There is a B-18 down on the Island of Basco, which is a small island in the group north of the Island of Luzon, about two-thirds of the distance to Formosa, and Operations have just reported it to me as Base Engineering Officer, which means that I will have to fly up and sit down with the hangar chief, Sergeant Carlson and Lt. Bill Cocke, who is S-4 of Nineteenth Group and estimate the damage and what repairs it will take to dispatch a crew by steamer with the necessary parts, make the repair and eventually fly the ship back to Clark Field. This report came in from Operations on the 4th of December, 1941, so I made arrangements to start off at 7:00 the next morning, the 5th. On reporting to Operations, we find that there is weather ahead and it is decided to cancel the flight. We set it for Saturday, the 6th of December.
Saturday morning we go to Operations for clearance and find that the flight has been cancelled. We ask why the flight’s been cancelled and the only answer we get is, “Headquarters sent the word down.”