How It All Goes Down
Five Hundred and Ninety-Four Hole
- Another past time amongst the airmen: throwing grenades into sharks' mouths and watching them blow up. (No wonder those sharks are circling Louie in the prologue. Want revenge much?)
- Japan seizes the island of Nauru in August 1942, and the Super Man is ordered to bomb the phosphate works on the island.
- They get into an intense air battle. Their left wing is hit, but Louie stays focused and hits his targets.
- When Phil takes control, they're surrounded by nine Zeros. (You do the math: 9 x 0 = DEATH.)
- Super Man escapes the fray, but it's wounded, "trying to fly up and over onto its back" (2.9.25) like a dying goldfish circling its bowl.
- Their plane is perforated by bullets as the gunners do their best to defend the craft.
- Men are hit by shrapnel and gunfire and lie bleeding all over the plane.
- Harry Brooks is covered with blood and the wall behind him is splattered with purple fluid.
- No, his peanut butter and jelly sandwich isn't mortally wounded—it's hydraulic fluid. The plane has no brakes.
- Louie and Cuppernell tend to everyone's wounds as fast as they can.
- As Louie is bandaging Stanley Pillsbury's foot, Pillsbury manages to blast a Zero out of the sky.
- Despite being in critical condition, the Super Man survives the battle. Not one Zero makes it back to Nauru.
- Now it's time for Phil to land the plane. Funafuti is five hours away, and Super Man has no brakes. Um… this situation never came up in any of our flight simulators.
- Louie ties a parachute cord to each man to serve like a seatbelt, keeping them from being ejected from the plane.
- Phil touches down at 110 miles per hour. The left tire is flat, and the plan spins around in a crazy circle… but it stops.
- There are 594 holes in the plane.
- Unfortunately, Harry was bleeding inside his skull and died.