In Pursuit of the Wind

A week after the start of the war with Ecuador, Peru had taken back the Peruvian town which had been occupied by Ecuador and pushed the Ecuadorian soldiers back to their own country. There was sporadic fighting which caused the Ecuadorian army to retreat into their own territory. The Peruvian army quickly seized the Ecuadorian provinces of El Oro and Loja. I had a scheduled flight to Tumbes which was very close to the Ecuador border. I was carrying a cargo of canned food and no passengers. I wasn't too worried about the war. It seemed that Ecuador continued to retreat away from the border. As I circled into the wind to land at Tumbes small air field, I flinched as bullets started punching holes in the fuselage. I spotted two men with rifles aiming in my direction. They were standing on a bluff on the Ecuador side of the Tumbes river. I was unarmed and figured my only weapon was the plane. I pulled up from my landing pattern to gain height and speed. I swung around behind them while trying to dodge bullets and opened the throttle all the way. I aimed the plane at them at a hundred miles an hour. I flashed back to the cow I had cut in half with my propeller at Chachapoyas. My plan was to scare the hell out of them while pulling up at the last second. As I bore down on them they panicked and started running toward the edge of the bluff. The last I saw of them they were soaring off the cliff into the river. I watched as they swam toward shore. After dropping off my cargo I headed back to Lima. The wind whistling through the bullet holes was annoying, but it could have been a lot worse. They could have taken out my wind shield, or worse yet, taken out me. On the way back to Lima I thought about how I had handled the situation. I didn't know who the shooters were. They could have been Peruvian soldiers as well as Ecuadorian. All I knew for sure was that they were shooting at me. I thought it was a clear case of self defense. When I got back to Lima, I taxied up to the hanger to assess the damage. Hugh came out of the office to see what I was doing. I counted six bullet holes in the fuselage and under carriage. “Well, Hugh. It looks like we're in the war whether we want to be or not.” “What happened, Abe?” By the time I finished my story Hugh was laughing his ass off. “Hey, it wasn't all that funny at the time. It's the first time I was ever on the receiving end of a bullet.” “I'm sure they'll think twice before they shoot at you again.” “Do you have any fabric, Hugh? We might as well patch it up now. The wind whistling through the holes is driving me crazy.” “Yes, I have a repair kit in the hanger, and I'll be sure to pass the word to Hans and Jesse. Maybe we should wait until the local hostilities have calmed down before we do any more flying close to the border.” “I think that's a good idea.” That night at home I told the story to Itala, but she didn't see the humor in it. She was scared to death that the next time I might not be so lucky. I remembered that her first husband was killed in a border skirmish.