Read A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II for Free Online Page B

looked after four students. The Air Force let him remain a civilian. They paid him his airline salary, which was the equivalent to a major’s wages and gave him a major’s authority. Franz’s final report determined if a cadet earned his wings, and the higher Franz ranked a cadet, the more choice a young pilot would have in picking his next assignment to further training in either single- or multi-engine aircraft. All the cadets vied for single-engine training because that meant fighters, whereas multi-engine aircraft could be bombers, transports, or reconnaissance planes. Franz ultimately gave Barkhorn good scores, and the young pilot qualified for single-engine school.

     
    T HE ONLY THING Franz lacked in his new role was rank and the respect that came with it, because he was a civilian. Although most of his pupils were cadets who would be officers one day, some of Franz’s students were officers who had been in the military for years and now had decided to become pilots. They presented Franz’s biggest challenge. One day, Franz gave a class in navigation. All the while, acaptain sat in the back of the room and read a newspaper, ignoring Franz.
    Franz had had enough. “Captain,” he said, “would you come to the front and read the newspaper out loud so we’ll all know what’s going on?”
    The captain folded his newspaper and walked up to Franz in front of the others. “You have no right to give me orders,” the officer said. “You’re just a civilian.”
    Franz felt the back of his neck grow hot. He closed the class, dismissed the pupils, and went straight to the general who ran the school. The general was a hefty fellow and liked Franz because Franz flew him to Munich every Friday so the general could see his doctor. Franz explained the problem with the disrespectful captain.
    “Get your logbook,” the general told Franz.
    “Now write ‘Private’ next to your name.”
    Franz did so and looked at the general, confused.
    “I’ll handle your enlistment papers personally,” the general said. “You’re now officially a member of the Air Force.”
    Franz opened his mouth but was at a loss for words.
    “As for the unruly captain,” the general said, “now you can send him packing.”
    Franz did and expelled the captain from the school.
    The next day the captain tracked down Franz to protest his expulsion—he fumed that a private had cast him out and would keep him from ever becoming a pilot. Franz now wore the blue uniform of a Luftwaffe enlisted man, with a tent cap atop his head, red collar tabs on his tunic, a silver belt buckle, and black boots.
    “If you, as a captain, do not know how to behave,” Franz said, “how could we have made you into a good pilot?” The captain cursed Franz as he hauled his bags away from the school.
    Franz found that his new rank solved some problems, but being a private only got him so far. A few weeks later, while flying home from the doctor in Munich, the general asked Franz how he liked being aprivate. Franz said it helped, but so many of his students were majors and captains that they still looked down on him. The general was in a good mood, so in the air, he promoted Franz to corporal.

     
    I N EARLY 1939, the cadet who would become Franz’s most cherished student waited for him as Franz climbed from his plane after a lesson. Franz was shocked to see his older brother, August, standing before him on the tarmac. Franz knew August had enlisted in the Air Force against their mother’s wishes, but the odds that he would be sent to train under Franz seemed incredible.
    Franz had not seen August since his brother had left for boot camp. August was on the path to become an officer. * He had already soloed with ease and passed stage A. He would now spend eight months under Franz’s tutelage to earn his wings.
    Franz knew why August had joined; all young men were being drafted into the military, and August knew that by enlisting first he could pick the branch of