Eagle Farm Persuasive Essay
BRISBANE, THE CAPITOL and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland, and the third most populous city in Australia, lay south of the beautiful beaches of the Sunshine Coast. For the longest time, Brisbane had been seen as something of a poor cousin to Sydney and Melbourne, a sleepy little country town hiding behind a big city facade. But by the outbreak of the Pacific War it was transformed into a bustling garrison city. The combined effect of petrol rationing and American and Australian servicemen, saw tram patronage surge to nearly 35-million passenger journeys in 1941-42 alone. The previous highest figure had been about 24-million in 1928. Eagle Farm, Victoria Park, Nudgee, and Woolloongabba, were all vast encampments,
…show more content…
Mr. Wallace and Captain Wheeler intended to help make the 39th transition from the old Airacobras to the twin-engined P-38F—“Lightning” as it was now officially known—smoothly. Ten other pilots of the 39th, among them, was a tall, handsome, overeager young man from West Texas, keenly engaged in the training program. After assembly and testing, the new fighter planes had been sent to nearby Eagle Farm, a small airfield located about four miles northwest of Brisbane, where refresher-transition-combat training was being carried out. On a warm August morning, the young Texan strode out to the flight tarmac and found his assigned machine, a sleek, olive-drab, twin-boomed, twin-engined masterpiece of U.S. technology—the P-38F, serial No.12571. Lieutenant Knight climbed into the cockpit of the Lightning and a mechanic strapped him in, this was to be his first “check-ride” in the new warbird. After an uneventful ten-day pass and an exhausting two-week classroom-styled ground school, he was more than ready to take to the skies again. Once comfortably ensconced inside the cockpit gondola, he adjusted the seat to accommodate his lengthy frame and began his preflight procedures. He smiled circumspectly. The Lightning’s cockpit was quite different from any other he’d ever sat in
Mr. Wallace and Captain Wheeler intended to help make the 39th transition from the old Airacobras to the twin-engined P-38F—“Lightning” as it was now officially known—smoothly. Ten other pilots of the 39th, among them, was a tall, handsome, overeager young man from West Texas, keenly engaged in the training program. After assembly and testing, the new fighter planes had been sent to nearby Eagle Farm, a small airfield located about four miles northwest of Brisbane, where refresher-transition-combat training was being carried out. On a warm August morning, the young Texan strode out to the flight tarmac and found his assigned machine, a sleek, olive-drab, twin-boomed, twin-engined masterpiece of U.S. technology—the P-38F, serial No.12571. Lieutenant Knight climbed into the cockpit of the Lightning and a mechanic strapped him in, this was to be his first “check-ride” in the new warbird. After an uneventful ten-day pass and an exhausting two-week classroom-styled ground school, he was more than ready to take to the skies again. Once comfortably ensconced inside the cockpit gondola, he adjusted the seat to accommodate his lengthy frame and began his preflight procedures. He smiled circumspectly. The Lightning’s cockpit was quite different from any other he’d ever sat in