A Soldier in the Cockpit

I could see a carpet of twinkling lights from the ack ack all along the rail sidings which bordered the canal. I dove onto these with my cannons going. Then suddenly when the attention of all the guns turned on me I realized how foolhardy I was being. I ran the guns along the row of rail trucks--opened the throttle wide and pulled straight up for the clouds--with tracers crossing in front and on all sides of the plane.<P>Ron Pottinger started the war as a rifleman in the Royal Fusiliers then transferred to the Royal Air Force where he began flying the 7.5-ton Hawker Typhoon. He flew dozens of dangerous ground attack missions over occupied Europe through bad weather heavy flak and enemy fighters before being shot down and taken prisoner.</P>