When Bill Reed was roughly 20 miles from Liangshan airfield, his engine suddenly stopped. Bill also bailed out, despite hesitations he might have had. Some speculation exists as to what took place next
Bill Reed possessed every quality: intelligence, good appearance, physical prowess, bravery, and a knack for leadership. After growing up in a difficult time in 1930s Iowa, Reed enlisted in the US Army Air Corps (USAAC), but when World War II broke out, he decided to leave the army and fly for the storied Flying Tigers of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Before going home, he completed 75 sorties with the AVG. After a tour of duty selling War Bonds, Reed returned to China and continued fighting with the Chinese-American Composite Wing (CACW), before sadly passing away on December 19, 1944, in a last-ditch parachute jump.
On that day, Lt Col William N. Reed, the commander of the 3rd Fighter Group (FG), was leading three pilots from the advanced air base at Laohokow to their home field at Liangshan, which was roughly 250 miles to the southwest in Szechwan Province. Major Bill Turner, his second-in-command and close friend, and 2Lt Van Moad, a novice pilot who had just arrived in China the month before, flew with Bill.
It would take the aircraft just over an hour to get to Liangshan, as described by Carl Molesworth in his book Flying Tiger Ace. Bill had time to think back on the combat operation he had commanded earlier that day as he watched the sun set off the starboard side of his plane’s nose. With the exception of its four-hour duration, which was a little longer than the typical P-40 sortie, the operation was not particularly noteworthy.
Reed was qualified to make that assessment because it had been his 141st journey into a hostile area after serving two tours of service in China. Even yet, the mission had provided enough excitement to wear him out and make him long to spend that night in his own bed in the Liangshan quarters.
By the time Bill’s flight reached Liangshan, it was getting dark, but there were still other planes flying over the airfield in addition to the three P-40s. There were reportedly Japanese bombers in the region. Because Liangshan lacked a radar facility that could have directed the P-4os toward the intruders, there was no chance that the Americans could have attacked the enemy planes in the shadows. In actuality, turning off all the lights and completely darkening the facilities was the only defense that airfields in free China had against night bombing. Sadly, the blackout made it impossible for Bill and his wingmen to see the runway. They would need to locate another landing spot.
Bill made the decision to direct his aircraft to the airfield at Peishiyi, 130 miles to the southwest, close to Chungking because there was still plenty of fuel. Before setting out for the new location, he tuned his radio compass for the Peishiyi frequency. The three P-40s didn’t travel very far before the clouds started to gather. They soon found themselves on top of a strong overcast, and when Bill thought he had arrived close to Peishiyi, the cloud showed no breaks. The pilots were aware that trying to let down through the clouds given the mountainous terrain they would encounter below would be suicide, so the aircraft did a few circles. Bill turned around dejectedly and returned to Liangshan.
Bill gave Liangshan a bad news call on his radio. The weather at the air base was getting worse, and there was a chance that the Japanese bombers were still nearby. The Chinese Air Force (CAF) base commander was refusing to turn on the runway lights for the returning P-40s until he received a message from the air raid warning system indicating that it was safe to do so.
Bill saw that his fuel supply was becoming low due to the instrument panel’s gauges’ dim luminance. The three American pilots had no other alternative airfields within flying distance. They resolved over the radio to circle close to Liangshan until the runway lights came on or their planes ran out of fuel, at which point they would use their parachute systems. The idea of bailing out did not excite Bill.
Over the years, he had shared his preference to fly his aircraft to a forced landing if it became disabled in countless “bull sessions” with other pilots. In fact, he had already done that six months prior after receiving serious ground fire damage to his P-40 during a strafing mission.
The minutes passed, but the lights at Liangshan remained off. The three P-40s’ engines eventually started to stutter and shut down as their fuel tanks depleted. The pilots disengaged their safety harnesses one at a time, rolled down the canopies covering their cockpits, and plunged out into the pitch blackness. Moad had the most luck; he landed safely and made it back to Liangshan the next day (sadly, he was killed in action not long afterward). Turner fell awkwardly and broke his leg; the next morning, people brought him into Liangshan after quickly locating him.
The troops at Liangshan were frustrated when they discovered that their esteemed commander was in danger, as described by Maj Ken Kay in the 3rd FG history:
‘We watched their navigation lights sink below the hills toward Peishiyi. It was just one of those Goddamned nights. Later on, we realized they might have safely landed here at the time, but thenJaps were bombing Wahnsien, ten minutes away, at the time, and we were blacked out. When realizing they could not get into Peishiyi and that they were circling overhead again, their gas perilously low, we finally turned on the field lights. At that moment a Jap “Lily,” which had been hovering nervously in the vicinity, dived in, scattering small incendiary and fragmentation bombs to the south of the field. We suffered no damage from the bombing, but our fighters were by that time completely out of fuel and all three pilots were forced to bail out.’
When Bill was around 20 miles from Liangshan, his engine suddenly stopped. Bill also bailed out, despite hesitations he might have had. Some speculation exists as to what took place next. But the unfortunate truth is that he died after the jump. The following morning, his body was discovered one mile west of the Lao-Yen-Cheaz village. The detail that went out to look for their commander’s body was led by Capt. Chuck Lovett, who was Bill’s great admirer and the “Exterminators’ intelligence officer in Liangshan at the time. Many years later, Lovett provided Molesworth with this account:
‘He bailed out, and we don’t know what he did, but we speculate he turned the P-40 upside down and dropped out. The pilots used to talk about what they were going to do if they had to bail out. What they were supposed to do was throttle way back and put the nose in an up position a little bit and roll the canopy back, then step out on the wing and dive off. That was the approved procedure, but we don’t know what Bill Reedndid.
‘Whatever he did, he must have hit the tailplane with the back of his head, because his body wasn’t damaged at all other than there was a flap of hair loose on the back of his head that was scalped three. The chute did not open. His hand was on the rip cord.’
In “Flying Tiger” Bill Reed, the renowned CACW leading ace and beloved group commander known to his troops as “Boss,” had passed away. He was three weeks away from turning 28. The Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, and the Fifth and Sixth Order of the Chinese Cloud Banner were among the awards he received.
Flying Tiger Ace is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
