Train-Buster

To his mates of the 365th "Hell Hawk" group of Thunderbolt pilots, 22-year-old Lieut. Edward Syszmanski is "The Mad Polack of Brooklyn," in recognition of his fanatic artistry at ground-level train-busting. The Syszmanski technique: "I come in from the back of a train, aiming at the third car from the engine. I watch the bullets creep up toward the locomotive, and my plane is usually about 25 feet above the cars before I get enough shots into the boiler. Some of the locos blow up a few feet and settle back on the tracks as if heaving a big sigh. Others just puke steam--I only claim them as damaged."

In advance of the Allied offensive, the 365th got orders to work out on railroads along the Rhine. The Mad Polack's record in three days of mediocre strafing weather: 13 locos blown up; four steam-spewers, one enemy tree branch captured (and brought home in his engine cowling).

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