces lit up in excitement. Everybody couldn’t wait to begin because they had a sense this would help our friends. Everyone swiftly got to work. I was almost as exhilarated, as if a brand new Rolls Royce’s keys were just placed in my hand. Teams were created to review each part of the landing. The runway lights, the pilot, the speed of the aircraft, the runway’s distance, the weather conditions and control tower communication. Nothing was overlooked. Analyzing all the parts and procedures had helped us come to a conclusion on the aspects that were failing. I was one of a 20-member team that worked diligently on analyzing control tower communication. From the start, we poured over

copious notes of radio dialogue, which helped us decipher a well-understood idea of what was ahead. Different assumptions included: figuring out if there was a pilot error, or the pilots didn’t have proper training about landing. This hard working process was hypothesized to be about a years worth of time, however we had no idea what we were in for. Only time would tell.

By: Rory

Interview What did you do before and after you went to Virginia? I came out of basic training in Amarillo, TX and was shipped to Lawery field Colorado in preparation to goto an area in Berma. The war was over but there were Japanese soldiers who would not surrender. Rifles and weapons were there and I was one to go there and try to force them out. Not the thing I really wanted to do. It could be dangerous. Before I went there I had a furlow. I talked to an officer that maybe I could do better for the armyif I could work in an office because I could type 45 words a minute. My father made me do that in school (type that is). They drafted me to Langely Field Virginia. They transferred me to a company with 50 men and 50 officers and we were to develop a way of landing airplanes in the dark. Nobody had ever done that before. And we did it with an English Radar. Which

they developed during the war and we brought planes down in a dark field with lights on and that’s what we did for the rest of my life in the army. Then I came home from the army and went to Northwestern University and studied there.• What did your family think of this?

My mother was very worried and my brother just came home from the army and was in the hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan recuperating from wounds Herkenforest, Germany. And he came home and he was ok.

What about your other family members? My dad was on a motor cycle in the first war and drove between the front lines between France and the headquarters and was called a dispatcher rider. Dangerous when you have to take messages between headquarters and the front lines. He came home was ok. A good daddy.

Then he opened up a cigar store in downtown Chicago. In those days every street corner had a cigar store. One Cigar store. And he went to high school and learned accounting and got a job with World Book Encyclopedia. He was a vice president and an office manager. He left there in 1941. In 1930-1940 America was broke. Next store neighbor didn’t have a job, neither did his uncle. He got jobs for them. Eventually he became an salesmen with envelopes and lithography. He got his brothers a job(Uncle Rob and Jack). They worked for them the rest of his working life. Glenn was never asked to be part of the envelope company because he already had a job. But he said he was super proud to have him as a son. He had 3 boys and you’re the only one that proved anything of himself. He worked at delivering groceries everyday to earn money and there were just no jobs and nobody was hiring people(1941). This was the beginning of WWII.

• How did the event(air force) effect you?

Very well. He made a lot of friends there and learned a lot there as well. Rank was a Sargent. What was the trick to landing airplanes?The trick to landing planes in the dark(his mission) was landing low on the field once upon a time but the actual trick was to talk them down. No one up to this point figures out how to exactly talk them down. He and several other men figured this out. In Norfolk, Virginia you had to have low lights because it was next to the ocean and when it got dark at night they crashed a lot. The admiral in command at Norfolk called them to figure out how to land the

planes at night. After that, no plane ever crashed. They did not have radar at the time. It was called “getting your ducks in a line”. They had to be around a mile apart, talking to the pilot, tell them to lower their speed 2 degrees to the right, landing gear down, go 2 degrees to the right. Called “GCA”. To this day they use this approach. He was never allowed to fly a plane due to strict regulations.

• Did being in the army have any affect on your or anyone else’s future?

• Air war over Europe, between America and German, We lost ½ million men in the sky in the war. Nobody he knew but it was very sad for him.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. "Flights." Www.centenialofflight.gov. Centenial Offlight, n.d. Web."World War II Forums." World War II

2. Forums. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ww2f.com/>.

3. "Ww2." Www.brainpop.com. N.p., n.d. Web.

REFLECTION

What  specific  challenges  did  you  face  during  this  project?Some  challenges  that  I  faces  were;  right  a4er  I  did  my  interview  my  grandpa  passed  away.  I  could  not  get  all  of  the  informa;on  I  needed  because  I  could  not  ask  him.

What  did  you  learn  about  your  family  member?  (personality,  character…)I  never  knew  that  my  grandpa  was  in  the  army  un;l  I  had  the  interview.  Once  I  learned  about  how  he  helped  create  a  method  to  landing  airplanes  in  the  dark,  I  felt  proud  of  my  family  

for  saving  the  lives  of  many  people.

What  did  you  learn  about  yourself  (as  a  learner,  as  a  family  member)?I  learned  that  my  grandfather  had  a  great  part  in  saving  the  lives  of  many  brave  men.  

How  have  you  grown?  (as  a  writer…)By  wri;ng  the  narra;ve  I  learned  many  new  words  and  I  feel  more  confident  in  my  wri;ng  skills.  

Why  do  you  think  doing  a  project  like  this  is  important?We  get  to  learn  about  our  family’s  past  and  how  to  become  a  beDer  writer.  Also,  in  the  near  future  we  might  have  a  project  similar  to  this.

What  part  of  this  process  did  you  enjoy  most?  Why?I  enjoyed  listening  to  my  grandpa  telling  me  about  his  past.  It  was  our  last  conversa;on.  

What  part  of  this  process  did  you  least  enjoy?  Why?The  hardest  part  was  star;ng.  I  knew  my  middle  and  ending,  but  I  couldn’t  figure  out  how  to  begin  my  paper.  

How  do  you  plan  to  share  this  project  with  your  family/  family  member?I  will  email  my  grandma  my  project  and  show  my  family  the  hard  copy.