After briefing, Summers reviewed the emergency
procedureswithStaffSergeantRobertEvans,histur-
ret gunner and the only other crew member. Evans,
an engineer, had recently transferred into the role,
buthadconfidedinhispilotthathedidn’tmedically
qualifytobeagunnerashewascolourblind.Sum-
mers never asked how he effected the transfer. Like
most other A-20G pilots, Summers had already de-
cided he wouldn’t bail out of the bomber given any
other choice; most who had tried had paid with their
lives. The propeller tips, just behind the pilot, rotated
onlyafootfromthefuselageside.Directlybehindthe
pilot was a shelf on which a slab of armour plating had
to be negotiated in order to bail out. It could trap the
pilot’sfeet,butevenwhenclear,pilotswerethen
slammedagainstthetailsurfacesknockingthemout
andbreakingtheirlimbsorback.
Summersstronglyadvocatedforgunnerstoremain
intheirMartinturretforanemergencylanding.This
contravened the teaching of the time which was for
gunners to brace themselves facing aft in their com-FLIGHTPATH|29O
n1October1944twenty-year-oldSecondLieu-
tenant Norman Summers was stationed on
Noemfoor Island at the western end of Dutch
New Guinea. That day he embarked on a four-
hour return flight for a medium altitude bombing mis-
sion in a Douglas A-20G. At briefing the crews were
told that their eleven 674th Bombardment Squadron
(BS)Havocswoulddroptheirbombsoncuefroma
solitary lead B-25D Mitchell equipped with a Norden
bombsight.NoA-20Gpilotlikedmediumaltitudemis-
sions as they had trained hard for their low-level at-
tackrole.Furthermore,suchmissionslimitedtheir
optionsinavoidingflak.Ithadrainedovernighton
theisland’sKornasoren’dromeastrucksdroppedthe
crews off at their waiting aircraft. The crew chief
helped strap Summers into the cockpit of an un-
namedA-20G,itsidentifyingletter‘U’paintedin
white on the rudder, assigned to him for the mission.
Summers signed the maintenance log, noting the
bomber had logged only 4.5 hours since new engines
had been installed.