Stuck here for three or four days, I began to think of ways we could spend our “downtime” and did some creative scheming. Since we were only a couple hundred miles away, and I had the keys to a four-engine bomber, why not make a quick trip to Palestine? When I presented the idea to my crew, the guys were all gung ho to go. After swearing everyone to secrecy, we boarded “Wham Bam” and started the engines.

The great Pyramids and the Sphinx

While idling on the tarmac, seven or eight other ground crew guys who had gotten wind of our unauthorized vacation, ran out and climbed aboard. What could I do but take these stowaways along?

One minor problem—we didn’t have a map. No sweat. In broad daylight, we wouldn’t have any trouble finding a place to land. But on our final approach at what appeared to be an airfield outside the capital city of Tel Aviv, we found mounds of dirt piled on the runway … (more in the book)