I was lucky, I guess. There were a couple of guys in my class who got to ferry ships over there.  

We lost one crew between Belem, Brazil and Natal, Brazil. He was a day behind me and I kept hearing him call in position reports and when we arrived in Natal, we learned his ship was down in the jungle somewhere between Natal and Belem. To my knowledge, they were never found.  The pilot was from Oklahoma. I had gone thru RTU training with him in Lake Charles in Nov/'44-Jan/'45.  

We were cautioned that if we went down in the jungle, it was imperative that they found us quickly as the vegetation grew so quickly down there that it would cover the wreckage in a short time.  

We had an ATC navigator named Corrigan, so I had second thoughts about him, but he was great. He hit Ascension Island right on the nose after 6-plus hours over nothing but water. We took off in 3-ship elements so we could keep visual contact with each other in case one went down. Once past the point of no return, we were committed to continue, as we did not have enough fuel reserve to make it back to Brazil or to the coast of Africa, in spite of the two 500 gallon aux. fuel tanks in the bombay.  

One thing about Ascension....there is usually a cloud over the island that you can see for MILES and it is usually the only cloud in the sky. It was a nice trip, but tiring.  

We heard rumors that German subs would lie just under the surface at the end of the runway and use the periscope.  If they spotted a plane on its final approach, they would surface and try to shoot it down, but I never did give that story much credence.  

Speaking of the runway...it ran uphill. Now, THAT was an experience.  

When we left the states, weights and balances loaded our ship and it flew tail-heavy. Seemed to just mush along.  B-25's would take off after me and pass me. You know what that did to me....When we landed in Natal I got the crew to move a lot of the stuff in the bombay up into the nose...we had boxes of K-rations and extra stuff for the plane and our baggage. We moved our baggage, etc. into the nose.  When we took off for Ascension Island it was like a new airplane... flew like it was supposed to.  

Had a great experience over the Sahara Desert. I passed three B-25's that took off before I did, plus another B-26. I was using the same throttle settings that I had been using before we moved the center of gravity forward.  

Also caught sight of a B-17 lumbering ahead of me over the desert. I caught up with him, slowed down, flew on his left wing...then flew under him and flew on his right wing for awhile, shoved the throttles back to cruising speed, waved goodbye to the co-pilot and left them.  
  
The field at Marrakesh, French Morrocco was a real thrill. We had to fly at about 25 to 30,000 feet to clear the Atlas Mountains. The airbase was located in a valley just beyond these peaks. I just pulled back the throttles and flew into the traffic pattern doing about 250 m.p.h. indicated. What a kick.  
  
We spent 11 days there waiting for the weather in England to clear before we could take off. All kinds of planes bound for England piled up there. The ones going to India and the CBI theater had no problem with the weather..they just took off. It was in Marrakesh that I got the name painted on my ship.  
  
One of the stops we made in South America was at Georgetown, British Guiana. This was the same air base that the guy, Jim Jones, took all those idiots that took arsenic-laced kool-aide and died...remember?  Same place....  

Sure was an interesting trip all the way...really loved it.  

I left my ship in Burtonwood, England.  Several months later, I flew to Liege, Belgium.  I always checked the flight line at other bases looking for my ship, The Shady Lady. Found her there parked on the ramp...I identified her by the serial number. (44-68107). They had changed the name to "The Duchess".  

I liked my name better.  

                                                            CB