Chugalug (#10038),
Scabrous story told at the time about Col "Jackie" Coogan (for which I cannot vouch, and for which I bear no responsibility): He was reputed to introduce himself with the words "Shake the hand that held the c**k that f*****d Betty Grable !" (pin-up forces sweetheart of the time to whom he was married, her legs said to have been insured by Paramount (?) for a million dollars).
Don't believe it for a moment (he was a Glider pilot, btw, "Merrill's Marauders" stuff).
Never heard the "wires across rivers" tale when I was out there. There are a lot of rivers in Burma, would need an awful lot of wire. Don't think so.
Only time we flew really low was on the getaway after a dive. The closer you are to the tree tops, the less time there is for any one Jap squaddie to see you and draw a bead on you. Even so, they often punched a neat hole or two in us. Good deflection shooting, as we would've been tramping along with most of the 300 mph picked up in the dive. Never did serious harm
AFAIK.
BB, thank you for the John Dunbar saga. Keep it up !
Danny.