Chapter 2

Casey began shaking Boyington's shoulder.

"Greg, come on wake up, General Moore's aide just came by and we are to meet him in his quarters." Casey said, "Here's some coffee, come on Greg, get up."

Boyington rubbed his eyes.

"You got a bottle for me to put in that coffee?"

"Right here, Greg. We've got to go."

Boyington grabbed the coffee, took the bottle of scotch from Casey, and mixed it.

"Come on, let's go," Boyington said.

Ten minutes later they were in General Moore's quarters.

"Greg, I'll have to say I'm proud of you, you didn't break anything and I didn't have to get you out of the brig. From now on, I think you need to bring Casey with you instead of Gutterman."

Both Boyington and Casey grinned.

"Ok, here's the deal. We need bombers ferried to Munda. Only problem is this planes are unarmed, so they'll be finished up at Munda," Moore explained.

"General," Boyington said, "We're not ferry pilots, we're fighter pilots."

"Quit interrupting, Boyington, if you'll just let me finish. I need fighter pilots to escort these unarmed bombers, that's where you come in. You'll be escorting two planes a day and the ferry pilots will be stationed at La Cava. Now here goes, these pilots are WASPS"

"WASPS?" Boyington asked,

"Yes, Women Air Force Service pilots." Moore answered, "Do you think you and the Black Sheep can handle two women pilots? And behave yourselves?"

"Yes, General I believe we can handle it," Boyington said.

"Well, there's one more issue about one of these pilots."

"And that it?"

"One of them is my niece, Lieutenant Cheryl Montgomery, but we call her Charlie."

"Your niece, sir?"

"That's right my niece, who didn't like tea parties and dolls, just airplanes. A cousin of ours decided to teach her how to fly his crop duster, when she'd visit relatives in Mississippi. The next thing we know, she's enlisted as a WASP. My sister's husband wasn't too thrilled, but Charlie's headstrong, I think it's a Moore trait."

"We can handle this General, I'll get back to La Cava and tell the boys about our guests,"

"Thanks Greg, I knew I could count on you. Her partner Lieutenant Sue Davidson."

With that, Casey and Boyington left Moore's quarters.

"How do you like that?" Casey asked, "Charlie and Sue are pilots, stationed on La Cava?"

"Yeah, they seemed to mislead us just a bit," Boyington said, "Let's head back to La Cava and inform the Sheep."

They commandeered a jeep and headed for the airstrip. Boyington couldn't wait to tell the Sheep this one. And Charlie was Moore's niece.


Several hours later, Charlie and Sue found themselves in Moore's office.

"Well girls, are you ready for La Cava and the Black Sheep?" Moore asked.

"Yes, I know we can, General." Charlie responded.

"Dismissed, enjoy your last night on Espritos, Charlie, can I have a word with you?"

Inwardly, Charlie groaned. She told Sue she'd meet her at the barracks later.

"Yes, General?" Charlie asked after Sue left.

Moore got up and closed the door.

"Now, Charlie these Black Sheep on La Cava, they're damn good, but they're a little rough. I know you Charlie, you can handle this and them."

"Oh Uncle Tom, stop it. I'm just another WASP. Ok? I'm a just a pilot under your command. Just don't make sure Dad doesn't show up for a surprise visit."

Moore got up from his desk and put his arms around Charlie.

"Love you kiddo, just watch yourself around Boyington and his bunch will you?"

"Yes, sir," Charlie replied.


Boyington had gathered everyone in operations shack. Gutterman had already informed him of the day's mission, which had gone well, meaning no downed planes.

"Ok meatheads, here we go, we're going to be doing patrol to Rendova, then escort a bomber to Munda to be fitted for bombs."

"You mean an unarmed bomber? Sounds like friendly waters. We won't be seeing any action, will we?" Anderson spoke up.

"We hope not till we get the bomber to Munda," Boyington replied.

"So we're not going to see much action then, are we Gramps?" Gutterman replied.

"I hope not." Boytington replied.

"We've been on a hot streak Greg, now they're pulling us out?" Anderson said.

"Listen Anderson, Gutterman, and all you other groaning meatheads, yes, we are fighter pilots, but fighters aren't going to win this war, bombers are. We'll be doing this six days a week and the ferry pilots are going to lay down here between trips. And that's the other part to this this ferry pilots," Boytington replied.

"Ferry pilots are ferry pilots, that's no big deal," Gutterman replied.

"These ferry pilots are WASPS, Women Air Force Service Pilots." Boyington said.

"I don't know about flying with a woman, Greg, give me a break." Gutterman said.

"Hey, if General Moore says they're ok, they are. Give them a chance, Gutterman. Quit groaning meatheads, we can do this. Moore said he wanted the best fighter escorts, and that's why we were picked. They'll be arriving tomorrow. They'll take a transport to Rendova, escort them to Munda, then they'll meets us back here each night."Boyington replied.

"Have you met these WASPS?" Gutterman asked.

"Yes, Casey and I met with them briefly. Anyway let's get our last patrol in the slot over with tomorrow, and the girls will be here tomorrow afternoon."


"Call for transport to Vella La Cava take off in fifteen minutes" the speaker boomed.

Charlie and Sue were the first ones in line. Charlie handed her papers to the transport pilot at the stairs and Sue did the same.

"What two nice girls like you," asked the transport pilot looking at their papers, "Going to be doing with Boyington's bunch?"

"They've hired us to do KP duty and dig latrines," Sue retorted.

The transport pilot handed them the papers back and they got on board.

"Charlie, how do you think Larry and Greg feel about us misleading them a bit?" Sue asked.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough." Charlie answered.

Three hours later, the transport landed on La Cava. Charlie peeked out to window to see if she saw Boyington or Casey.

"Don't see them yet," Charlie said grabbing her stuff.

Sue grabbed her stuff and the transport pilot stopped them before the ladder came up to open the plane.

"Have fun doing KP and all that latrine work, ladies" He said.

They both rolled their eyes and made the way down the ladder to the strip. There was a group to meet them.

Anderson spoke first.

"Ladies, may I introduce you to the 214, we have Lieutenant T. J, Wiley, Don French, Jerry Bragg, and Captain James Gutterman our exec officer, and I am Robert

Anderson."

Boytington broke through the crowd with Casey beside him.

"I'm Greg Boyington and this is Larry Casey."

"Nice to see you again, Major and you to Lieutenant Casey," Charlie replied.

"Likewise," Sue replied.

"We've got a tent set up for you girls, Gutterman will take you. We'll have a briefing at 1700. Then after that, we thought we'd give you a welcome to La Cava

Party."

"Sounds great, lead the way Captain," Sue said.

"Call me Jim," Gutterman replied.

Charlie and Sue followed Gutterman to the tent. He left them to get settled.

"Well, well, well, we made it Charlie." Sue replied.

Charlie's response was a grin.