air force news ~ apr-jun 1944

8/3/2019 Air Force News ~ Apr-Jun 1944

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T H E O F F IC IA L S E R V IC E J O U R N A L O F T H E U . S . A R M Y A IR F O R C E S

A P R I L 1 9 4 4


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BICAt'SE the troop basis for 1944 re-quires a sharp reduct ion of .utivitics the zone of interior, the Army Air

orces must. in the words of General

rnold, "increase the output per m an on

l johs on e.uh post a nd s t. u ion."

In a Fehru.irv 7 letter to the com-anders of ,II" conti nental a ir for ces,

mmand s and st.itions. the Commanding

encr.i l declared: "Personnel will be

.in sfcr rcd to units destined for assign-

ent overseas. The tr.unim- .m d servicing

oh in d omestic commands must he a c-

mplished with fewer personnel and the

ow of m en and equipment ovcr sc.is must

ot he .liminished."

He called fo r a con tinua tion of curren t

forts to reduce overhead and house-

eCf,in,!..; act ivit ics in order to meet the

cr it ir.il ohliu.u ion' hcing the AAF in

9-1L addin!..;: "There is no excuse forux ury pe rs~nn e]' .i t any AAF ins talla-

on. There must he no i dle personnel on

-t.u ion w.i it irn; for work,"The Comrn.uidiru; General specificallY

r .icrc.! reduct ion of p erson nel enga ged

overhead . iru] tr a inins; functions. ~ lnd

e rcpl.icemcnt of gen~ral service men

ith those who arc l imited physically.

"Success o f this pr ogram requ ires initi o

u ive ,ll1d superior performance on the

lrt o f cvcr v ot iiccr and man in t he Am1 \'

ir Forces," he wrote. "1 e xpect no Jess

rom ~dt.:T o,1.I\' the AA F must look to increased

flicielll'y through better deployment of

lcrical or tcchn ic.i l skills. A s Hri!.. ;. C cn,

x r. Be\',\I1s, AssisUnt Chief of AIr SLtff,crsonnc l put it. "\X1here we now h.ivc

hree men to do ~t joh. there will he on II,

wo Somet imes there will he o nly o ne.;'

The AAF


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A six-minute blitz by Fortresses of the 15th Air Force blasted harbars and factories at Pole, 226 miles northeast of Rome, an important German submarine base and shipping port. Thiearly in January did heavy damage to submarine pens and other installations in the dock

Some of the bombs are shown heading for the harbor, while others are bursting on the t

nun at one critical period Iud relied on a

rheumatic donkey for his forecasts. Lieut.

Col. F. A. Kluever, a front line weather

officer, ILlS revealed that at one time in

Afriel there was such ~lscarcitv of weather

equipment he came to depen'd implicitly

on this crippled donkey which would brav

well in advance of approaching r.i in. The

colonel h,IS descrihed the method as "un-

scientific- -hut in that else .iccuratc."

No RIGHT SLEEVE PATCHESPersonnel authorized to wear the shoul-

der sleeve insignia of a separate air force

or command arc prohibited from wearing

the AA F shoulder patch on the right

shoulder of the uniform under terms of

AAF Regulation No. 3~-11. dated 25

February 191.1. The AAF shoulder sleeve

insicnia should he worn on the left sleeve,

one~IJ:llf inch below the top of the shoul-

der scam, by all AA F personnel except

those authorized to wear the insignia of a

separate air force.

DEADLY HEADWORK

There are more ways to kill a cat thanto drown him in butter, and 10th Air

Force pilots in India do not stand on cere-

mony when they polish off a Jap. Re-

cently two American airmen have been

{fed i-ted with disposing of enemy planes

in rather novel ways.

When Capt. Sydney Newcomb, com-

manding otiiccr of a fighter squadron, got

a Zero on his tail he hit the deck and be-

gan pruning the shrubs and foliage, but

the Jap hunu on close with .cuns blazing.

Suddenly a Burmese pagoda loomed up in

front and Newcomb held the nose down

until the last split second, then yankedhack on the stick and zoomed over it. The

Zero, not so quick at the st ick, tried to

clear the pagoda and failed. The result

was a r ather loose mixture of Jap and

pagoda.

Another instance is that of Lieut. Wil-

l i .irn T. Larkin, B-2.i pilot who tried to

get back into formation with a badly shot

up plane while a J ap 1-4'5 m ade a pass

from just below 12 o' clock. Other planes

were holding the fire of his gunners so

Lukin dipped the nose of the Liberator

and fired his fixed . '50s. The Jap win.ced

over and trailed a f eather of smoke andflame until it crashed. Larkin was credited

with a confirmed kill.

STUD DUCK

It was in the early days of occupationof a bitterly contested island in the Solo-

mons that ' two AACS officers made their

hot and weary way from the installations

they were setting up alongside the bombed

and rcbornbcd mat to the headquarters of

the Island Command. There was too much

confusion to waste time with correct pro-

cedures when things had to be done on a

scene that was little more than a beach-

head. The two officers, principal actors in

this drama, were clad in nothing more

2

than trousers and shoes. One wore a

lon.c hunting knife in his belt like a bad

mutineer. They were in a r ush to c om-

plete their job since the station had

to be on the air the next day to start

bringing in tactical planes. Consequently,

they were in a heated discussion of these

plans when they approached the only

screened quonset hut on the entire island.

The two AACS men approached the hut

without paying much attention to its

other occupants.

"This must he the shack, let's get g , o - injz," said the one with the knife, and

they entered without knocking. His com-

panion led the way and was somew

struck by the appl:uance of one individ

who had something on his collar that

tainly was no accident of the laundry.

thing was broken out all over with

stars. Before the leading visitor c

make warning outcry, however, the

had unsheathed his w eapon and, w

fine display of marksmanship, whi

the knife across the room and mad

stick quivering in the middle of the c

board.

"Who's the stud duck around he

the knife-tosser demanded.

It took all the persuasive power


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A G I c o n c e p ti on of the 8-29.

iplomacy of one of the


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UNSUNG

In countless air battles the records

never reveal the great gallantry of

guys who go down in action. A

in point is the story of an unidentif

soldier, now missing in action, who i

ported to have shot down at least ten N

planes before his own B-! 7 was destro

by e nemy fighters during the attack

Munster, Germany, last October.

The missing soldier apparently wasball turret gunner of a plane, also

known, al though his shooting has

reported by Staff Sgt. Everett W. L

of Yellow Springs, Ohio, left waist

ner on the B-!7 Situation Normal.

"I'm not sure what Fort it w as

several went down together and ot

took their places to keep the format

tight. But I s aw at least ten Germ

planes explode nearby, and all apparen

were destroyed by that fighting Fort

on the left. All the other Forts wer

the right of this one so I 'm sure it

up all t he Huns I saw e xplode-and repeat there were at least ten. They c

in from the left and up from be

toward that ball turret. Each one blew

just before reaching it."

ated from two flying schools, while in

first eleven months of 1943 the comma

graduated 61,730 pilots of all types f

135 schools. The increase in the prod

tion of technicians is no less spectacu

when it is c onsidered that only Ij.RO

were trained in the twenty years pre

ing 1941.

A tribute to the maintenance cre

most of them graduates of the techn

schools, is the fact that during the ele

months ending 30 November c194 3 T ring Command students flew an average

25.600 hours between each fatal accid

Three-at-a-time take-offs and landings are a specialty with Lieut. Col. Joseph R. Holzapp

15th Air F orce B-26 group, oldest medium outfit in the theatre. Working without mishaps

more than twenty missions, this tricky flying is not for show. Three abreast take-offs giv

estimated range extension of fifty miles, and save the equivalent amount of precious gaso

PLASMA ON TH E FLY

Because a flight surgeon insisted that

his men know how to give blood plasma

in flight, an airman's life has been saved

by this means in the Central Pacifictheatre, dispatches advise. Lieut. Andrew

A. Doyle of Brooklyn, a bombardier-

navigator, was in danger of dying from

loss of blood and shock when he was

given plasma as his plane raced back from

bombing a Jap base in the Marshalls.

Capt. Lowell Ladd Early, squadron

flight surgeon, had insisted that plasma

could be used to advantage during flight

and his instructions were followed by

Lieut. August Mizaroff of Plainfield,

N. J., co-pilot, and Sgt. R. V. Smith, Jr. ,

of Charlotte. Va., engineer-gunner. By

the time the B- 25 reached the nearestAmerican base Doyle, injured in the legs,

was feeling much stronger and responded

readily to further treatment at the field

hospital.

TRAINING RECORD

The AAF Training Command has re-

vealed facts and figures on the training

program which heretofore were treated as

confidential matters. The report shows

that 100,799 pilots, 20,OS6 bombardiers,

1B,BO,) navigators, 107,21 R aerial flexible

gunners and 555,S91 ground and air

combat crewmen were graduated fromthe command's nationwide network of

schools from 1 January 1939 to 30 N o-

vember 1943.

In 1939 there were 696 pilots gradu-

lines fanned out like spokes of a grtat

wheel.

Never before, and for all we know

never since, has a Lister bag so weIl filled

in for a wassail bowl.

There were no casualties.

Bombs from B-24s drop on Frankfort on the Mainduring one of several heavy poundings to shakethis important German industrial and transporta-tion center early in February. In this attock, 800heavy bombers, accom panied by hundreds of fighters, dumped 1,800 tons of bombs on the tar-get, on A AF record to t hat dote. We lost 3 1

bombers and 13 of our fighters were missing; 103enemy planes were shot down during the attock.

in the outfit who would like a drop before

his supper, the mess officer got together

a big supply of native whiskey which he

blended with fruit juices and syrup. From

time to time the concoction was sampled

by some of the wiser among the kitchen

hel p and at last it was pronounced fit for

a general.

Since there were several squadrons in-

volved and it a ppeared likely that a ma-

jority of the lads might like a touch. the

problem of serving the Iiquor came up to

puzzle Captain Howard. Looking aboutthe kitchen it was decided to use the giant

vat from which soup was ladled. a de-

cision which seemed to solve evervthing.

Naturally the medics were consulted and

they p"oceel1ed to toss a half-hitch around

the whole happy affair. Native whiskey,

acid fruit juice and an aluminum tub

might create such a chemical disturbance

that the insides of all celebrants would

resemhle neglected storage batteries, the

doctors decided. Anyway, no chances were

to he taken.

At that point the hero appeared. The

whiskey, syrup and juice were poured into

a Lister bag, and from its four spigots the

4 Al FORCE APRIL 1


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A IR FORCE (formerly the A ir Forces N ew s Letter) is printed monthly by authority of A rmvA ir Fo rc es R eg ul at io n N o. 5 -6 , Se pt . 6 , 1 9 42 , an d wi th t he a pp ro va l o f t he B ur eau o f th eBudget, Executive O ffice of the President. A IR FO RCE is published by the U . S, Armv AirForces at the A IR FORCE Editorial O ffice, 101 Park A venue, N ew Y ork 17, N , Y o, U .s.A ,.for u se of perso nnel of the Arm y Air For ces and allied activities, and is n ot to be re-published in w hole or in part w ithout express permission. D irect communication w ith thisoffice has been authorized on matters of editorial content, circulation and distribution.Iet., MUrray H ill 5-1951; Teletype N o, N Y 1-2530; Director, Lieu!. Col. James H , Straubel,A .C. A IR FORCE is primarily a medium for the exchange of ideas and information amonqArmv Ai r F or ces p er so nn el , an d t he o pi ni on s e xp res se d b y in di vid ual co nt ri bu to rs d o n otnecessarily reflect the official att itude of the A rmy A ir Forces or of the War D epartment.

AIR PINCERS OVER EUROPE Maj, Arthur Gordon 6 How our air ()rg,tniLltillll in the Eu ropc.m thc.u r is dLlwing the IHlI)~C.iroun.! the Luftw.i H.

HAMMERING THE JAP MIDRIFF 9A sumrna ry of air .icrion III recent of[cn"ivc th ru st-, JgJill..;t t he . lap s i nthe Ccntr.rl Pacific.

BATTLE PLAN AGAINST MALARIA Maj, Cen. David N. W. Grant 12The Air Surucon otlt:fS .r.Ivi, Oil ho: to fight an encmv which (,!Il hit..1 mi lit.uv unit ;IS h,lnl a" gUllf i re.

LEARN WHILE You HEAL Charlott e Knight 14

The AAF's Conv.rlc-rcnr Trainillg P[(lgr.ll11 mc.in-; (aster n:u)\Tric.., .uu]a hroader mi lit.uv knowkdpe for h"';pital patients.

24.HoUR JOB Maj, Bernard W, Crandell 17

"lhi-. flight chief and his men work .irouncl the clock in Hrit ain to .l;ettho-: hatt le-d.un.ux-d h,"nhers hack in the .iir.

CHINESE-AMERICAN COMPOSITE WING Capt. R, V, Gue/ich 19

Ct)upcration hetwccn thl' tWD Ll(C\ in this 1 \th Air Fnrcc urut I':">

a cc ol np li sh in g a dipl..m.u i ,IS well , IS . 1 fIne mi l itarv j00.

BATTLE CONDITIONING IN THE U.K. Mai, Charles D, Frazer 22Tile "hig league (I f .ur warfare' .k m.uid- illten..;c tUIlC-Up tr.llIllllg (I fcvcrv member of a h(imhcr crew

INVASION PROVING GROUND FOR AIR POWER Herbert Ringold 28

When the AAF s'I\Td the d.ly .rt Salcrno. i t demon'trated . ur 1'0""1'"c.rp.ilu li ties for the coming i!l\,;I-;i(l!l of \'\!cskrll Europe.

CAMOUFLAGE WITH HORSE SENSE Lieui . Col. M. E. DeLange 41Everyday camoufl.iu in ,I combat .uc.i is pretty tund,lInentaL It might

even mean saving your neck.

AIR WAR'S TOUCH IN THE ARCTIC Capt, Raymond Creekmore 44

Sketches from the d.rv-to-d.iv life of our pers'"l11c! on Lrbr.r.I.. Hatlin-land and Greenland, ' ,

WHEELS OF THE AAF Lieut. Col. William B, Droge 46The ASC h'lS more th.in ,00,000 motorized unt t-. .rt home .u rlu-l.!-, .11,,1In the b.itt!c arca; t!loth.tnd..; more .uc Oil the W,I)'.

HERE'S WHERE YOUR MAIL GETS ACTION 49A glimpse of the 't.II11ih-' mail mom of the Pcrson.rl AtLirs Di\i,ioll,He.r.lqu.u te rs. A 1'1111' Ai r Forces,

TIME OUT FOR REST Mai, James E. Crane 52A pcrj(h.lic 'bre.it lu r in :\ew Zl'aLtnd d{)l>.'\ \\.tllh.!cr..; t ' ( l r our .urmcn 111

the South Pacific thc.itre.

WATER GUN 62

'I'Iu-, AAF unit in the SolonH'I)s employs the ol,! sqllirt-gun tccluuquc

for ,l;ullnery rdresher tr.uuinc.

DEPA RTM ENTS

38

50

54

57

April, 1944

61

Roll O t H onor.

O n t he L in e

Training Aids

Technique

BRIEF

110

2636

C ro ss Co un tr y . ... . .. . . .. .. .. '

This Is You, Enemy",,,.,,,,,,,,

Flying Safety __ ."" ... "",," '

Inspection .

A ir Force Q uiz

Vol.27 No.4

Chine-, orhci.il s. lnstc,l of protocol .ind

ip lo rn .i t ic g e: st u r es , h ow ev er , th e fi rst

h in g th e r c cc pt i on c orn rn iu c c saw w as .1ozen GIs tu mhl in!~t hc i r h.i rr.uk he\gs

ut of the pl.uic. W h en t he I I1 tc :l li ge nce

tliccr. h .irc lv e:'l.lp in c: th is sh ow er o f

:" lu 'i 'm e :n l, , \' sk ed a bol; t t he s Ut e o th ci al s

n bO,H,1 he Wets gi \e:n 'I rather suspect .

ng !:LlI1ce: h \' t he p il ot , \ I 1 , 1 told to stophe h um or l -c r.r u- .c t he : CI s .ind t he l ie u.cn.rnts were hungry .m d w.intc.l to CJt.

\ Vh en t he : tr ut h of t he f um b le :c1m e ss ag e

orne out the intcl liucncc othrcr W.15

hrow n into such .\ fury that he: com -

n.i nd ed t he quivcr ing Iitt lc rad io operator

o exp lain th e w ho le sorrv .dbir t o G en.

rrl Chennault.\Vith e ve ry e x- (Coc!;~ued 0" pc.,e 64)

PARACHUTES: LOST AND FOUND

-,.

"0'. i2-IIO 129.12-22L)fWS xcat-typc : returno H.l,e Operation' Officer, F airmont Army

Ai I' Field, Geneva. "eh.:'--:0. 12-6629SS. return to Suh-Depot Supply

Otlicer. ;LJSth Sub-De-pot. Laurel Arm" Air

Flel,L Laurel. :Miss.;\;0' . . , ')-,0. 11-~')'i2, .i!-I'r~'i, .11-2ISn,

12-12S'i9 I, .12-i660-P: return to P a r .rrhuteOtlicor. Luke Field. Phoenix, Ariz.

0.: 0,,12 - 2 2 2 90t), 12-.1'il 22, .j2--I'il ,6.12-22')]O,i2-229'i9. 12-229,' ), 12-22t);~ , all

"Pc S,I: return to Otficc of the EngineeringOllieLf, ')Ist Air B.ISe Squa,lron. Eglin Fiel,!,

1 .1 ."0, 12-2ss6s6, return to Operation, Otiicer ,

AAF Pilo t School (Basic), l\Ltjors Field,Green \'i lie, Texas.

;\;0, A,C. .j2-2126, return to Opcr.uionsOtliecr. Orange County Air Field, Santa Ana,California, and notify R, F. Loughmiller, Lieut.Col" 1 \1 , C, SurgcolI, Hohhs Army AIr Fidd,Hobh-, 1\, M.

;\;0'.12-291991,12-291995, .12-2t)2tH I. ,12.

29!')6 i ,;S-22SI, return to RiSe OperationsOlliecr, FAAF, Florence, S. C

:s-;o, 12-9S;5, return to Curtiss-Wright Mod.

tiutlon Center, Cayug., Road, Buffalo '), 1\;, Y.

O!illd:

i\;o, 12- , 0,') I 0 , se.it type, left at 6th SubDepot, Bainhridge Army Air Field, Ba inhridue,G.t. Drop Test Card shows this chute wasp.lekd at '18th Sub-Depot, Casper Army AirFleI.L Ca-per. Wyo., March 3D , 19.13,

"".12-6-\8262 is held hy Curtiss-\Xrright

-[. 'e!itiuti"n Center. Cayuga Road, Buff.ilo 5,x. y,

SNAFU BUT FUNNY'

A YOLlI\~ r .u l io op er at or on . 1 t ra ns port

ying the Hum p to China W.1S given

rders t o r ad io .ihe.u! th.ir t he s hi p Vd5

ringing in .\ com plem ent of t wo lieu-

nants .md twelve e nl is te d m en to be

t.u ionc.! with th e l-Ith Air Force for

itio n-, an d c !u ,lrlers. T his m essag e W .\S

en t in cod e .in.] our r.rdiorn.in screwed

f u p r at he r t ho ro ug hl y.

A fter it h ad h e:c n d ec ip he red .rt the

China .1irh.lse the intcl li

e cnre off icerli.u]

m essaL :e w hic h le d h il;1 to b eliev e th at

he: ship ' W.IS hr inL:inL: in twelve members

f th e St.uc Department . lnel two vis it ing

unha-x.ulor c . In c on se c! uencc o f th is i n-

orm.u io n th e p la ne W ,IS m et h y G en eral

h cnn aulr and .1 c ot cr ie o f im portan t

AIR FORCE APRIL 1944


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-

AIR PINCERS OYER EUROPBy

Mai. Arthur Gordon

AIR FORCE Overseas Staff

HISTORY may well disclose that the

last stand of the German Air Force

began in February, 1941. An air arm

which cannot supply itself with replace-

ments is doomed. In February, Nazi

fighter production received such a ham-

mering from the air that, for the first

time. it failed to keep pace with the attri-

tion of the Luftwaffe.

Those who like precise lhtes may choose

either February 20 or 22 .IS a critical mo-

ment. On February 20 the greatest day-light aerial assault in history was launched

from Britain. Nearly 2,000 planes of

the srh and 9th Air Forces struck the

German aircraft industrv in eight widelv

separated areas. The ~ext d,;y anothe'r

great force continued the attack. On

the third day, bombers of the I'5th Air

Force roared up from the Mediterranean

to add their bomb tonnage to the weight

being dropped simultaneously by the

British-based heavies.

This closing of aerial pincers was the

final outcome of long planning and care-

ful preparation on the part of the U. S.Strategic Air Forces in Europe. To 'any

6

thoughtful German, it must have looked

like the handwriting on the wall. In these

three days. with more than .1,000 Ameri-

can aircraft attacking, with American

heavies dropping over '5,000 tons of

bombs and with the RAF adding some

),000 more at night, the air war over

Europe moved into its most violent phase.

One hundred and seventeen American

aircraft---94 bombers and 2) fighters-

were lost; ) 10 enemy fighters were re-

ported destroyed in the ,;ir . plus a con-siderable number on the ground. Wearv

from rornb.ittins the RAF's shattering

night attacks on Leipzig and Stuttgart

during the same period. the Luftwaffe

fought hack with its usual skill and cour-

age' hut showed definite signs ofi:-oggi-

n'ess. At USST A F headquarters, staff ~f-

ficers, who remembered a similar climax

in July, 1943, prayed for a few days of

clear skies. "Give us the weather," thev

said. "and our combat crews will finish

the job."

It was hack in February, 1942, that

the first AAF officers arrived in Britain.A year later, in February, 1943, the

American air effort in Europe was

pathetically small. The xth Air F

consisted of about a half-dozen group

heavy bombers, and when they rnanato put 100 planes over a target in

many, it was without any fighter es

Now the picture has been alteredradically that it is not easy to focu

clearly. The expansion has been so

that the result at first glance seems t

a bcwildcr iru; jumble of British American air power, of strategic and

tical and expeditionary air forces w

names are likely to change overnight

whose operational and administrative

filiations defy analysis.

Such is not actually the case. The

ganization wherein the Hth, 9th and

Air Forces are cooperating with one

other and with the RA F in the

invasion softening of Germany is prac

and \'Cry m uch to the point. It is

however, in a state of rrvstalization

further changes are to be expected.

The backbone of American air pin Europe is the xth Air Force, w

AIR FORCE, APRIL, 1


9/203

,,:1[;::, .ui.l ilc.1 \'1' hOl11kr ~'OI11IlUI1,L ny,l

m.itch the: RAI' (n ,ill; Ul,i ,trikin,C: i'Owcr.

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lor-. .'\'1' SlIl'i'\lrl (lllllIlLlII,1 In .I,I,li.

'IUIJ. it I' i'.l1'I.11l- hlltl,1111:; 1I!' .1 i'\l\\ntu!


10/203

been the Allied effort to smash the Ger-

man Air Force by crippling i ts produc-

tion centers on the ground. In the early

days of the Sth Air Force's activities,

much was made of the spectacular claims

of fighters destroyed by bombers in aerial

combat. This attrition of the Luftwaffe

was undeniably valuable but the emphasis

was misplaced. As long as the Germans

could make good their losses-s-and total

German twin-engined and single-engined

fighter strength was steadily rising-i--theycould afford their casualties. What they

could not afford was serious damage to

their fighter factories, sheltered for the

most part deep within the Reich.

On January 11 the grand assault began

with dayl ight attacks on Oschersleben,

Brunswick, Halberstadt and other key

production centers. The cost was heavy that

da\'~59 bomhers~hut the Allied Com-

mand was willing to pay an even higher

price if necessary, to break the Luftwaffe's

hack. In the next six weeks the bomhing

blows seriously crippled more than fifty

percent of the German factories that were

producing Nazi fighters on January 11.

This was the most significant aspect of

the air war, perhaps of the war itself.

This was the goal toward which the AAF

and RAF had been pointing for more

than two years. This was the realization

of detailed plans made months hefore~

plans that had been awaiting the neces-

sary planes and weather before they could

be carried out.

Losses during these six weeks were not

as heavy as expected. Through February

22, xth Air Force heavy bomber losses

were 2.2 percent of aircraft dispatched.

This compared favorably with the overallloss of 3.1 percent of all aircraft dis-

patched since the first operational mission

of August 17, 1942. It compared bril-

liantly with the worst month, when losses

ranged over 6 percent. For the same

period, February 1 through 22, our fighter

losses were 0.8 percent as against an

overall figure of 0.7 percent. Consider-

ing the fact that in the first 22 days of

February more sorties had been flown by

the 8th than in any previous full month

-nearly all of them deep penetration

rnissions-s--losses were astonishingly light.

There were three main reasons for this.

Lieut. Gen. Carl Spaatz

Maj. Gen. William O. Butler

One was the immense and cumulative

strain on the Luftwaffe. An exchange of

letters between Air Marshal Harris and

General Spaatz corroborated this growing

weakness. The RAF lost 79 aircraft in a

terrific battle over Leipzig on the night

of February 19-20. On the following day,

with our main attack centering in the

same area, American losses were only

twenty-one. That night the RAF at-tacked

Stuttgart in great strength, losing only

ten. Obviously German defenses were

stretched to the breaking point.

The other two reasons were the incre

ing skill and experience of bomber cre

and the inestimable value of long-rang

fighter escort, with hundreds of P-4

P-38s and P-Sls shepherding the bom

ers, usually providing complete cover

and from the most heavily defended

gets and target support as well. Germ

fighter attacks on bomber boxes could

develop to any effective degree. More

more, German defensive tactics seem

to call for the use of twin-cnuincd rock

carrying fighter-homhers~ME-l1 as. M

nas, ME-4 las, JU -RRs and JU -IThese aircraft. standing out of range

the bombers' machine guns, attempted

cripple Fortresses or Liberators hy

bing rocket projectiles into formation

then ME-l 09s and FW.190s would ju

stragglers.

Rocket carriers proved no match for

fighters. One reason for the amazing s

registered hy Mustangs, Thunderbolts

Lightnings --- better than four-to-one

some groups --- was the fact that un

rocket carriers were provided with

cover of their own they were shot d

in droves. The air war was resolv

itself into a dcvils merry-go-round w

rocket carriers attacked our bombers,

fighters attacked the rocket carriers,

German fighters a waited a chance

pounce on cri ppled airplanes whene

the opportunity presented itself.

The only conclusion possible to a c

observer during the last part of Febru

was that the Allied air chiefs were go

all out for the kill. Not even the urg

requirements of the Anzio beach h

were heing permitted to interfere w

the planned destruction of the Luftwain the air and in the nest.

Once the curve of German fighter

duction started downward-c--and it

started~it was imperative to maint

the pressure; to give the Germans

hreathing space, such as they were gran

last summer, in w hich to rest tired

and rebuild shattered factories.

Every lesson o f modern warfare poto one inescapable conclusion: mastery

the skies is a prerequisite to the invas

of Europe. As these words are writt

somewhere in England, that mastery

being achieved.

*Lieut. Gen. Ira C. Eaker Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton Maj. Gen. James H. Doolittle Maj. Gen. Nathan Twining

8 AIR FORCE, APRIL, 1


11/203

HAMMERING iTHE ,lAP MIDRIFF

This scene of destruction at the Taroaisland airdrome in the Maloelap Atoll istypical of recent 7th Air Force opera-tions against key Japanese bases in theMarshall Islands. Overcoming heavyfighter opposition, B-24s laid an ac-curate bomb pattern on the serviceapron, repair area, hangars and shopsof this important interceptor base.

The Taroa attack was part of a planto neutralize enemy resistance from allother Marshall bases while amphibiousforces, protected from the air and sea,landed successfully on Kwajalein andlater on Eniwetok.

Beginning in December, when our

newly-acquired bases in the Gilbertswere consolidated, five enemy installa-

AIR FORCE APRIL 1944

tions in the Marshalls-Jaluit, Mille,Maloelap, Wotje and Kwajalein-weresubjected to almost daily attack by air-planes of the 7th Air Force. In the mis-sions against Mille and Jaluit, 8-24s andB-25s were joined by A-24s, P-39s andP A D s . It was the first time that ourCentral Pacific attacking forces includedmedium bombers, dive bombers andfighters, previous major operations inthis area having been outside the rongeof any except heavy bombers.

Immediately before the January 31landing on Kwajalein, B-24s flew a num-ber of successful night bombing mis-sions, guided by fires started during the

day by bombing and shell fire. Whenthe landings were mode, the 7Th Air

Force flew in almost continuous suppoBy-passing other islands, where J

anese power had been reduced by Air Force and carrier-based planes bombardment by naval surface vessamphibious forces landed on Kwajatand Eniwetok with small losses. WUnited States forces thus establishedthe Marshalls and in the nearby berts, it became increasingly diffjfor the Japs to supply the Marshbases they still held.

Kwajalein and Eniwetok are grprizes. As the Gilbert conquest plaus within easy bombing range oft\Marshalls, so the Marshall succe ss

placed us within easy bombing ron9~the eastern Ccrolines, including Truk


12/203

N ear Rudesheim on the path to Frankfort on the Main, ground defenseshave opened up w ith accurate anti-aircraft f ire against this 8-24 forma-tion. A photographer in one of the bombers attacking the Germ an trans-p ortation and industri al cit y cau ght this viv id pictu re o f what washappening to the Liberators. At right, a 8-17 is blasted by flak inanother raid. The toil surface is shown in flames at top left; in the centerc ircle is a wing sectio n, and belo w it , t he fuselag e and othe r wing .

Nazi Reprisal Raids

DFSPITF recent Luftwaffe activity overBr i t. i in, w hich Ius been stepp ed upl;re.ltlr. ohxcrvcr-, assut th.u Al l ic.l air

;)owe~, incr ca si rn: daily, has forced the

German Air Force to con.cnt rate on de-

f cnsivc- t.!Ctics .it the cost o f i ts own power

to .ut.uk.

Bel;inninl; the nil;ht of T.ll1Ll.HV ::'1-::'::',

the G AF l;ndertook . 1 ser 'ies ot' reprised

r.ii.!-, al;.lins t Lon don and oth er British

popuLltion centers, The nature of t hese

att.icks and the German p rop'lg.lnda th.u

.u.cornpanicd them nude it clear that they

were intended prim.ir ilv to holster thesagging morale of B erlin ' Ind other hard-

hit Germ an cities,

In some cases, the GAF st r ik iru; force

was so small that no more than nuisanr

value cou ld he ex pected of the atr.rcks.

Usually , when LHger fo rces were used --

.md these forces were small hy comparison

with those of the Allies attackinl; German

tarl;ets-rclativcly few cot thr'ouph the

Bri'tish defenses, c. ,--'

Many types of German aircraft-fighter-

hom hers as well as bornhcrs-s--wcrc oh-

served in these renewed GAF efforts,

T here was lit tle apparent effort at concen-t r a tirn; ho rnhs on spe cific tarl;c ts; bornh s

we re ' droppe d wherever it became neces-

S.Hy o r ronvcn icn t to dr op them.

Jap Torpedo Bombings

For prop aganda pu rposes, eac h o f these

attack s al; .lilh t b r it.iin W,lS in tende,l to

.1H'nl;C o;1e of Cicrrn.uiv", hLhtClI litles,

.uid 'the r.uds wcr c apl);'ol'ri,ltely named,

For cx.unpl., one would he hailed l. v theCermans a s the "H,ul1hll rl; r.i i.]," .uiothcr

'IS the "Schwcinfu rt raid,'" another as -thc

"Bremen r.i i c i . 'Until this series of att .lcks. there Iud

been hut l it tle Germ an effort since ' \! .lrch,

I')j:,>. to rct a li.u c for the terrific hLlstings

"iven Berlin .ind other cities,

. To review GAl" orfcnsiv elctivity for

1 '.)j):From Janu. lry to ' \farch LIst ye. lr , there

were se veral low-lev el, hit-and -run ra ids

on British coasr.il tow ns, . lnd . in increase

in minc-l.ivi nj; activity. Many rcconna is-

s.mce fli"ht, were nude over Fn"land,

too. After a he.ivy r.ii.! of four-cnuinc

British hom hers over Berlin in the m iddle

of J,muary, the GAF, stung to activity,

attac ked Lo ndon with ab out 7~ aircraft,

of which about )0 reached the target

Eight Germ an planes were destroyed. This

was followed a couple of d'lYS l ater hy a

mid-day raid of about (,0 fighter-homhers,

of whic h on ly 1::' reached LISt London.Fifteen raiders were dcst roved and the

Germa ns g'l\T up th.it style 'of attack for

the rest of the yeelr. There was an incre'lse

o

Tojo's Favorite Dram

in n ight activity in M arch. and ,I rel'ri

r.u.l on London aftu Bulin li.ul heen

[iv ,"00 hea VI' hom heTs. l:ttl e .l.u n.i c:ell~ne.' ,

In April. the : '\I,lzis st. lrted , I ne\\'

tic, ,endin" the j:\\'-l')O as .1 iic:h

l.ombcr ,It' "rc.lt hel"ht on ni"hl's

moon \\,Is~h illin". 'j'he first ti ~1l'

tried it. of the t \\~hl" 1'\\\. four tried

land pClelhl)" .u 'I British ficld. Two

down a ll ri"ht, .1 ih ir.! crashed, as

the fourth \\:hich rr.uk c.! UI) when l)eo

at the field. in ;l (Illite su(es,ful pr.

turned off the landing li,,,hts ju,t ,h whcc!s were .ihout to touch t lu- c:rou

Two ot her ,Ittc mph to rc.i.h Lond~H1 w

made by pairs of FW-I ')Os, and mi

n uisance raids of th is so rt were car ried

in rnoonl ight periods for the rest of

year.

LONG range LInks were put on

Fo cke-Wu lfs in May an d th e)' att empte

to p enetrate deep in England. This s

ev cntual lv cause d t he end of the hit-an

run t: lcti~' becau se the ratio of casua l

increased rapidly, Betw een May 1 and J

(" w hen the hit- and-run aClivi ty cea,!) of 27.1 ai nr.ift which took part in

raids were destroyed, On the last four l

raids, 21 out of 77 were knocked do

. . .

-,~."


13/203

king advantage af Italy's rail lines from the north, German forces

nd supplies quickly to their armies opposing the Allies on several

."""


14/203

Notes from the Air Surgeon's Office:

A B a t t l e P l a n

T O F I G H T M A L A R I A* * * * *

MALARIA is a m os t i mp or ta nt m il it aryp ro ble m, r ec lu ir in g c on si der ati onr iuht aloru; with questions conr.cr ni nu

O l~ er at io na ( ta cti cs , e nem y f ac ili ti es a n~ l

supply. Every man in t he AAF h'ls a

p erso na l res po nsih ility to u ndersta nd th e

im portance of the disease ;w d to keep it

fro m p uttin g h im o ut o f ac tio n.

In m any of the air forces, especially

t ho se o pe Llt in ,i .; in t he t ro pi cs , m ala ria a t

tim es has reduced the num ber of e ffec-

tive m en tw enty to f ifty p ercen t. In a few

p la ces n ea rly a ll o f th e m en in ' l squadron

have b ec om e c as ua lt ie s b ec au se o f m a la ri a.

T hi s lo ss o f m an po we r d ela ys o ff en si ves ,

u ps ets tim eta bles, d ra ,l:s o ut the w ar, In

a v oi di n, l: m .i l. rr i . o ur m en m a }' h e a hl e to

s ho rte n t he w ar c on si de ra bl y b y th e s im ple

e xp ed ie nt o f h av in g m or e hca lthy fi,l:htingm en in th e fic ld th.m th e N nis a nd J 'lp S.

Ma la r i.. o cc ur s in a lm os t c ,'c ry theatre

in w hic h th e A A F o pe ra te s. N ort h , Afr ic a,

It.ilv, the B a lk un S ta te s, t he i\f id dl c L ls t,

InJicl, Ch in .i. B urm a. :\ttlC lV 'l an d th e

South .ind Sout hwcs! Paci fic ' th ea t r cs a rc

s co ur ge d w it h m . rl .i r i.i t od ay a s t he y h .iv c

lxcn for ccntur ies hTI1 in tho-. air

f o rr es i n w hi ch the d is c, ls c i s n ot norm.d lv

found, it is n ot to be ree.lrded liehtl;'


15/203

S ,' rJ '; in :. ; wu h i rl ;c ([ ic idc: .tll pI-inC'0; ~1 'l ng i n f rom oth er t h c .u r cs i .s .inor her

~u,;c rcspolbihI1 i ty that rc st, rig ht o n t he

CO,


16/203

Plaster casts do not keep hospitalized patients from taking thecarefully supervised scientific exercises that are an important

Exercise, too, even for those who must stay in bed. l\ifuscles not usedwaste away and joints grow stiff. S o some form of m ild muscle

part of the AAFs Convalescent Training Program. Wherever pos-

sible, classes such as this one at Miami Beach, are held outdoors.

reconditioning begins the day a patient stops running a fever.Exercises are graduated occ ordinq to patient 's recovery $tage.

\.


17/203

Th e l.iunchuu; uf rlie pro~r .uu WB

u north od ox .lS th e p L1I1 itsel f . C ol on e

Ru sk sen t ' sto oge," to spread th e w or

around i n t h e wa rds at Jefferson Barracks

T he y p ur po se ly u se d a n ei ~a ti ve a pp ro ,l ch

" W h, lt t he se b l' .l sS lu ts won 't drc.un

n ex t t o m ak e l if e r ni se r. ib le ! L is te n, f el la

I Just hc.i r d t hey're going to m ake:

1I0r[ .il l the time w e're in this dump

A nd ! h eard s om eth in g about h avin g

go to lectu res an d w.u. h tra ining tilr

,m d ,I lo t o f tl Ll t stlltf. A s i f t ln t w er en

bad cnouj-h, th ey 're go in g to c.uucl ocon valcsrcnt furloughs,"

T his W ,IS dark new s indeed to thaw

CIs w ho m ake hospitals a f avor i tc pI.I

f or g o ld -h ri ck in g a nd e 'l ua ll v d hc on cc rt -

in g t o th os e p atie nts w ho re,en te d th e i

tru sio n o f ,1 tr.u nin j; p ro gram in to th e

prcscrihcd r outi ne of r e' ld in ,~ com ic book

an d s leep in g th e d ay s :Iw ay . B ut C olo ne

Rusk ~ot the rc,

lio ns h e w.mtcd. :

matter hcv. h e p la

W:IS presented, moof the men were

tavor of It. The.uritudc W:h tlu[

matter brru h,,,1w as i t w ou ld :k : , tel' .th.m t he m en u

f at ig ue t hc l' !ud :','(sutferin,c:.

T hl' o ri~ in .d C T

S Llf t in I ')1..' cOsisted of Col o n

R lI sk , L ie u! . R,l

1110nd C. Le\\is,'

f or me r a ,l lI l t l',luC

tion'\'Cli,I!"', " I.or in Ij',r,,\L

, \nd Sl 't . Don.rl.! :,\L td nn ls , [) ou h!'n ~

hrltss ~lt t irs t , I' dlrCl((1r, . ) )11I" ', .l ; ",illrron k a, le r' ,. l e, ( urcr . "'1,1 ll',llher,. (h

trie,l ou t t he ir I ,l e,\ -; i n t he \ \' :l re ls o f t

h O Si 'i l. l1 T h e i dc ,\ -; 1 ', lI d oil'. r\ rLl,o

wcnr h,tek to \\;;.\-;hin~(on :\Il,l two \\','d

l.ucr .1 .l ir cr t i vc f ro 'm ( ;c nn ,d II.

A rn old o rdered th e csu hli,hm en t of "

CTP in .ill A AF h O'I'itals. B efo r,' t

en d of 19i..' it W,\S in .ulu.i l opcr'ltilln,

Two objecti \'es .ir c P ,I Ll ll lO ur lt i n t

CTP: To r c ro ri di t i on s ic k s oi di er s p hy s

cdl\' 01 ' :t cuelui l v pl anncd : lnd c :- :e nJ tep hn ll al 1 'C lu hi li t: 1t io n p ro ,~ Lu n .iru]

uti li ze h er et of or e w.r-t cd con\, t1c,cenl.

t im e w it h c du r.u i on .r l i n s t r ur t io n I n s u

jccts LJf irnp or t.u ue to :tli soleli,'rs rC.~Jr

:ess o f th e !,u l1 ch 'o f t he ,\A F th cy ~ n:)c 'iL.r\.ln.. . . ! ; .

A lrc .t,lj' ,h e; rc,u !t of th c''2 iJe,l

un i' r' .l c i n : n il it .t I- y m c.I ic im - , I us b ee l! t

Available time in AAF hospitals is put to con-

st ruc ti ve us e. T he se G I p at ien ts a t L aw ry F ie ld,

Cola., banish dread hospital boredom and

learn useful skills at the same time. Keeping

patients interested helps to speed recovery.

The AAF's Convalescent Training

Program means faster rec:overies

and a broader military knowl-

edge for hospital patients.

g ress i\'e id eas in o pe ratio n else wh ere in

th e A ir F orc es. T wo fac ts h ad h ec o me to o

.1p p, tr en t t o h e d is m is se d: Iirst. t he re w as

.ui :Ippalling wholesale w as tag e o f t im e

and va luable m an hours in ,dl our hos-

p itals at a perio d w hc n w e c ou ld ill :lIford

to lose th at tim e: sec ond ly, a p atient's

p syc ho lo gic d c on ditio n h ad a p ro fo un d

etfc ct o n h is p hy sic al IT CO \'c rl'-,1 m an

ke pt in tere sted , ale rt an d ac tive w ill c er-

Llinly get w ell faster than one w ho IS

bored,

This clnllenge w as tossed out to :1

gro up o f A r\F 'm ed ic al o f1 1c c:rs b y M aj.

Gen. Davi.] N. W . G ra nt o n a vis it to t he

si.u ion husl,il:l1 .it Jefferson B,If'I '. lCks . . \!o.

Lieut. Col. How.i r.] A ,. Rusk, lhief of

rncdic.i l seniles .rt fetfcrsol! B:II 'I ', lCKs : It

t h .it tim e. w en t to \ ;o rk o n th e p ro ble m,

\'(!ith an unqu.t l i nc .] _ "l hl he 'l ,l ( rom tl.

hospital's cornrnandrnu otiucr , Col. J ,l Ines

R. i\[cr)e"-cll. C olonel R usk , 1S ,e m bl cd :1

sm,t1I,l:ltf .uid he~,\n w ork on a tr.iin ina

.uid recond it ion in~ !'Ian for the A A F.'sh osp ir.i liz cd m en th at gre w in ks s th .m ,l

ve.u to .I v.ist Conv.rlcsccut T U li 1i nc : P ro-

:~ r.u 11 w hic h .\t th e p rese nt ti,l1 e' s:n 'C s

Clur", t h .in tw o .ui.i .1 h.ilf m illio n n unhours pel ' m on th in the A,\r.

" ~ '.! c ,n ditio n, on a~,),,\'k.lt rrin o r h lh.)~ 11 ',Hlr" O nceu:::,:, what I'OU did

1 :hE t wo ' w ee ks

no: he wh.it th e

, , '. 1 : orlucr ,Iud:1 1 11 1n.l. Parties,

L', of s ke p, strcnu-

l:; .i.t i vi ti c: nu l' rc-

l'd vour phvsil,tl propess and not in-

e 'j Ue nt ly y ou r et ur ne d t o t he h o sp l~ .l l I n

\\',)rs ,:,lu pe th ,1 I1 w he n y ou le tt. S o 1I1

ou s t. ly ed f or .mot hcr s tretch

T he ' bo re do m o f a n Armv h osp it al d idn 't1ceJ vou r rc.overv citlur . Y ou w er e r es t-

~",i l; lp, lt i( ;[1t, th~rou,c:hl)' disgusted. .m d

)ll wished tor s Ol lle th in g t o d o b eS id es

i,l he,l a nd ( aunt n. u l i n t he c ei li ng ,

.A .t lc.i-.t that's the \\al' it 11',11, Bu t

,l lh ll hl s o f men in the A r\F . w ho h.ivc

,: 11 h os pi t: t1 iz ed w it hi n t he b sl y ea r f or

1\thinL-: from ,1Il i nf ec te d f oo t t o do uh le

1',:umunl.1. h.ivc an e ntire ly d itfe ren t

.:l,'\' [,) tcl l Ho-ipit.rl times h.ivc ch:1I1gClI.

T,) tell \\hl' :llhl h ow . t il l' s to ry m u st , ~o

l.,k t,) I)e,'c'mhn. ll) j2.

Thc : \i r Sur~con's otticc, aware of .rll

: [h ,)m s in th e t r ad it io u. rl s ys te m. d c,

l.cd It \ \. \s imp. r.u iv th al th e A AF 'sUSi'(U[ f )r 0i .! ;u l11 b e . ~( ;, 1r eJ t o t he p ro ,

AIR fORCE APRil 1944

A'S old ;\s t he : .\ ,r my i ; th e G I g ri pe o ve ri .! ;o ing t o a n A rm y hoxpit.rl. Sol.iicr sUVL' c him ed yo u ne ve r get o ut u nl es s y ou

o w . c ou pl e o f C on gr es sm en .

Ther h,I\'e had ,I point. The aver.urc

l j' in .in A rm y h os pi t.l ! i s a bo ut t wi ce as

ng as i t is in a civilian ho sp ital for the

une illn es s. R ut th is is n ot w ith ou t re a-

on . ' ~; rh en y ou leave a civilian hospital

ut,-r - -- say, an appendectom y ~ you go

orne .md spend a fcw days or weeks

11": around the hO{lse uking it c a,y

i ,J i '< : : yo u go bac k to w ork.:'\:o t s o i n an A rm y h osp ita l. U ntil re-

'n t!y th ere \n s n o p lac e in th c A rm y fo r

ut in-between s ta ge of s low recuperation.

Zc su lt : I OU stayed in th e h osp ital itself

til vou go t yo ur d is ch arg e p ap ers--

hich m eant yO ll w ere ready for (nine

n'.

\'ery often th is also happ en ed : A fter a

rLlin length of

OS f) I:.di z .i t i o n y ou

,er", ..:i\'Ul vour two-

::e:,' conva lexrcn t

c :d ou ..: h b ef or e r e-

u r '1!n g f a I' you I'ru! Ji;c harg e. Y ou

,lrt,;:j 'lO ~e an d

cr!l.\[); you Iud to

~~-L~j, in a. \VCJk-


18/203

If the soldier-patient can't go to the CTP classes, the classes are brought to him. Some formof m ilitary training is going on in w ards of A AF hospitals alm ost continuously these days.Code, aircraft recognition, mathematics and a host of GI subjects are included in a flexiblecurriculum. Time goes faster for this patient engrossed in making a camouflage net at JeffersonBarracks hospital where the Convalescent Training Program originated. More than 20,000,000man-hours have already been saved for the AAF since the program started in all Air Force hospitals.

Soldiers leaving hospitals must be returned to duty in fighting shape. To keep them up to par,CTP gives convalescents as much action-both calisthenics and games-as their condition permits.

16

(1) Re du ce h osp ital re-ad missio ns , as mu ch as 2 5 p ercent in so me h ases,

s en din g m en bac k to d uty in b etter p h

cal condition.

(2) Sho rten th e p eriod of c onval

c en ce in ce rta in ac ute an d in fec tio us

c on ta gio us d isease s h y as m uc h as , )(

40 perc ent. Th e a vcr.u ;c in ternm ent

sc arlet fev er, fo r ex am ple , h as d ro pp

fro m 33 d ays to 21, that of virus pf

m ania from i5 to 31.

(3) E lim in ate in th e m ajo rity o f ct he neces si ty f or conv .r lcsccnt f ur lough s,

(-i) I nc re as e v as tl y t he s ol die r's mtary kn ow led ge and h is gen eral kn o

ed ge o f geo grap hy, ge op ol itirx, fO re

la ngu ag es, tro pic al d isease s an d th e

I n ad di ti on it ha s en ab le d m ed ic al o Ai

t o pr ac tic e p rc vc nr i ve ne ur o-p sy ch ia tr y

e st ab li sh ing a s er ie s of " pa ti en t- doc tor"

talks of great assistanc e in the so ld

ori en ta ti o~ t o new condit ions.

W alk in to th e t yp ic al w ard o f th e a

age AAF station hospital and you

n otic e c ard s o f red , or.inuc an d green

the fo ot o f the patien ts' beds. These

th e " sign al ligh ts" in dic atin g va ryin g

grees of illness. A patient w ith a

card is n ot allowed to get out of

N ev er th ele ss , if h is te mp er at ur e h as b

n orm al fo r o n e d ay, h e c an still tak e m

f inge r, h an d , a rm , h ea d a nd neck e xe rc i

alth ou gh h e's flat o n his bac k. M en b

ing or'ange cards em get out of bed

ten m in ute s o f m ild m usc le rec on ditio n

in g, G reen c ard s in d ic ate th e p atien t

have the w orks - full. vigorous cth en ic s th ree tim es a xiav.

I nc id en ta ll y, th e w a r~ l n u rs e a ls o f

practied va lu e in th is sim ple co lo r

tem . Sh e can tell at a glanc e w ho is to h elp w ith routine w ard jobs. such

cleaning w ind ow s. scru bh in g flo ors

n o h .uk talk, either, Green cards rn

an h ou r a nd a h alf o f w ard fatigu e d

S i' ec ia l c la ss es f or ort hop edic : r e1ub

t.itio n. u nd er th e d irec tio n o f th e o rt

p ed ic s UI )" eo n i n c ha r,g e a nd th e p hy

therapist. .irc a ls o i n cont inual opcr.it

in the hospita ls .

Some hospit: lls h.ivc elm ps to w h

am bu lato ry p .ltie nts re qu irin g lo ng

s lo w ( on \" ti es ce IK e a re s en t. Tr.ii ni m

these centers is m odified to m eet

p l, ys ic .t 1 l im i t. u i on-. o f t

h ronv.i lc-c, wd new r ecru it s \,",10 .irc \c nt th ere t

hro U!"ht up to , " I I ' . These ClIl1!"S\UVm uc h thl. -.unc J111i 'pOSe as a b:lse

tc.uns s \, rin,'" t r.ururu; CUll\,. They h

re claim ed fo r f urth er rn i lit.i r v . lu tv m

m cn w ho o t h r- rw i: : w ou ld ! J: 'l \C h ~e n

to the senill '.

I n ' ld di ti ol 1 to t he se l oc .t 1 c.llllj". e

c on ya le sc en t c en te rs f or r e- tu rn ed C o

tics h.ivr- b ee n e st ab li sh cd a t S 'H 1L l A

Cell it '. . Buckley Field. Colo . . COL11 G. lh

F la ., J cf fe rs o~ I 3. 1r ra ck s, .\10" M a x

Field. ALl .. Paw ling. N, Y,. San

to nio . T ex as, a nd F t. G eo rge \X !ri

W elsh . L lch center has a c "lrcfu II\"l ec te d s ta ff , i nc lud- (Cw!inucd Fe':'

AIR FORCE APRil 1


19/203

By Mai. Bernard W. Crandell

8TH AIR FORCE

Illustrated by James T. Rcw

Sergeant Loving is an ordinary man from Mississippi with an

important job in England. His mechanics work around the

clock to patch holes, mend hydraulic lines, replace conduitsand Cjet those battle-damaged bombers back in the air.

HE'S always cussing the B-26 and prais-ing the B-17, which is explainable

nly because a man is sometimes critical

f a thing he loves most dearly.

He swears he isn't interested in the

our Marauders that he and eleven other

mechanics must maintain. Not the least

it attached to any of them, he insists,

s he carefully watches eighteen specks in

he sky approaching the airdrome. Crew

hiefs may take a personal interest in

heir 26s, but a flight chief treats them

ike a b ig, cold hunk of machinery, he

epeats as the Marauder formation swings

around on the approach leg.

"Watch this one," he suddenly gasps.Watch it now. It's Pistol Packin Mama'

She's coming in right there. You got to

ake a look at that ship Damnedest pic-

ure on it you ever saw. Old 'Nap' is

paintiri ' it on and it's an old g,l! leaning

against a rail with a big gun in her hand.

He hasn't painted her head on yet-

hasn't had time since the last Amsterdam

raid. Been patching the damn thing up

.. turret dome busted, hydraulic system

shot out, conduit in engine hit, oil dilu-

ion line hit by same piece of flak, hits on

wo leading edges, holes in two pieces of

cowling, h~le u~derneath pilot but it didn'tcome through, holes in the fuselage ....

"Pistol Parkin' Mama' Wl1.1t '1 ship'

Damnedest picture you ever saw! Come

lnd take a look at it!"

Master Sgt. Jack Loving, the Marauder

flight chief who looks at his ships in that

coldly impersonal manner, also h,IS the

rcput.ition at his base in England for be-

jng the "bitrhinucst" man on the Iinc."Which is an indiration." ohservcs the

group air executive, "that he's doiru; some

hinking and feels fairly !uPP!' over the

state of repair .md m.rintcn.vnce on hi;

ships."

Lovin" i,an or.Iinarv m.rn fr'J:ll BeJ'.1-

egard, ~fi"s., with :111 j'mi"yunt iob. The

job consists of keeping four B-26s, eachcapable of dumping 4,000 pounds of

bombs twice daily on Hitler's western

fortress, in shape for such destruction of

the enemy. It's up to Loving and eleven

other air mechs to insure 32,000 pounds

of bombs daily for Nazi Europe.

Grooming S1,000,000 worth of bomb-

ing machinery is a responsible business

for a 21-year-old from Beauregard. Re-

sponsible enough to make it understand-

able that he might have a worry or two

and a fairly vivid way of expressing him-

self when his four Marauders, looking

more like sieves than flying machines,

droop pathetically on the hard stands only

twelve hours before their next mission.

THOSE next twelve hours, and the pre-

ceding twelve just spent sweatin, ,, them

through the last mission, are called the

"21-1{our jobs," This means it takes 21

hours of work, most of it under the feeble

rays of worn flashlights, all of it through

the penetrating cold of the English winter,

to patch holes, to mend hydraulic lines,

to replace electrical conduits, to hope and

fret over four battle-damaged airplanes.

Loving is never sure that they'll be ready

for the next mission, .ind his eternal pes-simism often clisgu:;ts his squadron en-

"ineerin" oliicer who tries to /i"ure how

;nanr b~~nbers on go down th~ runway

the next morning.

The "21-hour' job" is ;1 misnomer for a

night of wrestling with 3 L ooO pounds ofintricate nuch incry. Bcr.iuse even af tel'

the mech.mics have won their 2'i-hour

nutch with the machine, the}' still have

another eibht or ten hours to swc.it them

out from the mission, and perhaps arepeat performance of the night before.

"We spent thirty-hour stretches on t

line during the first days of October whe

they were going out every day," Lovin

recalls sourly.

The only Marauder on the field th

was properly named, Loving thinks,

Flak Happy, of his flight. They've h

some lively times with Flak Happy on t

ground as well as in the air.

"One night after Flak Happy cam

home with the leading edge shot up

three places, and an elevator and rudd

smacked by flak, we had an air raid,"

relates. "We had to get the ship back condition so we stayed out there with o

flashlights, helped considerably by t

light of the flares the raiders were dro

ping. Flak Happy got off the next moring all right.

"On the last Amsterdam raid it cam

back full of holes. One piece of flak we

in above the bombardier 's head, cut

cables to the bomb racks and the l

from the air speed indicator. There w

only a sma!! strand left of the rig

aileron control cable and one large h

where the top of the left wing tip shou

have been. That time the ship had to to the hangar for four days while

service squadron did the sheet metal wo

on the wing ti P: At the end of f our da

e\'crything else was fixed, too, and F

Happy with its left wing nothing

pJtches went back for more action."

Patching is a fairly simple job, accorinu: to Loving. If the flak doesn't damaa structural member, a piece of aluminum

is riveted over the hole. And if the h


20/203

is a small one, a patch of cloth is slapped

on. Although these patches are c alled

"temporary," Loving says they're perma-

nent so far as he's concerned.

When flak hits the highly sensitive

leading edge where hundreds of wires

and conduits are imbedded, the repair

becomes a major job. Birds are Loving's

pet peeve because they do nearly as much

damage as flak when they strike the tender

leading edge. Similar touchy points in the

B-26 are the hydraulic system and, of

course, the power plants, Loving explains.

Loving says he and his eleven me-

chanics are seldom told what target the

B-26s are attacking, but they can usually

tell where the ships have been by the

amount of battle damage they bring home.

"Amsterdam and the Calais-Boulogne

area are the toughest on the ships," Lov-

ing adds. "Amsterdam always means an-

other 24-hour job for us.

"Pistol Parkin' Mama got it worse than

Flak Happy on the last Amsterdam mis-

sion. As for the other two ships, 739 had

only a few holes in i t and 90() didn't getoff the ground because the oil dilution

solenoid stuck open and let fuel run into

the engine-another damn 24-hour job.

After we'd drained the engine and

changed plugs and started her up, a cyl-

inder head blew out and that was about

the limit. We changed it, though, and had

it ready by next morning."

Loving figures that. on the average. the

crew chiefs and other mechanics in his

flight spend between fifteen and twenty

man-hours daily on each B-2().

"But after a hot raid, much more than

that," he qu irk lv adds. "If we have thenecessary parts we stick with the repairsuntil we're finished. Those 2i-hour jobs

wouldn't be so bad if i t w asn't so damn

dark and cold."

The speed of repair and maintenance

of the B-2


21/203

C H I N E S E - A M E R I C A N

C O M P O S I T E W I N GBy Capt. Robert V. Guelich

AIR FORCe Overseas Staff

BASED somewhere among the sugar-loafhills of China is the Chinese-Ameri-an Composite Wing of the 14th Air

Force. There U. S.-built planes bear thewelve-pointed star insignia of China,

arry bombs and gasoline from America

nd are flown by a irmen named Wang,

Tsao, Lo, Chin, Jones and Smith. This

omposite wing is a dream come true for

Maj. Gen. Claire L. Chennault who spon-

ored the program to train Chinese air

adets in the United States where they

earn our methods of aerial warfare.

Not only has China's new air force

een successful in harassing the Jap com-

munication lines to Burma and the Malay

eninsula, but it also has met and bested

he enemy in aerial battles. It has given

ffective aid to China's own ground troops

y turning hack the Japanese thrust west-

ward in the Tungting Lake area last De-

ember. With B-25s and P-40s the Chi-

ese-American squadrons bombed and

trafed the area so heavily that 35,000

ap troops were reported killed and Chi-

ese ground troops were able to rally and

etake thousands of square miles of terri-ory, effectively turning back one of the

most serious Jap threats to central China.

In this series of bombings. one co-pilot

was dropping explosives on his home

illage where all his relatives lived, yet he

had insisted on flying the mission. "If

these bombs I drop kill my own family,

but also kill some Japanese, my f.imilyand the rest of us will be better off," he

had explained to the briefing officer. The

Chinese have suffered much in their seven

and a half years of war with the Japs and

they realize that many more sacrifices must

yet be made.

Before flying combat missions from

China, the newly-trained cadets spent sev-

eral weeks at the Iar~est OTU in the

Southeast Asia Coman~1 where they were

joined by veteran Chinese Air Force of-

ficers and by ground crews who had com-

pleted the excellent mechanics school

course of the CAl' in the Chunkin~ area.

Although the squadrons originall}' were

activated as provisional units of the AAF,

a parallel command was established with

Chinese officers, In this rn.mner , the

higher ranking Chinese Air Force person-

nel, who had not received flight training

in the United States, were able to combine

their operations with AAF tactics of seek-

ing out and destroying the enemy. The

duplicate staff organization was cumber-

some at first, but it justified itself as eachnew unit gained experience and became

independent of American supervision.

At OTlJ Chinese pilots from the States

join American pilots and fly simulated

tactical missions with mixed crews. En-

listed men of the Chinese Air Force Like

over gunners' posts while others learn

mainta in nnd repai r the new planes alon

side American .~round crews. Fight

pilots and bornbcr crews practice form

tion and cross-country flying, tow-targe

gunnery, str.ifiru; and skip-bombing. Aft

sever.il weeks of intensive training w

experienced Arncr ic.in personnel, the Ch

ncse crews go out alone. thereby g'linin

the experience and confidence in thei r ow

flying and in their new equipmcnr that

the prerequisite to successful tartical flyin

When able to operate independently,

the crews fly their planes to China as ne

units or ;IS replacements for the composit

wing. The AAF personnel move up to

front and begin actual operations joint

with the Chinese combat crews and su

personnel. Such continuous cooperation

essential to coordinate the tactics of Ch

nese units with those of the AAF un

flying mission>; with General Chennault

On November '1, 19.:\3, units of

new Chinese Air Force flew their fi

mission ag.linst the Japanese. \'V'ith plan

of another AAF unit, the Chinese-manned

Mitchells flew ,I sweep far out over tChina Sea. Three weeks later, six B-

crews joined the AA F in the devastating

r.iid apinst the import. int Shinchiku a

drorne on Formosa I sland. Thus. af

years of defensive warfare, China was a

to join the offensive action of the Unite

Chinese pilots have learned their lessons well and now are carrying the war to the Japsn coordinated offensive strikes with the men of the A AF. In B-25s and P-40s they are

bombing and strafing ground troops, supply installations and shipping in the Chino Sea.


22/203

American comm anding officer of the composite w ing is Col. I. L. Bronch whoshares duties with Maj. H . Y. Lee. Major Lee, a graduate of the third class of the Chinese Air Force, 1932, holds a distinguished record of combat service.

lage, they were received with fl:asting

fireworks. Word spread rapidly tha

crew of Chinese and American air

had been flying together and wanted

return to their base hundreds of m

away. When the chairman of the prov

heard of this desire he left his local d

to provide a personal escort, and at e

village on the long trip back to base t

were celebrations, parades, public spee

and feasts. Gifts were showered onmen and they were questioned incessa

by pleased Chinl'se who wanted to k

why they were flyin to ccthcr. The

t ivcs, of course, had ~ften 11eard of A

ican assistance, but the sight of these

men walking together from a plane c

W~lSindisputable evidence that Americ

were actually fl)'ing with the Chinese.

This hail-our g;lH' the three Chi

airmen an opportunity to tell the stor

Chinese-American cooperation to hundr

of t housands of natives-how the

had heen trained in the United St

how thev had met and Aown together

India an'd how they had been A;'ing

these same villages almost every da

their bombing missions against the

The new hope generated from this mis

did almost as much for the Chinese pe

as a military victory over the Japanese.

States against the common enemy. No-

vember 4 truly marks an important mile-

stone in the history of Chinese air power.

First blood was drawn on December 6

when a Chinese gunner on a B-25 shot

down a Tojo during an air battle near

Tungting Lake. On the day before Christ-mas, Chinese pilots won a f ierce aerial

battle over Canton, three of the flyers

shooting down a Jap apiece. In the first

two months of combat operations the

bombers flew sixty missions. The fighters

Aew 200 sorties against the enemy in the

first thirty days. Yet some of the Chinese

pleaded for more flying and were discon-

solate when they were not included on the

roster of crews assigned for the next day's

mission. The Chinese are eager to fight

the Japs, sometimes too eager, and it has

been a major problem for the American

commanders to cope with them. Chinese

have proved time and again that they canAy near-perfect formations, but they some-

times like to go out on their own. This

inclination, to be sure, is common to all

new pilots, and it is u p to the more ex-

perienced American crews to restrain the

eagerness of the new men.

'During the comparatively short history

of the Chinese-American Composite

Wing's operations, probably the most im-

portant non-combat accomplishment in

gaining prestige with the Chinese people

came from a forced bail-out of a squadron

commanding officer, and his crew.

The two Americans and three Chineselanded fifty miles from the Jap lines, and

when they made their way hack to a vil-

When the job involves gun repair, calibration or adjustments American mechanicscan frequently toke lessons from the Chinese. Metal work is second nature tothese men w ho seem able to feel tensile strength with their sensitive hands.


23/203

B y assigning aircraft to Chinese crew chiefs,

with American mechanics as supervisor-instruc-tors, the win g's un its h av e b ee n a ble to k ee ptheir planes in com missi on at the t ime t heyconduct their programs of on-the-job training.Th ese 5 00 -p ou nd ers a re marke d for the Jap .

B-25s of the Chinese-American Composite Wingh av e p iled u p a n imp re ssiv e rec ord ag ainste ne my shipp in g in th e Ch in a sea s. In protec -tive revetments, beneath the colorful sugar-loafh il ls , the se b ombe rs wait b etwe en mission s.


24/203

~-------------

AIR FORCE, APRIL,

194422

Bombardment crew members arrive at a CCRCin England for their course in battle indoctrina-tion. They spend two eight-hour days togetherin the classroom for instruction in a variety ofsubjects. ranging from the importance of shav-ing b efore g oing o n a mission to na va l c ra ftidentification. Specialized training comes later.

WHEN heavy bomber men arrive at aCombat Crew Replacement Centerof the 8th Air Force they go through

several days of training which is unique,

vigorous and, perhaps, the most special-

ized in the AAF. It is a schooling for

battle, a final prep for a tough assignment

-air war in the European theatre.

This course has two purposes: to elimi-

nate any operational flaws of individualcrew members and to indoctrinate every

man in the proce dure s and problems of

the theatre.

While much of this training is classi-

fied, a description of subjects covered will

indicate its breadth and value.

Three schools are operated by the 1st

CCRC Group-one for 13-17 crews, an-

other for B-2l men and a third solely for

gunners. They are large bases, compl


25/203

Following their indoctrination. gunners attend a special CCRCgunnery school to learn live firing. turret gunnery. the "zonesystem" and malfunctions of equipment. Every member of 0bomber crew must learn to load and shoot-and shoot w ell.

AAF operators learn British radio procedures in the HarwellBox. Later in the course, radioman and navigator work as ateam in a Grope trainer. The radio operator must learn

to distinguish between faked and genuine communications.

and thus pull themselves out. There is, of

course, description of the British Air-Sea

Rescue System, with full details on "what

to do till the doctor arrives."

An intelligence lecture of prime inter-

est is that devoted to prisoner-of-war in-

formation and escape procedure. It is no

accident that many American airmen have

come home from parachute jumps or

forced landings in Europe. They are

taujrht how to do it before they take ott.

ORIENTATION of a bomber crew naturally

stresses intelligence topics. All flying

personnel are familiarized with intelli-

,gence bulletins, strike photographs. the

princi pies of photo-interpretation. enemy

defenses, maps and the like. They learn

that a l arge part of their jon will he to

gather information-"hot news," as it iscalled-as well as to drop bombs on Ger-

man targets.

Recognition is strongly featured. Bomb-

er men are taught to recognize friendly

.md enemy aircraft hy :1 variety of meth-

ods-hI' movies. photos. charts. epid ia-

scope and hI' hlindfold procedure. in

which the student must identify a small

model purely hy feeling its surface. Only

those aircraft likely to be encountered in

the theatre arc t:lught, but earh man must

pass exacting tests.

Identification of naval craft is also im-

portant. Crews learn what mine fields look

like and the distinguishing characteristics

of friendly and enemy convoys, as well

1944

as warships. The artrvrties of G erman E

and R boats are thoroughly analyzed.

While it mav seem unusual that in a

school of this sort geography should have

to be taught. it is an indispensable sub-

ject. Many men who think they know

the map of Europe find that actually,

they do not know it at all, particular lyrelative distances net ween countries. Nor

do they real ize how Europe appears when

it is figuratively lying on its side---that is,

when approached from Engbnd in the

direction taken hy AA F hom hers.

To the new homher crew, lectures on

the Gcrma order of battle and the cur-

rent war situation are obviouslv inva lu-

ahle. Hence, the CCRC school~ providemany instructional hours on the history

and evolution of the German Air Force,

its current strength and disposition. its

newest planes .ind equipment. its abiliricsand weaknesses, its stLItegy and t.ldics.

Complerncntinjj all this inforrn.u ion are

summaries of targets recently hit by the

Sth Air Force and the RAF and a gene

description of important industrial ar

and targets which may be on the bla

board tomorrow. Day-to-day progress

the war in the European theatre and e

where, obtained by f lash and TWX

ports, is regularly imparted to the cre

General theatre indoctrination can

be accomplished in two days, of cour

New bomber crews will continue to

ceive instruction in these and other s

jeers even after they leave the school report to their operational groups. Ho

ever, it is at the CCRC station that t

are given an intense tune-up in fun

mentals by AAF and RAF instructors.

Once the initial two days are over

crew splits up. All gunners go to

special CCRC gunnery school for m

days' practice in all varieties of live firiinstruction in malfunctions. and a th

ough knowledge of the "zone system"

firing now used in the European theatre

Other crew memhers - pilots. n

gators. l-omh.ir dier s, engineers arid r.

operators ~- St.ly at the original CCschool for speci.llized tra ininu. Thi-,

tough and rigorous. It is designed

only to acquaint each man with xth

Force and British prorcdurcs out also

correct any flaws which may exist in

ability to do his joh. hen thouuh he

have' once been t.iuuht a suhi~ct a m

(,10 become flhty.' The CeRe (oubrings him to hi-, reak.

Fellh of th..:.;..: ,pcci,dized courses


26/203

The bombardier soon learns the difference between a bom-bardier and a combat bombardier. While making his "runs"in this bomb trainer, on electrically operated device whichprovides air speed and drift problems, the bombardier issubjected to aircraft sounds, gunfire and simulated flak puffs.

Navigators get on operational test on their first day of spe-cialized work and the results usually shock them into intensestudy and prcctic e, In this DR trainer room, the navigator

solves problem s in dead reckoning. Practice in the use of the radio compass and airplot is also port of the curriculum.

blend of lectures, demonstrations and

practice, with emphasis on the fine points

of wartime flying.

Navigators and radio operators get a

particularly rude awakening. A naviga-

tion student at CCRC receives an opera-

tional test on his first day of specialized

work after which his attendance and at-

tention at lecture are very earnest indeed.

Dead reckoning is taught and practicedday after day in the class room and in the

dead reckoning trainer until the navigator

is perfect in its application. He learns

completely the use of a radio compass-

regarded as t he most important aid in

this theatre-and the airplot, which RAF

observers use faithfully. In a device

known as the Grope trainer, he rehearses

radio navigation, map reading, use of cer-

tain British equipment, the making of a

flight plan and keeping of a log.

When he and the radio operator are

regarded as proficient, they take simulated

flights together in this Grope trainer. Toall intents and purposes, they must get an

airplane to a given target and back again

without difficulties. Later on, they will

do this on high-altitude practice missions

before going over Festung Europe.

The radio man, meanwhile, if he can.

not take at least twenty words a minute,

must practice until he can. He must learn

British radio procedures via Harwell box

which govern in this theatre. He must

study in the Navigation and Security

Trainer, which contains a large map of

England mounted on a copper plate with

all existing radio aids shown by small

electric lights. He learns all about classi-fied radio position-finding equipment.

24

When he and the navigator take their

simulated flights together he gets all kinds

of messages, faked and real, so that he

will learn the difference and not be

tricked in combat.

THE bombardier is not neglected. He

sweats away in a trainer that soon teaches

him there is a difference between a bom-

bardier and a combat bombardier. Whilehe may be adept at operating a sight, he

may have forgotten some of his teachings

on target location, bombing run procedure

and computation for present data. If so,

he learns them again. He gets naviga-

tional instruction. He practices his job

for hours in the bomb trainer, an elec-

trically operated device which provides

problems of air speed and drift. Under

the sight of this trainer is a turntable

which is synchronized with the movement

of the sigI~t and which contains a map of

the Ruhr Valley. The bombardier must

select his targets on that map and bombthem. Moreover, he must do i t with the

ringing in his ears of aircraft sounds and

gunfire, and a remarkable simulation of

flak puffs. A bombardier also is reo

hearsed in the quick closing of bomb-bay

doors after emergency release, the correc-

tion of a spring loading failure, the use of

intcrvalometer s and computers, and sev-

eral methods of bomb salvo.

Pilots and co-pilots, while usually up-

to-the-minute in operational efficiency,

still must have a thorough' grounding in

instrument flying, in formations employed

in the theatre, in high-altitude formation

flying, British flying procedures and gen-eral airmanship and tactics.

Briefly, every bomber crew man

brought up to the mark demanded hy

toughest air theatre in the world. A

are given much gunnery, for it' s be

found that bombardiers and navigators

for example, are not proficient enoug

with the. 50 caliber for successful com h

The gunners themselves receive wh

amounts to a complete course-with pra

tice and instruction in sighting, nomeclature, malfunctions, turret gunnery a

maintenance. But al l c rew members

least learn to load, correct stoppage

shoot and shoot well.

These CCRC installations-which

under the command of Col. Harold

Smith, with Lieut. Col. John P. Dwy

as director of training-are really "finis

ing schools for combat."

While, as broadly described here, ma

of the subjects covered make the CCR

program sound like a refresher cours

this is not the case. There is a comhin

tion of basic and new information, p

a war atmosphere in the schools them

selves which exacts from every nun

utmost in ability and learning capacity a

which leaves him. after only two weeks

so, far better equipped for combat th

he could possibly be when he arrives.

Directors and instructors of the schoo

are all batrle-tr.iincd themselves. F

thermore, they understand the art of ed

cation as well as thei r own particular s

ject; they constantly alter the syllabus

instruction to keep completely abreast

every new combat development. Th

know from experience the urgent need

a man to be a bsolutely "on the ball" fore he crosses the Channel. " *

AIR FORCE APRIL 19


27/203

r - ~ r " . ' 0< I t" "t. ,"'~'::

.,~

Solicitude at the station knows no bounds. 'W

Mr". Peter" of the local "Sewing Mom.;' rep

the sergeant's -lecve, ;\Iis,. Randolph of the

Cros- tempt,; him with a basket of home made

hits, Poor old General Slu-rm.u: would roll igrave at ,uch a "i~hl.

\\'hile "oakin~ UJl the -uu and -outheru "i~hts, a

couple of horn her pi lots indul~e in t lu-ir favorite

p:btillle-ar~llin~ till' relativ .. merit- and -upcri- r : , ; f . .J.-,....or it v of the B-17 and B-2!. Toda\'' ' hattie i,. tern- .

por:u'ily int"lTllpte,1 hv a f:H-l()~)kin~ job, com- I,

plete \lith war paint and trinunod ft",'lag':,

O ld home w eek at the station. Liberator Pilot

\Vinehcster, who has heeu as:-i~ned to a new

homher group in the proc,,"," of lH'in~ formed, find"

hi,; former navigator detail ..d to the -arne outfit.

The classification o!Iiel'r .uu] the lIit:ht surgeon

share their delight in keeping an efficient combat

team intact.

Each t'{'llImee',; service record and all hi,; GI mr-moralulia

arc ~i, cn a rit:id inspection at the Rcdi"trilHltion Station. A,;

a t'{',ult, ill this instanc.-, :Ua"ter Scr~eallt O'Rourke ha" been

enridw,1 hy -ix months' hack pay 011 th'ing time. Oyerflowing

with upprr-ciat ion, he ])()!'" for the lads ill the record scrt ion

whu helped to make it po,;,;ihle.

After fighting Jap;;, malaria and boredom in the,

Southwest Pacific for the past two year", the peace

and comfort at this A AF Shangrila seem l ike a

dream to Captain Foster, USO hostess Sally Wal.

lace is sufficiently impressed with the riot of color

on the Captain's che-t.

Co-pilot Grant is the proud possessor or

the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air:VIedal and has fifty succes-I ul missions to

his credit. Todav I;e makes his first forcedlanding hutmlT~rs no more than a bruisedego and empennage,

AIR FORCE, APRIL, 1944


28/203

F L Y I N G S A F E T YSuggestions from the Office of Flying Safety. Headquarters,:Army Air Forces. in the interest of accident reduction.

These items are for e du cation al purpose s and are n ot to be construed as directives,

USE THAT HARNESS

In recent accidents a number of flyershave received needless injuries through

failure to comply with AAF Regulation

(,2-1 R , which requi res that safety har-

nesses shall be used in all planes fur-

nished with the equipment.

To help correct this situation, Air In -spectors of t he Training Command cur-

rently are treating wearing of harness, aswell as safety belts, as a" special subject

for inspection.

The only conceivable objection to wear-

ing a harness is that it restricts movement

when locked. However, once a plane is in

flight, it is a sirn ple matter to throw a

lever at the base of the seat releasing the

tension and providing a f lyer all of the

freedom he needs.

The harness, of course, should be

locked during all take-offs and landings

and aerobati~s, as well as when a cra~h

landing is imminent.

Additional information on this subject

!-:1aybe found in Pilots' Information File,

(,-S-I, as revised 1 August 1943.

PILOTS' ADVISORY SERVICE

During their first full month of opeLI-

tions, the 23 Flight Control Centers, OFS,

issued 1,83'1 flight advisory messages,

warning pilots of dangers and furnish-

ing alternate procedures when necessary.

When pilots maintain a listening watch

of Communications Stations en route, they

are in a position to receive any report of

changed conditions. When they hi! to do

so, they arc t hrowinu .iwav the hcilities of

a nation-wide oruanizarion in [avor of trusting to luck. l:he reports which follow

illustrate the two alternatives.

Two B-17s took off from Puehlo.

Colo .. at 00'5'5 on a round robin t1i"ht

(Contact Flight Rules). Within a sl~~rt

time, weather conditions at Pueblo grew

worse. The Denver Flit.:ht Control 'Cen-

ter attempted to convey this informa-

tion to t he planes by means of range

stations in the path of the fli ,t .:ht. No

contact was made. The planes returned

over Puehlo at around O'5.'>(), and one

of them attempted to land with an soo-foot overcast and a g round fog. The

bomber crashed and l~urned. Th~ other

26

plane, milling above the overcast, sub-

sequently received FC advice that Col-

orado Springs was CFR and made a

safe landing there.

A C-7S left the Army Air Field at

Garden City, Kan., for the auxi liary

field at Gage, Okla. (Contact Flight

Rules) .

When the flight plan was received

by the Albuquerque Flight ControlCenter, weather reports there indicated

a 400-foot overcast at Gage. The CAA

range station at Gage was' instructed to

convey

air force news ~ apr-jun 1944

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