Robert L Scott. - God Is My Co-Pilot

At the age oftwelve, Robert Scott had designed and built a home-made glider and walked away from his first crash. A year later, undaunted, hebought an old Jenny for $75 and taught himself to fly. From then on,becoming one of America's greatest combat pilots was only a matter oftime.

In this bookScott, now a General of the United States Air Force, gives anelectrifying account of his adventures in World War II. Piloting aFlying Fortress across the Atlantic through equatorial storms ;fighting the Japanese virtually single-handed over Burma; battling inthe skies of China as commander of fighter pilots in Gen. Chennault'sChina Air Task Force Scott has lived through enough danger topack the lifetimes of a hundred men.

One of thegreatest war adventure stories ever written, GOD IS MY CO-PILOT tellsof the almost incredible achievements of men at war.

"A record ofpersistence, determination and courage... should be an inspirationto all Americans of all ages."
C. L. CHENNAULT

A BALLANTINEREPRINT

GOD
IS
MY
CO-PILOT

BY

ROBERTL. SCOTT, JR.

Colonel,Air Corps, United States Army

WithA Foreword By MAJOR GENERAL C. L. CHENNAULT

BALLANTINEBOOKS, New York

Copyright,1943, by ROBERT L. SCOTT, JR.

Printed in theUnited States of America

This story isdedicated to the man who, more than any other person, is responsiblefor the Air Force coming of ageGENERAL HENRY H. ARNOLD, Chiefof the United States Air Forces.

PAPERBOUNDEDITION

FIRST PRINTING:APRIL, 1956
SECOND PRINTING: JULY, 1956
THIRD PRINTING:SEPTEMBER, 1956
FOURTH PRINTING: OCTOBER, 1956
FIFTHPRINTING: FEBRUARY, 1957
SIXTH PRINTING: MAY, 1959
SEVENTHPRINTING: JUNE, 1959
EIGHTH PRINTING: JANUARY, 1961
NINTHPRINTING: FEBRUARY, 1961
TENTH PRINTING: SEPTEMBER, 1961
ELEVENTH PRINTING: JANUARY, 1962
TWELFTH PRINTING: DECEMBER,1962
THIRTEENTH PRINTING: OCTOBER, 1963
FOURTEENTH PRINTING:NOVEMBER, 1963

ABOUT THECOVER ARTIST

JOHN T. McCOY,JR., has so great a reputation for painstaking authenticity as wellas beauty in his paintings of airplanes that he has frequently beenselected to execute projects for major magazines, including therecent Life pictorial essay, "From Struts to Jet."During World War II he was a combat artist, with the rank of Major,and flew missions with both the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces. Many ofMr. McCoy's water colors are now on permanent display in theSmithsonian National Air Museum, and a series of paintings ofhistoric Air Force aircraft has been acquired by the United StatesAir Force.

Foreword

The author,Colonel Robert L. Scott, Jr.,, served under my command from July 1,1942 to January 9, 1943 as Commander of my fighter force. The onlycriticism of his actions as Group Commander was that he consistentlyscheduled himself as a pilot on all possible missions. He led alltypes of combat missions but specialized in the most dangerous, suchas long-range flights to strafe from minimum altitudes Jap airdromes,motor vehicles, and shipping deep in enemy territory. It was oftennecessary for me to forbid his participation in combat missions inorder to enable him to discharge the many other duties of a GroupCommander.

His story is arecord of persistence, determination, and courage from early boyhood.Having determined early in life that he had to fly, he overcame allobstacles in the way to the attainment of his ambition. This storyalone should be an inspiration to every American boy. Having become amilitary pilot, his determined struggle to meet the enemy and hisglorious record, first as a "One Man Air Force," and later,as Commander of the American Fighters in China, should be aninspiration to all Americans of all ages.

Colonel Scott'sgroup of fighters always operated against greatly superior numbers ofthe enemy. Often the odds were five to one against them. Their planesand equipment were usually battered by hard usage, and supplies wereextremely limited. Both Scott and his handful of pilots had oneresource in unlimited quantitiescourage. They also possessedinitiative and a never-failing desire to destroy the enemy. They worethemselves out doing the work of

ten times theirnumber. They demonstrated time and again that American pilots andplanes are superior to the Japs. The results which they achievedprove indisputably that the enemy can be destroyed or driven fromChina if adequate equipment and supplies are made available. Theoffensive spirit displayed by Scott and his early pilots lives on inthe men who replaced them. They impatiently await the weapons neededto drive on into the heart of Japan and to final victory.

C. L.CHENNAULT,
Major General A.U.S.,
Commanding, 14th Air Force

Contents

Foreword by MajorGeneral C. L. Chennault

CHAPTER

1. I Knew What IWanted
2. Bumpy Landings
3. 84,000 Miles of Girl-Trouble
4.When Death Flew the Mails
5. Hazards of Being an Instructor
6.Too Old for Combat
7. Dream Mission
8. Take-Off from Brazil
9.Lost Over the Atlantic
10. Across Africa
11.Burma-Roadsters
12. Two Miles Above Everest
13. The GeneralPreferred to Walk
14. Situation Very Confused
15. Too MuchTin
16. No Hits, No Runs, One Error
17. Rats on the BurmaRoad
18. Salute to the AVG
19. You've Got to Shoot atPeople
20. Great Day
21. Some Good, Honest Lead-poisoning
22.Too Busy to Remember
23. The Chinese Really Know How
24. We'reDoing All Right
25. Stranger Than Fiction
26.Morale-Builder
27. Farewell to "Old Exterminator"
28.We've Got to Learn to Hate
29. Calling Cards on Hongkong
30. SoSorry, Please, So Sorry
31. Keeping the Japs Guessing
32. OurBiggest Bombing
33. The "Chip" of Invincibility
34.Goose for Christmas
35. How to Cure a General
36. No UseFooling Ourselves

Author'sNote

My decision forthe title of this book was probably made back there in Kunming oneafternoon as the doctor dug those five rivet heads from my back. Theybad been driven in when a Jap explosive bullet hit the armor platebehind my seat. To keep my mind off the pain the big Cantonese internof Doctor Manget's kept talking to me. He seemed to find it hard tobelieve that I flew the little fighter alone that I droppedthe bombsfired the six machine guns changed the fueltanksnavigated and landed the fighter. Finally, with disbeliefin his eyes, he looked at me and said, "Colonel, you are upthere all aloneyou even talk over the radio when you shoot theguns?" As I waited for him to go on with another question, Iheard the old doctor say, "No, sonyou're not up therealonenot with all the things you come through. You have thegreatest co-pilot in the world even if there is just room for one inthat fighter shipno, you're not alone."

I believe whenthis war is over that we will be closer to God than at any time inthe past. I believe this because I have seen instances of real faithon several fronts in this war and have heard of them on all fronts.Take for instance: Just the other day a song came out, "Comingin on a Wing and a Prayer." That could have been conceived as atitle or as the theme of the song only by some real event. A shiplanded with an engine shot awaythe fuselage gutted by fire andthe plane riddled with bullets. One of the war correspondents hurriedout to the wounded pilot and asked, "How in the world did youbring this ship in...?" The pilot shook his head, smiled andreplied, "I don't know ask the Man upstairs."

We who fly aregoing to get to know that Great Flying Boss in the sky better andbetter. My personal ambition is that He permit me to go again intocombat against the Jap or the Hun; that He help me just a little toshoot down a hundred Jap shipseven a thousand. Then I hope Helets me come back to tell another story. I'm going to name thatonethe sequel to this oneGOD IS STILL MY COPILOT.