"By the Black Flag, I presume you mean the Black Flag raised above the control tower signifying 'Condition I, Air-base under attack.'"
"Is there another black flag?"
"And once you were in the air, what did you do?"
"I started the climb," Dunn said. "Alone. I had been in the climb two, three minutes when I saw Lieutenant Schneider forming on my wing."
"That would be Lieutenant David F. Schneider?"
"Yes."
"Go on."
"Well, we finally got to 10,000 feet. By that time the bombers, the Bettys, had dropped their bombs, and were headed home."
"And how high would you estimate the Bettys were?"
"They were at nine thousand feet, I guess, and they were in a shallow dive, apparently to gain speed."
"There were no other enemy aircraft in sight?"
"There were Zeroes to the right," Dunn said. "They had seen us and were trying to keep us away from the Bettys. Captain Galloway and Ward headed for the Zeroes. I headed for the Bettys."
"Why?"
"Because it was pretty clear to me that was what Captain Galloway wanted me to do. He would take care of the fighters while I attacked the Bettys."
"Where was Lieutenant Schneider?"
"Shit. While we attacked the Bettys. He was on my wing. I told you that."
"And you did, in fact, attack the Bettys successfully. I have been told that you attacked from above..."
"Yeah."
"And that your stream of fire caused an explosion in the engine nacelle..."
"The one Schneider got, he took the vertical stabilizer off.
Then it blew up."
"We were talking about yours."
"I got the engine. Schneider got the vertical stabilizer on his and then probably the main tank."
"Right. I have that. And then what happened?"
"Then the Zeroes showed up. Some of them apparently stayed to deal with Captain Galloway and Ward, but most of them tried to protect the bombers, and came to where we
were."
"And then what happened?"
"I don't know. We got into it."
"Witnesses to the engagement have stated that during that engagement, you shot down two Zeroes. And you don't know what happened?"
"We were all over the sky. The only thing I know for sure is that Schneider got one, beautiful deflection shot, and he blew up."
"I thought you said Schneider was on your wing."
"I also said we were all over the sky. I don't know where Schneider was most of the time, except when I saw him take the Zero with the deflection shot."
"But you do remember shooting at at least two Zeroes?"
"I shot at a lot more than two. I'm sure I hit some of them, but I couldn't swear to anything but that I hit one good and he started to throw smoke and went into a spin."
"You did not see him crash?"
"No."
"Did you see Captain Galloway crash?"
"No. I saw Captain Galloway on fire and in a spin, but I did not see him crash."
"Was that before or after you shot the Zero you just mentioned, the one you said began to display smoke and entered a spin?" "Before."
"Did you see Lieutenant Ward during this period?"
"I don't know. I saw a plane that could have been either him or Captain Galloway. I can't say for sure. They both came to help us when the Zeroes came after us."
"But you are sure that it was Captain Galloway you saw, in flames, and in a spin?"
"Yes."
"How can you be sure?"
"I'm sure, goddamn you. Take my word for it."
"Tell me about the Val," the debriefing officer said.
"He was a cripple," Dunn said. "I saw him down on the deck as I was coming home."
"Let's get into that. Why did you disengage?"
"My engine had been running on Emergency Military Power too long. I was losing oil pressure. My cylinder head temperature needle was on the peg. And I had lost fuel. A fuel line fitting had ruptured. I didn't know that. All I knew was the LOW FUEL light came on. Two of my guns had either jammed or were out of ammunition. So I started home."