As Allied forces advanced against Japanese troops along the Arakan border in the South Pacific in December 1942, RAF Wing Commander Frank Reginald Carey was refueling at Chittagong.
The seasoned veteran was enjoying a cigarette inside his cockpit when over 30 enemy aircraft broke through the clouds in attack formation. Carey fired up his engine and ordered the ground crew to safety.
Enemy bullets landed around him, hitting his Hurricane, but it was not enough to stop him from luring away the enemy from his airmen. Carey began zigzagging in the air to make himself a harder target.
Carey, who once was on the RAF aerobatics team, led the Japanese pursuers over a river surrounded by trees. After running out of ammunition, the Wing Commander dashed toward a nearby hill and pulled back the stick at the last second.
His maneuver worked. One of the Japanese fighters behind him crashed into the mountain in a ball of smoldering fire. Upon returning to his men, Carey jokingly shouted: (QUOTE) “I lost a lot of weight in that sortie.”
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