The day after First Lieutenant Frade became an ace by downing five enemy aircraft in his Wildcat, he was summoned before Lieutenant Colonel Dawkins, the Marine Air Group Commander. Colonel Dawkins told him he had seen his flight records, which included civilian flying experience, and reported that Cletus H. Frade had passed the Civil Aviation Administration's Flight Examination in a Piper Cub; and had received his private pilot's license in the second week of his fourteenth year; and had subsequently acquired 930 hours of time in the Piper Aircraft Company's Model J-4.
Colonel Dawkins then explained that there had been unexpected losses of Marine aviators, mostly Flying Sergeants, who had been flying the First Marine Division's Piper Cubs, aircraft that were used for artillery spotting, liaison, and aerial ambulance purposes. Dawkins then asked him if he would be willing to fly a Piper Cub until replacement pilots could be brought to Guadalcanal from the States.
On one hand, stepping down from a Wildcat to a Cub was obviously beneath the dignity of a Marine fighter pilot; but on the other, lieutenant Frade had been in the Corps long enough to understand that when a lieutenant is asked to do something by a lieutenant colonel, the expected response is "Aye, aye, Sir."
Before strapping General Rawson into the backseat of the Argentine Army Air Service Light Aircraft Type 42 #6, Major Frade's last significant flight experience in a Piper Cub had been to locate, and then drop messages and essential supplies, to the First Raider Battalion operating in mountainous jungle terrain some fifty miles behind Japanese lines.
General Rawson, of course, knew nothing of any of this. All he knew was that the Cub he was flying in now was being flown in a different mannera frighteningly different mannerthan he was accustomed to.
For one thingbecause Clete had decided the best way to find the Argentine Navy's School of Naval Engineering was to find and then fly down Avenida del Libertadortheir altitude between Campo de Mayo and the place where the Navy was holding up the progress of the First Infantry Regiment never exceeded 300 feet and was often considerably less. Frade often flew the Cub aroundrather than overbrick smokestacks and other high structures in his flight path.
For another, when they approached the School of Naval Engineering, without really thinking about it, Clete began to move the Cub in a manner that would make the Cub a more difficult target for anyone inclined to shoot at it.
For another, General Rawson's orders to Clete had been to land on the soccer fields adjacent to the School of Naval Engineering, "if possible." In his mind, he would evaluate the situation, the location of the opposing elements, and then authorize Frade to determine, as Step Two, whether he could safely land the airplane on the field.
Clete took one look at the soccer field, decided it was obviously possible to land thereall the Navy weaponry, mostly light machine-gun positions, were emplaced to oppose the First Infantry's movement down Avenida del Libertadorand did so.
By the time he taxied back to a takeoff position, three officers of the First Infantryone of them had actually unsheathed his swordgalloped onto the soccer field to investigate the astonishing landing of an airplane.
General Rawson climbed out of the Cub, discussed the situation with the officers, and issued his orders. After leaving a few men in place facing the Navy, the regiment would bypass the School of Engineering and resume its march down Avenida del Libertador.
When they had moved far enough down Libertador so that simultaneous movement of the First Cavalry and the Second Infantry would bring both columns to the Casa Rosada at the same time, the First Cavalry and the Second Infantry would be ordered to resume their march.
"I am now going to reconnoiter by air," General Rawson announced, "to ascertain the exact location of the First Cavalry and the Second Infantry."
He then climbed back into the Cub.
The First Infantry officers saluted and began to trot back to their troops.
General Rawson laid a hand on Clete's shoulder, and Clete turned to look at him.
"Is there any way we can communicate when we are up in the air?"
Clete showed General Rawson the earphones and microphonewith which he had mistakenly believed General Rawson would be familiarand Rawson put them on.
"You may depart," Rawson ordered.
Clete pushed the throttle forward and took off. Once they were airborne he started to look for the First Cavalry and the Second Infantry, which he had been told were stopped at Pueyrred?n and Cordoba.
"It will take twenty minutes for the orders to be passed and for the First Infantry to make any measurable progress," Rawson announced over the intercom. "Would it be possible, without extraordinary risk, to observe what's going on at the Casa Rosada?"
"Yes, Sir," Clete said, and for the next twenty minutes Clete flew back and forth over Buenos Aires.
As he flew down Avenida Cordoba he noticed a man in a strange uniform, and he was almost convinced it was Peter von Wachtstein. When they flew over Plaza de Mayo, they saw an overturned bus in flames, and he could see the faces of people inside Casa Rosada watching it burn.
Twenty-five minutes after taking off from the soccer fields, General Rawson decided the First Infantry had moved far enough so that the First Cavalry and the Second Infantry could be ordered to resume their march.
Clete flew down Avenida Cordoba again and dropped the order to the First Cavalry and the Second Infantry to get moving.
Thirty minutes after that, as both columns converged onto the Plaza de Mayo, white flagsprobably sheets, Clete decidedappeared in the windows of the Casa Rosada.
"General, you want me to try to land down there? I'm a little worried about that burning bus. I don't know what debris's liable to be on the street."
"You mean land in Plaza de Mayo?" General Rawson replied, a touch of incredulity in his voice. And then, without giving Clete a chance to reply, he went on: "I think we should return now to Campo de Mayo. It would be more fitting if General Ramirez and I accepted the capitulation together and arrive at Casa Rosada together. By automobile. With a suitable escort."
On the fifteen-minute flight back to Campo de Mayo, General Rawson pushed his intercom mike switch one more time.
"I think I should tell you, my friend, that when your father talked about all the amazing things one could do with a small airplane, I was one of those who simply didn't believe him. How nice it is that his son should be the one to prove us all wrong."
[THREE]
The Officers' Casino
Campo de Mayo
Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
1845 19 April 1943
Teniente Coronel Alejandro Bernardo Mart?n rolled up the curved driveway to the Officers' Casino in the chauffeur-driven official Mercedes assigned to the Chief of the Bureau of Internal Security of the Ministry of National Defense. During the day there had been well over one hundred proclamations issued in the name of the Governing Council of the Provisional Government of the Argentine Republic. Of these, three personally issued by the President had a direct effect on Teniente Coronel Martin:
El Almirante Francisco de Montoya, Chief of the BIS, had been relieved of his duties, placed on leave, and would be retired.
Until a successor to Almirante de Montoya was named, Teniente Coronel Alejandro Bernardo Mart?n would assume the duties of Chief, BIS.
Teniente Coronel Alejandro Bernardo Mart?n was brevetted Coronel until further orders.