Occasionally Bill would fly the plane back over the shore to see if any additional instructions were being sent up to him by the panels. Each time the same panels were displayed, “Battery ready to fire.” That being the case he must place his plane so that he could see the shots when they fell. Once he was sure that the guns had been fired but he had not seen the first impact with the water. The only location of the shell that he secured was after its first bounce from the water. He then sent down, “lost.” This indicated to the firing battery that the observer had not seen the last shot.
Bill was out well beyond the tug when his engine started missing and then quit altogether. He wanted to glide into shore, but knew that he could not make it from five thousand feet. He had another chance for a quick rescue, and that was to land as close to the tug as he could. However, in order to do that he would have to glide through the section through which the shells were flying. He did not know what to do. Should he take a chance with the flying shells, or should he land in a safe sector on the water and trust that the tug would see him drop and come to his rescue?
He guided his plane in wide circles as he lost altitude. As he descended he could see that the battery had fired on the data sent in from Breene’s last report. Would the battery stop firing when they failed to perceive any additional data, or would it keep on firing? Their last report had indicated that the battery was firing very close to the target.
Bill decided that he would not take a chance of getting hit by a thousand pound projectile. He would land as close to the tug as he could and stay out of the danger zone. As he dropped lower, he could see that the sea was rough. He had not been able to pick up the high waves from his high altitude, but now they were apparent. That would take skillful piloting or the plane would be completely wrecked when it came into contact with the water.
As he glided over the waves, Bill made up his plan for landing. The wind was in the same direction as the moving waves. He could not land in the trough between two crests, for that would require a crosswind landing. He would try and set the plane down between two crests.