My father Kato Devar Haws entered the military service during World War 11 as a truck driver, but shortly after joining he signed up to learn photography and fly on a photo plane.
The photo plane would follow a bombing run for the purpose of taking photos and later assessing the success of the bombing run. The photo plane fly at about 20,000, dropped a phosphorous bomb that had an altimeter to trigger the detonator at about 10,000 feet. The photographer would take pictures by the light of the exploding bomb.
One of the favorite stories my daddy told me was about how he saved the life of all those aboard his plane because he got cold after a bombing run and went to look for a warmer place on the plane. On his way from the back of the plane to the cockpit, he came upon a loaded bomb in the belly of the plane. The bomb was set to explode at about 10,000 ft. They were flying toward their home base at about 20,000 feet descending as they went. My daddy and the pilot, stood on a narrow plank that ran along the floor of the bomb bay, each grabbed one end of the bomb and dropped it off into the cold dark night sky below. The wind was tearing at them trying to suck them out into the dark. It was a frightening and brave act.
If no-one had discovered the bomb, the plane and everyone on board would have been lost.
Listen to him tell his story.
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