water landing. Mierzejewski's account, which is summarized below, contradicted Bush's
own version of these events, and hinted that Bush might have abandoned his two
crewmembers to a horrible and needless death. The Hyams account, which is partly
intended to refute Mierzejewski, develops as follows:
...Bush was piloting the third plane over the target, with Moore flying on his
wing. He nosed over into a thirty-degree glide, heading straight for the radio
tower. Determined to finally destroy the tower, he used no evasive tactics and
held the plane directly on target. His vision ahead was occasionally cancelled by
bursts of black smoke from the Japanese antiaircraft guns. The plane was
descending through thickening clouds of flak pierced by the flaming arc of
tracers.There was a sudden flash of light followed by an explosion. "The plane was lifted
forward, and we were enveloped in flames," Bush recalls. "I saw the flames
running along the wings where the fuel tanks were and where the wings fold. I
thought; this is really bad! It's hard to remember the details, but I looked at the
instruments and couldn't see them for the smoke."Don Melvin, circling above the action while waiting for his pilots to drop their
bombs and get out, thought the Japanese shell had hit an oil line on Bush's
Avenger. "You could have seen that smoke for a hundred miles."Perhaps so, but it is difficult to understand why the smoke from Bush's plane was so
distinctly visible in such a smoke-filled environment. Hyams goes on to describe Bush's
completion of his bombing run. His account continues:
By then the wings were covered in flames and smoke, and the engine was blazing.
He considered making a water landing but realized it would not be possible.
Bailing out was absolutely the last choice, but he had no other option. He got on
the radio and notified squadron leader Melvin of his decision. Melvin radioed
back, "Received your message. Got you in sight. Will follow."[...] Milt Moore, flying directly behind Bush, saw the Avenger going down
smoking. "I pulled up to him; then he lost power and I went sailing by him."As soon as he was back over water, Bush shouted on the intercom for White and
Delaney to "hit the silk!" [...] Dick Gorman, Moore's radioman-gunner,
remembers hearing someone on the intercom shout, "Hit the silk!" and asking
Moore, "Is that you, Red?""No," Moore replied. "It's Bush, he's hit!"Other squadron members heard Bush repeating the command to bail out, over and
over, on the radio.