[ARC5] B-10 Story

[Robert Eleazer]

A while back in Air Force Magazine there was this story about a B-10.

They finished a complete refurb of a B-10 assigned to Hickum Army Air Field in Hawaii in the late 1930's.  But the airplane had been replaced with later types, the B-18, and there was no real need for it.

A US Air Corps pilot assigned to Hickum lived in a nice house on the beach, a lovely place with a lengthy commute to the base due to the poor and winding roads.  But there was a nice big flat field behind the house and he took to commuting in the B-10; by flying the trip only took 10 min or so.

Eventually higher HQ found out that a pilot in Hawaii had his own personal B-10 and as a result the airplane was loaded on a ship, take out to sea a few miles, and dropped overboard.

If it had not been given the deep six, on 7 Dec 1941 that B-10 would not have been located at any regular base in the islands and very probably would have escaped the Japanese attack.  I'm sure that after the attack they would have found it to be useful in some way.  I'm always amazed that the prison at Ft. Leavenworth is not much larger.

Wayne