The Pilot's Return

During the 1950s, Martin Caidin was the official historian for America’s Fifth Air Force during his stint in A-2 military intelligence. In that capacity, he had full access to military combat files. In his book “Ghosts of the Air,” he described a story he found in one of those files that was reported from air force operations in North Africa during WWII--a story that he admitted was “flatly impossible” but that was nevertheless “witnessed, and attested to, by several hundred officers and men of the U.S. Army, and Army Air Forces, who were there.”Unfortunately, at the time he discovered this record, it was still classified, meaning he could take notes from the document, but not remove it from the vault. In later visits to this vault, that particular file could not be found. In other words, there is nothing to corroborate Caidin’s incredible yarn, leaving him to sigh, “Take it as it is, because that’s what you’re going to get.”So, the caveat is duly noted. However, it’s such a bloody…