Full text of ""Air Forces News Letter," Jan. 1942 - Dec. 1942"

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AOOMWS Kin-Y TO

CHIET OF THE AIR CORPS

WAR DKRARTMCNT
WASHINOTON, D. C.

WAR DEPARTMENT
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF THE AIR CORPS

WASHINGTON Hovember 16, 1941.

SUBJECT: Life Insarance.

TO: All officer c and enlisted men of the U. S. Amgr Air Toreee.

1. As the Kllitar 7 Personnel Division is charged with the
maintenance of an adrlsor 7 serrice on insurance, many questions are
presented from day to day. She need of coaqpetent adrlce on life in-
surance problems has been increased due to the heavy and rapid in-
crease in the personnel strength of the Army Air 7orcee.

2. To meet this need Major Waddell 7. Smith was some time
ago designated as the Insurance Officer, his duties being to diseeis*
inate all Information available in reference to aviation insurance pro-
tection and to conduct a oontlnTxous insurance educational caBq>aign in
the service.

3. In an attempt to answer the most general of questions
and to publish insurance information of wide Interest, a series of tea
articles were published in the Air 7orces Hews Letter, formerly the Air
Corps News Letter. Most of this Information is of such permanent value
that the ten articles are reprinted herewith, ver batlm.

4. All personnel are urged to study the contents of these
articles. Due to the lapse of time, some of the information contained
is inoperative. It should all be read, however, as a background, keep-
ing in mind the dates on which the eurticles were released.

7or the Chief of the Air Corps:

loas 7. Beau, ’
Lt. Colonel, Al
Chief, Military

Division.

lEADQUARTERS ARMY AIR FORCES

WASHINGTON, D. C.

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

NATIOHAL S B E V I OB

Eeprlnt from Air Forces Hews Letter,
December 15* 1940.

This Is the beginning of a series of
articles on life Insurance, and Its In-
tent is to disseminate Information to
Air Corps officers concerning U. S. Gk>T-
ernment Life Insurance, National Service
Life Insurance, relative merits of the
'louB forms of policies and time
lit 8 within which It may be obtained.
Is suggested that Post Adjutants keep
file of this and successive Insurance
ides for the future reference of
)e Interested.

■ October 8, 1940, an Act was signed
le President, and that part relat-
;o Insuraince Is known as "National
service Life Insurance Act of 1940."

By the provisions of tills Act, Govern-
ment Insurance is no longer obtainable
by those In the service or who subse-
quently enter the service. Substitut-
ing therefor is what 1s to be known as
"National Service" Life Insurance. The
maximum is $10,000, and it must be ap-
plied for on the 5-Year Level Premium
Term Plan. This plan is low in cost
^ and has no cash or loan value, but by
, . law may, after one year or any time
' - within the five years, be converted to
Ordinary Life, Twenty Pay Life or
Thirty Pay Life. The rates on the con-
! verted forms sire not published yet and
^ there will not be avsdlable suiy of the
endowment forms that were offered in
^ United States Government Insursmce.
.Neither will the special disability
clause be obtainable, as it was in the

NO. 1.

kL JS INSUEANGB

By Waddell F. Smith,
Major, Air Corps.

U.S. Government Insurance for aa extra
premium. The rates for the 5-Year
Level Premium Term policies obtainable
now as National Service Life Insurance
are listed below as the monthly premium
per $1,000 insurance:

Age

Monthly

Premium

Age

Monthly

Premium

Age

Monthly

Premlom

.65

.74

$1.03

.65

.75

1.08

.66

.76

1.14

.66

.77

1.20

.67

.79

1.27

.67

.81

1.35

.68

.83

1.44

.69

.85

1.54

.69

.87

1.65

.70

.89

1.77

.71

.92

1.90

.72

.95

2.05

.73

.99

2.21

The law prescribes that those now in
the service (as of October 8, 1940) may
apply for this insurance at any time
within 120 days of October 8, 1940, pro-
vided they submit to satisfactory physi-
cal examination.

Those entering the service after Octo-
ber 8, 1940, may obtain this insurance
at any time within 120 days of admis-
sion into the service without physical
examination.

The policies as issued will, of
course, cover death from any cause, in-

eluding full aviation coverage, war
coverage, etc,, and if the policy hold-
er leaves the service he is entitled to
keep the insurance and enjoy all its
Denefits exactly us if he had remained
j,u i.ne service.

I'he insurance is to he administered
hy the Veterans Administration just as
is U.S. Government Insurance, and the
govornment will bear all the expense of
overhead, etc., and premiums may he
paid monthly hy entry on pay vouchers
(pay rolls for enlisted men.)

411 policies will contain a free dis-
ability clause which provides that if
tha insxired is disabled totally for a
period of six months, that from that
day on and as long as the insured re-
mains disabled the premiums on the poll
cy v/ill be waived.

A total of no more than $10,000 may
be held of U.S. Government Insurance
auh national Service. Therefore, any
persons not holdir.g $10,000 of Govern-
ment Insijrance ma^’- apply for $10,000
of National Service Insurance or such
amount as will make the total of both
$10,000. It must be remembered that
tho'?e who were in the service on Octo-
ber 8, 1940, and who did not have Gov-
3rnx.'.,nt Life Insurance, must apply for
the National Service Ineurance within
120 days of October 8, 1940.

A great many officers failed to ob-
tain their U.S. Government Insurance by
not applying for it within 120 days of
admission into the service. This new
act therefore enables those individuals
to obtain insurance at low rates and, of
courte, the premiums charged need not
be increased to cover aviation hazard,
a3 la nB;;eseary in commercial insurance,

Apolicitiou form, Veterans Administra-
tion - #h"59A, may be used pending pub-
lication of new applications. Form

should be changed as follows; At
the top, delete the words "United
States Government" and write above it
"ih'.*:’ onal Service." In paragraph 12
dflete everything and insert "5-year
Level Premium Term. " Paragraph #14
e) d be deleted by drawing lines
tVc’Oug^x it. Paragraph 16 should be de-
1 3v.nl by iiiking out. In paragraph 18,
sol Tiference to premi-ums for disabil-

ity and allotment for disability should
be deleted.

The War Department has issued under
date ra October 31, 1140, a Circvilrn
No. i2t>i which thoroughly covers xhd s
National Service Insurance, and if otv
taiaable it is suggested that it be
read carefully. This should be found
on file in all post headqxiarters.

Although this National Service In-
surance is excellent and the best ob ”
tainable, it is inconceivable that an,'/-
one would be justitied in dropping the
U.S, Government Insurance in order to
b-uy the National Service Insurance;
though it is permissible if done prior
to 120 days from October 8, 1940. The
Veterans Administration advises tiiat
such action could only result in loss
to the U.S, Government Insurance policy
holder.

No criticism of this Insuranc! is
justified, as it is lowest In coot. The
entire administrative overhead rj-A afl
death claims due to the extra haiords
of the service are paid by the Gevern-
ment itself, and the premiums paid by
policy holders represent only actual
normal mortality costs, Purthon ' re.
it cannot fail, as it is guarantc.'.d i:r<
its entirety by tlve Government.

The rates and cash, loan, paid tip
Bind extended insurance values of the
converted forms of policies will he
printed as soon as they are published
by the Veterans Administration, and
will be quoted in a subsequent ai ti>vle
on Insurance in the Air Corps Kew«
Letter.

Those who are on foreign gervic: urc
advised that their applicatiom:*
not be in the hands of the Vetai u.
Administration within 120 da;/’s u;' C-.,'; .'
ber 8, 1940; rather, they will he
cepted if the application is mailed
and postmarked on oi- before 120
after October 8, 1940,

SPECIAL MEMORANDUM TO WORLD WAR

Following the publication of t' ■
rates for the new National Service lai's
Insurance, several, individuals evnesiv-
ed the idea of cashing out tbs u 0-

- 3 -

Gorerament policies In order to be able
to bTi 7 $10,000 of the new Insurance
within the 120->da7 limit. Upon super-
ficial consideration xt might appear
advantageous xmder some circumstances
to do this, but under no conditions Is
It advisable If the premiums are being
paid regularly.

k great many war veterans have 20-Tear
Sndoiment policies which are soon to
mature for their face value, leaving
them with no more Insurance. Several
of these Individuals have desired to
cash out their endowments In the United
States Goverxunent Insurance, Just In
time to be within the 120-day limit and
then obtain new National Service Insur-
ance. If It were not for the Circum-
stances to be outlined later, It would
be advisable to cash the endo%nnent. In
the past and until the last month, the
Veterans Administration has consistent-
ly ruled that when an endowment policy
(U.S. Government Insurance) matured and
the Insured received his face amount,
that he had thereupon surrendered his
rights, having had his full $10,000 of
insurance. However, a test ease was
made in spite of previous adverse de-
cisions, and the last inillng of the
Veterans Administration was that policy
holders (World War veterans only) whose
endowment policies matured and were
paid at maturity could Immediately or
any time thereafter apply for and re-
ceive a new $10,000 of Insurance on any
of the U.S. Government Insurance plans
at his attained age and could also ob-
tain the disability clause In addition.
This ruling applies also to those whose
endowment policies have already matured
and been paid. There Is no 120-day
limit Imposed on such cases, but satis-
factory evidence of Insurability must
be furnished.

It is highly advisable for a war vet-
eran to continue his endowment to ma^
turlty and then buy more U.S. Govern-
ment Insurance than to cash out his
endowment within 120 days and buy Na-
tional Service Insuranca. Sven If a
policy Is heavily encumbered with a
loan, It Is still advisable. The
United States Government Ins\rrance Is
more desirable than National Service
Instirance, as there are several more
forms of converted policies from which
to choose. Also, the special disability
clause may be obtained In conjtinction
with Government Insurance. Further, the
amounts of income to beneficiaries in
event of death are higher In the Gov-
ernment Insurance policies than in
National Service, as the rate of Inter-
est on which they are computed Is
higher. Nothing In this, however,
shovild be construed to detract from the
value of National Service Insurance.

If an Insured's endowment matures, he
may elect to take the face value in the
form of a monthly income for a limited
nxmber of months or to take It as a
life income. Those options should be
considered carefully, as they are comf
puted on a basis of 3^ interest, and
that Is better than can be obtained by
Investing. For example, $10,000 may bo
received at the rate of $57,50 monthly
for 20 years or a total of $13,800.

The additional $3,800 is 3^ interest.
Should an insured accept settlement of
hie matured endowment In the form of an
Income, that still does not bar him
from obtaining an additional $10,000 of
new U.S. Government Insurance.

In each future Issue of the News Let-
ter, pertinent points concerning U. S.
Government Insursuice and National Ser-
vice Insurance will be discussed.

NOmiBER 15, 1941 KJST SCfilFT ; The rates for the con-
verted forms of policies. Ordinary Life, 20 Payment Life
and 30 Payment Life have now been published and will be
found in Article 8, pages 22 and 23.

Application forms now in
use are Veterans Administration Insurance Form Number 350
(without physical) and 350 A (with physical) . All refer-
ence to Form Number 739 A should be ignored.

WAR DEPARTMENT
OFFICE OF THF CHIEF OF THE AIR CORPS
WASHINGTON

KO. 2.

SAflOSAL SXS7I0X LITE IH8UBANGI

u.s. QOYimssm iksusavoi

SFECZiL DISABILITY CLAUSl

Beprlnt from Air Force ■ Hews Letter,
Jaaiiazy 1, 1941.

Bjr Waddell 7. Smith,
Major, Air Corps.

The Decemher 15, 1940, iasiie of the
Neva Letter puhlished rates and facts
about the new National Service Life
lasurance which is now obtainable by
those in the service or who subsequent-
ly enter the service. This is a re-
minder that a time limit of 120 days
has been Imposed, after which aq>plica-
tion for the insurance will not be
considered. As the Act was signed by
the President on October 8, 1940, then
the time limit for those who were in
the service on October 8, 1940, will
l:q>lre on February 5, 1941. Those who
entered the service since October 8,
1940, or who may enter subsequently,
will have 120 days from date of entry
within which to apply. This insurance
is written at absolute cost by the
Government as the entire overhead is
assumed by the Veterans Administration.
Also, the Act which authorized the in-
surance provided for the creation of a
separate fund out of which all claims
will be paid when such claims can be
traced to the extra hazards of the ser-
vice.

Ho extra premiums are charged to
cover the extra hazard of aviation. The
Office of the Chief of the Air Corps is
very desirous that everyone in the Air
Corps, Reserves on active duty and avi-
ation trainees shall have this insur-
ance. This information should be tho-
roughly disseminated to all Individuals

now on foreign service, and any appli-
cations which are postmarked within the
120 days will be acted on. Any Indi-
viduals who may buy this insurance may
be assured that when they return to
civil life they may continue their in-
surance, and the premiums they pay will
not be used to pay any claims arising
from the extra hazards of the service.

The Tumsual value of this insurance
should be instantly appreciated, as the
policies cover death from any cause,
peace time or war time, in or out of
service. Many individuals have for
many years regretted not having had the
old U.S. CoTornment Insurance. They
now can buy this new Rational Service
Insurance. The time limit of 120 days
is positive, and no exceptions can be
made, and so it is urged that all post
commanders and organization commanders
continue to stress the value of this
insurance to the officers and men of
their oomand.

Many of the war-time officers have
20-year endowment policies written soon
after the war, and which will soon be
maturing for their face value. When
this money is received from the Veter-
ans Administration it must be reported
as income for tax purposes, but the
amount so received is exeipt from tax.
A test case was ruled on, and it estab-
lished its nontaxablllty. For refer-
ence, this case may be found in the In-

ternal Reroaoe Bulletin* and is known
as I.'T. - 3924, Bolletln 1939-2, page
151. This la an interpretation of a
ease under Section 3, Act of 1935. Jaj
Internal Herenoe agent will "be alile to
find this ruling, and it should he cited
in Baking out Federal income tax re-
ports.

This paragraph is to call to the at-
tention of holders of TJ.S. OorernBent
insurance policies (not the new Nation-
al Service Insurance) that thej have
the right to add a special dlsahllitj
clause to their policies hy making ap-
plication, passing satisfactory physical
examination and paying the extra premi-
ums required, j^plication may he Bade
at any time to the Veterans Admlnistrar>
tlon, hut it should not he delayed. The
value of this additional protection is
considerably in excess of the premiums
charged.

Any disahility arising from aircraft
accident or from war service is fully
covered, in addition to dlsahilitles
froB health causes or accidents. In
general, its provisions are waiver of
all future premiums on the policy and

payment of $5.75 per month per $1,000
of insurance without dissipating any
cf the principal of the policy, this
upon proof of disahility from any cstuse
which is total and exists for 120 days
or more.

One need not he retired from servioe
to collect this disahility, as oases
are on record where disahility payments
have been made during disability with-
out the individual having been retired.
However. Just the fact that an officer
is retired froB service does not mean
that he will automatically qualify for
this disahility benefit. It is pos-
sible for individuals to he retired with
disabilities which are insufficient to
qualify, even though they may he of such
a nature that they Bay last more than
120 days. The disability clause is of
great value and should he had by all
holders of IT. 3. Oovernment Insurance
policies. Tull information, rates and
application forms Bay he had by address-
ing an inquiry to the Veterans Adminis-
tration, Vashlngten, B.C. , or any of
its branches. Most supply rooms at aray
posts have these forms in stock.

NOVEMBER 15 . 1941 POST SCRIPT . K new 120 day period,
August 18, 1941 to Decenher 16, 1941, within which
certain military classes may obtain National Service
Life Insurance, is now running. See Article 10, page
30.

All aviation cadets

and aviation students are now by law automatically
Insured for $10,000 of National Service Life Insur-
ance, the premiums thereon being paid by the
government (Public Laws No. 97 and 99, June 3, 1941).

HO. 3.

INSURANCl FROOfiAMINO AHD

anpxs or policies discussed

Baprlnt from Air Porces Hewa Letiert
March 1. 1941.

The institution of Goyernment insur-
ance during the World War vas in effect
a goremment stas^ of approval on the
principle of life insurance. Its ef-
fect vas so wide spread that the en-
tire population was brought to an ac-
ceptance and adoption of the utility
and safety of life insurance. It has
become the most positive means of
transmitting the accusmlatlons of one
generation on to the next. Since the
World War the total voltune of life in-
surance in force in all life insurance
companies has trebled. Life insurance
has proven Itself to b« the most prac-
tical medium for army personnel to
create and pass on their estates to
wives and children. How the Goverzment
has again approved of life insurance
by offering Hational Service Life In-
surance to all who enter the active
service, whether they be Selective
Service enrollees, Hational Gxiardsmen
or Reserves on active duty. This new
grot$ is and will be of low average
age and the great majority without de-
pendents. Accordingly many will fall
to purchase any Hational Service Insur-
ance or as imich as they should. It
must be applied for within 120 days of
indxiction and that rule cazmot be void-
ed. Even though one has no dependents
a moderate amount is advisable Inas-
much as life Insurance is sure to be
needed eventually by the individual.

All organization commanders should
stress the importance of it repeatedly,
Strange as it seems, even Hational
Service Life Insurance must be "sold.”
Hational Service Life Insurance is pro-
vided by the U. S. Government and the
preoiiums Assessed are only enough to

• 6 —

By Waddell P. Smith,
Major, Air Corps.

cover normal mortality. All cost of
sCdmixiistratlon is assumed by the Gov-
ernment as are all costs of extra haz-
ards Incidental to the service, either
in peace time or war time. After the
Insured return to civil life he may
retain his insurance on the same ad-
vantageous basis. (See War Dept. Cir-
cular 125, Oct. 31, 1940 and Circular
149, Deo. 10, 1940.) The Government
has provided the insurance and it is
now tip to those eligible to recognize
its merit and apply for it.

Hational Service Life Instirance must
be applied for as a five year level
premium term policy. At any time after
one year and before the end of five
years it may be converted to Ordinary
Life, 20-Payment Life or 30-Payment
Life. The one year period of defer-
ment before converting is sound. Plrst,
if the term policy is dropped then the
Insured has not lost as he has had
value received in protection. Second,
the insured who converts after one
year will be certain of his desire to
continue the Insurance for life and
will have had a year to determine which
policy he wishes to convert to.

Much discussion arises as to what is
the beet form of life Insxirance policy
to carry. A brief discussion is here-
with presented. Of the many various
forme of life insurance policies, they
may be divided into three classes,
namely: term policies, life policies,

and endowment policies. A term policy,
as its name indicates, covers only a
limited number of years and as it does
not cover old age mortality and as it
bears no cash or paid up value, the
premiums are consequently low. Term

Insurance policies may 'be conrerted to
permanent forms of Insurance, but If
one Intends to convert them It should
be done as soon as possible to obtain
the rates applicable to the younger
ages.

Life policies are, as the name Im-
plies, life time contracts with level
premiums payable for life and the fsuse
amount of Insurance payable at death
whenever It oocurs. (Ordinary Life or
Whole Life). This form Is the lowest
cost Insurance which will provide a
life time of protection. The one ob-
jection to this form of policy Is that
the Insured does not want to have to
pay premiums all his life. Insurance
cost must be paid for, no matter what
the form of policy, therefore, to avoid
the necessity of payment of premiums
for life, the premiums which normally
wottld have to be paid over the years
of expectancy of an Insured are simply
compressed Into 20 years or 30 years
and the result Is a 20-Payment Life
Policy or a 30-Payment Life Policy,

In the last two mentioned policies,
if the Insured la living at the end of
the premium paying period, then no
more premiums need be paid and the
face amount of insurance Is paid tp
and payable at death. The third type
of policies are endowments. Any Sn-
dowment Policy must have a definite
matturity date and If the Insured Is
living on the mat-urlty date, then the
Insurance ceases and the face amount Is
paid the Insured In cash. An Xndowment
Policy Is actually a term Insurance
policy written at term Insurance rates
with enough added to the term premium
which, with earned Interest, will equal
the face amount of the term policy at
expiration.

The three types of life Insurance
policy forms have been described and
It Is now pertinent to note that no
endowment forms are available when ITa-
tional Service Life Insurance is con-
verted. As the Intent of the Govern-
ment Is to provide life Insurance and
as the purpose of an endowment Is pri-
marily savings, no endowment forms
have been provided. The most pop-ular
form of policy is Ordinary Life (also

known as Whole Life) and sixty per cent
of all Insurance sold each year Is Or-
dinary Life. It provides the greatest
amount of permanent protection for the
least cost.

This paragraph Is devoted to the In-
surance planning of regular officers
who, when young, want to plain ahead
their course in Insurauies buying. In
generad. Insurance Is used for three
purposes, namely faunlly protection,
education of children, and provision
for auldltlonal cash or Income for re-
tirement. Under average conditions
family protection should be bought first
and Increased from time to time until
the amount Is deemed totally sufficient
for one's estate. Next, educational
endowments for children are advisable.

The xuroal form Is an endowment policy
for such period of yeaurs which equals
the differential between the child* s
age and college age. The Insurance
should be on the life of the father,
with a trust agreement which. In event
of death, will hold the insurance prin-
cipal at Interest until college age
when the policy will mature for cash
and thereby provide the necessary edu-
cational funds. This form of Insurance
should not be bought until the family
has first been adequately protected
with Ordinary Life (or 20 or 30 Pay)
insurance as It Is high In cost for the
Bffloxuit of insurance involved. After
the family has been adequately protect-
ed and provision maae for education of
children, then the thoughts of the head
of the family will naturally turn to
some form of endowment which will ma-
txire at about retirement age to provide
funds for the purchase of a home. Such
a program cannot be completed until the
officer has had tieveral pay Increases.

A good rule to remember In deciding
what kind of Insurance to buy Is that
the natiiral purpose of life insurance
1s protection and " protection insur-
ance” Is what should be bought. How-
ever, as aforementioned, education of
children and retirement endowment are
valid reasons for violating the rule,
but only In moderate amount.

Air Corps Officers and Air Corps Se-
serve Officers are today confronted

-7

with some difflcmlty In o'btalning in-
surance without anjr restrictions Im-
posed, such as aviation waivers and
war clauses. However, insurance with
out such waivers and clauses can he
obtained, though the cos^anles still
writing it have established limits of
from $2,500 to $5,000. Two companies
will consider individual eases up to
$10,000. The Office of the Chief of
the Air Corps advocates the purchase
of insurance in adeq\iate amounts by all

Air Corps personnel, especially the
flying personnel. With conditions un-
certain, it is not at all unlikely
that the remaining conpanles who will
write insurance without restrictions
for service pilots, may at any time
withdraw. The names of some cosQ>anles
who yet will insure service pilots will
be furnished on request. Officers re-
questing this information should ad-
dress the Office of the Chief of the
Air Corps, Washington, O.C.

NOVEMBER 15. 1941 POST SCRIPT ; A new 120
day period is now running, August 18, 1941
to December 16, 1941. See Article 10,
page 30.

- 8 -

HO. 4.

A71AIIOH WllVSaS, YAH CLAOSXS iOlD IK3UHLS 1H]3SMHIT7 PR07ISI0HS

Reprint from Air forces Hews Letter,
March 15, 1941.

The most frequent question asked hj
military personnel about life insur-
ance is this: Is the life insurance

policy I bought from the John Hoe Life
Insurance Company still good since I
am now in the serrice? In ninety per
cent of the cases it is. However, one
should not believe blindly that his
policy is good. Neither should he be-
lieve to the contrary without fact.

Many cases have been known where in-
dividuals mistakenly believe their
policies did not cover military serv-
ice or aviation and allowed their pol-
icies to lapse.

This article is intended to aid those
individuals who are in the service, or
who may be called into service to de-
termine the coverage in their policies.
Xvery word will be inqiortant and the
article should be studied carefully by
the individual who is concerned about
a policy. However, it is impossible
so completely to cover the svibject that
all questions may authoritatively be
answered. Anyone in doubt about the
coverage of his policy should write the
home office, furnish the policy number
and ask the question. An officer once
said: "I am afraid to write the home

office and tell them Z am flying for
fear they will arbitrarily cancel the
policy." That feeling is wrong and
should be dismissed. A cogrpany might
be glad to have an aviator drop a pol-
icy which he obtained before he com-
menced flying. However, it is certain
that no coaqpany would go on record in
correspondence, stating that a policy
was not good, unless it actxially did
not cover aviation.

Life Insurance policies are presumed
to cover death from any cause, and if

By Vaddell 7. Smith,
Major, Air Corps.

liability for any specific hazard is
waived then it must be specifically
waived by rider in the policy at time
of issue. If any waiver of liability
is put in a policy after it has been
issued and accepted by the insured, it
may only be done at the request of or
with the permission of the insured. An
example of this is a life insurance
policy on the life of an aviator and on
which he pays an extra premium to cover
his occtq>ational hazard. He quits fly-
ing and asks for removal of the avia-
tion extra rate. The con^any does so
at his request and then includes a
rider providing that the policy no long-
er covers the insured for aviation ex-
cept while riding as a fare-paying
passenger on the air lines.

In addition to aviation coverage,
policyholders often are concerned about
two other occupational factors, namely,
military service in time of peace and
military service in time of war. All
three of these occupational phases will
be dealt with in subsequent paragraphs.

Life insurance coirpanies are enq)ow-
ered to issue contracts of Insurance,
when such contracts Involve the use of
the mortality table or, in other words,
when such contracts are based on the
expectation of life of the one con-
tracted with. Inasmuch as policies
are life-time contracts, the Issuing
company is charged with responsibility
for investigating and determining all
requisite facts before entering into
the contract . Then when a company once
approves an application and the con-
tract Issued, the insured is considered
to be insured for life, the InsTorance
to be payable in event of death from
any cause, no matter how, when or where

it may happen, so long as he pays the
ji'^emituns. It is not the province of a

' « Insurance company to he able to
£ ,ge or readjust the terms of a pol-
: ■ just because an insiored chooses to

i. or his mode of living, develops
heai-t trouble, or changes his residence
to a feverish tropical country or learns
r • fly, or goes to war, etc. As men-

t' aad, the burden of determining the
i r-pticted physical and occupational risk
i « upon the company, based on their
own informational sources and the state-
ments made by the applicant in the
inysical examination and application.
State insurance commissions are loath
to permit the companies to put riders

ii. policies eliminating liability in
event of death from certain specific
causes, as the mortality tables, when
developed, Included deaths from all
causes. Life insurance policies,
therefore, are presumed to cover death
ii'om any cause and can never he can-
celled or raised in rate by the com-
panies, though some exceptions will be
noted later.

Until war was declared in Europe, the
coxtunercial insurance companies were
not s^prehensive about war hazard. Con-
sequently in the regular routine of is-
suing policies they felt no necessity
to use aviation, war or military serv-
Icfa exclusion riders, and it is x^retty
certain that policies Issued before
that time on applicants in civil life
contained no such restrictions. Many
aviation cadets and Air Corps Reserve
officers bought insurance policies at
Standard rates and with no exclusion
riders before they entered or applied
for admission to the service. Such
X>oJicies are perfectly valid even be-
fore expiration of the contestability
period in the policy. However, if aj)-
plication had already been made for
aviation training, and the answer "No"
v/as given to a question in an insur-
aace application "Are you now or do
you have any intention of becoming con-
nected with the military or naval serv-
ice, either reg\ilar or reserve? ", then
tuat is a misrepresentation and, if the
company learns about it, they cam can-
cel the policy or, if death occurs

from an aircraft accident, they can
contest payment of the claim, but can-
cellation or contest must begin within
the cuxite stability period in the t>oli-
cy, usually two years,

Ihe X'Oint of expression intended in
the preceding paragraph is that if at
the time of application the individual
is not already in military or naval
service and is not then flying or has
not in writing expressed a request for
such service, a policy Issued on such
application is good from date of issue
in event of death from any cause. That
is true even if the insured subsequent-
ly enters the service, aviation or
ground service. If death occurs, even
in time of war, the face amount of the
policy is payable.

Since war was declared in Europe,
all the companies have considered use
of military service, war service and
aviation service exclusion riders and
have used them in individual cases or
on certain age and sex classes where it
was felt the possible risk was too
great to assume. The insurance com-
panies axe justified in tliis, for their
first duty is to protect the interests
and Invested assets of the policy hold-
ers who already are in the company.

This article relates only to policies
already owned and in force in commer-
cial insurance companies; therefore, no
mention is made of what, if any, re-
strictions might be found imposed in
policies that may in fut\ire be appilied
for by those who are now in the mili-
tary service.

The "Contestibility Clause" in every
life insurance policy is -universally
mi s-under stood by policyholders and
usually adversely understood. An ex-
planation of this clause, therefore,
is necessary. Every company uses its
own phraseology, but the general im-
port is the same in all, so that an
interpretation of one practically means
all. When such a clause says; "This
policy shall be incontestible after
two years from date of issue," it does
not mean that an insurance company can
refuse payment within that time or
cancel the policy within that time,
and it does not mean that an ins-ured

- 10 -

vast wait two yeare to 1)6 anre of hla
protection. It does nean that, if a
fraud or misrepresentation is ia^oaed
x^on an insurance oos^pangr to obtain an
Insurance poll 07 and if the coBpanjr dia-
cowers it within two 7oars (some poli-
cies one 7ear) , the7 may sue to cancel
the P0IIC7. If the coaipan7 does not
dl scorer the fraud or misrepresenta-
tion and the insured dies within two
7ears, then if the compan7 can prore
the fraud or misrepresentation the7 can
contest paTment of the insurance. The
fraud or misrepresentation Blast hare
been made to obtain the Insurance and
it must be in the pollC7, as a part of
the statements Blade in the application
or to the medical exasilner. If fraud
or Bilsrepresentatlon was eomsiltted and
the Insured dies within two 7ears, eren
then in order to contest, the C0B^an7
must prore that the fraud related to
the cause of death. If an i^plicant
concealed the fact that he was an avi-
ation cadet and obtained insurance, but
died in an automobile accident within
two 7ears, the eompan7*s protest would
not hold. As a matter of pollC7, no
one would carr7 Insxirance pa7able iqion
death which might not occur until BUU37
7ears hence, if it was thought that
the claim would be contested. Assur-
ance is therefore given b7 the oon-
teetlbillt7 clause that, after two
7ears, the compan7 deprives Itself of
an7 right of contest except for non-
payment of premiums. By repetition it
is again stated that a policy may not
be contested even within the two-year
period unless fraud or misrepresenta-
tion was committed to obtain the policy.

ill companies offer an additional
feature with life insurance policies
for an extra premium, known as a "Dou-
ble Indemnity Clause” or "Accidental
Death Benefit.” Three clauses gener-
ally provide that if the death of the
Insured occurs from accidental causes
that the face amount of the policy will
be doubled. In the last few years, In
addition to all deaths from natural
causes, siccidental deaths of all kinds
have increased the rate by approximately
10^, These clauses are therefore good

added protection, bnt it mast be re-
membered that these clauses do not
cover all -accidental deaths. The
clauses generally state that "Provided,
however, that no Double Indeainlty shall
be paid if the death of the insured re-
sults from suicide, sane or insane,
participation in riot, insurrection, or
civil commotion, or from subBiarlne op-
erations or aircraft flights (except
M a fare-paying passenger) or from
participation in aillitary or naval
service in tlBie of war.”

How Biany times have we erroneously
heard: ins-uranee doesn't cover me

on flints in army aircraft,” or ”Hy
Insurance is no good in time of war.”
These misunderstandings can nearly al-
ways be traced to reading the excep-
tions in Double IndoBinlty Clauses, as
noted in the previous paragraph. The
insured carries the iBQ>reesion that
war service, aviation, etc., are not
covered when actually the policy is
good, only the Double Indemnity fea-
ture being restricted.

Many commercial insurance policies
which were obtained prior to entry in-
to the Air Corps contain disability
clauses which provide that, if the in-
sured is disabled from either sickness
or accident for 120 days or more (or
varying period), the company will waive
future premiums on the policy and, in
addition, pay a disability income to
the Insured. These clauses do not gen-
erally exclude disabilities occasioned
by war service, flying accidents, etc.
Therefore, policyholders in service
who have such disability clauses may
doubly appreciate them, especially if
any flying is being done.

Any reputable life insurance coiapany
will do exactly what its policy con-
tracts provide. Therefore, it is im-
portant that every policyholder should
read his policy. Most questions can
be answered in that way. However, aiany
qri^eetlons do come -oq> and matters of
fjarHoe are needed. Hvery policyhold-
er should feel free to c«J.l on the
agent sold him the policy« or that
office In which the policy records are
carried, or the home office. One who

- 11 -

is awci7 from home can. ea8ll7 obtain
adTlce and eervlce by calliag on the
aeareet local office of hio inenrance
oos^any. Hoverer, nhenerer any change
la xuuie in a policyi or an amendment
or an interpretationt it amat come from
the home office in order for it to be
binding upon the coapany*

The foregoing article haa dealt en-
tirely with life Insurance wit ten by

private life insurance companies. Ho
mention has been made of U. S. Gk>rern-
ment Insurance or National Serrice(U.S.)
Insurance. !Fhe fforemment, through
the U. S. Yeterans Bureaut administers
this Insurance, and its purpose is to
protect against all accident hazards.

Ho military, war or aviation exclusion
riders are ever used.

"OLD LIHl”, "LSOiL EBSIETI",
"STOCK" MD "NDTOiL" IHSUBAHCB

Beprlnt from Air 7oro«t levs Letter
i^rll 1—16, 1941.

Bjr Waddell 7. Saith,
Major, Hr Corps.

SO. 6.

What Is an "Old Line* life Insurance
conpan7T What Is meant hj "legal re-
serye," a "stock cos^any" and a "mutual
conqpanjrT* These points are most gen-
erally understood hut ezplanatlon should
he of Interest.

"Old Line* Is simply a popular name
for Legal Beserre," therefore they
are synonymoua, and any future refer-
ence to "Legal Beserre* Insurance will
also mean "Old Line* Insurance. Any
life Insurance conpany which Is char-
tered to do huslness as a legal re-
serve cospany most set aside the legal-
ly required reserve which Is established
hy law as being required to make each
policy financially secure. The reserve
Is nothing when a policy Is Issued,
hut It Increases yearly as the poll^
Increases In age and the Increase Is
effected hy Inpoundlng a part of the
premium each year cuid Investing and
compounding It. The legal reserve
(cash value) of an Ordinary Life policy
must continually Increase until at the
age of 96 the reserve will equal the
face amount of the policy. The mortal-
ity table runs out at the age of 96;
therefore, any persons Insured who are
living at age 96 are paid the face
amount of their policies. An Ordinary
Life policy is, therefore, an Bndow-
ment at 96.

The amount of legal reserve must he
continually increased even after a
policy becomes paid xp. A twenty pay-
ment life policy issued at age 20 is
paid up at age 40, with a reserve
value at 40 of approximately $460 per
$1,000 of Insurance. After age 40 the

reserve continues to Increase, not from
premiums hut from Interest earned and
cospouxided on the reserve itself. The
reserve on an endownent policy must he
Increased as rapidly as the age of the
endowment Increases. At maturity of
an endowment the reserve must equal
the face amount of the policy In order
to pay the face amount in cash. From
the foregoing it can be seen that every
life insurance policy in force on the
hooks of a company has an Individually
ascertainable reserve based on the age
of the Instired at date of issue of the
policy, age of the policy after issue,
type of policy, such as Ordinary Life,

20 Payment Life, or Sndowment.

In peroalng the financial statement
of a legal reserve life Insurance com-
pany, the Item listed under Liabilities
as "Legal reserve to protect the policy-
holders” is an amount equal to the sun
total of each individually calculated
reserve on each policy, for that year.

Legal reserve is of interest to poli-
cyholders In two ways. First, If
every policyholder of a legal reserve
life Insurance coapany decided on the
same day to surrender his policy for
cash, then the legal reserve held by
the coapany would be Just the required
amount to pay off every policyholder.
Second, if a legal reserve life insur-
ance compaxiy should cease doing brisl-
ness, then the legal reserve, which the
various states can control, would be
sufficient to pay all death claims as
they occur and pay all endowments as
they mature, provided those insured
continue payment of their premiums. All

legal reserve funds are invested In
state approved securities and at any
tine that a company is considered near
to insecurity, the state in which, it
is incorporated can conqpel it to cease
selling new insurance. The legally
recLulred reserve of course is adequate
protection for the policyholders and
if the state should deem it necessary
to protect the policyholders, the en-
tire legal reserve and the policyhold-
ers may he transferred to another com-
pany for management or merger.

In buying commercial insurance it is
ln 5 >ortant to ascertain the rating of
the company. All of the major insur-
ance companies have now and have con-
tinuously had top ratings for years.

Each company is rerated every year.

These ratings may be obtained from the
National Underwriter Company, Cincinna-
ti, Ohio, or Alfred M. Best and Company,
New York, N.Y. or your insurance agent.
These institutions rate insurance com-
panies Just as Dunn and Bradstreet rate
the credit of business concerns.

The legal reserve life insurance com-
panies ere divided into two classes,
"stock companies" and "Mutuals." Both
types by law establish the legally re-
quired reserves to protect policyhold-
ers. The difference is that the rates
of stock companies are fixed at the
lowest possible level and no dividends
are paid to policyholders. The mutual
compainy's rates are usxially higher than
the stock company rates, but the mut-ual
companies refund this excess charge as
a dividend to the policyholder and
the amount of dividend is dependent oi
mortality, savings, administration cost,
and interest earnings.

Originally, life insurance companies
wotild issue a policy only when an ap-
plicant was absolutely a standard risk,
physically and occupationally. Probably
half of the companies still refuse to
issue a policy unless the risk is stand-
ard and can be Issued at standard
rates. A good many cou 5 )anie 8 , however,
now practice writing sub-standard poli-
cies for physical and occupational im-
pairments. For example, a man who ?s
Overweight would be turned down by one
company while another company would

accept the risk by adding to the stand-
ard premiums. An army pilot may be
turned down by one company yet another
will add $1.00 per month per thousand
and insure him.

The $1.00 per month per $1,000 extra
rate for Air Corps officers was estab-
lished in 1930 and except for some
variations, has remained and is accepted
today as the extra premi-um required to
cover the aviation hazard. Years back
the accident rate was higher than now.
The present low accident rate, however,
has not effected a reduction in insur-
ance extra premium charges.

There are a number of good life in-
surance companies who several years
ago adopted the $1.00 per month per
$1,000 extra rate for Regular officers
in the Air Corps. As these companies,
with two or three exceptions had no
one familiar with the army and avia-
tion who specialised in this type of
insurance, they have to this date had
few applications from Air Corps offi-
cers. Having little or none of this
aviation business, they have not felt
impelled to withdraw their policy of-
ferings to aviators because of the
possibility of war exposxire.

These companies have all, however,
Euiopted a rule that they would not ac-
cept any applications from brokers.

They will, however, issue policies when
the applications come in from their
full time civil life agents in their
various offices around the country.

Care should be exercised before accept-
ing a policy to determine that it does
not contain a war clause or an aviation
waiver.

Air Corps Reserve officers on extend-
ed active duty have generally never
been eligible for life insurance with
aviation coverage. Their hazard while
on active duty is comparable to that
of the Regulars. However, a life in-
surance policy is a life time contract,
amd if a policy is issued while on ac-
tive duty the company must continue on
the risk after the active duty period.
Not knowing what the post active duty
risk may be, the companies have not
been willing to issue to officers with
aviation coverage. One company is re-

- 14 -

putedly villiQ£, howerer, to accept
Air Corps Eeserre officers* and. the
Identity of the cospany vill be fur-
nished on request.

The office of the Chief of Air Corps
strongly adrocates the purchase of
life Insurance. At the present time

there Is no guarantee that Insurance
may be bought In the future. Any ad-
Terse headline of the newspapers can
easily be such as to cause the insur-
ance companies to withdraw their offer-
ings until complete settlement of the
International situation.

- 15 -

NO. 6

LIIE INSURANCE CpiSTIONS AND ANSWERS

Reprint from Air Ibrces Newe Letter,

May 1, 1941.

QjJESTION; Can ny U. S. Government
Life InsTjrance Policy (not National
Service Life Insurance) be paid in in-
stallments to ny beneficiary in event
of my death?

ANSWER; Yes. All U. S. Government
Life Ins;irance Policies (not National
Service Life Ins\irance) are paid to the
beneficiary in a lump sum unless the
insured elects daring his life time
how the proceeds shall be paid and then
the method of settlement he elects is
a compulsory settlement. However, he
may cancel the provision or change it
at any time during his life time. If
the insured makes no election, then the
beneficiary may elect to take the pro-
ceeds in installments instead of a
lump sum. However, since few benefi-
ciaries will avail themselves of the
opportunity, tne ins'ored should pre-
scribe the method of settlement during
his life time.

Option No. 2 in the policy provides
for a limited number of monthly pay-
ments. The amount of the monthly in-
stallments depends on the number of
months selected, which may be from 36
to 240 months. The installments are
computed by figuring in 3i% interest
in advance 6ind the table of amounts of
monthly installments are in the policies.

Option No. 3 provides for a monthly
payment to the beneficiary every month
for life. The amount of the monthly
income is determined by the age of the
beneficiary at the tiae of the death
of the insured. Two hundred and forty
such installments are guaranteed and
should the beneficiary die after the
insured and before receiving at least
240 months installments, then the re-
maining installments will be paid to

By Waddell P. Staith
Major, Air Corps

the contingent beneficiary. This option
has the advantage of a guaranteed monthly
income to the beneficiary, so long as the
beneficiary lives.

A Safe Investment

These options should be utilized by in-
sured personnel. A widow can rarely in-
vest a lump sum of money with the same de-
gree of safety and get 3^^ interest on it.
Even though S- beneficiary should be frugal
and not given to reckless spending, there
still is the ever present possibility of
improperly investing a lump sum of money.
United States Government Life Insurance is
a sound medium for the insured to create
an estate, therefore it should be equally
as sound in conserving the estate for the
beneficiary. No reference has been made
to National Service Life Insurance which
is the form of insurance issued in the
service since October 8, 1940. This in-
surance is made payable to the beneficisury
in installments without any action on the
part of the insured. Any installments
that may be due a beneficiary are not sub-
ject to attachment for debts of a bene-
ficiary.

Guardsmen Eligible

Q,UESTI0N: I am a National Guardsmen.

Am I entitled to buy National Service Life
Insurance?

ANSWER; The National Service Life In-
surance Act of 1940, passed October 8, 1940,
permits anyone who is ordered into active
service for a period in excess of thirty
days to apply for National Service Life In-
surance. All personnel of the National
Guard that have been inducted into Federal
seivice under existing law are entitled to
apply for this insurance. Application
must be

16 -

aad« however within 130 days of induo-
tion.

Selective Service enrolleee in acti/e
service and neahers of the Officers Ee>
serve Corps and the Inlisted ^serve
Corps who are ordered into active serv-
ice for a period In excess of thirt 7
are also ellglhle within the 130
Halt. Officers in the Regular
▲riiQr are ellglhle onlj within 130 daors
of eoanlsslon. l^on proaotlon an of*
fleer is not given a new chance to ap-
ply. Xslisted sen in the Begolar iragr
may ^pply within 130 days of enlist-
lasnt and each reenllstaent. Aviation
Oadats who failed to apply for any Ha-
'(.ianal Service Life Insurance or the
maxlaran of $10,000 nay aalce a new ap-
plication for the insurance or the
calanoe to make a total of $10,000,
anly after discharge to aocepi a re-
serve commission, and thau must apply
vStain 120 days of ef'^e date of

extended active duty.

ifcllSSTlOirj I am in hegular Amy

i id Jifeve a $10,000 U. S. Ckiveruaent
,1. Insurance Policy to •^hich / have
*iv'. .V-.' special Cii:..'..; . cl.-ar-
ai .r^3tired seme* for

' * T * ty will I ■. .■ >• .-Ts.y/ ’ f ’It

the banufltt.': vl:ls ai. sabi i : ty

fr<Tm ;r -• e

\ a.' -

JSy0r,7 0 ^

a rro'vrla ’ if t-

When an Insured has added the special
dlsahllity clause, for which he pays
an extra premium, he still may not ex-
pect automatic qualification in event
of retirement. Though the special die-
ahility clause does not require per-
manent dieahility, it must he total
disahillty for a ijeiiod 1. of

120 days. There are cases on record
of Air Corps officers who have collect-
ed the special disahliity payments for
long periods, hut who were not retired
and who suheequently returned to a
duty status, il. though there is some
misunderstanding which the foregoing
63q>loration may clear up, auiything said
should not he considered derogatory to
the value of this special dlsahllity
clause.

The dlsahllity clause covers dlsahil-
Ity for un^' uavse, whether elckneee
or aceldec , , and it is an especsali/
good «uluf ‘ I is '-ii-verage in event

of dAaftl-l,U ;/ from a^.rcraft accidenT
and fi oo ddsabliity incurred In war
serri ce, wh^ hae a policy of

U. S> Ins'iraiif'-? 1« ru~

thC'i- .

c! sc S' r p 'licy and should do so*

T ' : .f ; zo'-’^ e y<? <■,.»? the

Tt:.;"'.. r'. write i, , 1 ''etar-

ans ^ . hTiph-! D, C.. . end. ask

f.,;, ' f -i' .«!,

polir- ■" 'ar

0 ^ a 1 . - -S.S <

het'"' > Life InsTirance

and Xiife Tnemrence’

Veterans Bureau. These are the only
tvo Insxirance hodies that are official
gorernmental functions.

Polic 7 Gan Be Keduoed

qPDESTIOH: If I huy the full $10,000

of National Service Life Insurance,
then can I later reduce the amount of
insurance If necessary?

ANSWXR: Tes. The amount of Insur-

ance can he rediiced at any time to any
amount of $1,000 or more. Hoverer, If
lees than $10,000 is initially applied
for, then the amount may not he in-
creased except \Q)On reenllstment in the
Hegular Irmy or upon being reordered to
active duty. If an Individual feels
that $10,000 may he too much Insurance
to carry permanently, the full $10,000
still should he bought if possible in
order to have the full amount of pro-
tection during the emergency. Any time
after one year, and before expiration
of five years, the Insxired can convert
any part of the insurance to one of
the three permanent forms. It is even
permissible to convert any amount de-
sired and still continue the balance
as term insurance for the remainder of
the five years. It is also possible
to convert part of the Insurance to one
plan such as Ordinary Life and another
part to 20- or 30-Payment Life,

({□ilSTION: What provision is made in

National Service Life policies in event
of disability.

ANSWER: If the Insured becomes total-

ly disabled for six months or more,
then the premiums on the policy are
waived for life or as long as the dis-

ability lasts. In event of death any
premiums so waived are not deducted
from the face amount of insurance. This
disability clause is granted to all
National Service Life Insurance policy-
holders without extra charge.

Easn'.t Received Poll^.

(^STION: I applied for my National

Service Life Insurance a month ago and
have not yet received my policy. When
should I eacpect it?

ANSWER: Up to April 19, 1941, the

Veterans Bureau had received 336,000
applications for a total volume of
$1,150,806,720 of insurance. It takes
time and great care to process all
these applications accurately. However,
the Veterans Bureau is getting out in-
dividual certificates to appliccmts,
acknowledging the insurance liability
of the Government and they generally
reach the applicants within thirty
days. This certificate will be re-
placed by a regular policy when the
insured converts his policy.

QUESTION: What if I should lose my

National Service Life InsTirance Cer-
tificate?

ANSWER: The claim will be paid in

event of death even if the certificate
is lost or destroyed. Indentity and
the military status of the deceased
will have to be established, also that
of the beneficiary. If, however, a
certificate is lost, the Veterans Bur-
eau should be notified and the policy
number furnished, if possible, along
with a request for a duplicate.

SAIlOm SZR7ICX LIXB ISSURMCl
ilTD VZTXRANS ilJMlinSTRAIIOK XITICZIENCT

SO. 7

Heprixit from Air Forces Sewe Letter,

Mey 15, 1941.

This article is directed to the at~
tentlon of all elaeeea of military per-
Bonnel who hare applied for National
Service Life Insurance since October
8, 1940.

Since that date the Veterans Admini-
stration has received more than 395,000
applications for National Service Life
Insurance and it can be seen that it
is a Herc\ilean task to process that
many applications. This article is
written to assure such applicants of
the status of their applications and
insurance coverage.

The Insurance Division of the Veterans
Administration has always been very ac-
curate in its contract relations with
policyholders and is continuing to
maintain its standards, but due to the
sudden load since October 8, 1940, it
has held difficulty in keeping pace,
plicants for insurance are urged to have
patience and allow the Veterans Admini-
stration time to shoulder the load.

All applicants who have met the re-
quirements in applying for the insur-
ance and are paying the premiums may be
sure that they are fully covered by the
Insurance, even tho\igh they have or may
not have received certificate.

Following a practice during the World
War, the Veterans bureau does not issue
a policy for the aiplication for Nation-
al Service Life Insurance. The Act of
October 8, 1940 authorized the issue of
a five year term contract with 3 )rlvllege
of conversion to a permanent plan of in-
surance after one year and before expir-
ation of the five years. As the initial

By Waddell F. Smith,
Major, Air Corps.

contract is for term insurance, the Vet-
erans Administration issues to appli-
cants a "National Service Life Insurance
Certificate." This designates the num-
ber of the contract, the amount of in-
surance, the effective date and the
name of the ipplicant.

This certificate is full evidence of
the contract of insurance and no policy
will be Issued tmless or until the term
contract is converted as provided by
law after one year from isstie and within
the five-year term period. When the in-
sured converts, he then will receive a
regular policy on the plan of converted
insurance selected.

Applications that are filled out cor-
rectly with service record properly
verified are usually acted on and a
certificate issued to the applicant
within a month. However, some are de-
layed due to necessity of verifying
service records with the Adjutant (Gen-
eral, dates of Induction, extension of
active duty. There is an endless amount
of work which must be done and done care-
fully and accurately in processing these
applications before the time comes when
the certificate can be mailed out.

It is suggested to new applicants
that they be certain that their appli-
cations are made out correctly and with-
in the 120-day period. Then they should
pay the premiums regularly, preferably
by deduction from pay, and in course of
time they will receive a certificate.

Applicants should make an exact copy
of the application to file as a part of
their papers and to keep until the cer-

- 19 -

tlfleate arrlTee. It is also a good
plan to put a maao with the oopj of the
application indicating how premlms are
heing paid, h 7 allotment monthly, or h 7
monthl 7 , quarterl 7 , semi-annual or
annual check.

WheneTer an 7 mone 7 is sent to the
Veterans hureau, whether check or mone 7
order, In paTment of an 7 premium after
the first, it should he made payable to
The Treasurer of the United States and
sent to Director of 71nance, U.S. Vet-
erans Administration, Washington, D.C.
Delay In crediting such sums will he
aTolded If, In communications a corre-
spondent gires his full name, service
number, amount of application, and age
and date of birth. It readily can be
seen that this will enable the Veterans
Administration to identify his insur-
ance record. There are so many diq>ll-
catlons of names that action must
be delayed until definite location of
the proper individual's record. It is
worthwhile to keep a copy of all such
communications as evidence of the trans-
actions.

Paragraph 14 in the application for
National Service Life Insurance asks
where and to whom the applicant wishes
the certificate mailed. A large per-
centage of certificates issued by the
Veterans Administration are mailed to
the individuals designated in Paragraph
14 of the applications. Also a large
percentage of such applicants forget
that they requested that the certificate
be mailed to some other individual and
then wonder why they have not received
their certificates.

Some iq>pll cants do not have any liv-
ing beneficiary within the permitted
classes, namely wife, child (including
adopted child, step-child or illegiti-
mate child) parent* or brother or sister
(including whole or half blood) of the
insured. Not having any relatives with-
in the permitted classes does not pre-
clxide issue of the insurance. Parar»
gr^h No. 12 of the application should
be completed "No living beneficiary
within the permitted classes." The
certificate will be issued to the appli-
cant and should he subsequently marry

or have children he then is privileged
to name such beneficiary. If an Instxred
dies without having a named beneficiary,
then search will be made and the insur-
ance paid to beneficiaries in the fol-
lowing order: First, widow, if she

survives the Insured. If no widow,
then payment will be made to child or
children, equally. If no children sur-
vive the insured, then payment will be
made to parent or parents if living,
otherwise to brothers and sisters.

If an applicant has no beneficiaries
within these classes, he should apply
for Insurance anyhow because of the
probable future need of the Insurance.
Under normal conditions, such an indiv-
idual could wait until the need arose.
However, National Service Life Insurance
must be applied for within 120 days of
induction into the service. The extreme-
ly high quality of the insurance and
the very low cost make of it a value
which is too good to pass up.

This insurance shotild not be looked
xpon as temporary protection for the
emergency; rather as permanent life time
insurance protection by conversion to
one of the regular permanent contracts,
after one year and before expiration of
the five-year term.

7ollowiz:g the Vorld Var, the War Bisk
Insurance Division of The U.S. Feterans
Bureau received many claims by widows
and parents for payment of husband' s or
son's Insurance, when such insxirance was
never applied for. The Veterans Bureau
was put in a bad light and had to face
the uj^leasant task of denying payment
to stqppoeed beneficiaries. Investlgar*
tion in most cases revealed that the
individual never applied for insurance,
but for x>ereDnal reasons advised wife,
mother, or other supposed beneficiary
that he had government insurance when
he had never cpplied for it.

In recent weeks the author has talked
with reserve officers, enlisted men, and
selective service enrollees and found
that some individuals were under the im-
pression that they were automatically
insured by the Quvemment and had so
informed their dependents. These con-
clusions were arrived at by casual

- 20 -

eonTersatlons with other uninformed
personnel, whereas th 07 should hare
sought accurate information from their
organisation commanders. The estab»
lishment of such misapprehensions as
stated ahore may not come to light Tintll
7sars later.

Difficult situations also arose after
the World War h 7 yetorans dropping their
insurance hut concealing the fact from
the beneficiaries. The Veterans bureau
then haid the unpleasant task of conylnc->
ing the beneficiaries that the insured
and not the Veterans bureau failed
to live iq) to the terms of the contracts
of insxtrance.

▲ little aside from the foregoing
subject is the dating of National Serv-
ice Life Insurance when it is applied
for near the end of the 120 -da 7 period
after induction. Howeyer, it is of such
interest that it will be mentioned in
this paragraph. The law allows onl 7 120
days and the application must be made
before expiration of that time. Howeyer,
regulations will permit the effectlye
date of the instirance to be the first

of the month following the month in
which application is made, proylded no
Cash payment is made with the appli-
cation and also provided deduction of
the first month's premiiaa is made from
the pay of the month in tdilch applicai-
tion is made. Acttially then it is
possible to haye the effectlye date of
the insurance m much as 30 days later
than 120 days after induction into the
service and still meet the requirements.
The date of application and not the
effectlye date anist be within the re-
quirement of law of 120 days. If, how-
eyer, the effectlye date is the first
of the folloirlng month, no insurance
coverage is proylded from date of appli-
cation until that date.

The Veterans Administration has always
shown itself to be more than anxious
and willing to go to any length to pro-
tect the interests of both insureds auid
beneficiaries. Add to that the intelli-
gent cooperation of the Individuals
concerned and the result will be a life
insurance service that is unequaled in
quality and relative cost.

NOVEMBER 15. 1941 POST SCRIPT ; Since June 3, 1941
aviation cadets and aviation students are automatic-
ally insured for |10,000 of National Service Life.
Cadets and students must, however, complete an
application in conformance with War Department Cir-
cular No. 132, July 8, 1941.

eonTersatlons vith other tmlnforaed
pereosnel, whereas ths7 should have
sought acciarate iaforaation from their
organisation commanders. The estab-
lishment of such misapprehensions as
stated above may not come to light until
years later.

Difficult situations also arose after
the World War by veterans dropping their
insurance but concealing the fact from
the beneficiaries. The Veterans btireau
then had the uiq>leasant task of convinc-
ing the beneficiaries that the Insured
and not the Veterans bureau had failed
to live up to the terms of the contracts
of insurance.

A little aside from the foregoing
subject is the dating of National Serv-
ice Life Insurance when it Is applied
for near the end of the 120-day period
after induction. However, it is of such
Interest that it will be mentioned in
this paragraph. The law allows only 120
days and the application must be made
before expiration of that time. However,
regulations will permit the effective
date of the insurance to be the first

of the month following the month in
which application is made, provided no
cash payment is made with the appli-
cation and also provided deduction of
the first month's premium is siade from
the pay of the month in %dilch applica-
tion is made. Actually then it is
possible to have the effective d^te of
the insurance m much as 30 days later
than 120 days after induction into the
service aid still meet the requirements.
The date of application and not the
effective date must be within the re-
quirement of law of 120 days. If, how-
ever, the effective date is the first
of the following month, no insurance
coverage is provided from date of appli-
cation until that date.

The Veterans Administration has always
shown itself to be more than anxious
and willing to go to any length to pro-
tect the interests of both insureds and
beneficiaries. Add to that the intelli-
gent cooperation of the individuals
concerned and the result will be a life
insurance service that is unequaled in
quality and relative cost.

NOVEKBER 15. 1941 POST SGRIFT ; Since June 3, 1941
aviation cadets and aviation students are automatic-
ally insured for #10,000 of National Service Life.
Cadets and stxidents must, however, complete an
application in conformance with War Department Cir-
cular No. 132, July 8, 1941.

- 21 -

MTIOML SERVICE LIFE INSURANCE.
ORDINARY, 20-PAY AND 30-PAY RATES

By Waddell F. Smith
yjajor, Air Corps

NO. 8

The National Service Life Insurance Act Age Monthly Qiaarterly Semi-Annual Annual

was signed on October 8, 1940. It provided

that

the insurance was issued. as

a five-year

♦1.80

$5.39

$10.73

♦21.31

level premium term contract and

that it could

1.85

5.54

11.03

21.90

be converted at any •

time after on year and

1.91

5.72

11.39

22.61

before expiration of

the five years to either

1.98

5.93

11.81

23.44

Ordinary Life,

Twenty Payment Life or Thirty

2.04

6.10

12.16

24.15

Payment Life.

On October 8, 1941, the first

policies will be one

year old and eligible

2.12

6.34

12.64

25.10

for

conversion. The following tables quote

2.19

6.55

13.06

25.93

the

rates on the three available

forms .

2.27

6.79

13.54

26.87

Rates for ages

not quoted will be furnished

2.36

7.06

14.07

27.94

by the Veterans Administration upon direct

2.45

7.33

14.61

29.01

request .

2.54

7.60

15.15

30.07

ORDINARY LIIE

2.64

7.90

15.74

31.25

Premium Rates for $1

,000

2.75

8.23

16.40

32.56

2.87

8.59

17.11

33.98

Age Monthly Quarterly Semi-Annual Annual

2.99

8.95

17.83

35. 4o

3.12

9.34

18.61

36.94

11.18

13.53

^.04

♦13. 97

******

1.20

3.59

7.16

14.21

TWENTY PAYMENT LIFE

1.23

3.68

7.33

14.56

Premium rates for #1,000

1.25

3.74

7.45

14.80

1.28

3.83

7.63

15.15

Age Monthly QuarterLv Semi-Annual Annual

1.31

3.92

7.81

15.51

1.34

4.01

7.99

15.86

31.91

$5.72

♦11.39

♦22.61

1.93

5.78

11.51

22.85

1.37

4.10

8.17

16.22

1.96

5.87

11.69

23.20

1.41

4.22

8.41

16.69

1.99

5.96

11.87

23.56

1.44

4.31

8.59

17.05

2.02

6.05

12.05

23.91

1.48

4.43

8.83

17.52

1.52

4.55

9.06

18.00

2.05

6.13

12.22

24.27

2.08

6.22

12.40

24.63

1.56

4.67

9.30

18.47

2.12

6.34

12.64

25.10

1.60

4.79

9.54

18.94

2.15

6.43

12.82

25.45

1.65

4.94

9.84

19.53

2.19

6.55

13.06

25.93

1.69

5.06

10.08

20.01

2.23

6.67

13.30

26.40

1.75

5.24

10. A4

20.72

2.27

6.79

13.54

26.87

- 22 -

Monthly Quarterly SemlAnnual Annual

$2.31

$6.91

♦13.78

♦27.35

2.31

6.91

13.78

27.35

2.39

7.15

14.25

28.30

2.44

7.30

14.55

26.39

2.49

7.45

14.85

29.48

2.53

7.57

15.09

29.95

2.59

7.75

15.44

30.66

2.64

7.90

15.74

31.25

2.70

8.08

16.10

31.97

2.76

8.26

16.46

32.68

2.82

8.U

16.82

33.39

2.88

8.62

17.17

34.10

2.95

8.83

17.59

34.92

3.02

9.04

18.01

35.75

3.10

9.28

18.49

36.70

3.18

9.52

18.96

37.65

3.27

9.79

19.50

38.71

3.36

10.06

20.04

39.78

3.46

10.35

20.63

40.96

3.56

10.65

21.23

42.15

3.67

10.98

21.88

43.45

THIRTY PAYl-ENT LIPB
Premium rates for $1,000

Age Monthly Quarterly Semi-Annual Annual

♦1.49

♦4.46

♦8.89

♦17.64

1.52

4.55

9.06

18.00

1.54

4.61

9.18

18.23

1.56

4.67

9.30

18.47

1.59

4.76

9.48

18.82

1.61

4.82

9.60

19.06

1.64

4.91

9.78

19.42

1.67

5.00

9.96

19.77

1.70

5.09

10.14

20.13

1.73

5.18

10.32

20.48

1.76

5.27

10.50

20.84

1.79

5.36

10.67

21.19

1.83

5.48

10.91

21.67

1.87

5.60

11.15

22.U

1.90

5.69

11.33

22.49

1.95

5.84

11.63

23.09

1.99

5.96

11.87

23.56

Age Monthly Quarterly Semi-Annual Annual

♦2.03

♦6.08

♦12.11

♦^4.03

2.08

6.22

12.40

24.63

2.13

6.37

12.70

25.22

2.18

6.52

13.00

25.81

2.24

6.70

13.36

25.62

2.30

6.88

13.72

27.23

2.37

7.09

14.13

28.06

2.43

7.27

14.49

28.77

2.51

7.51

14.97

29.72

2.59

7.75

15.44

30.66

2.67

7.99

15.92

31.61

2.76

8.26

16.46

32.68

2.86

8.56

17.05

33.86

2.96

8.86

17.65

35.04

3.08

9.22

18.37

36.46

3.20

9.58

19.08

37.88

All three forms of converted insurance
will contain a table of surrender values
consisting of cash or loan valvie, paid up
insurance value and extended insurance vali
The premiums cheirged for any of these threi
converted forms of policies are lower than
any obtainable old line legal reserve part-
icipating insurance. Policyholders will
receive a substantial euinual dividend iidiict
will further reduce the cost of the insur-
ance. No other insurance should be consid-
ered t3 be equal to these converted policie
due to the low rates and dividends. The
table of cash and loan values and paid v^>
and extended insurance values will be equal
to or greater than obtainable in any other
commercial insurance issued at the same age
and on the same plan of insurance.

New National Service Life Insiu:ance
Applications

The act authorizing this insurance pro-
vides that it must be axjplied for within
120 days (not four months) of induction
into the service or extension of active
duty. By reference to the following table
the last day upon which application may be
made 8uid signed amd put in channels or the
mail may be readily obtained.

- 23 -

Daily Table Showing the Last Day of the
Statutory 120-Day Period During Vttiich
Acceptable .^iplication Eor lns\u*ance
may be Submitted.

Entry Pinal Entry

Pinal Entry

Pinal

Date

Jan.l May 1 Feb.l J\ane 1 Mar.l

J\ine 29

July 1

Note ; This table being constructed for
PebiTaary witii 28 days, the proper allow-
ance must be Jiade for leap year.

Entry Pinal Entry Pinal Entry Pinal

Date Date Date Date Date Date

Apr.l July 30 i'^jay 1 Aug. 29 Jiane 1 Sept. 29

2 31 2 30 2 30

3 AUg. 1 3 31 3 Oct. 1

4 24 Sept.l 4 2

5 3 5 2 5 3

6 4 6 3 6 4

7 5 7 4 7 5

8 6 8 5 8 6

9 7 9 6 9 7

Entry Pinal Entry Pinal Entry Pinal

Date Date Date Date Date Date

May 10 Sept . 7 June 10 Oct . 8

11 9 11 8 11 9

12 10 12 9 12 10

13 11 13 10 13 11

14 12 14 11 14 12

15 13 15 12 15 13

Entry

Pinal

Entry

Pinal

Entry

Pinal

Date

July 1 Oct. 29 Aug. 1 Nov. 29 Sept.l Dec. 30

3 Dec. 1

Jan.l

4 Nov. 1

~24r-

Satry Final Entry Final Entry Final
Date Date Pate Date Date Ikte
July 27 Hov.24 Aug.27 Dec. 25 Sept. 27 Jan. 25

Entry

Date

Final

Date

Entry

Date

Final

Date

Entry

Date

Final

Date

Oct. 1 Jan. 29 Kov. 1 Mar. 1 Dec. 1 Mar. 31

2 Apr.

4 Feb

. 1

NOTE; This Table being constructed for
Fgbruary with 28 days, the proper allow-
ance must be made for leap year.

- 25 -

BIBIH MD MABRIAGS: CEBTinCAOSS
CIVCECE I2SCBEBS

Beprlnt from Air ForceB News Letter
August 1941

By Waddell F. Smith
Major, Air Corps

BO. 9

Many claims by dependents of military
personnel for Government Insurance, Nation-
al Service Life Insurance, pensions, com-
pensation, six months’ gratuity and arrears
of pay are tindnly delayed because of not
having at han d properly certified copies
of birth and marriage certificates and
divorce decrees.

Probably 75 per cent of people over the
age of 35 are under the inpresslon that
they cannot obtain a birth certificate.

Most all of these people can obtain a birth
ceirtificate if they write to the ptoper
office of record.

Officers and enlisted men themselves do
not need birth certificates except for
passport purposes. However, it is always
desirable to have one. It is x^B^smount,
however, that all military personnel should
have on file authentic certified copies of
the record of birth of wife 'and children
and a certified copy of the record of mar-
riage. If either husband or wife has been
previously married, no certificate of that
marriags is required but a certified copy
of the record of the divorce is required.

Whenever a certified copy of the record
of birth or marriage may be obtained, then
no governmental agency charged with settling
a claim will accept anything in its place.
From this It may be seen that church rec-
ords, records of family Bibles, affidavits
of individuals who witnessed a marriage,
ministers' certificates of having performed
a marriage, etc., are all refiised.

From the foregoing it may be seen that
the first step is to determine if there is
available a public record in the state,
county or city in which born and in which
married. Military personnel should write
immediately to the proper authorities to
obtain these documents. As the United
States Veterans Administration has been
constantly called upon to advise claimants
where to obtain certified copies of these
public records, Mr. Luther E. Ellis, of the
Veterans' Administration compiled the
names eind addresses in all states and
possBssions of the offices charged with
keeping the public records of birth and
marriage .

Die book is of such great utility that
the United States Social Security Board
asked permission to reproduce it. The
author is glad to be able to advise that
this book, under the name of "Custodians
of Public Hecords" is in the hands of each
of 477 field offices of the Social Security
Board. These field offices are all being
advised to make the information in the book
available to Air Corps personnel who can
visit any of the field offices.

In this volume will be found a separate
listing for each state and where to write
and how far back the records of marriages
and births go . Where it is found that
state records were not kept previous to
certain dates it will show what county
and city authorities may be written to to ob-
tain the records locally. The book also

- 26 -

Advises on records of deaths and divorces. the period in which the birth or marriage
Obtaining these necessary certified cop- occurred. That being established, it then

ies of the public records is very easy to is permissible to establish proof in other

put off. However, it must be remembered ways as follows;

that it is much easier for the records to

be obtained now than to leave the Job to PHOOF OF AGE

dependents, years later. The payment of 1. A Certified Copy Of A Church Record

many claims for Govenament insurance, pen- The Child Was Baptized In A Church ,

sions and compensation have been neld up Many churches maintain such records and

because of delay in obtaining certificates, the present registrar of the church will
frequently occasioning much financial em- make a sworn statement of the record,

barrassment to dependents. Even when it is 2. Sworn Statement Of Doctor Who Offi-
found that no state records are kept , many ciated At The Birth Of The Child . In many

cities and counties have bureaus of vital cases this cannot be obtained, due to deat

statistics available and it always should of the doctor or removal from the comraunit;

be the rule to write to the bureau of vital If obtainable, the doctor must swear to it

statistics of your city or county, when no before a notary.

state records are available. 3. Sworn Statement Of Two Witnesses

Much bad information and misunderstand- Present At The Time Of The Child* s Birth ,

ing is extant about birth and marriage This affidavit must be made by individuals

certificates. For example, in order to mar- who knew both parents at the time of and

ry, a license must be obtained — but that before the birth, but they do not actually

is not sufficient to support a claim, for have had to be present at the birth itself,
the marriage mi^t not even have been per- but must certify that they knew of the

formed. But let's assume that it was. Then birth and of the naming of the child, etc.

the minister or church official who per- 4. Notarized Certificates From Entry In

formed the service furnished a very beau- ihmily Bible Of The Birth . There are many

tifully engraved certificate that he did avenues for fraud in making certificates

on a certain day perform said marriage. from entries in family Bibles; therefore,

Tdat still is not sufficient. However, the such certificates may be refused and other

minister or church official, after perform- proof required. Or the family Bible itsel:

ing tne ceremony, makes a return affidavit withmay have to be produced,
the license to tne bureau of vital statistics 5. Bequest Veterans Administration To
which is charged with keeping the record. Obtain K:om Bureau Of Census The Record Of

That office then makes an official record The Family From First Record Of the Census

of the marriage. A certified copy of Which Was Made After Birth Of The C«hild .

that record, issued under seal by that This method is only a last resort and is

office is what is actually required. not requested by the Veterans' Administrs^*

Whenever a birth occurs, all physicians, tion unless they are convinced that no

hospitals aind institutions are required to proof of age can be obtained as outlined

report the birth along with the name of under the previous steps. Then the Veter»

the child, its sex, names of parents, etc., ans* Administration must be requested to
to the bureau of vital statistics charged obtan it from the Census Bureau. Such
with maintaining the public record. The census reports frequently require three

birth then is a part of the public record months to obtain.

and a certified copy of that record, issued There is an unending delay in the settle
under seal by the office or bureau in ment of claims, while awaiting proof of

charge is the document required to support age and it is, therefore, incumbent \ipon

a claim. all military personnel who are married to

It must be recognized, however, that in begin immediately to obtain acceptable reo

some cases there are absolutely no avail- ords of birth of a wife and children. It

able public records of birth said marriages. will be noted that eiffidavit of parents
In these cases then other proof will not be ao-to establish proof of age has not been
cepted until or unless a certified state- listed as acceptable,
ment is obtained from state or comty of-
ficials verifying that no public records of PROOF OF MAERlACffi

the birth or marriage is obtainable for (gee j^gxt page)

-27«

pBoof OF wmusm

1. Certified Cow Of Church Becord If
MwTriagie Was Performed In A Church . See
Proof of Age, Ko. 1.

2. Sworn Statement Of Minister Or Public
Official Who Performed The Ceremony . See
Proof of Age, No. 2.

3. Sworn Statement By Two Witnesses Who
Were Present At The Performance Of Ceremony .
See Proof of Age, No. 3.

4. A Notarized Certificate Made Up Prom
Entry Of The Marriage In Ihmily Bible .

DECREES OP DIVQRGB

Whenever a widow is claiming pension or
compensation for the death of a husband,
and it is shown that either the deceased or
the widow or both had a previous marriage,
then a certified copy of the public record
of the divorce proceedings must be obtained
and submitted before the ri^t of the claim-
ant can be established.

In order to obtain copies of divorce de-
crees, a request should be addressed to
the clerk of the coiirt which granted the
divorce. In a good many states, state rec-
ords of divorces are kept, con^Jiled from
reports submitted by the county courts.

Sven though some states maintain records
of divorces, they may not have any informa-
tion other than the names of the principals
and the date of dissolution of the marriage.
Ibr pension purposes a certified copy of
the actual decree and the terms thereof is
required; therefore, the copy of the decree
should be obtai ned from the court which
granted it.

The book, "Custodians of Public Records, "
also lists information for each state, giv-
ing the proper method of addressing ti^
county courts and it also supplies informa-
tion as to vffiich states maintain state rec-
ords of divorce.

Inasmuch as certified copies of divorce
decrees must be presented in support of a
claim, then they should be obtained at
once. Many cases are on record of coirrt
houses burning, resulting in destruction
' of records. Get them now when it is easi-
est. Dependents when making a claim are
always badly unnerved and it is the duty
of all military personnel to obtain these
necessary siqjporting documents in advance.

Certified marriage certificates are not
required for the settlement of United States

Government Insurance, National Service
Life Insurance or policies issued by com-
mercial life insurance con^janies. However,
as National Service Life Insurance is paid
to the beneficiary only in installments, a
certified copy of the record of birth must
be submitted. Even if the beneficiary is
under the age of 30 and receives the fixed
installments of t5.51 per month on #1,000,
for 20 years, a birth certificate is still
necessary to establish that the age is
under 30.

If the proceeds of either United States
Government Insurance, or policies Issued
by commercial life insurance companies are
to be paid as a life inccaie to the bene-
ficiary, then proof of age will be required
as the amount of the income is based upon
the age of the beneficiary.

A great deal of mi sunder standing exists
about photostats. Many Individuals have
had numbers of copies of birth certificates
and marriage certificates photostated and
it must be said that they are unacceptable.
Actually the original itself in order to
be acceptable woiold have to meet the re-
quirements as set out in this article.

Even if the original is acceptable, the
photostats would not be.

Photostats eu*e acceptable, however, vdien
they are actually made from the public
record by the bureau of vital statistics
or other official agency in charge of the
public record. It then is good only if
before the photostat is made, a marginal
indorsement is made certifying that it is
an official photostat of the public record.
It then must be signed under the seal of
the issuing office.

Very recently the author wrote, and the
Office, Chief of Air Corps published a
pamphlet titled, "Insuremce, Estate and
Wills," which is now in the process of
distribution throughout the United States
Army Air Forces. It was not possible in
that to go into detail about birth and
marriage certificates emd divorce decrees;
therefore, the material in this article
may be considered as a part of or an
addition to that publication.

This article is the ninth of a series
which has been published in the Air Forces
News Letter. Following publication of
one more article, all ten are then to be

- 28 <

combined into a conqpendltUD on insurance the Ihiited States Arw^ Air Ibrces.

and printed for distribution tbrou^iout

— 29 —

SPECIAL INSURAUCE OPFORrUNITI
FOR EMERGENCT FORCES

Beprint from Air Forces News Letter
October 1941

By Waddell F. Snlth
Major, Air Corps

NO.

The Service Extension Act of 1941 was
signed by the President and became a law
August 18. This law ^ve the President
authority to extend the periods of sei^ice
of all military classes for periods not
to exceed 18 months.

Section 3 of the act authorizes certain
military classes whose periods of seirvice
are extended by the President, and who
failed to apply for National Service Life
Insurance or the full amount of insurance
within 120 days of date of original in-
duction into service, to apply for now
and obtain the insurance without physical
examination. The Act allows 120 days
from signing or until December 16, 1941
within which time application must be
made.

By this authority those who failed to
apply originally for National Service
L^fe Insurance or for the full 110,000
may now make application, provided
their periods of service are extended.

OHIffilR NOT ALL-INCLUSIVE

The President on August 21, 1941 issued
an executive order. The executive order
did not extend the periods of service of
all military classes, therefore, only the
military classes whose service was ex-
tended by the order are authorized now
to apply for National Service Life In-
surance.

This article is presented to inform all
military classes of their ri^ts to in-
surance and not as an interpretation of
the law affecting their periods of mil-
itary service.

Some military classes are not entitled
to apply for National Service Life Insvir-
ance in the current 120 day period from
August 18 to December 16, 1941, therefore,
it is vitally important that all individ-
uals concerned be certain of their exact
military duty status.

Each military class will be taken \ip
separately and their ri^ts to apply for
National Service Life Insurance dtuing the
current period set out.

REGULAR ARMY

Officers . No provision was made for
regular officers in the United States Army
inasmuch as it was not necessary by law to
extend the periods of service of regular
officers.

Enlisted Men . No provision was made for
enlisted men in the regular amy. The
euiditional opportunity to apply for insur-
ance within 120 days of August 18 was in»-
tended to be extended only to the emer-
gency forces. Enlisted men in the reg-
ular army, however, are entitled to apply
for National Service Life Insurance within
120 days of reenlistment without examin-
ation. If the cvurrent enlistment should
be continued or extended, then application
may be made within 120 days of such contin-
uance or extension but subject to physical
examination.

Aviation Cadets and Aviation Students .
Special legislation enacted June 3, 1941
provided that all aviation cadets and
aviation students shall be issued
110,000.00 of National Service Life In-
surance, the premiums thereon being paid

-3C-

"by the Government for the cadets and
students. All classes of aviation cadets,
assigned to pilot training, or as "boitt-
bardiers or navigators, or to photography,
engineering, armament, meteorology, or
communications are included and the pre-
miums therefor paid hy the Government
during training. Aviation cadets and
aviation students are entitled either
upon graduation or discharge from such
status to continue their insurance hy
paying the premiums themselves.

Due to the foregoing, aviation cadets
and aviation students are in no way con-
cerned with the present period in which
certain military classes may apply for
insurance .

All aviation cadets and aviation
students should familiarize themselves
with War Department Circular no. 132,

July 8, 1941, which may he found in any
headquarters.

HESERVE OFFICERS ON EXTENDED
ACTIFE DUTY

Air Corps Be serve Officers . All such
officers now on duty should examine
their orders. If they were originally
ordered to active duty under authority
of Public No. 18, 76th Congress, pass-
ed April 3, 1939, and extension of
active duty if any, authorized under
the same Act, tiien such officers are
not entitled to apply for National
Service Life Insurance during the
120 day period from August 18, 1941.

Die periods of service of Air Corps
Resei*ve Officers on duty under au-
thority of Public No. 18 may he ex-
tended hy authority of that law for
periods up to a total of seven years.

As there was no necessity, the execu-
tive order of the President, which
extended the periods of military ser-
vice of vau:ious classes, as author-
ized hy the Service Extension Act
of 1941, did not extend the periods
of service of such Air Corps Ba-
serve officers. Inasmuch as the
executive order did not make such
extensions, therefore the cijrrent
120 day period for making applica-
tion for insurance does not apply
to such reserve officers.

It must he remembered, however,
that the already existing law en-

titles any reserve officer to a new 120 day
period within vdiich to apply for National
Service Life Insurance, said period com-
mencing as of the date on which reordered
to active duty or the present tour is con-
tinued or extended. Vpon being reordered
With an intervening separation from service,
application for the insurance is not subject
to physical examination. If the present
tour of duty is continued or extended, then
a satisfactory physical examination must
accompany the examination.

Reserve Officers . General . The reserve
officers of all arms, branches, and ser-
vices that are now on duty, excluding all
hut a limited number of Air Corps Reserve
officers and a limited number of reserve
officers of other branches, have been or-
dered to active duty under authority of
Public No. 96 , 76th Congress, passed Aug-
ust 27, 1940. The insurance provision in
the Service Extension Act of 1941 extends
to all such officers on active duty a new
opportunity to apply for National Service
Life Ijjsurance within 120 days of August
18, 1941, subject to the following limit-
ation. Only such reserve officers may ap-
ply whose current period of active duty exr-
pires within said 120 days and whose actisne
duty is continued or extended within said
120-day jerlod. Applications also must be
made within the 120 day period.

NATIONAL GUARD IN FEDERAL SERVICE
SELECTIVE SERVICE ENEOLLEES NOW IN SERVICE
REGULAR ARMY RESERVE

ENLISTED RESERVE CORPS IN FEDERAL SERVICE

The periods of service of all of the
above military classes were extended by ex-
ecutive order by virtue of authority grant-
ed to the President in the Service Exten-
sion Act of 1941.

Although provision is made in the ex-
ecutive order for blanket extension of all
of the above classes of military personnel,
the executive order authorizes the Secre-
tary of War to release from active service
such persons or units as may be released
without impairment to the interests of
national defense, the releases to be ef-
fected upon completion of the original
twelve months of training and service.

-3V

IDie Service Extension Act (approved
August 18, 1941) granted to all military
classes whose periods of service, training,
active duty, etc. were extended under
authority of the aforementioned law, anew
opportunity to apply for and obtain Nat-
ional Service Life Insviremce. Therefore,
the National Guard, Selective Service,
Begular Army Eeseirve and Enlisted Be serve
CJorps all are eligible to apply within
120 days of August 18, 1941, and no phy-
sical examination is necessary.

Individuals who may have previously
applied for less than 110,000.00 insur-
ance may in this present 120 day period
apply for aiy additional amount, provided
the total amount held will not exceed
^ 10 , 000 . 00 .

The fovur above mentioned classes of
military personnel are entitled to apply
for insm'ance imder this provision even
thou^ their periods of service may not
actually be extended at the completion
of the current year of training or ser-
vice. It is necessary, however, that
application be made while still in active
service and on or before December 16, 1941,
the end of the 12D-day period.

In addition to the privilege of applying
within 120 days of August 18, 1941 without
physical examination, all personnel of the
four above mentioned classes whose periods
of seirvice, training, or active duty are
extended upon completion of present period
of se3rvice, training, or active duty, are
entitled to spply for National Service
Life Insurance within 120 days of such ex-
tension, but subject to satisfactory phy-
sical evidence of insurability. Also any
individuals in these four classes, who
may be mustered out of service or reliev-
ed from active duty and who may subsequently
be, ordered back into active service, are
entitled to a new 120 day period within
which time application may be made for
National Service Life Insurance. The 120
days period begins on the date of reentry
into the service and no physical examination
is required.

RETIHED OFFICERS AKD ENLISTED MEN
Retired Officers . Inasmuch as retired
officers nho have been ordered back into
the service are not ordered for any lin>-
ited period of service, it was not nec-

essary to extend their periods of military
service, therefore, they are not eligible
to apply for National Service Life Insur-
ance in the 120 day pee expiring December
16. All such officers are, however, elig-
ible to apply for National Service Life
Insurance without examination within 120
days of date on vhich originally ordered
back into service.

Retired Enlisted Men . The Service Exten-
sion Act authorized the President to ex-
tend the periods of service of retired
enlisted men who are ordered back into
active service. The President did by
executive order extend such periods of
service therefore, retired enlisted men
now in active service are entitled to
apply for National Service Life Insurance
without examination during the 120 day
period commencing August 18, 1941 and
expiring Deceniber 16, 1941.

ONE YEAR ENLlSTMEaiTS
(Army Of The United States)

Die President’s executive order did not
extend or continue the periods of service
of the above one-year enlistments. As
these classes of military service were
not extended, no additional opportunity
to apply for National Service Life Insur-
ance is applicable.

GENERAL REMARKS

War Department Circular No. 192, issued
September 16, 1941, which may be found in
any headquarters, furnishes information
as to the rights of military personnel
to this new 120-day period for obtaining
insurance. It also sets out instructions
for making the application. It is hi^xLy
important that the application be completed
in accordance with the instructions in
the circular.

Any individuals \dio may be in doubt about
their military status and rights to apply
for National Service Life Insurance should
make application before December 16, being
careful to comply ftilly with all instruct-
ions contained in War Department Circular
No. 192. Those applicants then determined
to be ineligible by the Veterans Adminis-
tration will be declined.

Die value of National Sejrvice Life Insur-
ance and the importance of its being app-
lied for by all military classes cannot be

- 32 -

stressed too mach. No charge is made
a^inst the premium deposits of the in-
sxored to cover administration cost . The
entire expense of administration and over-
head of National Service Life Insurance
is paid out of general appropriations for
the Veterans Administration. Whenever a
death claim is paid and the cause of death
is attributable to the extra hazards of
the service either in time of peace or
war, the claim is paid out of a separate
axjpropriated fund and no such claims are
paid out of the premiums deposited by the
insured.

Pay your premiums by deduction monthly
from yo\ir pay. (War Department A.G.O.

Form No. 29-3). Althou^ it is permiss-
ible to pay premiums monthly, quarterly,
semi-auinually, or annually by check or
money order, deduction from pay is surest.
When once the deduction from pay is prop-
erly commenced then the insurance is sure
to be kept in force. Many situations may

arise in times of emergency which may sej
arate a man from contact with his person
affairs, causing temporary inattention tc
premiums falling due. The insurance,
therefore, might lapse when it is needed
the most unless premiums are deducted frc
pay.

All present holders of National Servio
Life Insurance should give thou^t to coi
verting their insurance. Conversion is .
permitted any time after one year and be-
fore expiration of the 5 year term. Bat'
and descriptions of the converted policy,
forms are contained in War Department Ci;
cular No. 149, issued December 10, 1940.
This circular may be found in any head-
quarters. National Service Life Insurant
is not only unexcelled protection while
in service, but is of such superior per-
manent value that all holders should pla
on converting sooner or later so that
they may continue to have the benefit of
the insurance throughout life.

WAR DEPARTMENT
OFFICE OF THE CH\EF OF THE AIR CORPS
WASHINGTON

U-A)

ABDMCSS IWt.T TO

CHIET OF THE AIR CORFS

WAN MVMUlMNr
WASHINGTON, D. C.

December 22, 1941

SUBJECT: National Service Life Insurance

TO: All officers and enlisted men of the United States

Army Air Forces.

1. On December 20, 1941, the opportunity to apply for National
Service Life Insurance at any time by all classes of personnel of the
armed forces was granted by Section 10, Public Law No, 360, 77th Congress,
approved December 20, 1941.

2, The above-mentioned act amends the National Service Life

Insurance Act of 1940 as follows: "Any person in the active service, and
while in su'ch active service, shall be granted such insurance without
medical examination upon application therefor in writing, made within 120
days after the date of enactment of this Amendatory Act, and upon payment
of premiums: Provided that alter the expiration of such 120-day period

any such person may be granted National Service Life Insurance at any time
upon application, payment of premiums, and evidence satisfactory to the
Administrator showing him to be in good health."

3. The Veterans Administration has released Insurance Form
No. 390, titled "Information and Premium Rates for National Service Life
Insurance." This pamphlet contains no reference to the new 120-day period
above mentioned, (.December 20, 1941 to April 19, 1942" as it was printed
prior to passage of the Act. However, it contains full and complete
information about National Service Life Insurance and should be studied
thoroughly by those who are interested in applying and also those who
already have purchased the insurance. Inusrance Form No. 398 may be

had by direct request to the Veterans Administration, Washington, D. C.

4, Nothing in the foregoing should bo construed to mean that
insurance may not be obtained without evidence of insurability after
April 19, 1942, by persons entering the active service after the passage
of the act. Such persons are entitled to apply without examination with-
in 120 days from admission into the service, and at an,y time thereafter
upon eubmlssion of evidence of good health.

- 34 -

- 2 -

5. National Service Life Insurance contains no restrictions as
to residence, travel, occupation, or military or naval service and covers
death from any cause. All claims arising from the extra hazards of the
service, either in peace or war, are paid by the government and not out of
the policy-holder's premium fund. All expense of administration of the
insurance is borne by the government, through the United States Veterans
Administration, giving the policy-holder the benefit of insurance at
absolute cost.

b. It may well be said here that the United States Veterans
Administration maintains a v«ry large and highly organized and trained
insurance deuartment under the direction of the Director of Insurance,

United State" Veterans Administration. This division of the Veterans Admin-
istration is charged with the issue of the policies, collection of premiums,
service to the policy-holders and the payment of claims. The whole organ-
ization is highly trained and scientif ically directed, and in addition
the organization has been imbued with a spirit of cooperation and under-
standing to the end that any National Service Life Insurance policy-holder
may depend on lib'^ral, exact and preferential treatment. In addition to
this service, the policy-holders should unfailingly recognize that the
Director of Insurance, United States Veterans Administration, through
that agency and based upon the laws authorizing the insurance, is provid-
ing the finest, soundest and lowest cost insurance obtainable. The
insurance is of such great value that all policy-holders should plan on
converting and continuing the insurance throughout life,

V. At the close of November, 1941, 6b8,19c> uolicies had been
issued, for a total of $3,381,451,000 of insurance. With the opening up
of the uresent new ouportunity to buy National Service Life Insurance, it
is exuected that the number of policies and gross amount of insurance will
be vastly increased. T;iis vast body of insurance actually is a form of
social security and is endorsed and guaranteed by the govf^mment. The
benefits of it can only be had by applying for it.

Smith _

Major, Air Corps
Insurance & Morale Officer
Military Personnel Division

- 35 -

The New B-I7E, Latest Flying Fortress

^ %iJar ^^e66aqe to the

orce5

HE DECLARATION OF WAR BY THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES

ON DECEMBER 8 A RINGING WARNING TO THE WORLD THAT THE
ARMY AIR FORCES IN COOPERATION WITH OUR GREAT AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY
WOULD STRIVE FOR AERIAL SUPREMACY IN EVERY THEATER OF OPERA-
TIONS.

OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF PROMISED THAT NO MATTER WHERE THE
ENEMY FOUND DEVASTATING WARFARE. PARTICULARLY IN THE AIR,
WOULD BE BROUGHT TO HIM. WE OF THE ARMY AIR FORCES ARE DETER-
MINED TO ATTAIN THIS OBJECTIVE- -WE SHALL ATTAIN IT.

NO DECISIVE OFFENSIVE OR DEFENSIVE ACTION OF THIS WAR HAS
BEEN EXECUTED SUCCESSFULLY WITHOUT AERIAL SUPERIORITY OR AT
LEAST SUFFICIENT AIR STRENGTH TO CHALLENGE THE SUPERIORITY OF
THE ENEMY.

THE JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR AND IN THE PHILIPPINES
STARTLED A COMPLACENT AMERICA OUT OF ITS HABIT OF PASSIVE
THINKING. THESE LIGHTNING STABS AT OUR VITAL DEFENSES CON-
VINCED EVERY REAL AMERICAN THAT WE MUST GO INTO THE AIR WITH
SUFFICIENT STRENGTH TO DESTROY THE ENEMY.

OPERATIONS OF THE ARMY AIR FORCES OVER THE PHILIPPINES ,
MALAYA. MACASSAR STRAITS AND DAVAO HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE SUPER-
LATIVE QUALITY OF OUR COMBAT TEAMS AND AIRCRAFT. VETERANS OF
OUR AIR FORCE CONTINUE TO EXCITE THE WORLD BY THEIR EXPLOITS
OVER RANGOON AND THE BURMA ROAD.

WE HAVE JUST BEGUN- -MUCH REMAINS TO BE DONE. TEAMWORK IS
THE ANSWER TO SUCCESSFUL AERIAL WARFARE. THE ENTIRE ARMY AIR
FORCES MUST OPERATE AS A TEAM SMOOTHLY AND EFFICIENTLY- -WITH
MINDS. HEARTS AND HANDS.

Major General. V.S. Army
Command ing General

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

HEADQUARTERS ARMY AIR FORCES WASHINGTON, D. C.

VOL. 25 FEBRUARY, 1942 NO. 1

U.S. TIGERS CIAW JAPS 1

GEN. PATRICK WAGED EARLY FIGHT FOR AIR POWER 3

WAR CHANGES HIGH COMMANDS 5

A GERMAN VIEW OF JAPANESE AIR POWER 9

FIRST WAR HERCES HONORED 13

ERTTISH REVEAL OBSERVERS TECHNIQUE 16

"FLIGHT STRIPS" FOR THE DISIERSION OF AIRCRAFT 17

CiaiBAT CREW ELIGIBILITY EXTENDED 21

THE CRUISE (F THE ARABIAN NIGHT 23

180 MILES WITHOUT A MOTOR 25

AIR CORPS REORGANIZED 27

AIRACOBRAS STRIKE OVER BRITAIN 29

SUFPORT CCMiANDS HIOVIDE LIGHTNING PUMJH 31

PATROL BOMBERS CORRAL SUB AT SEA 33

HOW TO BUNDLE FOR BRITAIN 37

Art Work By James T. Rawls

Ten For One

U. S. Tigers Claw Japs

A merican pilots in , the Chinese Air Force are
giving Japanese airmen their worst licking
of the war. Trained In new and devastating pur-
suit tactics by a former acrobatic ace of the
U.S. Army Air Corps, the American Volunteer
Group in China Is knocking down more than 10 Jap
planes for every loss of Its own.

In less than two months they have driven Jap-
anese bcntoers from the vital Burma road, parried
heavy aerial thrusts at its chief port, Rangoon,
and blasted Jap air bases in Thailand and Indo-
Chlna. At January's end these American pilots
had destroyed at least 135 Jap planes In the air
and wrecked another 50 on the ground, and had
lost only 11 of their own pilots. They have
become national heroes of the oft-bonibed Chinese
who hall them as 'TTie Flying Tigers".

All Fcainer U.S. Flyers

The story of the Flying Tigers is one of the
strangest sagas of American aviation— a saga of
American planes and young American pilots touch-
ed off by a spark of military genlis In a battle
6,000 miles fl’am home. The pilots were fresh
fran American military flying schools. All of
them resigned commissions in the U.S. Army,
Navy and Marine air forces to fight the Japs
over China. Their fighter planes came from
American factories that had already learned to
make more potent pursuits . The spark of genitjs
came frcm a tall, taciturn, Texas school tea-
cher, Claire L. Cheimault, retired U.S. Army Air
Corps captain and now a brigadier general In the
Chinese Air Force.

Chennault and his planes and pilots got to-
gether in China last sunmer. Six mcHiths later
they celebrated Christmas together by clawlpg 48
Jap planes from the sky over Rangoon in the
most spectaculeu* victory of the Asiatic air war.

Sixty Jap bombers roared toward Rangoon at
15,000 feet the day before Christmas. A Tiger
squadron of 18 planes sped up to 18,000 feet,
swooped down to make the interception and send
their first victims spinning into the jungles
and rice paddies around Rangoon. The Tigers
darted at the heavier Japs in wide weaves from
above and below Instead of making the conven-
tional side approach. The Jap formations broke

FEBRUARY 1942

and fled with Tigers rtuntlng them far into Thai-
land.

On Christmas Day the Japs came back for more
and got It. Formations totalling 70 planes made
the attack and again 18 Tigers went up to meet
ttem. In this fray the Tigers brought their two
day score to 48 enemy planes against a loss of
three of their own planes and two pilots. In-
stead of climbing to 18,000 feet as ordered,
both of the American pilots lost mixed with a
British squadron, apparently became confused and
met the Japs on their own level at 15,000 feet.
There they were caught in heavy cross-fire from
an enemy bonber echelon.

The tactics that enabled the Tigers to hang up
this remarkable record were developed by
Chennault during 18 years as one of the hottest
acrobatic pilots ever to kick around an Air
Corps pursuit ship and four years of observing
the Jap air force in action.

The first World War jolted Chennault from a
career as a business college teacher and high
school principal. He joined the Aviation Sec-
tion of the Signal Corps in 1917 as a ground
officer and stayed with it to become one of its
greatest pilots. But throughout his aviation
career he never lost interest in teaching and
seemed inbued with a deep seated desire to pass
on the knowledge he had accumulated.

As leader of the "Three Men on a Flying Trap-
eze", he originated, taught and performed form-
ation acrobatics that have never been equalled.
In the early 1930s Chennault, then a captain,
and his ccmpanions — first, Lieut. H.S. Hansell
(now a lieutenant colonel) and Lieut. J.H.
Williamson, and later Williamson and Lieut. W.C.
McDonald kicked their P-12 pursuits around in
incredible formation acrobatics at all of the
major air shews.

They flew as if a single hand controlled the
sticks of the three planes. They did spins in
perfect unison and once flew through an entire

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

acrobatic routine with their ships linked by
string. So perfect was their co-ordination that
the thin cord remained unbroken. They finally
Invented a climax to their act in which they did
a formation roll while each ship barrel-rolled
individually.

Out of these acrobatics and a two and a half
year stretch as comnander of the 19th pursuit
Squadron in Hawaii, Chennault evolved his pur-
suit tactics. In 1931 he spent a year at the
Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, fin-
ally becoming chief instructor of the pursuit
section and writing a text on pursuit tactics.

Maj . Gen. John F. Curry, then commandant of
Maxwell Field reported that Chennault was "one
of the outstanding authorities on pursuit avia-
tion, a fearless pilot and an able air leader."
Chennault was frequently called to Air Corj)s
headquarters for exxjert opinions on new pursuit
designs and supervised many service tests of new
equipment in the field.

In 1936 his two partners on the Trapeze team,
Williamson and McDonald, left the Air Corps to
run Chlai^ Ked-Shek's Central Aviation School in
Hangchow, China. But Chennault 's flying days
seemed 'over in 1937 when he was retired for
physical disability Incurred in line of duty.

But Williamson and McDonald persuaded Chen-
nault to join them and he arrived in China
shortly after the outbreak of the Sino-Japeuiese
war to teach pursuit tactics to the Chinese Air
Force. The Chinese air effort waned as the war
continued but Chennault stayed on, studylr^ Jap
tactics and helping organize an air raid warning
system, now so efficient that Chinese head-
quarters are warned of raids while Jap bonbers
are still warming up at their bases. Chennault
also set up air bases in the interior, prepeu’lng
for the day when China could strike back.

last summer Chennault weus made a brigadier
general in charge of Chinese Air Force combat
units and became responsible only to Chiang Kai-
Shek. The American Volunteer Group was formed,
with its main task to drive Jap bonbers from the
Burma road and Insure delivery of American war
supplies to the Chinese armies.

Chennault spent six months moulding his planes
and men into as fine a fighting force as had
ever left the ground, despite a shortage of
spare parts, amnunitlon euid fuel. In spite of
minor miracles performed by the ground crews,
many of their plane losses have been due to
overworked engines rather than Jap bullets . To
conserve aniiMnitlon, the Tigers were trained to
get their Japs with their first burst. Conbat

Brigadier General Claire L, Chennault
of the Chinese Air Force

reports show that about 8 of every 10 Japs
downed fall during the first "squirt" from the
Tigers * guns .

Chennault trained his men like a college foot-
ball team. He quartered than in special hostels
where American food and drinks were served and
American chocolate and tobacco were available.
Every Tiger carries a bottle of alcohol to
sterilize eating utensils and be used on minor
injuries in the field.

The Tigers were whipped into perfect physical
condition with daily calisthenics and plenty of
baseball and football. In addition to tactical
maneuvers, Chennault taught them all he knew
about the Jap airmen until they were able to
anticipate almost every enemy tactic and maneu-
ver aind always keep one Jump ahead.

They finally went into action in the middle of
Decenber and by Decenber 27 the Burma road W6is
free of bombs. The wrecks of 47 Jap bonbers
east of the road marked the limit of Jap aerial
(Continued on Page 8)

FEBRUARY 1942

First Air C^rps Chief Dies

Gen* Patrick Waged Early Fight for Air Power

■PVEATH came to Major General Mason Mathews
-*-^JF<atrlck at a time when the Iftilted States was
eiigaged in bulldlrig the most powerful military
air machine ever ccaicelved.

This gigantic air structure will serve as a
living memorial to General Patrick, who as the
first Chief of the Army Air Corps laid its
foundation.

As Chief of the American Air Service In France
during the first World War, he foresaw air
power’s potential Importance In any future con-
flict. As first Chief of the Air Corps he waged
a peacetime strv^ggle preparing a framework for
the aviation expansion he knew must cane.

Hte was 78 when he died. But age metint little
to General Patrick. At the age of 60 he became
a qualified airplane pilot — the first major gen-
eral and the oldest Army officer ever to receive
that rating* Exacting, punctual 6uid studious,
it was typical of the General. At a banquet
comnemorating the event, he explained to fellow
airmen that he had taken up flying, not in
seewch of personal glory, but to gain a clearer
conception of the skill required of a pilot.
(His instructor was Major General Herbert
Dargue, then a major, who has been unreported
for several months after an official flight
while connandlng the First Air Force at Mitchel
Field, N.Y.)

Becoming a pilot was more than an outstanding
personal feat for General Patrick. By insisting
on being a flying air chief. General Patrick
built up the morale of the Corps; In his con-
stant emphasis on flying as an essential mode of
treinsportation he did much to convince the pub-
lic of Its great usefulness In time of peace.

Followed Aviation Developments

Active until about a month before his death on
January 29 at Walter Reed General Hospital in
Washington, General Patrick had kept in touch
with recent aeronautical developments. Follow-
ing his six-year administration of the Air Corps
ending in 1927, he carried on his fight for
aviation progress as an expert on air traffic,
lecturing on this subject before military and
private audiences. Fran 1929 to 1933 he served
as a mentoer of the Public Utilities Cormlssion

in Washington, where he made his home. His
wife, the former Grace Cooley of Plainfield,
N.J., died in 1938. Their one son, Capt. Bream
C. Patrick, is now oi duty with the Headquarters
Army Air Forces.

General Patrick’s genius was organization. It
was organization that was needed when he became
Chief of the American Air Service in France, and
organization was demanded in setting up the
post-war air program. A trained engineer,
he applied his construction skill to aviation.
General Patrick had graduated fron the United
States Military Academy at West Point in 1886 as
number two man in a class of 77, and was com-
missioned in the Corps of Engineers. At the
close of the Spanlsh-Amerlcan War, he was named
Chief Engineer Officer with the Army of Cuban
Occupation.

Fine Shcwli^ In World War I

By 1917 he had reached the rank of colonel.
Ife sailed for France that year in coomand of the
First Engineers. After a few months overseas he
was promoted to brigadier general emd placed in
charge of all construction and forestry in the
AEF. Only soldiers who knew the vast camps,
great cantoranents and vast docks which sprang up
almost overnight can appreciate the magnitude of
that task. For six months General Patrick
served as Caanandiiig General of the Line of Com-
nunications. Then seeking a man with vision and
a strong hand. General John J. Pershing, his
classmate at West Point, appointed General
Patrick Chief of the Air Service.

The success of General Patrick’s administra-
tion is a matter of record. American airmen
shot down 776 German planes while losing only
290 of their own. Within the short space of a
year America had turned out 7,118 airmen from
her flying schools, built up an air force of
149,000 men and produced 11,760 planes and
30,630 engines. The air force thus created was
more than twice the size of America’s entire
army before the war.

But General Patrick’s work in aviation had
just begun. Followir^ the Armistice he was as-
signed the job of tearing down the tremendous
edifice he had built up overseas — the job of re-

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

turnir^ the men to civil life, disposirig of sur-
plus property and building for peace.

There was no settling down for General
Patrick. He was detached from the AEF air force
and assigned to the Inter-Allied Aviation Com-
mission, representing the United States on air
matters at the Peace Ccviference. He returned to
this country in July, 1919. For his war service
he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal,
the French Legion of Honor, the Italian Order of
St. Maurice and St. Lazurus, the Belgian Certi-
ficate of the Order of Leopold and the Order of
the British Empire.

After serving as’ commanding officer of the
Engineer School at Fort Humphreys (now Fort
Belvoir, Va.) for two years. General Patrick in
October, 1921, was appointed Chief of the Air
Service. The Air Service became the Air Corps
in 1926, and he served as Chief until reaching
the retirement age of 64 on December 13, 1927.

Reorganized American Air Power

These were aviation's formative years in the
United States and one of the most crucial per-
iods for military aviation. General Patrick's
task was the complete reorganization of the Air
Corps. Having already been subjected to several
investigations. Army aviation was ultimately
placed under scrutiny by sane 13 separate boards
and commissions appointed by the Executive
Branch or by Congress to examine its structure
£uid mal® reconnendations for changes. To many.
General Patrick is best known as the firm, far
sighted air leader and orator who appeared be-
fore ccmnlttee after committee on Capitol Hill,
sending home his message of progressive thought
on aviation. The record of his testimony reads
like prophecy of what has now cone to pass.

While conducting the fight for adequate legis-
lation, General Patrick was putting his words
into action. Ife saw the great need for building
up the American aircraft Industry. But faced
with the necessity of operating with the great-
est possible ecaiomy, he had to make maximum use
of the equipment at hand and the large stock of
war-built planes which could be rebuilt and re-
conditioned at about half the cost of new ships.

To stimulate aircraft production and air-
mlndedness on the part of the public. General
Patrick built up a new interest in aviation by
fostering spectacular but scientifically valu-
able air exploits. The public soon sensed the
futtire in store for aviation by such achieve-
ments by Army flyers as the around-the-world
flight, the good will flight around South Amer-
ica, the flight to Puerto Rico, the non-stop

flight across the American continent, the dawn
to dusk cross-country hop, and the flight from
Oakland, Calif., to Honolulu, Hawaii.

No opportunities were neglected to demoTstrate
the practicality of the airplane in peacetime.
General Patrick directed the greater use of
planes in spotting forest fires, patrolling
flooded areas and directing rescue operations,
dustiiTg cotton and other crops to eliminate in-
sect pests, and in aiding in mapping areas in-
accessible by foot.

Supported Technical Developments

Building up what finally became the Materiel
Division, located at what is now Wright Field,
Dayton, Ohio, General Patrick fostered the j)ro-
ductlon of new planes and the stauidardlzatlcsi of
types into pursuit, attack, ba±>ardment, observ-
ation and cargo ships. In the six years fran
1921 to 1927 work was Intensified on air-cooled
and water-cooled engines and on numerous in-
strument aids to aerial navigation; the para-
chute and other flying safeguards were perfected
and wearing of a parachute by Army flyers made
mandatory; a network of landing fields and air-
ways was begun; air navlgaticai maps were devel-
oped on a new status, and aviation medicine and
radio came into being c»i a modern scale.

Training kept pace with technical advanconent .
General Patrick directed the establishment of
Randolph Field, Texas, and the coordination of
courses of instruction at primary and advanced
flying schools . Every effort was made to turn
out airmen accomplished in aerial gunnery and
bombardment, and competition in bombing among
tactical squadrons was fostered. Impetus was
given to the training of Air Corps Reserve
Officers, and aviatlcxi training applied to Nat-
ional Guard and R.O.T.C. Officers. In 1926,
Sumner training camps for Reserve Officers were
held at virtually all Air Corps fields .

The persistent efforts of General Patrick to
secure an increase in Air Corps personnel cul-
minated in the appointment by the Secretary of
War, in 1923, of a board of officers known as
the Lassiter Board to make reconnendations on
reorganization of the Air Corps. The program
formulated by this body contonplated a mi nimum
peacetime strength of 4,000 officers, 2,500 fly-
ing cadets, 25,000 enlisted men, 2,500 airplanes
and sone lighter- than-alr equipment, all to be
secured by, progressive developnent over a 10
year period. Although the Secretary approved
the proceedings of the Board in principle, no
(Continued on Page 40)

FEBRUARY 1942

Air Power Recognized

War Changes High Commands

T he first two months of war brought a series
of promotions and transfers to Army Air
Forces senior officers, and again emphasized the
Increasingly Important role of air power in the
grand strategy of the liilted Nations.

IfeJ . Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Chief of the Army
Air Forces, was promoted to the grade of lieu-
tenant general. Ma j . Gen. George H. Brett,
Chief of the Air Corps, was named Deputy Supreme
Connander of the Allied Forces In the Southwest
Pacific with the rank of lieutenant general.
Lieut. Gen. Delos C. Liiinons, former Chief of the
Conbat Ccrauand, was appointed military coranander
of the vital Hawaiian area. Brig. Gen. Joseph
T. McNarney was made a member of the board In-
vestigating the Japanese atteick on Pearl Harbor
and promoted to major general.

Maj . Gen. Millard F. Harmon, former comnander
of the Second Air Force, was appointed Chief of
the Air Staff succeeding Brig. Gen. Carl Spaatz
who was promoted to major general and made chief
of the Combat Command. Maj. Gen. Walter R.
Weaver left his x>ost as commander of the South-
east Air Corps Training Center at Maxwell Field
to becane Acting Chief of the Air Corps .

Maj. Gen. Frederick L. Martin was given coti-
mand of the Second Air Force In the vital West-
ern Defense Conmeund on the Pacific coast. He
was relieved as ccmmander of the Hawaiian air
force to testify before the Pearl Harbor invest-
igation board. General Martin was succeeded by
Brig. Gen. Clarence L. Tinter, former ccxnnander
of the Third Interceptor Comnand, who was pro-
moted to major general.

Arnold's Rise Rapid

General Arnold's elevation to lieutenant gen-
eral climaxed a series of pronotlons from brlg-
euiier general coranandlng the First Wing of the
GHQ Air Force at March Field in 1938 to the |X)st
of Chief of the Amy Air Forces, Deputy Chief of
Staff for Air and represented American air power
at the important Anglo-American military con-
ferences held In Washington during the visit of

(It is interesting to note that the Roberts'
report covering the investigation at Pearl
Harbor gave no intimation of dereliction of duty
on the part of any Air Forces personnel .--Ed.)

British Prime Minister Churchill. General
Arnold Is also president of the Air Council.

General Brett several months ago began an ex-
tended tour of the world war fronts 6uid flew
General Wavell, British Comnander of India and
Supreme Comnander of the Allied Southwest Pa-
cific forces, to the conference at Chungking
where plans for the unified ccmmand were formu-
lated.

Brett A Specialist

General Brett learned to fly In 1915 after
service as a lieutenant of the Philippines
Scouts. He has been a specialist In air supply
service and administration and has also served
as comnander of several tactical units and air
bases. In October, 194:0, he was promoted to
major general and the following month weis de-
signated Assistant Chief of the Air Corps. He
succeeded General Arnold as Chief of the Air
Corps last May.

General Emnons served as Chief of the -Caabat
Comnand (formerly GHQ Air Force) since 1939. He
returned to familiar territory in taking over
the Hawaiian comnand for he served a tour of
duty in Hawaii as connandlng officer of the 18th
Composite Wing shortly after his graduation fVcm
the Command and General Staff school at Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas, In 1933.

Harmon Served In Philippines

General Harmon came to AAF headquarters with
a long record as a coranander of tactical units.
A West Point graduate. General Harmon began
his army service in the Philippines with the
Infantry. He was assigned to the Aviation Sec-
tion of the Signal Corps in 1916, served with
the First Aero Squadron on the Mexican border
euid accompanied a special expedition Into
Mexico. A month before the United States
entered the first World War, General Harmon
sailed to France on an observation mission and
attended French aviation schools . He was as-
sistant chief of the Air Service Advance Zone
In AEF headquarters for six months, and later
served as a pilot with a French combat group
near Solssons, where he won the Croix de

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Guerre with a bronze star. In April, 1918, he
returned to ABF headquarters to select alrdronK
sites and types of motors for American equip-
ment . After the war he served a year as a
menfcer of the Air Service Advisory Board. He
graduated from the Command and General Staff
School and the Army War College and served on
the War Department general staff before being
appointed as comnandant of the Air Corps Primary
Flying School at March Field, California, in
1927.

General Harnm also served as an Instructor in
the Comnand and General Staff school and asslst-
tant cannandant of the Air Corps Tactical school
at Maxwell Field, Alabama. Among the tactical
units he has ccrananded are the 3rd Attawik Wing
at March Field, California, the 20th Pursuit
Group at Barksdale Field, Louisiana, the 7th
Pursuit Wing, Mltchel Field, Long Island, and
the Fourth Interceptor Ccmmand, Riverside, Cal-
ifornia, and the Second Air Force, at Fort
George Wright, Washington.

Tinker Holds Medal

General Tinker wears the Soldier's Medal,
awarded with the following citation:

"For heroism on Sept. 21, 1926, in rescuing
Ccmmander Robert Burg, U.S.N., from a burning
aeroplane near Kenley Aerodrome, London, Eng-
land. Although injured and in a semi-dazed ccxi-
dition due to the crash. Major Tinker was able
to get clear of his biirning plane, but when he
realized that Conmander Burg was still in the
cockpit, he rushed back into the flames in aui
attempt to rescue his passenger. He was driven
back by the intense heat, but returned to the
other side and after repeated and determined
efforts, being badly burned in the attempt, he
extricated Cannander Burg and dragged him, un-
conscious, to a place of safety."

General Tinker spent many months in English
6ind American hospitals recovering from the in-
juries he suffered in the crash. After his re-
covery he served as assistant comnandant of the
Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field, Texas.
He subsequently comnanded ifeither Field, Cali-
fornia, and then began a series of tactical unit
ccmimands. He was in charge of Route 18 from
Oakland while the Army Air Corps flew the air
mall and then ccnmanded pursuit and bontoardment
units at March and Hamilton Fields. After a
tour as Chief of the Aviation Division of the
National Guard Bureau and Chief of the Supply
Division of the Office of the Chief of the Air
Corjjs, he again resumed command of tactical
units, leading the 27th Bombardment Group at

Barksdale Field, the 3rd Bombardment Wing at
MacDlll Field, Florida, and finally the Third
Interceptor Command at Drew Field, Florida.
General Tinker began his military career as a
second lieutenant in the Philippines Constab-
uleiry in 1908 and learned to fly in 1920.

General Weaver ccanes to the Office Chief of
Air Corps from the cannand of the Southeast Air
Corps Training Center at tfeixwell Field.' He was
assigned to the Air Corps during the World War
after 10 years service in the Infantry. General
Weaver learned to fly in 1920 and has since spe-
cialized in Air Corps administration. Aroopg his
notable achievements in this field was his hand-
ling of flood relief in southern Alabama diming
the Mississippi River flood of 1929 durlrg which
28 tons of food and medical supplies were de-
livered by air to stricken ccsmunltles . General
Weaver has also devoted much time to the devel-
opment of aircraft radio.

General McNarney learned to fly in 1917 and
spent nearly two years in France with the Air
Service of the AEF. He comnanded the Observa-
tion Groups of the First Corps in the Chateau
Thierry offensive, the Fourth Corps in the St.
Mlhlel drive and the Fifth Corps in the Argonne
operations. After the Armistice he remained in
Paris for several months writing a manual on
observation techniques. Since the war General
McNarney did several tours of duty in the War
Department and commanded various flying schools
and tactical bombardment units. He was ap-
pointed to the joint Army Navy Planning Can-
mlttee in 1939.

General Eaker is anotter colorful veterem of
the Army Air Forces with a reputation as an au-
thor as well as a pilot. Ife collaborated with
General Arnold in writing "Winged Warfare" and
"This Flying Game", and was decorated by three
foreign governnents for his participation in the
Pan American Goodwill Flight in 1927. He also
wears the Distinguished Flying Cross with an Oak
Leaf Cluster . He was chief pilot of the "Ques-
tion Mark" which set a world endurance flight
record in 1929, and made the first blind flight
frcan coast to coast. He connanded the 34th Rir-
suit Squadron and the 17th and. 20th pursuit
Groups. His present permanent station is with
the First Air Force at Mltchel Field, Long
Island.

General Olds, 45-year-old chief of the Ferry
Conmand, is one of the youngest generals in the
Army. He is a pioneer in the field of heavy,
long range bonbardment and commanded the famous
Second Bcnbardment Group at Langley Field, which
service tested the original B-17s. He ccnmanded

FEBRUARY 1942

AIR FORCES GENERALS IN WAR SPOTLIGHT

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

a group of six B-17s cm a Goodwill Flight from
langley Field to Buenos Aires and return and a
year and a half later participated in another
mission under the command of General Ensnons
which took seven B-I7s on a rourrl trip to Rio de
Janelroi For his South American flights, Qen>
eral Olds received the medal of the Inter-
natlmal League of Aviators, the Mackay Trophy,
the Distinguished Flying Cross and decorations
from Latin American countries. General olds
served as an air traffic expert for the Anry Air
Forces shortly before his assignment to organize
the Ferrying Comnand. Originally organized to
speed boDibers to Britain, the Ferrying Command
Is now the largest air line In the world, glrd>
ling the globe to supply the combat units of the
AAF and of Its allies with planes, parts and
equipment.

DEPOT EMPLOYEES COOPERATE

All of the enqdoyees of the Waco Svib-Depot Sup-
ply, Waco, Texas, signed a letter addressed to
the comnandlng officer of that Air Service Com-
mand activity, reading as follows:

"During this period of extreme emergency, we,
the uixlerslgned onployees of the Waco Sub-Depot
Supply, Waco, Texas, volunteer to work as many
hours per day, seven (7) days a week. If and when
necessary, as the Svi>-Depot Commander may direct,
with the understanding that no compensation will
be derived."

Ebsployees who signed the letter are: George
W. Whitlock, Amos D. Alley, John H. Mack, Alvls
T. Barkley, Elroy C. Untermeyer, David Conib,
Joe B. Reed, Harry p. Ankerson, Jr., Earllne
Carpenter, Carmon F. Beavers, Maurice Cole,
Martin J. Arnold, Elmer Cunnlnghcun, Wynell L.
Woodall, Marie Helen Adler, Catherine Camp and
Fl'anois Collls.

"Wings" were recently presented to the first
group of Royal Air Force cadets undergoing In-
struction wder the American flying training
program. Tl^se cadets graduated from the Ad-
vanced Flying School at Turner Field, Oa., which
Is imdsr the Jiffisdlotion of the Southeast Air
Corps Training Center. Col^l John B. Patrick,
coBumndlng officer of Turner Field, delivered
the graduation address, and Major Norris B.
Harbold, the director at Tralnlr^, presented the
"wlt^" to the Et^llslxnen.

A 30-minute coast-to-coast radio broadcast
featured the graduation «cerclses, and the pro-
gram was sent to England over short wave.

U.S. TIGERS.. , (Contitnipd From Page 2)
operations. The world knows now how the pilots
from Texas, New York, California, Ohio, Florida
and a dozen other states routed the Japs again
in the blazlpg holiday battle over Rangoon; how
they carried the war to the enemy by esowtirg
Chinese and British bombers to burn and blast
the big Jap air bases at Hanoi, In Indo-China
and Raheng, Tak and Mssod in Thailand and a half
dozen other fields.

Civilian pilots between the ages at 31 and 49,
who possess 500 certified flying hours, of which
250 hours have been on Aircraft of ^ h.p. or
better, are eligible for employment in ferrying
aircraft for the U.S. Array Air Corps Ferrying
Conaand. They will receive tonporary w^eyment
under the Civil Service for an initial period ^
90 days, beginning at a salary of $3,600 per an-
num. A per dies expense allowance of $5.00 will
be paid on all danestlc ferry trips away from
home station, and $6.00 on trips outside the
United States.

Advancements may be effected at the end of each
90-day period, upon the recommendation of the
Control Officer of the Air Corps Ferrying Com-
mand, who may at that time also recoimiend ferry
pilots for reserve coianlsslons, grades of rank
being dependent on age and experience.

FEBRUARY I9<2

The Setting Sun

A German View of Japanese Air Powe

T T is difficult to get an exact picture of

-*-the air power of the land of the Rising Sun,
for everything that concerns its military power
is concealed behind a heavy veil of secrecy.

Japan has no separate. Independent air power.
All planes are divided between the Army and the
Navy. The highest estimate of the total number
of Japanese planes is 4,500. The British mag-
azine Aeroplane , in the March 7, 1941, number,
places the total at 3,000 or less. The German
Handbuch der Luftfahrt of 1939 estimates 2,600
planes, training planes and reserve material in-
cluded, with a total personnel of 33,000 men.
These are divided between the Army and the Navy
at a ratio of two to one.

French And German Influence

Originally the air arm of the Army was influ-
enced strongly by the French and Germans, both
in planes and Instructors. French and German
influence are still plainly noticeable in Japan-
ese plane construction. Only in recent years
has American influence made Itself felt. The
Japs Iiave no originality either in plane con-
struction or in the field of tactics.

In the Army air force the regiment is the
h.ghest tactical unit. The regiment has its own
flying fields, ground service and training
schools. The regiment consists of two to five
squadrons of about 10 planes each. The planes
are of the same type, although squadrons appear
in China which have three heavy bonbers and six
planes of a lighter type which are also scoutliig
planes. Among the planes in the first line is
an approximately equal nuntoer of bonbers, pur-
suit planes, and scouts. The Army has six
training schools for its air power: a flying
^and technical school at Tokorozawa, and air
fighting school at Akeno, an observers’ school
and specialist training school at Shlmoshizu,
bonb-dropping training school at Hamamatsu, a
flying school at Kumagl, and an air defense
school at Inagemachi. There are said to be
3,000 Ariny flyers. The Navy Is supposed to have
2,100. The training schools produce a bare 700
a year.

In the field of warship construction Japan
patiently followed and imitated the great West-

ern Powers for many years. Neither did she do
apy pioneer work in the field of aviation. Be-
fore 1914 only a few officers of the Army and
Navy had voluntarily dedicated themselves to the
air service and had gotten training as flyers
abroad, particularly in France. After the World
War Japan begeui to use planes more generally in
its military operations in Siberia. In 1919 the
systematic building up of the air services was
begun. The first flying field for the Navy was
at Kasumlgaura, and for the Array, at Tokorozawa.
Just as once under the shogims and at the begin-
ning of the Meiji period between 1845 and 1875
foreigners were called in to organize the Army
and the Navy, so now also foreign instructors
were taken in to organize the new war weapon.

In the spring of 1919 sin English comilssion of
40 men under Lieutenant Stempthill arrived to
organize the naval flying service, and a French
coDmission of 60 men tinder Lieutenant General
Faure for the Army air service. Interest in
flying clubs and aeronautical companies was
stimulated. Now Japan stands among the great
powers in respect to its air force.

The Naval Air Force

After the first Navy flyers returned in 1912
fron training in France and the United States, a
training field was constructed at Opama near
Yokosuka. English officers shared in this
training from 1919-22. During this period the
Japanese air weapon thrived and an extensive
construction program was set up. In 1923 there
were already 9 squadrons with 8 machines each, a
few reserve planes at tte land bases, together
with a number of planes for the ships. From
1927 on this naval air force grew quickly. In
that year a special bureau for the Naval Air
Force was set up in the Navy Department. In
1937 there were 19 naval bases with 33 squad-
rons. These bases were in the bay of Tokyo:
Opama (Observers ' School) , Tateyama, and Klsar-
uzu; to the north was the large flying school
Keisumigaura; on the inland sea; Kure, Hire,
Saeki, and Kishlmota; on the west coast of Kly-
shu: Sasebo, Omura, Kagoshima and Kanoya; on
the west coast of Honshu: IQjrltza near Mazaru;
in Korea: Chinkai; in the north: Ominato and

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Namuro; In the south: Chlchlina on Bonin Island
together with Saipan and Palau. In addition
there are bases in all larger cities of the main
Islands growing steadily.

According to the latest information, the Navy
has 39 squadrons with between 1,000 and 1,500
planes. The greatest nuriber of these planes are
shore-based. These planes have an active sh£U"e
in the war on l«md in China. The ships which
carry plEuies are the carriers, the battleships,
cruisers, and plane tenders. The carriers are
the Hbsho with 26, the Kaga with 80, the Akagl
with 60, the Ryujo with 21, the Soryu, Hlryu,
and Koryu, each with 40 planes. The tenders are
the Notoro, Kamol, Chltose, Chlyoda, and Mld-
zuho. These ships have no flight deck, but
carry a number of seaplanes. The nine battle-
ships, modernized after 1928, have a catapult
and three planes aboard. The 37 cnilsers over
5,000 tons have one or two catapults and bne to
four planes. No information is available on
newly constructed warships.

The Planes

The negligible pioneer work in the Japanese
airplane industry has alreaxiy' been pointed out.
A closer view of the types of planes shows that
the Japanese are far behind their contemporaries
abroad. This is true at any rate for the ma-
chines designed in Japan. In addition there is
nuch construction under license, which furnishes
good copies of original machines and plane mo-
tors. The airplane industry has to fight
against various difficulties. First of all
there is little cooperation in the air field.
There is no central organization that regulates
development and production. The mlllt€u*y air
service is under the Naval Ministry; the clvll-
ieui service under the Department of Canmerce;
wheretus aeronautical research belongs to the
Ministry of Instruction. FXirthermore, the air
service industry lacks, in spite of its priv-
ileged position, trained workers, modern mach-
inery, and above all the necessary raw mate-
rials. In the field of raw materials, machinery
and technical workmen, Japan is dependent on
other countries. German technicians are now
trying to supply the necessary schooled person-
nel. Estimates concerning the output of Jap-
anese airplane industry vary. Insiders consider
it to be from 1,500 to 2,500 planes a year fr<Mn
the 40 or more factories. This means that Japan
will not be able to supply its own needs if it
becomes involved in a war against the Dnlted
States or even in a War against the Russian air
power in the Far East. According to reliable

information the construction of 1938-39 was
little more than 1,000 planes.

The great airplane firms are Kawanishl, Kawas-
aki, Mitsubishi, Nakajlma, and Tatlkawa. These
are the factories fran which the Army and Navy
draw almost all their planes and supplies. In
addition, in the last years Japan has been able
to import a great madDer of foreign planes or to
build them under license. These are the Junkers
G 38, 86, and 87, the Helnkel 112, the Fiat CR
42 6Uid BR 20 M, the Koolhoven FK 58, the Hawker
Nimrod, the Lockheed 14, the North American 16,
the Seversky P 35, and the Martin 166. Kawan-
ishi builds among other kinds Short seaplanes
and Rolls Royce motors under, license for the
Navy. Kawasaki furnishes pursuit planes and
bombers, and has licenses from Dornier and
B.M.W. Mitsubishi builds for the Army and the
Navy, has licenses for Blackburn scout planes
and torpedo planes, Curtiss pursuit planes.
Junkers dive bombers and Hispano Suiza, Sydney
and Junkers motors. Nakajlma builds its own
designs, has licenses from Doi^glas and Fokker
for commercial planes, and for Lorraine and
Bristol motors.

The Navy and Army air power both operated in
the Chinese conflict. The Naval Air Force seems
to have specialized more on bonbii^gs behind the
front, insofar as one can still speak of fronts
here. The distribution of the naval air fields
along all the Japeuiese coasts and over the cai>-
tured islands in the nandated territory shows,
however, that the real task of the shore-based
naval air power is the guarding of the coasts
and adjoining seas in collaboration with the
other naval units . The Japanese Naval Air Force
conblnes, like the Dutch East Indies Naval Air
Service and the U. S. Naval Air Force, the tasks
of the British Coastal Ccmmand and the British
Fleet Air Arm. The main task of the Japanese
Naval Air Force is not much in evidence in the
Chinese conflict, for China has no sea power,
and the sea wau* can be limited to a blockade.

Sonethlng About Japanese Tactics

Four years of war in China have shown a few
things about the nethods of the Japanese air
force. Jaj)anese bombers are assigned tne fol-
lowing activities: Bombing of enemy plane
bases; operations against railroads and shipping
(coastal and river) ; bombing of enemy military
forces on the battlefield and behind the battle
lines; and bombing of large industrial and pol-
itical centers.

Tte Japanese air force precepts prescribe as
first task of the air arm the annihilation of

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

the e.emy air forces In their bases. As a rule,
the Japanese bonibers undertake flights up to 250
miles past the front, accompanied by fighters,
with which they frequently a^senble along the
route. Balds on flylpg fields au*e carried out
by large groups (30-40 pleuies) , and seldom by
less than one squadron. Preliminary reconnais-
sance flights over air fields without simultan-
eous bonbardment are never made. The accom-
jenyliTg fighters (15-30) fly In groups of three,
echeloned at two or three levels, above, behind,
right and left of the bcxdsers, at a distance of
3,000 — 6,000 feet. The bcmibers usually ap-
proach at a height of 6,000 — 12,000 feet with
tte sun behind them, In formations dependent on
tlie nutrber of bombers. If they come upon enemy
fighters, the bombs are Imnedlately dropped from
this formation. If there Is no active air de-
fense, a run Is made over the objective, and
finally test bombs are dropped. After that the
flight Is divided Into groups of three or Into
squadrons, which attack separately their own
assigned objectives. The bombs are dropped In
horizontal flight.

Planes First Objectives

The objectives are first of all planes on the
ground, then hangars or buildings. For the
first target small fire and fragmentation bombs
of 25 to 50 lbs. are used. These bcmibardments
do not have much success. There are cases known
where 40 Japanese bonisers have let more than 200
boobs fall on a certain terrain, edT«r which the
Chinese could still use the field for taking off
and landing. The return trip Is often divided
Into groups of three (two bombers and one
fighter) . These return along different routes ,
thus making reconnaissance flights.

Night bcxnbardments are little used. They had
little success euid were not made necessary by
great Japanese losses In day attacks. The day-
light attacks on flying fields, however, seldom
caused the Chinese great losses, for they could
spot the approach of the enemy and move their
planes to a place of safety In plenty of time.

Railroads and ships are attacked with small
formations of several planes and often In dive
bonbardments from 2,000 to 2,500 feet. Hits on
railroad bridges are the greatest damage they
can cause although this seldom occurs. Seldom
do they cause a delay of more than 24 hours.
Many river craft are sunk, however.

Against land military forces one-motored
bombers are used exclusively. They attack by
diving with fragmentation bombs of 25 lbs.
Thirty to forty bonbs are carried In one plane

along with machine gunners. They seldom come
lower than 300-400 feet. The cooperation with
the Amy must be very good for this.

Incendiaries Used

In Industrial and political centers the Jap-
anese have a preference for bonblng the Chinese
quarters of cities, universities, government
buildings, and hospitals. Against Chinese quar-
ters they use Incendiary bonbs. In European
quarters they use boobs of 500 to 750 lbs. When
the Chinese air defense was still In a chaotic
state, these massacres took place from low alti-
tudes 6uid were accompanied by formation demon-
strations. Later when tjie Chinese had antl-
aircreift protection and fighters, the Jap boob-
ers flew at 10,000 to 12,000 feet, and a pro-
tecting screen of flghtem was taken along.

In a defensive fight the Japanese bonbers keep
a closed formation for mutual firing support.
The Japemese flight precepts jirescribe: "Don't
fire on the one whan you attack by chance, but
on the one whom your comrade can't fire a-
gainst," With a view to bringing all machine
gunners into the firing, the Japanese groups
change their formations during the air battle,
and go above and below the pursuing planes to
get them away from their leader. When once In
battle the Japanese squadron as a rule attempts
no dodging maneuvers which might result In the
separation of a plane and Its certain destruc-
tion. In other words, the defense of the squad-
ron Is such that the expedition continues, with
mutual fire support, while transfers can be made
within the group. Mutual firing support Is c(k>-
sldered to have little value In a squadr<xi group
when the planes are too feu* apart. The Japanese
prefer a short firing distance (50 to 200 yards)
for all types of planes.

- Reprinted from Seemacht (Sea Power), a
German magazine published in Berlin.

•

Lost during a cross-country flight, an avia-
tion cadet made a forced landing in a plowed
field near a Nevada town when his fuel supply
became exhausted. Since the town residents had
only once before seen a plane at close rai^e —
a Cub durirg a county fair, the cadet was ac-
corded quite a reception, especially since the
picture "I Wanted Wings" was shown that night at
the local theater.

Negotiating with one of the citizens to guard
the airplane during the night, the cadet was sur-
prised to see that Individual reappear shortly
with a rifle, a pistol and two dogs. But, then,
everyone In town carried a gun.

FEBRUARY 1942

Airm«^ii Awarded DSC’ss

First War Heroes

By Lieut. Bobert Hotz

A rmy airmen are writing a new chapter in the
annals of winged warfare. The tradition
that began more than 20 years ago over the
fields of France has been treinsplanted to Pac-
ific skies where American air power stands as-
tride the Japanese path to cOTiquest.

Siarprised sind outnunfcered during early phases
of the battle, the pilots, gunners, bcmbardiers,
and navigators of the Army Air Forces fought a
magnificent action against swarms of Japanese
attackers. Ground crews did a superb Job to
"keep ’em flying". After more than six weeks of
bitter battle against superior enemy forces, AAF
pilots were still In the air over Luzon and
P-40s were still knocking down Jap bombers.
Over the Indies, AAF bonfcers are pounding Jap-
anese sea power with ever Increasing violence.

Battle confusion and overloaded cables make it
Impossible to single out all the heroes of the
AAF's baptism by fire. The names of many a
young lieutenant who plunged his P-40 into a
formation of enel^y bonbers eind of many a bcntoer
crewman who came through in a pinch are missing
from the dispatches. To these unsung heroes is
due a share of the formal honors given to airmen
whose spectacular deeds have been recorded. All
possess the skill and valor that is the invis-
ible badge of the AAF.

Captain Kelly A Synbol

The story of Capt. Colin P. Kelly, Jr., has
been indelibly engraved in public prints and the
hearts of his six fellow crewmen. Together
Captain Kelly and his crew brought their big
B-17 across Pacific wastes from Hawaii to the
Philippines as part of the most spectacular
trans-oceanic formation flight ever made by land
planes. Flying a circuitous and uncharted route
to avoid Jap patrols, they arrived in the Hill-
ippines less than two months before the outbreaJc
of war.

Together at 23,000 feet. Captain Kelly and his
crew found, bonbed and sunk the 29,000 ton Jap-
anese battleship Haruna off the northern tip of
Luzon. Homeward bound, their mission completed,
they were attacked by a i».lr of Jap fighters.
Their bonber was badly hit and began to burn.

Captain Kelly, as pilot and canmander, ordered
his six ccmpanlcns to bail out and held the ship
steady as one by one each crewman dove to safe-
ty. Captain Kelly vanished with his flaming
ship. To the American people Captain Kelly has
become more than a hero. H© is a symbol of
American air power victorious in conbat.

Captain Kelly W£is awarded the Distinguished
Service Cross posthumously at a ceremony which
saw General MacArthur pin the Cross on Capt.
Jesus Villamor of the Philippines Air Force and
Lleuts. J.D. Dale and Boyd Wagner of the AAF.
Captain Villamor was credited with knocking down
a trio of Japs while leading his squadron of
Filipino pilots. Lieutenant Wagner was the
first AAF pilot to officially shoot down five
enel^y planes in World War II and was also cred-
ited With destroying a score of enemy planes In
a daring ground strafing of a Jax»nese airfield
near Vigan. Lieutenant Dale was credited with
sending a pair of Japanese planes down in flames
during the early days of the battle of Luzon.

Lieut. Marshal J. Anderson was described by
General MacArthur as "one of the most intrepid
pilots in the Philippines." The General persoi>-
ally decorated Lieutenant Anderson with the Dis-
tinguished Service Cross at a Luzon airfield
almost immediately after his return fpom a fcH*ay
in which he led his squadrcxi to attack and dis-
perse a strong formation of Japanese dive bonb-
ers and then strafed an enemy truck column.
Lieutenant Marshal shot down a Jaj)anese observ-
ation plane during this attack and several days
later sent a Jap fighter down in flames.
own ship was damaged during the latter attack
and Lieutenant Anderson balled out. Two Jap
fighters followed his parachute and shot him to
death while he daigled helplessly in mid-air.

Col. H.H. George and MaJ . Emmett O’Donnell
have been singled out for special mention in
heavy bcmbardment operations . General HfecArthur
recommended Colonel George for promotion to
brigadier general as a result of "distinguished
leadership and gallantry in action". A veteran
in heavy bonbardment. Colonel George won the
Distinguished Service Cross as a pilot in the

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

first World War and participated in the famous
B-17 flights to South Am erica.

Major O'Donnell was the leader of the mass
flight of B-17s from Hawaii to reinforce the
Hiilippines. Early In the war Major O'Donnell's
hcmtoer attacked Japanese naval units covering a
landing at Legaspi. While pressing home the
attack, a squadron of Japanese carrier-based
fighters attacked the AAF bomber. Continuing
the attack on the naval imits, the crew of the
bonber shot down five Jap fighters and arrived
safely at its base after Major O'Donnell made a
perfect landing despite a pair of flat tires on
his landing gear.

Others Cited For Bravery

Other fighter pilots cited in dispatches from
the Philippines Include: Lieut. Randolph

Preator, credited with being the first AAF pilot
I to knock down an enemy plane over the Phil-
ijipines; Lieut. Joseph Moore, who destroyed two
: of five Japanese planes engaged in machine gun-
i nlng an AAF pilot who had balled out, and Lieut.

1 ; Samuel Merrett, who was killed leading his
t squaxiron in an attack on Jap naval units.

Outstanding heroes of the attack on Hawaii
were Lieuts. George S. Welch and Kenneth W.
Taylor. Both were awarded Distinguished Service-
Crosses for "extraordinary heroism over the
Island of Oahu on Decenber 7, 1941".

Surprised by the early morning Jap attack on
Oahu, Lieutenants Welch and Taylor drove 10
miles under fire from Wheeler Field to Halelwa
Field where their P-40s were stationed. They
took off on their own initiative without making
an effort to determine the nuober of Jap raid-
ers. Over Barbers Point they sighted a form-
ation of 12 planes 1,000 feet below and 10 miles
away. They closed to attack. Lieutenant Welch
shooting down a dive bomber and Lieutenant
Taylor a pair of Jap planes. Lieutenant Welch
broke off the attack after his guns jamned and
an incendiary bullet passed through his plane
just behind his back. Clearing his guns in
cloud cover, he returned to the attack and shot
down another Jap plane. Both AAF pilots re-
tvirned to Wheeler field for more fuel and annu-
nition. While still on the ground another Jap
formation attacked the field. Lieutenant Welch
took off with three Japs on his tail and went to
the assistance of another AAF pilot who was
being attacked from the rear. Lieutenant Welch
shot the Jap off the AAF plane's tail and pur-
sued another Jap plane five miles out to sea
where he shot it down. Lieutenant Taylor took
off despite the fact that his guns were not

fully loaded and escaped into the clouds with a
quick take-off ending in a chandelle . He eluded
a formation of eight enemy planes.

Four other AAF pilots were cited for heroism
under fire by Lieut. Gen. Walter Short, Hawaiian
military ccnmander. They were Lieut. lewis M.
Sanders who destroyed a Jap plane that had just
sent an AAF ship down in flames; Lieut. Gordon
Sterling, who attaclred a Jap formation of six
planes and destroyed one of them; Lieut. Hilllip
Rasmussen, who engaged a Jap pursuit over Scho-
field barracks and shot it dcwn after a furious
battle, and Lieut. Harry Brown, who suddenly
found himself in the midst of a Jap formation
and shot his way out after destroying one plane
without damaging ^tLs own.

No story of the Pacific air war would be com-
plete without menticxi of Marine Fighting Sqviad-
ron 211 of Marine Alrcredl Group 21 emd its com-
mander Major Paul A. Putnam. The initial Jap-
anese attack on Wake Island by 24 bonbers knock-
ed out eight of the squadron's 12 Grunioan Wild-
cats but it took weeks for fantastically super-
ior Jap formations to knock the other four from
the air. During that period Marine flyers shot
down five Jap planes, sank one ship and one sub-
marine. Never were there more than four Marine
planes in the air at a single time and never did
the Jap formations ntnber less than 27 bonbers.

Lauding the work of his ground crews. Major
Putnam wrote in his last report: "Since the
first raid, parts and assemblies have been
traded beick and forth so that no airplane can be
Identified. Engines have been traded from plane
to plane, have been junked, stripped rebuilt and
all but created. I wish to conment peu'ticularly
on the indefatigable labor, ingenuity, skill
and technical knowledge of Lieutenant Kinney ani
Technical Sergeant Hamilton. It is due solely
to their efforts that the squadron is still
operating*"

The Japanese actually shot down 13 Marine
planes, since Marine mechanics fashioned
a new plane from the parts of the planes
wrecked in the first bcmblng attack. The l«ust
Marine planes were knocked from the air on Dec-
enber 22, exactly 14 days after the first Jap
attack. They were flown by a captain and a
second lieutenant against a force of more than
GO Jap carrier and land based bonbers. The cap-
tain was forced down, wounded, his ship a total
wreck. The lieutenant was reported "lost".
Thus ended the epic of ikfeirlne airmen over Wake
Island, a performance that will stir toasts from
AAF men everywhere.

FEBRUARY 1942

Sipottlng the Enemy

British Reveai Observers’

By Air Commodore II. LeM. Bro«*k

vice Commander, Royal ObMertrera Corps

Teehniifue

'^HE man who has, so to speak, been brought up
-*• with aircraft will have no difficulty in
distinguishing the peculiar features of the va-
rious types. He knows the whys and the where-
fores of the constructional details, he knows
the function of each type, lie is Interested in
engines and performances, and notices new fea-
tures. His knowledge is always up-to-date and
lie seldom fails to recognize anything he sees,
or, if he does, he wants to know what it is. He
is in much the same position as the coimtryman
who has known all the common birds of the coun-
tryside since childhood and notices the rarer
species that occsislonally visit his neighbor-

bered and a tey of the nuitiers prlnte<i on a sei>-
arate canl.

The silhouettes should not be all-black for
learners. White continuous or dotted lines
should be used to sliow tlie constructional de-
tails of tlie aeroplanes, such as tlie flaps, rud-
ders, lindercarriage, eiglne nacelles, etc. Al-
tiiOMgh some of these features may not be visible
at a distarice against the sky, tiiey are of great
assistance in learning to distinguish the sil-
houettes, ani also for Instlllirig into the mind
of the learner an incipient Interest in the
parts of an aeroplane.

hood.

The novice in aircraft recognition is in a
very different position. He will, no doubt,
know by now that there are fighters and bonhers,
that some alight on land and otliers on tlie sea,
or on the decks of ships, that some have only
one engine and others two or more, that tiiere
are monoplanes and biplanes; but he will know
the names of only a few that have been much
written about in the press, and he will not know
how to start distinguishing them in the air. It
is the novice that we are considering in this
short article, and one who cannot afford the
time to attend courses, but must acquire the
knowledge and skill at home.

Silhouette Is Basic

It is now generally accepted that the silhou-
ette is the foundation of all instruction in
recognition. Silhouettes are easy and quick to
produce on paper, they can be accvirate and up-
to-date, and can be distributed easily. They
can be studied in the home and carried about in
the pocket, in the form of books or, better
still, as packs of cards.

Three views of the aeroplane are essential,
the plan, the side and the head-on-view. If a
three-quarter front view can be supyilled as
well, all tiie better.

There is no need, to start with, for any de-
scription of the aircraft, but only for their
names, which should be printed on the backs of
ti»e cards. Mternatively, tiie cards can be num-

Novice Should Learn 50

The nunber of types presented to the, novice to
learn in the first Instance must be limited.
Fifty is a convenient nunber. Three silhouettes
of each will make a pack of 150 cards. Someone
with full eind up-to-date Imowledge of the most
ccnnKxi or important types, i.e. tiiose tiiat every
observer oi^ht to know, must compile the list.
This is a very important part of tiie proceedipgs
and must receive careful consideration. Bi-
planes should be omitted from tiie first 50 air-
craft, and seaplanes and flying -boats can be
omitted frcm the packs made for Inland observ-
ers.

The pack of 150 cards can tijen be presented to
the observer. It has been found that comy)lete
beginners can learn to recognize aivl name every
card in a pack of 150 in 10-12 houi's stuly.

A learner siiould start by dividing; the pack
into categories. A convenient division of tlie
aircraft is those with:-

(a) Sir^gle radial ermines.

(t>) Single epgines in line.

(d) Twin engines with twin fins and rudders.

(e) Three aiil four engines.

By this means he can work up from the sim-
piest and fewest to tlie more cottifilex.

All he need do Ls to sit in his chair, lay out
the cards -on a table, starting with category
(a) , and note their names and distinguishing
features, Tiien he sisould pick up the carris ,

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

shuffle them and go through them repeatedly
until he can name every one correctly. He may
then get a menfcer of his family to display them
In turn for him to name aloud. This Is Impor-
tant. He most learn to say the names quickly.
Havlpg leeirnt the first category, he can proceed
through the pack In the same way until he knows
them- all. It Is easier than It seems at first
sight.

TtUdes "Screen Test"

He Is then ready, along with others, to be put
through a test with a prescribed nimber of the
silhouettes projected on to a screen for, say,
10 seconds each, each competitor writing the
names down on a piece of paper. When he has
passed the prescribed test he has completed the
first and most Important stage of his career as
an observer.

It Is worth while saying here that not every
observer has started In this way, yet the sil-
houette must be the foundation on which every
beginner has had to base his learning. No
doiibt. If accurate scale models were available
of every type, they would be of great value, but
they are not easily produced in large nmbers
and they are apt to become obsolete rather
quickly.

So far, the observer has only an arm-chair
knowledge of silhouettes. This alone will not
make him a good observer in the field, but he
will have gone a long way towards becoming one.
First of all, he will have becone Interested In
aircraft, and, secondly, he will have begun to
learn exeictly in what way alrcrsift vary In their
appeeu'ance or construction. He will also have
learnt a lot of names, many of which are likely
afterwards to be coming constantly to his notice
In the picture papers. He will see photographs
of them from different angles and come to know
their uses, and who makes them. He has reached
the stage when he feels he ought to be able to
recognize them In the air.

Total Depends On C Ircuns tances

Unfortunately, a difficulty Imnedlately arises
here. In that the number of types seen in any
locality Is usually very small, and very often
they may be just those which are not on the list
of the first 50. This brings us to the neces-
sity of further lists and further packs of
cards. The total must depend on the circum-
stances. In the tests of the R.O.C. Cltib there
are 65 In the 3rd Class list, 56 In the 2ndj and
80 In the 1st Class list, a total of 200. The

2nd and 1st class lists include a number of
Italian and French types which might be seen
over Britain, as well as the less likely German
types. The 3rd class list Includes, of course,
all the more important German types. It is
reckoned that the total of British, American,
German, Italian, Russian and Japanese types Is
at least 660.

The observer should now be In a position to
learn to recognize at sight everything that he
sees every day frcan his post and to notice and
name new types whenever they appear. The as-
sistance of an expert at this stage will be in-
veduable. The novice will discover quickly that
In spite of near resenblances of many types,
nearly every aeroplane has Its peculiar 'sit' In
the air. After a time It will often be the
'sit' that Is recognized and not any particular
feature, though an observer should never allow
himself to take anything for granted In this
respect. First sights are very often deceptive
and there are too many "catches" in recognition
for anyone ever to be certain of first Impres-
sions. The use of binoculars is often essen-
tial.

At this stage the observer must begin to seek
practice. He must not only go on with the addi-
tional packs of silhouette cards, but he must
study photographs and be shown films. A keen
interest must be maintained amoigst observers by
the perusal of periodical literature dealing
with aircraft, especially with new types comlrg
Into the service of the several countries. In-
teresting descriptions of aircraft, their per-
formances , armament and functions will help to
Impress on their minds their salient features.
Very often neither silhouettes nor photographs
will be available of new enemy types. Odd bits
of Information about them may be picked up
which, if remenbered, may help «ui observer to
recognize an aeroplane as soon as he sees It.
He may know that it cannot be anything else.

Films Are Valuable

The use of films, with conmentarles, may be a
very valuable method of teaching the elements of
recognition, and might, if there is the oppor-
tunity, form the ground-work of Instruction.
Their development In this country has been slow,
but they take time and care to make and require
the facilities to show, which may not exist In
country districts.

Lastly, competitions of all sorts should be
eirranged with silhouettes, photographs, models,
etc., and even with pmrts of silhouettes, such
(Continued on Page 39)

FEBRUARY I9«

ITandin^ ’Em Important, Too

"FLIGHT STRIPS” FOR DISPERSION OF AIRCRAFT

By Lieut. Col. Stedman Shumway Hanks

N Important contribution to National Defense
can now be made by State and County highway
departments in the construction of "Flight
Strips" in highway rights-of-way or roadside de-
velopment areas near main arid secondary roads.
Under sections 8, 9 and 14 of the Defense High-
way Act of 1941, $10,000,000 has been author-
ized at the present time frcmi Federal funds for
the construction of "Flight Strips."

The entire project is to be carried out in co-
opera.tion with the Army Air Forces and the Com-
missioner of Public Roads is authorized to make
the necessary erglneerlng surveys and pleuis, and
also to enter into agreements with the various
State highway departments to acquire such new or
additional rights-of-way, or lands, which may be
required.

Primary Importance

In signing the Defense Highway Act, the Pres-
ident sent a letter to Congress in which he
stated that the Secretaries of War and Navy re-
gard the authorization for the construction of
access roads to military and naval reservations
and defense industry sites to be of primary im-
portance and urgency.

"The Secretary of War also places in the same
category the authorization for the construction
of "Flight Strips" for the landlig and tal«-off
of aircraft. Under these authorizations, esti-
mates of appropriations may be provided, in such
amounts and for projects in such areas as will
best meet our defense needs."

The accepted definition for a "Flight Strip"
is "a landing area not less than 200 feet in
width and not less than 1,800 feet in length
(the area could be as large as 800 by 8000 feet)
with clear approaches, located in a highway
right-of-way or adjacent to a public highway, on
public land, developed with State and/or County
funds, including Federal aid."

Idea A Sound One

In testimony before the Senate in connection
with the Defense Highway Act, General Arnold
stated that he felt the "Flight Strip" idea was

a sound one in that it was believed by lislpg a
minimum amount of money, by taking straight
stretches of road polntipg generally in the pre-
vailing wind direction, that the Air Forces
would be able to get landing areas with the
least possible expense. Re said they could also
be used for parking of military convoys.

When General Brett appeared before the House
Carmlttee on Roads he stated that the Air Corps
was primarily Interested in "Flight Strips" from
tlie standpoint of coordlnatlpg with the people
who do the work in connection with, the actual
location of the "Flight Strips", as Well as the
actual specifications to be used, such as sur-
face width, construction and length of the
"Flight Strip" area.

General Brett pointed out the extreme impor-
tance of the "Flight Strips" in the movement of
large numbers of airplanes frcm one part of the
country to another, and also as making it possi-
ble for the Air Forces to disperse their air-
planes so as to prevent their loss on the ground
in case of attack.

Will Be Auxiliaries To Bases

Each Air Force ccramander will cooperate in the
selection of "Flight Strip" areas, and the re-
gional managers of the Civil Aeronautics Admin-
istration will be consulted regarding the gener-
al location of these areeis in relation to other
landing facilities. In general, military
"Flight Strips" will be located within a radltis
of from 5 to 50 miles from air bases and will
serve as auxiliaries to those bases.

In modern warfare air bases and airports are
the first targets of banbing operations by enemy
planes. For this reason it is better to avoid
concentrations of bonSsers and fighting planes at
the central air bases, and have them serviced
and stored by squadrons scattered from the main
base. Properly camouflaged "Flight Strips" pro-
vide a good part of the strategic answer to this
problem. Using rubberized cement, such things
as fences, stalks of corn, tobacco plants,
brooks, trees, etc. can be outlined on the
"Flight Strips", while the operation offices may
easily be disguised as farm buildings.

FEBRUARY I9H2

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

DIAGSAM shows how
“flight strip” can
be laid out beside
highway “right-of-
way " line.

SPECIMEN AREA

ff/W INDICATES BOUNDANIES
OF RIGHT' OF -WAY.

DRAWING of specimen area.
This illustrates how flight
strips should be located
near airports and auxiliary
landing fields.

SYMBOLS-

t Auxiliory Field
Municipal Airport

Flight Strip Loeotione
Railroods

Roads and Highways

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AtR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Conplete servicing and repair facilities nusi<
necesseo*ily be located at the main air base, but
airplanes may be flown easily to the base for
these overhaulli^ operations from nearby "Fll^t
Strip" areas and thus prevent a heavy concentra-
tion at planes at one point at apy given time.

The question of maintenance is of great impor-
tance. All "Flight Strips" must be maintained
by some responsible authority. If and when the
Amy should require these areas for their perma-
nent operation, then the "Flight Strips" should
be maintained by the military authorities .

First Thing Is To Build Than

On the other hand, if and when the civilian
authorities are to use these "Flight Strip"
areas, then the Federal Government, through Con-
gress, may have to peuss further legislation and
appropriate funds for their maintenance, or the
States affected may wish to do so.

The first thing Is to get some actual "Flight
Strips" biillt. When the Federal authorities re-
alize how effective these areas are, the Federal
Conmlss loner of Public Roads and the Chief of
Army Air Forces will be in a position to know
more about the provisions that will be necessary
to take care of their maintenance, and appro-
priate reconniendatlons can be made then.

When it is found that a hard surface is diffi-
cult to obtain without considerable expense, due
to a lack of granular soil, etc., it may be nec-
essary for the Army's aviation engineers to
place portable airplane steel plate runway mats
on the "Flight Strip" area. The cost of main-
taining such a runway would be negligible and
would probably be assuned by the Army Air Forces
as long as these mats remain on the ground.
These runway mat installations proved highly
successful durlpg the recent "Battle of the. Car-
ollnas”.

Already many States have planned for the con-
struction of "Flight Strips". Now that Federal
legislation has been enacted and funds are
available, speedy action may be expected in view
of the recognition on the part of the President
and highest military authorities of the primary
Importance of "Flight Strips".

Air Corps officers recently detailed as mem-
bers of the General Staff Corps with troops were
Lieut. Cols. Ftall C. Kiel and Robert E. Douglass,
Jr. Detailed as menbers of the War Department
General Staff and assigned to the Office of the
Chief of Staff In Washlpgton were Majors leonard
H. Rodleck and George F. Schulgen.

AIR SERVICE COMM AMU

A new Air Service Connand has been established
to supply, maintain and store materiel and
equipaent and provide essential services for the
Army Air Force. With headquarters at Dayton,
Ohio, the new Conmand replaces the old Air Corps
Maintenance Connand.

Although the Maintenance Connand operated as a
part of the Materiel Division, the new Air Ser-
vice Conmand will functicsi as a separate organ-
ization. This chapge has been made because un-
der the expanded Air Corps program the Materiel
Division is concerned primarily with experimen-
tal work and the procurement of new aircraft.

General Miller Is Chief

Chief of the Air Service Connand is Brig. Gen-
eral Henry J.F. Miller. His organization will
be equal in liiportance to the Materiel D1v1s1<hi,
which operates directly imder the Chief of the
Air Corps, Major General George H. Brett.

Slogan of the connand is "We Keep 'Em Flying".
This is an accurate description of its duties,
which are to keep every airplane of the Air
Force ready to fly. Specifically the connand
Is charged with supply, maintenance, warehousing
and air transport between stations, and is re-
sponsible for the adequate stocking, proper cat-
aloging &nd rapid distribution of supplies and
equipment.

For the purpose of executing these functions
the Ccmnand heis divided the United States and
its possessions into seven divisions, four in
the United States and three in outlying terri-
tories. Mobile units will operate in these
areas for the purpose of maintaining and stipply-
iig field operations. These regions were for-
merly served by the nine corps areas, but in
July all service elements and functions were
placed under the control of the Chief of the Air
Corps.

$2,500,000 Building

Now under construction on a government-owned
tract of land located near Daytcm, Ohio, is a
$2,500,000 building which will house ihe head-
quarters of the Air Service Connand. It is ex-
pected that construction will be conqpleted some-
time In the spring.

In additicMi to the 800 civilians now; employed
by the connand, approximately 2,400 will be add-
ed before staffing is complete. A large mmi>er
of prospective employees are now in training at
air depots for supervisory Jobs.

FEBRUARY 1942

. t HERE are three aviation cadets on the way to their positions in a bomber
Together they constitute one of the many "Three Musketeer " combat teams of th.
Air Forces. Left to right, they are a navigator, a bombardier and a pilot

More Musketeers

Combat Crew Eligibility

By Oliver Townsend

"Three liLsketeers" of the Air Forces— bom-
hardlers, navigators and pilots — can now
be recruited ft’om an eligibility list Increased
to approximately 2,000,000 by the lowering of
the age limit for aviation cadets to 18 years,
the extension of eligibility to married men and
the abolition of formal educational require-
ments.

Under the new rulings any male citizen of the
United States between the ages of 18 to 26 in-
clusive, Including Army enlisted personnel, may
apply for tralnli^. If married, the applicant
must furnish an affidavit that his wife and fam-
ily have adequate Independent means of siippcwt.

Lanadlate Appointment

As part of the overall changes In Air Corps
recruitment and training technique the procedure
for enlistment has been changed so that appoint-
ment as an aviation cadet immediately follows
enllsiment. This has been made possible throC^h
the establlshaent of an Increased nimi>er of Ca-
det Examining Boards In each of the nine Corps
Areas.

Uxler the new procedure applicants apply di-
rectly to the nearest Cadet Exeunlnlng Board,
where they must present three letters of recom-
mendation signed by citizens of established
stcuidli^ In the comnunity, and a birth certifi-
cate or other documentary evidence of date of
birth and proof of at least 10 years' citizen-
ship.

At the local Cadet Examining Board the pros-
pective cadet Is given a preliminary physical
examination (Type 63) , and a mental "screening"
test, designed to determine the applicant's fit-
ness to pursue successfully Air Corps courses of
Instruction.

Physical requirements are similar to those of
Reserve Officers called to active duty, except
that the prospective flying officer must have
"20/20 eyesight" and normal color perception.
The "screening" test is designed to test the
applicant's aptitude for Air Corps training, not
his knowledge of certain academic fields. The
"screening" test Is a "multiple choice" type of
examination, in which the examinee chooses the

correct answer from a list of five possible an-
swers for each question. The Local Examlnirg
Board also holds formal proceedings to determine
whether the applicant possesses the required
moral emd character qualifications.

If successful, the axipllcant is enlisted at
once, appointed an aviation cadet, and sent Im-
mediately to one of bhe Three Air Corps Replace-
ment Centers. There he Is given additional
tests to determine the type of tralnlrg he is to
receive. Including a Type 64 physical examina-
tion for flying duty.

Depending upon the results of his aptitude
tests at the Training Center, and provided he
passes the physical examination for flight duty,
he is assigned fco* aircrew trainli^ as either a
bcobardier, navigator or pilot. All alrcrewmen
who successfully conplete the Air Corps training
program, which Includes 10 weeks at a Replace-
ment Center, 10 weeks at a primary training
school, 10 weeks at a basic school, and 10 weeks
at an advcmced single or twin-engine school,
will receive conmisslons as second lieutenants.
In addition all aviation students who have
applied for but not yet begun enlisted pilot
training nny apply for cadet status. During the
training period aircrew cadets receive $75.00
per month/ plus $1.00 per day subsistence. They
also receive necessary clothing, equlpnent, med-
ical care, and a $10,000 life Insurance policy
dta*lng the period of training. On eisslgrment to
active duty they me^ continue the xwlicy by pay-
ing the premluiE. Upon graduation each cadet
receives an initial uniform allowance of $150
cash. On release frtxn active duty in the Air
Corps Reserve, he receives $500 for each year of
active service.

Bay Be Ground Officers

New aviation cadets who fall to pass the ad-
vanced Type 64 physical examination at a re-
placement center are Inmedlately considered tor
training as Air Forces ground officers.

Ground courses offered by the Air Forces and
leading to conmisslons as second lieutenant are
In the fields of armament, engineering, meteor-
ology, conmunlcations and photograjjhy. Eligi-
bility for armament training Is extended to

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

civilians, aviation cadets, am to former avi-
ation cadets nowr in civil life — preferably to
those who have had training in engineering or
physics. Aviation cadets and former cadets nust
be recamended by the conmandlng officer of the
Air Cori>s training detachment for armament
training for their mechanical aptitude, and may
not have failed any ground school siibject.
f Candidates for engineering training must have
^cwipleted at least three years of engineering
^yudles at an accredited college or university.
Communications training is open to aviation
cadets who have conpleted either two full years
of engineering studies or have had two years of
college and hold an amateur radio license.

Many Ground Courses

Those eligible for meteorological training are
college graduates who have specialized in sci-
ence, engineering or similar technical svfcjects.
They must have satisfactorily completed courses
in mathematics, including differential and in-
tegral calculis, and physics. Including heat and
thermal dynamics.

Applications for photographic tralnlxig are not
being accepted at present, but when they are
needed only applicants who have had at least
three years of chemistry or geology in an ac-
credited college will be accepted. Preferably,
applicants should also have had some profes-
sional or considerable amatew experience.

In addition to the many courses leading to
ccxnmlssions open to aviation cadets, the Air
Corps also offers many other technical and pro-
fessional courses leading to non-conialssloned'
c^lcer appointments for new applicants and for
aviations cadets who do not take flight training
<|P a ground-officer's training course.

Generals Tramferred

In connection with the revised and expanding
Air Corps training and recruitment program three
general officers of the Air Forces have been
ordered. transferi*ed to new stations . These are
Major General Barton K. Young, who has been as-
signed to the Office of the Chief of the Air
Corps from the West Coast Training Center; Brig.
Gen. George E. Stratemeyer, who has left the
Office of the Chief of the Air Corps to go to
the Southeast Air Corps Training Center as Cdn-
niandlng Officer; and Brig. Gen. Ralph R.
Cousins, who has been relieved of duty as chl^f
of the A-1 Division of the Air Staff and ordered
to conmand the West Coast Air Corps graining
Center.

AUTOMATIC CLOUD COPS

rr^HERE are no cloud cops at Randolph Field,

* but nl^t flying traffic probably couldn't
be controlled more efficiently even if there
were— thanks to a cleverly devised system which
enables Instructors to maintain close watch from
the ground over all students aloft.

Needless to say, safety is paramount. Each
ship must have a definite place in the field
pattern and each student must know where and
when he is to make an approach 'for a practice
landing. This problem of traffic control in
night flying has become even more involved with
the aviation cadet training program now neeu*lng
its peak.

By dividing areas on the east and west sides
of the field into quarters , this systan makes it
possible for as many as sixteen planes to be in
the air at once . It's accomplished by stacklrg
two planes in each zone, of course, at different
levels.

One flies at an altitude of from 1,000 to
1,500 feet, while the other circles at from
2,000 to 2,500 feet. White blinking ground
lights spaced at five-mile intervals clearly de-
fine the boundaries of each quarter and elimi-
nate the possibility of ships flying into zones
other than their own.

Night flying is Inserted into the cadet course
beginning with the fourth week of the ten-week
basic training program here, or after the enbryo
pilot has had approximately 25 hours of dual and
solo daytime flying in his basic trainer. On
his first night flight, the student is acconpa-
nled by the Instructor until he has mastered the
trick of after-dark landings. Aftw that, which
usually requires about 30 to 40 minutes of in-
struction, he's on his own.

Normal ccmmunlcatlon is by radio, but often
light signals govern landings. Of these, there
are two types — bar signals and circle lights
atop a ham^, and the spotlight. The bar sig-
nals are used to indicate t^hat the plane in a
certain zone is to land. Onb bar of light indi-
cates the first zone, two the second, and so on.

One Bar For First Zone

If it is desired to bring in the ship in
lower section of the first zone, one bar appears
in bright red lights . The student in that zone
flashes his landing lights to indicate he has
received the signal. He drops down to 600 feet
where he enters the traffic pattern and lands.

(Continued on Pate 28 )

FEBRUARY 1942

Ferry Coiiimau«l II ou line

The Cruise of the Arabian Night

By IJeut. Col. Caleb V. Haynes;

E arly in June I was ordered to Washington for
sixty days duty with the Atlantic Division
of the Air Corps Ferrying Coomand. After three
months, In which I made North Atlantic Trips No.
1 and No. 4 to England, I was discussing my re-
turn to Puerto Rico with Colonel Robert Olds,
Chief of the ACPC, when my phone rang. A trip
to Africa and the Middle East was In the offing,
to transport MaJ. Gen. George C. Brett, Chief of
the Air Corps, and staff on an inspection trip.

General Brett asted me to suggest an itinerary
and smiled when I told him we might expect motor
trouble In the vicinity of Borinquen Field, P.R.
as this is iqy home station. A relay cutout did
catch fire Just out of Borinquen, and forced a
lay-over of two days. At that point, the General
said, "C.V., I knew we’d have a layover at Bo-
rinquen Field, but I didn't think you'd have to
set the plane on fire to do it ! "

Picked Crew

However, I'm getting ahead of my story. I was
very fortunate to secure a picked crew for our
mission. Navigator was Major Curtis E. LeMay,
copilot and assistant navigator Capt. Carlos J.
Cochrane. Special credit Is due to our enlisted
men., M/Sgt. A. Cattarlus, the air engineer;
W/Sgt. B.R. Martin, assistant air engineer;
M/Sgt. J.E. Sands, radio operator, and Mr. H.
Parker, British assistant radio operator, per-
formed all the functions usually performed by a
coiriDat crew of five men, plus all ground mainte-
nance necessary on our trip. Ground maintenance
for a ship of this type, the Consolidated B-24,
normally takes twelve to eighteen men.

We left Bolling Field (at 9.18 A.M. EST) on
Avgust 31. After an vmeventful trip we reached
Miami at 1.20 P.M. that day. We were there
Joined by General Brett, his aide. Lieutenant
Jack Berry; Colonel Ray Dunn, and Colonel H.B.
Newman, of the Office of the Chief of the Air
Corps, and Mr. H.C. Short of the Middletown Air
Depot.

The following day we proceeded to Borinquen
Field, P.R. , where the relay cut-out fire men-
tioned above occurred and was repaired.

We left Puerto Rico (at 13.20 GMT,) reached

Port-of Spain, Trinidad, at 16.55 GMT, September

Gassing Done By Hand

Pan American Airways weather facilities, radio
and maintenance were used from Trinidad to
Belem, Brazil. Belem lacks hangars. Gassing
was done by hand pumps from drums, and we took
forty-five minutes to service. The same day
(September 4th) we flew on to Natal, arriving
there at 19.55 GMT.

We were greeted at Natal by Colonel White, the
American Attache, who boasts a most unusual col-
lection of tropical fish. One fish could swim
as well backwards as forward. Due to a shortage
of transient acccranodatlons, our party spent the
night In the Catholic hospital.

Our ship departed Natal at 00.28 GMT the night
of the 6th. Although we had considered landing
at Bathurst, Sierra Leone, decision was reached
enroute to land at Free Town on the Gold Coast.
Weather was poor on the West, Southwest Coast of
Africa. We spent the night with the governor of
the colony, continuing on to Takoradi on the
seventh.

Warned About "Gyppy Tunny"

On our arrival in Africa we were warned
against a disease known as "Gyppy Tummy." A
particularly painful and vicious form of stanach-
ache, the only treatment seems to be doses of
whisky and aspirin. Some times the aspirin is
deleted frcm the prescription. Major LeMay was
to suffer a very severe attack of it in Cairo.
(He was advised to consult a certain Dr. Hamil-
ton, who is conceded the East's leading authori-
ty on this malady, but cai further inquiry learn-
ed that the good doctor himself was in bed with
"Gyppy Tunmy"!)

With permission of the Liberian government we
flew over Liberia enroute to Takoradi. We re-
mained over night at Takoradi.

In order to avoid passing over Vichy-French
territory, we flew to Kano via Lagos. An exotic
village where the Jungle meets the desert, Kano
Is the Junction of a railhead and several Impor-
tant caravan routes. There are no hotels, and

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

most of the buildings are conical mud huts. The
t£wn is very old. It has some remarkable primi-
tive dye works which are still in operation.
These are mentioned in the Bible. Here our
party bought a supply of fine leather goods,
learned the art of African bargaining — never pay
more than one-fourth the first price asked by
the seller.

Natives Curious

The native chief and some two hundred villag-
ers were out to see our plane land. Their pre-
sence proved fortunate, as our wheels broke
■through the runway. At a signal from the chief,
the natives started to push us off. At first
all pushed in different directions, but they
were finally straightened out, and to the thump
of tom toms rolled us to firmer ground. We de-
flated our tires to 45 pounds and had no further
trouble of this kind.

The face of the engineering officer at El Fash-
er dropped when we mentioned our gas require-
ments. He had what we needed, he hastened to
explain, but almost every gallon was brought 425
miles in small drums on truck or camel. El
Fasher also is a caravan center whose markets
offer elephant tusks and strange animal hides.
Giraffes and other big game are plentiful. ■ It
was near this point that General Brett carefully
photographed a herd of "gazelles", only to learn
on developing his negative that the gazelles
were the common garden variety of goats.

Colonel Perrin asked permission to Join our
party at El Fasher, but Colonel Dunn protested
vigorously. I wondered why, until I realized
that Perrin would make the thirteenth passenger.
Fortunately a British official also wished to go
to Cairo. His presence made fourteen instead of
thirteen and Colonel Dunn was happy.

The governor, who had entertained us hospita-
bly, urged us not to fly to Cairo direct, as a
forced landing in the Sahara desert would be
most dangerous. Accordingly we took off on the
morning of the tenth in the direction he ad-
vised.

Use Secret "Corridor"

Flying over the ruins of the Nile valley, we
approached Cairo along the secret "corridor"
which must be used by all friendly aircraft in
that area, giving the signal of the day when re-
quired. In Cairo we were met at the airport by
Mr. Kirk, American Minister; Colonel Burwell,
Lieutenant Atkins, Major Nick Craw and several
British officials. Major Craw has had many ex-
citing experiences including Greece, Crete and

so forth. He was a prisoner for several days on
one occasion.

On our third day in Cairo we were advised by
British Intelligence of an expected air raid
and advised to move our ship. However, we felt
that with its conspicuous markirigs the B-24 was
safer in the hangar. The raid came off on
schedule, and thirty-nine people were killed,
sane ninety injured.

While in Egypt we had an opportunity to visit
several advanced British outpost air units in
North Africa. Most of the men are Colonial
troops: Australians, New Zealanders, South Afri-
cans. Their morale appears high and they are
doing a wonderful job in face of almost incredi-
ble hardships.

Dust Worse Than Heat

Dust is more .of a problen than heat, yet mech-
anized equipment appears to function in spite of
it. I talked with several British officers who
were enthusiastic about the quality or such
American equipment as they had received.

On September 23 several menibers of our party,
accai 5 )anled by British Air Meirshall Dawson, flew
to Basra, Iraq. On the way we were requested to
fly low and give the signal of the day at sever-
al desert outposts. Bagdad has a fairly well-
developed airport which still bore some scars of
a recent Iraq uprising. Basra, at the head of
the Persian Gulf, was the most easterly point of
our travels .

After a night spent in Habbaynla, Iraq, we re-
turned on the morning of the twenty-fourth to
Lydda, Palestine. Weather facilities and main-
tenance appear excellent through the part of the
Middle East covered. Following a day of sight-
seeing the party, with the addition of Wing Con-
mander Brown, vdio had entertained us royally in
Jerusalem, departed for Cairo. Copmander Brown
flew the "Arabian Knight" (as we had unofficial-
ly dubbed her) about a hundred miles and ex-
pressed himself well pleased with her perform-
ance. In Iraq we had been promised the chance
to fly a captured German ME-llO, but were told
it was out of conmlssion when we accepted the
offer. We reached Cairo on the twenty-fifth.

General Brett and Lieutenant Berry left us at
Cairo. They were replaced on the return trip by
Colonel Burwell and Wing Connander Harris, whose
brother is at present stationed in Washington.

Food Plentiful

Food is quite plentiful in Egypt, but far more
expensive than it is in Londoi. Acconmodatlons,
(Continued on Page 40)

FEBRUARY 1942

New Army Record

180 Miles Withoul: a Motor

By Lieut. Claude L. Luke

Several months ago Lieutenant Luke estab-
lished a distance record for Army glider pi-
lots when he flew a soaring plane from the
Army Glider School at Elmira, N.Y., approxi-
mately 180 miles to a farmer’s field near Fort
Dix, N.J. Recently he told the story of the
flight to Corporal George Eckels, editor of
the Middletown Air Depot publication , "Wings
Over Olmstead"

Last November Lieutenant Luke was killed in
the crash of an Army Air Forces glider at Pat-
terson Field, Ohio, His was the first fatal
glider accident to be recorded since The Army
Air Forces began its experimental program in
the use of powerless aircraft for military
operation.

I T was clear and bright the morning of the
flight. The Ifrjited States Weather Bureau's
meteorologXst, Barney Wiggins, attached to the
Army School at Elmira, forecast that this would
be an excellent day to soar cross-country.

My plane was a Wolfe, produced in Germany by
Wblfe-Hirth. It has a wingspread of fifty-two
feet and weighs about three hundred pounds. In
soaring circles the Wolfe has a good name for
speed and lightness. It has very sensitive con-
trols and heel-action pedals. Most United
States gliding airmen are familiar with toe-
action. Flying the Wolfe must be very like fly-
one of the earliest type motor-driven ships.
It is unstable and requires constant attention
to keep it in flying position.

I had been away tram the Army School at Elmira
for about forty-five days. Having flown no^ilng
but transports during this Interval, I admit
that I felt no little trepidation in preparing
to fly cross-country in a plane I still found
somewhat foreign and unfamiliar.

But the officials smoked a barograjd! and after
checking it installed it in the Wolfe. They
handed me a chocolate bar and a wide necked
bottle filled with orange juice. It was 10.30"
A.M. I was towed off Harris Hill and as the tow
line reeled out to the end I reached an altltiide
of seme six hundred feet. For a ^dille 1 soared
up and down the slope in front of a thirty-five

Lieut. Claude L, Luke

mile wind blowing out of the north. I nosed
around for some thermals. I fotmd one or two
but my turns in a plane so strange to me caused
much grief. Each one felt like an incipient
spin. (Some of you may wonder what a ’ thermal •
is. A thermal is a mass of moisture-laden air
that rises from spots on the ground heated by
the sun, until it reaches the inversion point -
or where cold air turns the thermal into a
cloud. The loglcad indication of a thermal is a
cloiid, although not always. When clouds build
iq) over a widespread area, ’lift' results.)

Othqr gliders had taken off, some before and
some after me. They all seemed to clinft) much
higher than I could. For about ninety minutes ' I
sl(^-soared over Harris Hill. Time after time,
the Wolfe's nose nuzzled the warmth of a goodly
thermal. I would rise several thousand feet.
Each time I believed there were not enough ther-
mals to permit me to leave the air over Harris
Hill. And each time I came back to slope-soar
and wait. I was Intent on staying up five hours
at least, to qualify for the Sllver-C award,
granted by the Federation Aeronautlque Inter-
nationale. (Ot-her reoulrements : Altitude, 3000

feet; distance, 30 miles.) I hoped I could meet
some of these qualifications by slqpe-soaringialone.

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

From tine to time I headed back to the field
after riding thermals to several thousand feet
and had several very, close calls. About noon-
time I hooked on to a strong thermal that shot
me upward to four thousand feet in two and a
half minutes. This was encouraging. For the
first time I believed I really had a good chance
to take off cross-country. Overhead the sky had
b^un to form into small cottony cmulus clouds.
I found enough lift, hopping from cloud to
cloud, to gain altitude little by little. Cir-
cling to stay in the area of lift I began to
drift down wind. In the next five minutes I
would have to decide whether to shove-off, or go
back to Harris Hill. The wind decided for me.
I was too far to "get in" to Harris Hill. So I
was on the way!

The simplest way to fly cross-country in a
glider Is to go down wind. You must circle to
hold altitude because the cross-section of a
thermal Is very small. Sometimes they are CMily
"bubbles.” These drift with the wind. If your
objective lies down wind, that nuch distance Is
gained. In other words. It Is logical that a
cross-country gliding flight Is no more than a
series of spirals, while flying with the wind.

Senses Chance At Becord

When I left Elmira I chose Middletown Air De-
pot as a tentative goal. It was almost due
south. I would have liked to land there at my
h<xne station. But the wind was coming out of
the northwest now - It must have been one
o’clock - and progress was so rapid that I felt
I had an outside chance to establish some kind
of record If I continued <xi a stral^t down wind
course. The upper Susquehanna river was my com-
pass.

Northwest of Scranton I was down to 2000 feet
and losing altitvide rapidly. There was a range
of mountains to cross If I were to go on. I
circled to gain altltiide. A thermal picked me
up under a cloud and soon I was half across the
mountain ridge. I had to go on. In this region
I put to practical use a bit of Information glv-
ai us by instroictors at Elmira. I watched hawks
wheeling over the mountain tops and crowded one
of than out of his own thermal. I gained alti-
tude coi hawk-course Just south of Scranton’s ex-
cellent airport.

There are many mountains between Scranton and
Allentown. Scranton looked taipting. Besides,
I was hungry! To go up or come down, that was
the question. But clouds, gleaming In bright
sunlight, were favorable to staying up. Lift
was good up to the Inverslcxi point at the base

of the clouds - almost constant at 8000 feet -
but no higher.

Upward BOO Feet Per Minute

Many times during the fllglit I got down to cme
thousand feet or even less and picked out tenta-
tive landing fields to come in on if the sky
gave out on thermals. But again and again I
found one of these up-currents to ride. They
were well-defined, if not numerous. When I did
find (Mie my rate of ascent was well In excess of
five hundred feet p)er minute. Visibility w€is
excellent. I had no conpass and was sitting on
my map. I had to depend on menory for local ge-
cgraphy. With relief I foimd towns turned out
to be what I had guessed they were.

After crossing another range of mountains
north of Allentown, where I found no emergency
fields within range of my gliding angle, I got
hungry again. Now for that chocolate bar, I
thought! But my heavy winter flight Jacket
pressed too snugly against the sides of the
cockpit and I couldn't reach the candy - or the
map I was sitting on, when I wanted It badly.
Another handicap was the hood that fitted over
my head like a cowl. I must have looked like a
turtle, sitting up there in the cockpit with
only my head showing! While Jiiggling for the
chocolate bar I dropped a thousand feet of pre-
vious altitude and actually dragged out by my
shoe tops.

Somehow I arrived over Allentown, down very
low. I looked overside for a spwt to land on.
There were the fairgrounds enclosed in a race-
track and packed with people! I circled the
field several times. Surprised falrgoers looked
upward and began to clear the field. I saw a
plane on the grounds. I suppose the pilot gave
the sign to clear the field.

Suddenly my variometer indicated a thermal and
I soared uoward again, almost a mile. I could
come in at Allentown aiiTXjrt now if I wanted. I
wa.s hui^ry enough to want to. But warm air from
the city held me comfortably aloft. Far off I
could see the gap where the lAisconetcong river
cuts through the hills to reach the Delaware. I
saw smoke rising from a factory stack and headed
off to ascend its artificial thermeil before wind
dispersed it. But I came too late. Still, I
got on another hawk’s beam. But this time I
didn't crowd him and we shared the useful warmth
of his thermal! Round and round we soared, up
to eight thousand feet - enough to cross the
mountains. Trenton, New Jersey was in sight!

(Continuad on Page 40)

FEBRUARY 19^2

Important Changes Made

Air Corps Reorganized

I N a sweeping reorganization, the old divi-
sion hreaMcwn of the Office of the Chief of
the Air Corps nas been revised and a new or-
ganization under a series of ** assistants to the
chief" has been set iq).

The reorganization was made in order to meet
the demands of full-scale aerial combat called
for by the President in his war message to Con-
gress. The biggest step in the adjustment of the
internal organization of the Air Forces since
their creatlcm as a seml-autoncHnous part of the
War Department last June, the new plan provides
for closer coordination of effort both within
the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps , and
with the ifeadquarters Army Air Forces and Air
Ccntiat Forces .

Will Speed Up Procuraoent

Instituted soon after the appointment of Major
General Walter R. Weaver as Acting Chief of the
Air Corps, the reorganization for the first time
gives the Air Corps an Adjutant General, Judge
Advocate General and a Fiscal Officer, These
and the other changes are expected to speed up
the procurement of equljxnent, the training of
personnel and the delivery and maintenance of
combat aircraft in theaters of operation — the
primary functlcais of the Air Corps in its place
in the Air Forces.

Serving directly under the Chief of the Air
Corps under the new organizatlcwi is an Executive
Assistant. The Adjutant General performs the
normal dutues of such an officer, the Judge
Advocate General performs those functions for-
merly charged to the Chief of the Legal Divi-
sion, and the Fiscal Officer performs those
duties formerly charged to the Chief of the Fis-
cal Unit.

Another newly created office is that of the
Inspector General, who performs those functicxis
formerly charged to the Chief of the Inspection
Division.

The series of asslsteuits to the Chief of the
Air Corps provided for in the new organization
Includes an Assistant for Procurement Services,
an Assistant for Supply and Maintenance Serv-
ices, an Assistant for Personnel and Training
Services, an Assistant for Ferrying Service,

and an Assistant for Army Air Traffic Services.

The Assistant for Procurement Services re-
places and performs the duties formerly charged
to the Chief of the Materiel Division. The As-
sistant for Supply and lifeilntenance Services re-
places and performs the duties formerly charged
to the Commanding General of the Air Service
Canmand, the Chief of the Building and Ground
Division, euid the Chief of the Amnunition liiit
and the Airplane Unit of the Operations Divi-
sion.

The Assistant for Personnel and Training Serv-
ices replaces and performs the functions for-
merly charged to the Military Personnel Divi-
sion, the Civilian Personnel Division, Training
Division, the Intelligence School Section, euid
the Medical Division — less those functions
transferred to the Air Staff. The Assistant for
Ferrying Services replaces and handles the func-
tions formerly charged to the Ccminanding Officer
of the Air Corps Ferrying Command.

Intelligence Remains

The Assistant for Army Air Traffic Services
will take care of the Administrative Regulations
of Army Flying, the operation of the Army Air-
ways CcHnnunicaticn Service, the Weather Service,
Bolling Field, the duties now charged to the Map
Section of the Intelligence Division, the func-
tions of the old Operations Division, and the
allocation of aircraft to activities eind agen-
cies under the control of the Chief of the Air-
craft .

Under the new organization the Intelligence
Division will he continued for as lor^ a time as
is necessary, until the absorption of its act-
ivities is accomplished by other agencies.

Executive Assistant to General Weaver, under
the reorganization, is Lt. Col. L.S. Smith;
Assistant Executive for Administrative Planning
and Coordination is Lt. Col. Byron E. Gates;
Assistant Executive for Technical Planning and
Coordination is Lt. Col. James G. Taylor; the
Air Corps Adjutant General is Col. William F.
Pearson; the Judge Advocate General is Lt. Col.
E. H. Snodgrass; the Fiscal Off leer is Lt. Col.
A.W. Martensteln, and the Inspector General is
Lt. Col. G.H. Beverley.

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Brig. Gen. Oliver P. Echols is the new Assist-
ant for Procurement Services, Brig. Gen. Henry
J.F. Miller is the Assistant for Supply and
Maintenance Services, Brig. Gen. Robert Olds Is
the Assistant for Ferrying Services, Col. Walter
F. Kraus is the Assistant for Personnel and
Training Services, and Col. Oliver S. Person is
the Assistant for Air Traffic Services.

Lt. Col. J.G. Taylor remains as Chief of the
Air Corps Intelligence Division.

M AINTENANCE of piloting skill will be given
first consideration among the duties as-
signed to personnel holding flying ratings, ac-
cording to a new Army Air Forces Regulation
listing the minimum annual flight requirements
for Air Corps pilots.

Under the new Regulation commanding officers
are directly charged with the responsibility for
seeing that regular and frequent flights are
made by all personnel holding flying ratings,
and by all non-rated officers placed on flying
status by the Chief of the Air Corps.

CoDiuandlng officers are further held responsi-
ble for assurance that pilots are thoroughly
qualified to "pilot", and that they have suf-
ficiently demonstrated familiarity with the
various aircraft types before they are permitted
to fly them.

Flight Requirements

The minimum annual flight requirements which
must be met by all personnel holding flying rat-
ings, and by all non-rated officers on flying
status, are as follows:

1 . One hundred hours of flying time . Not
less than 40 of these hours must be accomplished "
during each six months' period of the fiscal
year .

2. Ten hours of night flying. Not less than
four of these hours must be obtained in each
half of the fiscal year.

3. Twenty hours of instrument flying. Not
less than eight of these must be accomplished
during either six months' period.

4. Two instrument tests. Pilots of limited
status whose limitations do not prohibit instru-
ment flying must meet these Instrument tests as
"pilots". At least one of the tests is per-
fonned in an airplane if possible. Rated pilots
assigned to duties involving piloting who pass
this test are furnished a certificate showing
they have qualified as Instrument pilots. This
applies alike to Regular Army, Reserve and
National Guard officers.

Officers and men rated as pilots but not
technically qualified to fly the planes with
which their units are equipped, due to lack of
flying hours, are given credit for co-pilot time
in meeting the annual flight requirements.

Other rulings instituted by the new regulation
are that personnel placed on a limited flying
status must meet all requirements in conformity
with their duties, ratings and limitations; and
that non-rated officers on flying status must
meet requirements similar to those of "unlimit-
ed" pilots.

It was also provided that personnel on flying
status for only part of a fiscal year must meet
a proportional amount of the requirements.

CLOUD COPS. . . (Continued From Page 22)

The circle lights atop the hangars are used in
conjunction with the bar signals to bring in the
ig)per zone planes. After the plane in the lower
zone has landed, a combination of one red bar
and a green circle is the signal for the plane
In the upper section of Zone 1 to drop down into
the lower zone and make his landing approach.
Planes in other quarters are handled in similar
manner, the number of bar lights Indicating the
zone.

Spotlights are used as an auxiliary to the re-
gular bar light control, but take precedence
when used. They are used in three colors — green
to indicate that the plane is cleared for tate-
off or landing, red to warn that something is
wrong and that the pilot about to land should
return to his zone, and white for identifying
ship numbers, to assist the pilot in parking.
When flashed intermittently, it's a signal to
taxi into the line.

The student is drilled in three phases of
night landing. First he im^t set his plane down
with all the field's floodlights on, then with
only his ship's landing lights and the boundary
markers of the field. Third phase is on a small
runway outlined only by small beams of light
shining parallel to the thus Improvised runway
and visible only from a point directly opposite
the entrance to the runway area.

This last phase of training needs a portable
lighting system and generator recently Invented
and developed at Wright Field, Ohio, which can
be set up and in operation in fran 30 to 40 min-
utes and enables the operators to transform into
an airdrome what a few monents before had been a
cow-pasture. Thus are simulated actual condi-
tions encountered by pilots engaged in tactical
problems .

FEBRUARY 1942

Yanks In the R. A. F.

Airacabras Strike for Britain

A Sqiiadron Leader who won the Distinguished
Plying Cross In the Battle of Britain and
has had eight confirmed victories over enemy
aircraft, now comoands a famous fighter squadron
which has recently been equipped with the Bell
Airacobra filter aircraft. Ife Is very proud of
the distinction, and so are his pilots; they In-
clude men from edl parts of Great Britain, from
three of the great Dominions, several Czechs,
and recently there was also a Slngalese pilot.
To a representative of Flight the Squadron
Leader explained that the Airacobra Is In some
ways the most modem aircraft In the world, at
any rate the most modern fighter. It Is a
specially designed machine, full of new Ideas.
Its' outstanding featvires are the position of the
liquid-cooled Allison engine (of 1,1B0 h.p.) be-
hind the pilot, with shaft drive to a tractor
airscrew In the nose, and a nose-wheel under-
carriage.

Pilot's Back Is Safe

Naturally, two questions which the Squadron
Leader was asked were whether the nose-wheel
stood up well to rough landings, and whether the
engine showed any tendency to move forward Into
the snail of the pilot's back. To both he was
able to give satisfactory answers.

The Airacobra was designed to work off run-
ways, and the aerodrome where his squadron Is
stationed Is far frcm resedillng a croquet lawn,
but all the same the nose-wheel has stood up
well. It otight to do so, for Its strut looks
very solid, not to seiy heavy; and, as a matter
of fact, the machine altoge^er is heavier than
British standard single-seater fighters. The
squadron has had one breakage of this member
from an unusually heavy landing at night, and
three other cases of damage, which were not
serlcus.

There have been no serious accidents, but In
sane landings which might have been better the
engine did not move from Its bed, and showed no
sort of inclination to do so. The squadron
feels no anxiety on that point.

No Trouble pyom Plnglne

As for maintenance of the engine, It was
treated with the same care as the Merlins In

British fjgnters, and the squadron did not know
what Its flying life would be before It had to
be taken out for a major overhaul. Up to the
present It has given no trouble.

Few facts can be stated about the perfonnance
of the Airacobra, but in the U.S.A. it has
been published that the top speed is In the
neighbourhood of 400 m.p.h. The pilots say that
air combats now are decided by speed and fire
power. The Airacobra certainly has the first,
and It excels at Its own favourite height. Its
armament likewise Is formidable. Several
versions are possible. The machines of this
squadron have one 20-mn. cannon firing through
the airscrew hiib, two machine guns In the nose
which fire throu^ the arc of the airscrew, and
four machine guns In the wings. The amount of
aamunltlon carried Is Impressive, and no doiibt
the enemy would like very much to know the pre-
cise figures.

The Airacobra as built for the R.A.F. Is In
some particulars different from the form In
^Ich It Is used In the Ikilted States. Our men,
too, after receiving their machines, have them-
selves Introduced some modifications. These
will be notified to the manufacturer and will be
Incorporated in future deliveries.

Spares A little Late

It was mentioned also by the squadron that all
the spares did not arrive with the machines, and
this was a bit of a nuisance. But R.A.F.
aircraftmen are Ingenious, and the machines have
not been kept aground by the non-arrival of the
spares. The squadron presumes that the said
spares had been dispatched, but had gone astray
somewhere on the way. We may recall that
something of the same sort happened In the case
of machines delivered to the Russians, who had
to manufacture the necessary tools before they
could erect the aircraft. But things will
sometimes go astray In time of war, and It Is
not suggested that the Americans were careless
In the matter . Everyone knows how anxious they
are to help tile Miles.

One very gOod polht about the Airacobra Is the
splendid view whlcbi the pilot gets behind hta by
slnply turning his fiea^. It is a very Important

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

matter in a dogfight, and this American machine
is about the best of the lot in that respect.
The entrance to the pilot's cockpit is throi^gh a
side door, not throu^ the opening at the top.
In fact, the top of the transparent cover does
not open, and this means that very tall pilots
can hardly be comfortable inside.

Short Pilots Best

It is preferable to pick pilots of not over
5 ft. 10 in. The Americans also suggested
putting a limit on the weight of the pilot, but
so far this squadron has not found it necessary
to stick to the limit which the designers spg-
gested. When a pilot has to do a "brolley hop"
(it has not yet been necessary) there is a quick
release of a door in the side, and the pilot
rolls out on to the wing, and then off that into
open air. That obviates the manoeuvres which
are found advisable when a man has to quit a
ftirrlcane or Spitfire.

Of the flying qualities of the Alracobra
nothing but high praise was heard from the
pilots, even though sane of them who had been
before in Hurricane squadrons had got so at-
tached to their old machines, as pilots will,
that they felt rather homesick for them.

Condensed From FLICMIT

•

Eleven-year-olds may still be a little young
for enlistment as aviation cadets, even under
the newly lowered age limits, but that didn't
stop ThaddeiB Schultz of Manoa, Pa., from apply-
ing. Thaddeus wrote the 33rd Rirsult Group at
Philadelphia and said: "I would like to Join
the Army Air Corp. lHy father was a fighter in a
boxing ring and 1 would like to be in the Air
Corp. I am 11 years of age and In good health.
P.S. — I am a Polish decente not a German
decente . "

Thaddeus was told the Air Corps appreciated
his "fine spirit and willingness to serve", but
that he'd have to wait a few yeeu's, under pres-
ent regulations, before he could take flight
training.

•

There is quite a siminkllng of so called "G-
ifen" and "Bobbles," the British equivalent of
American pollcanen, "Cops," "Flat Feet," or irtiat
have you, among the Britishers undergoing flying
training at the Southeast Air C(»^' Trednlng Cen-
ter. The majority of 66 former representatives
of the law are patrolmen, the remainder being
ex-detectives and special investigators who were
associated with Scotland Yard.

MEW S.E.T.C. IMSIGMIA

THIS is the new official insi6nia of the
Southeast Air Corps Training Center. The im-
age on the crest is that of a Griffin, mytho-
logical half-lion, half-eagle which could
never be taken by an enemy. The clenched fist
directly below stands for defensive action,
and the seven shafts of lightning symbolize
the seven pAaaes of instruction— elementary ,
basic, advanced, bombardier ing, navigation and
gunnery — which prepare cadets for aerial com-
bat. The background of the shield is azure,
and represents the clear skies of the States
included in the Southeast Training Center.

Approximately 10,000 persons were present at
the dedication recently of Gardner Field in Taft,
Kern County, Calif., <Mie of the four basic fly-
li^ schools in the West Coast Air Corps Training
Center .

FEBRUARY 1942.

Mew Combat Teams

Support Commands Provide Lightning Punch

By Col. William E. Lynd

A ir support aviation has been developed to
provide ground forces with the close air
si^^rt essential to their success in conbat.

All designated air support units are con-
tained in the Air Force Conbat Ccmnand. A staff
section exists in headquarters of this ccamand,
with an Air Support Officer as chief. As the
functioning of air support aviation is in close
conjunction with the operations of ground for-
ces, the Air Siqjport Section has been located at
the Army War College, the location of the Gen-
eral Headquarters of the Army.

Five Air Support Conmands are organized, one
within each nunbered Air Force and the fifth
directly xmder the Conbat Command to work with
the Armored Force.

Works With Ground Forces

The function of Air Support Commands is to
handle all types of aviation working in direct
connection with and support of ground forces.
This type of aviation includes light and dive
bcnbardment, observation, photographic, and oth-
er elements such as tow target, and transports
for air-borne and parachute troops.

Before the war there were eleven observation
groups. Including forty observation squadrons.
Additional group headquarters and observation
squadrons are now being authorized by the War
Department. There is new cme pdotographlc group
of foiiT squadrons with new authorization for
still more. Observation organization is de-
signed to provide a group for each corps, con-
taining one squadron to support each division,
and one for corps use. In 6uidltlon to corps
groups, one observation groig) is being provided
for the support of each array.

One of the major changes being made in observ-
ation aviation is the utilization of two-engine
bcnbardment and pursuit type planes for assign-
ment to observation squadrons. The war has
jjroven rather conclusively that the medium speed
ordinary two-engine cbservatiwi airplane cannot
live in modern conbat. The old theory of con-
tinuous observation or surveillance of an enenjy
area can no Ipnger be employed. Observation be-
yond the enemy lines will now consist princi-
pally of going in to observe a particular point

or sc*ne particular activity and returning as
soon as that Information is obtained. Either
speed or defensive fire power or both must be
depended upon to obtain this information. The
information or verification ordinarily will be
secured by jbotography. A considerable nunber
of the light tyi>e un-armed liaison planes is
also being provided to observation units for
courier and messenger service.

Provides Close Siqiport

One of the principal functions of Air Support
Commands is to provide both close and direct
conbat air support. Conbat support is provided
by light and dive bombardment. Light bombard-
ment groups of four squadrons each with one
additional squadron, are now included in the
five Air Support Commands. It is hoped to pro-
vide light bcnbardment for air support in the
ratio of two squadrons per each Armored Divi-
sion, and one squadron per each infantry and
motorized division. The present light bonbard-
ment airplane is the A-20-A fast two-engine
horizontal bember. Dive bonbers now being used
are the A-24 type, the same as the SBD-3 in use
by the Navy. Much attention has been jjald to
the tactics and technique of coobat air support
of ground troops . Several exercises euid maneu-
vers have been held in this ccwmectlon, j)artlc-
ularly with armored forces.

Signal ccmmunication plays an Important role
in air support, as ground organizations must be
able to contact their supporting air unit and
ask for the destruction of a certain objective
or for the reconnaissance of an area. The can-
mander of the air organization must then be able
to contact his various squadrons either on the
ground or in the air. For this purpose. Signal
Ccmpanles Aviation are included in the Air Sup-
port Commands.

In order to ftirnish aviation for the towlig of
targets for antiaircraft artillery fire, tow
target detachments are Included in the Air Sup-
port Commands . These detachments are to be
equipped with airplanes and equipment for towlig
and tracking missions to assist the antiaircraft
artillery in their training.

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Transx)ort aviation for the movement and con-
veyii^; of hoth parachute eind air-borne troops
will be provided by Air Support Commands. One
transport squadron was utilized for this purpose
in the Louisiana maneuvers and a transport group
of three sqviadrons was used during the Carolina
maneuvers.

IVactlce At Maneuvers

The Air Support CcmnEinds of the different Air
Forces support and assist in the routine train-
iiTg of the army with which the Air Force is as-
sociated. Air Support Commands as such have
X>articipated in maneuvers only during the GHQ
control portion of the Carolina maneuvers. All
avlatiOTi operating during this phase of the Car-
olina maneuvers was included in the First and
Third Air Support Conmands supporting the First
Army and Fourth Corps respectively. The results
obtained fVom this first maneuver employment of
Air Support Commands were very gratifying. It
developed the conclusion, as expressed by sev-
eral high comnanders , that the air support or-
ganization i^ sound and logical. Of course
there are many details yet left to be worked out
and adjustments made, but the fact that air sup-
port as now organized is functioning along cor-
rect lines, augurs well for the future develop-
ment of aviation support of ground forces.

Xews Letter Changes

N o AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER was issued for the
month of December or January because of the
extra pressure of work placed on the Head-
quarters Army Air Forces by the war.

COTditlons have so been adjusted however, that
it is expected piiblication on a regular monthly
schedule can now be resumed. In the future the
JVEWS LETTER will be published on or about the
first of each month so long as publication does
not interfere with necessary war business.

A nuiiber of changes have been made recently in
the instructions covering the preparation of
material for the NEWS LETTER and in the method
of distribution of the publication. Potential
contributors and officers assigned as local NEWS
LETTER correspondents should familiarize them-
selves with these changes, which are outlined in
detail in Army Air Force Bulletin No. 41-8; Army
Air Force Regulation No. 5-6 and Army Air Force
Policy No. 5-1.

Distribution of the NE^S LETTER no longer is
on a personal basis. With the exception of a
few general officers, active and retired, no in-
dividuals receive the publication as individu-

als. Distribution to the field is on the same
basis as Army Air Forces regulations, except
that Wright Field, like Washingtcxi, receives one
copy "for each headquarters or division and one
additional copy for every four officers and key
civilian personnel assigned thereto." Requests
from individuals to be placed on the mailing
list cannot be granted.

Personal Itans Not Wanted

The biHletin outlining the type of material
desired and the method of preparation states
sj)eclflcally that "personal items are no longer
wanted" and that public relations officers and
other contributors "should not send information
on such matters as squadron picnics, dances, the
promotion of enlisted men (unless the circum-
stances were unusual) or of officers, descrip-
tions of athletic events, etc." It says further
that news releases ARE NOT STITT ARTF. as a substi-
tute for material prepared especially for the
NEWS LETTER.

The bulletin states that material considered
appropriate lor publication includes stories on
technical developinents in the Materiel Division,
changes of policy with respect to aviation, de-
scriptions or discussions of new airplanes, out-
standing flight achievements, articles discuss-
ing in detail innovations of military technique
worked out by Army Air Forces personnel, and de-
tailed accounts of maneuvers, including descrip-
tions of the problems encountered and how they
are solved.

Contributors may save themselves and the per-
soinel in charge of the NEWS LETTER a great deal
of trouble by reading the bulletin, policy and
regulation governing publication of the NEWS
LETTER before sending material to Washington.
Articles of the sort carried in the current is-
sue are wanted. Provided he knows what he is
talking about, the author may be of any rank or
frcm any organization.

•

With the establlslment of sub-dexx)ts in Merced
and Lemoore, Calif., a total of eight subsidiary
depots of the Sacramento Air Depot have been es-
tablished duripg the past year in California and
Nevada.

Training aviation cadets in night cross-country
and formation flying is an experiment started at
Goodfellow Field, San Apgelo, Texas. Heretofore
such training was conducted cmly at advanced fly-
ing schools. If successful, it is possible that
this type of flying will be inaugurated at the
various other basic flying schools.

5BRUARY 1942

Bolt From The Blue

Patrol Bombers Corral Sub at Sea

A n aircraft of the R.A.F. Coastal Connand has
captiired a German U-boat — the first time a land
aeroplane has forced a submarine to surrender
outright.

They fought out one of the strangest duels in
history, with one adversary in the sky, the
other beneath the sea. The sky won. After the
aircraft, a Lockheed Hudson bomber, had attacked
the U-boat the crew of the submarine canv? tumb-
ling out of their conning tower, waving a white
shirt as token of surrender.

The Hudson, completely unaided, held the U-
boat prisoner for nearly four hours. A Catalina
flyiiTg-boat of the Coastal Caimand then arrived, to
relieve the Hudson. The Catalina acted as
gaoler, assisted by other Hudsons and Catalinas
of the Coastal Command, for nearly ten hours
more.

Ship Takes Over

One of His Majesty's ships was able to arrive.
Just as daylight was fading, to take over from
the aircraft. By then the U-boat had been held
prisoner from the air, without any actual con-
tact except the threat of machine-guns, for
nearly thirteen hours.

The Hudson took off early in the morning, and
headed out over the Atlantic^ Visibility was
poor, frequent rainstorms swept across the sea.
The water below was angry and rough, covered
with white caps.

They were "toddling along with George (the
automatic pilot) doing most of the work, " when
suddenly there was a shout from the navigator's
cabin in the nose of the aircraft.

"There's one Just in front of you, "(Routed
the navigator^ Tne pilot gazed out where the
navigator was pointing, at the same time pulling
out the automatic pilot and taking control.
There, about 1,200 yards away on the port bow,
was a U-boat.

Navigator Watches

The pilot thrust the nose of the aircraft
down, and dived. The navigator stood with his
face pressed to the cockpit window, keeping the
suumarlne in sight.

"Let me know when its time to drop. Jack,"
called tlie pilot quickly.

The navigator nodded, and a few seconds later
yelled "Now!"

The rear gunner, who had been hastily winding
in the aerial, popped his head into the astro-
dome Just in time to see a column of water
shooting high into the air.

Then the pilot turned the Hudson steeply, and
climbed. Below him he could see the wide area
of churned waves. As he watched there was an-
other shout from everybody in the aircraft. The
U-boat had cane to the surface. The gunner, who
had rushed into the rear-turret, had the best
view. He saw the U-boat surface rapidly, on an
almost even keel. She came surging up through a
mass of foaming water.

The navigator reached for his camera and call-
ed to the rest of the crew.

"Machine-gun them, let's machine-gun them."

The wireless operator dropped to the floor and
rapidly wound down the belly-gun. Then the air-
craft dived across the U-boat, all guns blazing
tracer bullets — front guns, rear-turret and
belly-gun.

Crew Timbies Out

As the Hudson dived, the U-boat's conning
tower hatch was thrown open, and about a dozen
of the crew tumbled out and dropped on to the
deck. The Hudson crew thought they were manning
the guns so they kept their own guns firing
hard. The red streaks of the tracer were pep-
pering into the conning tower and kicking up
little spurts of water all round the U-boat.

This was too much for the Germans. Those who
were already on the deck turned and ran back in-
to the conning tower, those who were coming up
from below still tried to push outwards. For a
few moments there was "an awful shanfcles" in the
conning tower, the Hudson pilot afterwards
described ItT? The U-boat crew were all mixed
together, some stn;ggllng to get in, others to
get out. All the figures seemed to be capless,
and they were distinctly visible from above, for
they were all wearing bright yellow life-saving
jackets.

Four times the Hudson roared over the U-boat,

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

guns streaming, banking steeply each time to
swing roijnd. into the attack again while the rear
guns and belly-gun kept up the fire. The rear-
turret was firing practically all the time. All
the pilot remembers hearing, besides the din of
the firing, was the navigator muttering:

"I've lived all niy life to see those baskets
scrambling out of a conning tower."

U-boat Surrenders

As the Hudson was coming roiind for the fifth
attacl^the U-boat Q^e of its crew
held a white shirt up from the 'conning tower,
waving it violently. The airmen ceased fire
but continued to circle with guns trained,
watching suspiciously. The Germans followed
them anxiously round with the shirt, and then to
make their intentions quite clear, held up what

I appeared to be some sort of white board. -

"They've shoved a white flag up," called the
wireless operator triumphantly.

The Hudson then flew right over the U-boat at
about 50 feet, to see what it was all about. By
then^the entire U-boat crew hM crowded into the
y-crjniiing tower, some thirty to forty of th§m. ,,
pacted so tightly they could scarcely

move.

TAnd a very glum lot they looked," the. pilot
said^'’.^ierwards't " 'We were qwite close enough
( to^ee their faces, and not a smile anywher^lJi — ^
The U-boat now lay stopped in the water,
slightly down by the bows, with the waves break-
ing over her decks, and sometimes right over the
connlpg tower, drenching the crew.

conning tower of the siibmarlne.

The message reached base, and it was deter-
mined to bring that U-boat and its crew to shore
if it were humanly possible. Never before in
history had an underwater craft surrendered to a
land aircraft. It was determined not to let the
U-boat get away. A Catalina was at once sent
off to relieve the Hudson, and all the other '
aircraft in the vicinity were diverted over the
U-boat frcsn time to time, to demonstrate to the
crew that there was a big striking force ready
if they tried to escape. Hudsons, Catalinas, on
patrol — they all flew over the U-boat fran time
to time.

Catalina Arrives

Holding Thou A Problem

Then, for the first time, the Hudson crew
^ realized with jxibllation that the U-boat really

Vrhe relief Catalina arrived in the early
lafternoon

' Wfien the Hudson crew saw the Catalina ap-
proaching they were afraid it might bomb and
sink the U-boat. So they signalled anxiously to

it.

[ "Look after our, repeat OUR, submarine which
has shown the white flag."

"O.K. " signalled back the Catalina.

Then the Hudson crew, satisfied, dived twice
more over "their" U-boat to have a last look at
it. One or two of the Gennans, who had got down
on the deck, waved mournfully to them'. The
pilot waved cheerfully back, and set course for
home.

Then it was the Catalina's turn to circle end-
lessly, the blister guns trained on the U-boat
crew. They kept it up for eight hours, without
having to fire a single shot. Surface craft
were steaming towards the spot as quickly as
ixjsslble, but they were a long way off yet. The
question was, could they get there before night-
fall?

had surrendered to them. The problem remained, The hours dragged by, in those interminable

•» J_ _ 1 _ _ 1 -T J J ^^ 4 .

how to hold prisoner;^ and get them taken
into custody.

The navigator prepared a message for base and
the wireless operator's hand rattled up and down
on the key. \

All this time the pilot was circling the U-
boat, keeping his eyes glued to it. He did that
for three and a half hours. Had he lost sight
of it for one second he might easily have lost
it altogether. When at last he stepped on to
his home aerodrome, his neck was so stiff he
could not turn his head.

All this while too, as the navigator and wire-
less operator were working away at their
signals, the rear-gunner kept his guns trained
ceaselessly on the U-boat crew huddled into the

circles. Some of the U-boat crew, now and then,
walked out on to the deck from the conning
tower, in spite of the waves — they were all
drenched as it was, so what did the waves
matter? The Catalina took the precaution of
frequent dives over the U-boat to ensure that
the hatch was still closed. Other aircraft came
periodically to axM to the threat — ^but still no
surface craft.

Ship Arrives In Time

The weather was growing worse, daylight was
fading. There was every chance of losing the
U-boat during the night, and the Catalina crew
were growing desperate. (Continued on Page 39)

FEBRUARY 1942

Lost on West Coast Flight

Sinee December 18

Gen. Dargue Missing

By Maj. Falk Harmel

'Ky^AJ. Gen. Herbert A. Dargue, conmandlpg the
First Air Force, Mitchel Field, N.Y., has been
missing since Decenber 12, 1941, when he depart-
ed on a transcontinental flight in an Army trans-
port plane, accompanied by Col. Charles W. Bundy
and Lieut. Col. George W. Ricker, of the War De-
partment General Staff; Major Hygh F. McCaffery,
Capt. J.G. Leavitt, 1st Lieut. Homer C. Burns,
Staff Sgt. Stephen Hoffman and Pvt. 1st Cl.
Samuel J. Van Hanm, Jr., Air Corps.

General Dargue belonged to the small group of
officers who were affiliated with Army aviation
practically from its inception. His contribu-
tion to the development of this branch of the
sei^lce during a period exceeding a quarter of a
century has been of an exceptional character,
and his untimely end has left a void in the
ranks of the Army Air Forces which will prove
exceedingly difficult to fill.

Taught By Laim

General Dargue learned to fly in an old hydro-
plane at Fort McKinley, P.I., in 1913, his in-
structor being no less a personage than Maj.
Gen. Frank P. Lahm, Retired, who was then a
lieutenant of the 7th Cavalry serving a detail
with the Aviation Section, Signal Corps.

While a member of the First Aero Squadron,
General Dargue saw seinrice with the Punitive Ex-
pedition into Mexico in 1916, where he did a
considerable amount of flying in the early Wright
biplane and where, amidst natives extremely hos-
tile to Americans, he encountered mapy thrilling"
experiences and extreme privation.

Forced landings in his fragile plane necessi-
tated Icmg and hazardous treks on foot, without
food or water, through alkali deserts and moiai-
tains, and often he reached a condition border-
ing on thorough exhaustion before he finally ar-
rived at localities occupied by friendly troops.

During World War I, General Dargue was on duty
for several months with the A.E.F. in France and
England, making a study of the training of
pilots, observers and mechanics. He tten return-
ed to the United States for duty aua Assistant
Chief of Training in the Office of the Director
of Military Aeronautics.

After graduating in 1920 fi’om the one-year

General Herbert A. Dargue

course at the Air Service Engineerii^ School at
McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, General Dargue serv-
ed on staff duty in the Office of the Chief of
the Air Service, Washington, D.C., until August,
1928, occupying responsible positions in the Op-
erations Division, the War Plans Division euid
the Training and Operations Division. These
staff duties were interrupted in 1924-1925, when
he attended the Conmand and General Staff School
at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., and fran which he
graduated with distinction.

From December 21, 1926, to ^fe.y 2, 1927, he com-
manded the flight of four Army planes on a good
will tour around South America, during the course
of which he narrowly escaped death following a
mid-air collision with one of the other Army
planes in the flight. After he released his
safety belt and jumped from his violently spin-
ning plane, his parachute became entangled in
the wreckage. Fortunately, his parachute broke
away from the wreckage and he escaped Injury,
although he struck the ground violently. In re-
cognition of his organizing ability and leader-
ship of this flight. General Dargue was awarded
the Distinguished Flying Cross .

(Continued on Page 39)

FEBRUARY 1942

A. N. G. Aircraft Types Coordinated

NEW COMMITTEE DEVELOPS DESIGN CRITERIA

A n Army-Navy-Clvll Comnlttee to coordinate
the development of aircraft design criteria
has been established by the Secretaries of War
and Navy, and the Administrator of Civil Aero-
nautics. The new canmlttee works under the su-
pervision of the Aeronautical Boaj*d.

Menbershlp of the committee Includes the sen-
ior Army and Navy members of the Aeronautical
Board's workliTg connlttee; three menbers desig-
nated by the Assistant Chief of the Air Corps
Materiel Division; three members designated by
the Chief of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, and
four menbers designated by the Administrator of
Civil Aeronautics.

Air Corps members of the comnlttee are Lt.
Col. D.G. Llngle, Army menber of the Aeronaut-
ical Board's working comnlttee, who Is chairman;
and Lt. Col. H.Z. Bogert, Lt. Col. Orval R.
Cook, and Major C.K. Moore, of the Materiel
Division, WrJght Field.

Conmlttee FtoKtlons

ments, and In order to report progress and the
results of investigations to the meuber branches
of the government.

Structural design problems of the Conmlttee,
In general, fall Into three classifications:
external loads. Internal stresses, and allowable
loads. These general classifications are fur-
ther broken down Into projects, eaudi handled by
a technical sub-conmlttee. Projects of the ANC
Comnlttee are sponsored by either the Arn;y Air
Force, the Navy Btoreau of Aeronautics, or the
Civil Aeronautics Administration.

First publication Issued by the ANC Cfflnnlttee
Is a Groiind Loads Handbook, Issued on ANC Proj-
ect Number Two. The handbook Is divided Into
three sections covering the strength require-
ments for tall wheel type landing gear, tricycle
type landing gear and emergency landing and
handling structures. The booklet will be dis-
tributed among the services and the Industry In
order to standardize and coordinate the design
of aircraft.

The functions of the ccnmittee, as outlined In
the precept, are as follows:

(a) To develop aircraft design criteria gov-
erning: Inpssed loads, structural design, allow-
eble stresses, methods of analysis, methods of
testing, performance calculations, etc., and
recomnend the adoption of these criteria by the
three menber branches of the government.

(b) To arrange for such studies, tests, in-
vestigations, eund conferences as may be neces-
sary for the development of these criteria.

(c) To arrange meeuis for exchange of tech-
nical Information related to these criteria be-
tween responsible personnel In the menber bran-
ches of the government and for maintenance of
effective liaison.

(d) To arrange for prcsmulgation, including
publication, of criteria adopted by the menber
branches of the government. In the form of ANC
Bulletins .

12 Sib-Ccmnittees

The ANC Committee holds meetings when deemed
desirable In order to arrange for 12 technical
svto-commlttees, operating as part of the ANC
design criteria program, to carry out asslgn-

•

A new civil contract glider-training school
has been opened at Twenty-Nine Palms, a
small desert community 60 miles from Palm
Springs, California. Successful conq)letlon of
the gllder-pllot training courses given last
summer at Lockport, Illinois, and Elmira, New
York, has led to the establishment of the new
school.

Students will be volunteers selected from the
ranks of Air Forces officers serving as Instruc-
tors at airplane pilot-training centers. In-
struction will be provided by the contractor,
the Twenty-Nine Palms Air Acadeny.

The first cletss, of 12 students, began train-
ing early in January, with subsequent classes
entering at two-week Intervals. The second
class began training about January 14. Later
classes will each Include approximately 24 stu-
dents. Pre-war plans called for the training of
126 glider pilots at the school.

Stixlents, all trained power-plane pilots, will
be given an average of 30 hours instruction In
gliders of the two-place TG-1 and TG-2 types.
These gliders were both used successfully In
earlier glider-pilot training programs .

FEBRUARY 1912

For Duty Abroad

How to Bundle for Britain

Bt Lieut. Bruce Buttles

American Embassy, Eondon

W HETHER assigned for permanent or temporary
duty, Air Force personnel traveling to the
United Kingdom this winter should plan their
clothipg and equipnent with utmost care. Every
article must be studied, and the advantages of
each garment carefully weighed, to determine the
best possible selection within prescribed bag-
gage limitations .

These are 40 pounds for the Air Corps Ferrylpg
Ccmmand and 20 kilos (44 pounds) for British
Overseas Airways Corporation — the two most like-
ly gateways for passengers in a hurry. It is
true that Pan American Airways permits some 20
pounds more on the route from New York to Lis-
bon, but this generosity is of no advantage when
BQAC restrictions apply beyond. Neither minimum
Includes an overcoat on the arm or articles
tucked into pockets, and this loophole is often
a helpful escape for bulky travelers.

What The Traveler Can Take

The actual situation is, however, that one can
travel light and still have plenty of essentials
if he exercises a reasonable choice. Naturally,
the exact selection will depend upon type and
place of service, but by using the Air Corps
issue flight bag, the 40 to 44 pounds should
provide, roughly, for the following or equiva-
lent articles:

One civilian suit (two suits for service in
London) a complete field uniform with an extra
pair of slacte (dark shades are best) , two O.D.
cotton and one O.D. woolen shirts, six civilian
shirts, two suits of heavy underwear, some
changes of light underwear, and extra pair of
good heavy shoes, warm slippers and a bathrobe,
ties, handkerchiefs and the usual toilet arti-
cles, plus a modest reserve of razor blades,
matches, lighter flints and fluid, chocolate bars
and flashlight batteries. Extra insignia and
jewelry are essential.

In addition the wise traveler probably will
Include a few gifts for British friends if he
can spare the weight and space. The ideal se-
lection will vary from time to time, but cur-
rently cigarette lighters, safety matches, silk
hosiery, cosmetics and miniature flashlights are

highly prized. Such articles are valuable in
repaying inevitable social obligations to Brit-
ish subjects £ind their wives.

What To Wear

Personnel of the Air Force customarily wear
mufti in London and the uniform elsewhere. That
makes two overcoats essential in winter unless
a conbination garment is adopted. This may be a
heavy trench coat with removable lining and
shoulder straps. In selecting both civilian suxi
military apparel, it is Important to note that
even in London cleaning requires much longer
than in the United States and sometimes cannot
be done at all. Usually garments will not be
retvirned within a week and some articles (such
as leather gloves) currently require three
months. laundry facilities are also slow. As a
result, dark materials are popular. Neither the
blue uniform nor civilian dinner dress is worn.
Flying clothing is issued on this side.

Persons permanently assigned should send a
small trunk by water freight. But in view of
the uncertainty of shipping, it is unwise to ex-
pect delivery in less than two months, and the
possibility of complete loss should be consid-
ered fran the start.

Although clothing is severely rationed in the
Ikiited Kingdom, arrangements were completed re-
cently with the Foreign Office to obtain extra
clothing coupons for Americans where necessary.
Whenever possible, however, it is best to bring
as much clothing as is required from home. It
is actually out of the question for an officer
to supplement his wardrobe and buy replacements
during the year on the ordinary civilian ration.

Adeqiiate Food

Insofar as food is concerned, Americans in
London usually find that the quantity is ade-
quate. There is a noticeable shortage of but-
ter, eggs, fresh fruits, bacon, milk and similar
dishes common at home. One cannot expect orange
juice with his breakfast porridge. However, the
diet in some instances has added weight to vis-
itors who found less physical activity than they
were accustomed to enjoy across the sea. Most

FEBRUARY 19^2

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

American officers brlig concentrated vitamins as
standard practice to supplement the food supply,
although similar products are available In Lon-
don.

American cigarettes, tobacco, toilet articles
and non-perishable foods of various kinds can be
had through a commissary primarily set up for
the benefit of permanent officers and employees
at the EM)assy. Prices are not much above — and
in some Instances are siibstantlally below — those
cnarged In retail stores In the United States.
Since the goods desired may not be In stock on
your arrival , it Is good procedure to have a
personal supply in the flight bag, or kit, of
tobacco products.

On the other hand, travelers passing through
llsbcai may find much grief In carrying more than
three or four cartons of cigarettes and a rea-
sonable quantity of matches. Porttguese custons
officers are likely to place a quite elastic
Interpretation on regulations and charge approx-
imately $6.50 "In transit" fees to pass any
"unreasonable" quantities of tobacco, matches,
silk stockings or concentrated vltamlre through
the country. One Air Force officer who paid
$1.05 a carton for cigarettes in Washington
found it necessary to i>ay $6.50 In Lisbon and $7
more In the United Kingdom on seven cartons,
OTily to find the same cigarettes through diplo-
matic stores at 75 cents a carton in London. It
was possible recently to purchase standard
brands of Amerlceui cigarettes in Portugal for
about $2 a carton.

Bring Portuguese Money

When entering Lisbon it is valuable to have
not less theui 150 Portuguese escudos in small
bills and coins to avoid exchanging American
currency at unfavorable rates. For the most
part, travelers' checks or a letter of credit
are the best means of carrying ftmds, but these
roust be cashed at a bank under present regula-
tions. They command a substantially better
figure than dollar bills, which should be avoid-
ed canpletely. As a matter of fact, American
currency ceui be bought In Lisbon banks at vari-
ous discounts — recently 12 per cent — ^by tender
of draifts on New York.

No distinction is made between the different
dencminatlons of currency, which need only be
kept to 10 pounds. Thus it would be possible to
bring in two flve-xx)und notes or one 10-pound
note just as well as 10 one-i)ound notes, with
the added advantage that the larger denomina-
tions are much cheaper. Some loose British sil-
ver is also helpful. Prices of five euid ten

pound pieces in Lisbon have been about $1.90 to
the pound recently, and about 90 cents more in
New York in small quantities. Five pound notes
£ire more convenient. Purchasers should beware
of counterfeits. The Portuguese escudo is worth
about four cents in American exchange. The
American Express Company, which has offices in
many cities, and Perera & Co., 10 Broadway, New
York, are large dealers in foreign exchange.

Where To Stay

Hotel reservations are usually meide automat-
ically at Lisbon but not in London, where the
traveler is more or less on his own. For that
reason, it is advisable for new arrivals to
telegraph ahead on landing for space. London is
very crowded and the Quartermaster, 20 Grosvenor
Square, W. 1., is frequently of help in obtain-
ing acconmodatlons. American officers usually
stop either at the Cunberland Hotel (about $2.75
a day) , the Dorchester (around $4.25 a day) or
Grosvenor House (also about $4.25) . All these
establishments are convenient to the Enfceissy in
Grosvenor Square.

Despite a 17 per cent depreciation in sterlli^
exchange, British prices will be definitely high
to American visitors. Lunch or dinner In a good
restaurant will be about 10 shillings, or $2,
and desirable places are so crowded that tables
must be booked in advance. Drinks are roughly
twice as expensive as at heme and the prices of
some unratloned foods are fantastic. Fresh
pears, for example, are currently on sale at 3/6
(about 70)^) and white grapes were priced re-
cently at 20/ ($4) a pound. But expenses in the
field are negligible and the Air Force officer
will find that by using care his extra expenses
In London are usually balanced by savligs at RAF
stations. In any event, he will return home
with his life enriched by an exjjerience in llv-
Ing not available to the average person.

(This article was written by Lieut. Buttles in
London before this country entered the war.
Uniform requirements have since been revised so
that uniforms are worn at all times while on
duty. )

•

In a class of 756 aviation cadets undeigolig
processing at the Air Corps Replacement Center
at Montgomery, Ala., before flight training, 63
had not attended college but secured their cadet
appointment by peisslng the difficult entreuice
examination, thus indicating that lack of a col-
lege education Is not necessarily a bar to young
men seeking appointment as aviation cadets.

FEBRUARY 1912

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

OBSERVERS... (Continued From Page 16)
as tails. Tails are very Important.

Every observer should have euscess to a c<m-
plete and up-to-date reference book of silhou-
ettes, and they should all be provided with
folders, which can be carried in the pocket,
depleting by categories the aircraft listed for
the three classes of tests.

SUPPORT. . . (Continued From Page 34)

But at the last mcnent they sighted <me of H.
M. ships, which steamed up, and started to
signal orders to the U-boat crew.

Then came darkness, the Catalina lost touch,
and had to go home.

Long before daylight next day, however, an-
other Coastal Command Catalina was In the area,
continuing the vigil. By now a gale was blow-
ing. The nl^t was Jet black, and rain storms
were lashing everywhere.

toee. In the darkness, they picked up a glow
of light from the svibmarlne, but so fierce was
the gale that, as they circled, they were blown
off their course and lost her again.

But soon they saw her reflected In the dim
light through the storm with the white foam of
the waves breaking across her bows.

Throughout the remaining hours of darkness .the
Catalina continued to circle, sometimes losing
the U-boat's light for as much as fifteen
minutes at a time, but always finding her agedn.

At last light began to break, and the crew
could Just see the thin outline of the sub-
marine. As the light strengthened they could
make out <xie ship lying near by, and soon they
saw other shliis approaching. The Catalina crew
watched the beginning of the long task of
getting the U-boat and her crew to harbour.

Fran the time the first ship arrived, the U-
boat was covered fron the air by Coastal Command
aircraft for practically the whole of the next
forty hours. THE BOFAL AIR FORCE QUARmO^T

Staff Sgt. Angelus J. Havers tockandPvt. Ralph
C. Krebs, Jr;, Air Corps, received the Soldier's
Medal for heroism in rescuing & fellow soldier
from the burning wreckage of an airplane which
crashed at Lovell, Texas, on June 12, IMl. The
Imperiled soldier was trapped In the gunner's
cockpit from which he was taken to a place of
safety by his rescuers, who were undeterred by
the Intense heat, smoke and flames or by the
thought of the quantity of gas in the tanks of
the airplane.

BARQUE ... (Continued From Page 35)

Shortly after returning from this flight, lie
made a good will air tour of 70 cities In the
lilted States. This flight, which oiferaced 35
states and Included a visit to Ottawa, Canada,
involved a total distance of approximately
10,000 miles.

General Dwgue graduated from the Army Wdr Col-
lege In 1928 euid from the Naval War College the
following year. He was stationed at Langley
Field, Va., for nearly five years thereafter,
comnanllng the Second Boobardment Group until
August, 1933, and the Secona Bombardment Wing
intll October, 1934. For the next four years he
was on duty 8us Assistant Commandant of the Air
Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Ala. He
was then appointed a Brigadier General and as-
signed to the comnand of the 19th Wing &t Albrook
Field, Panama Canal Zone. During his two yeaps
of distinguished service In Panama, he made nu-
merous flints to neighboring South and Central
American countries and proved to be an outstand-
ing anbassador of good will.

Shortly following his return to the United
States, General Dargue weis appointed Brigadier
General and Assistant to the Chief of the Air
Corps, and assigned to duty as Chief of the In-
spection Division, Office of the Chief of the
Air Corps. More recently he was elevated to the
rank of Major General and placed In command of
the First Air Force at Mltchel Field, N.Y.

An active flier throughout his military career,
General Dargue, over a span of a quarter of ^a
century, has piloted the various types of mili-
tary planes with which the Air Corps has been
equipped, fron the 40 h.p. Wrl^t biplane of the
pioneer days of flying to the modern "Flying
Fortress." A scholarly officer who mastered the
courses at the various service schools, he ex-
hibited superior ability In both military and
naval air tactics. Under his guidance as head
I of the faculty of the recently discontinued Air
^Xlorps Tactical School, It rose to an unusual
height among service schools, being considered
by many as the first school of Its kind In Its
teeu:iilngs and Its broad conceptloi of air tac-
tics, particularly air strata; of cooperation
in both tactical and strategical operations with
ground and naval forces, and the role of the
long range bonber In modem warfare.

•

Air Corps noncoiB enjoyed a field day recently
when 400 technical sergeants were temporarily
promoted to master sergeant and 1,000 staff ser-
geants to technical sergeant. These promotions
were widely distributed.

FEBRUARY 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

CRUISES ... (Continued From Page 24)

however are limited at stations outside of

Cairo.

Radio facilities are excellent in the Middle
East. Stations are equipped with homing de-
vices and can provide weather and navigational
information.

We left Cairo at 05.13 GMT on the twenty-
eighth, and spent the night at El Fasher. The
next day we encountered an unidentified pursuit
plane, which eventually turned away. We landed
at Takoradl at 13.15 GMT the evening of the
twenty-ninth. Torrential rains delayed us two
days at Takoradl, and another two were lost on
account of the Illness of Mr. Parker, our Brit-
ish radio operator. During the stopover some
time was spent in inspecting the neighboring na-
tive markets. Camel meat, water buffalo and py-
thon were much in evidence. So far as I know,
however, none of our party sampled these local
delicacies .

Averaged 250 MPH

Leaving Takoradl at 6.04 the morning of Octo-
ber 3 we reached Bel«n that afternoon at 19.42,
approximately one and a half hours before sun-
down, covering a distance of 3405.15 statute
miles in 13 hours and 38 minutes. Average speed
was approximately 250 miles per hour.

We took off in a slight overcast. The weather
was poor for about five hours out. Speed was
aided by a slight tall wind. The automatic pi-
lot did not function and the plane had to be
flown manually most of the way. The navigator
was interested to find that on taking the noon
reading the sun was directly overhead, so there
was no angle at all on the octant. But, thanks
to Major LeMay's skilled navigation, we hit
Belen on the nose as ETA predicted.

A severe oil leak developed in No. 3 engine,
out 5f Belem. As we were too heavily loaded to
go back, we continued on to Borinquen ready to
feather No. 3 at any time. The oil leak was
caused by a loose hydraulic pump housing. We
remained in Puerto Rico a day and a half for
maintenance. The home stretch was completed
when we reached Bolling Field at 3.02 P.M. on
October 7, having completed approximately 26,000
miles.

Few Replacements

It is interesting to note that the only re-
placements needed were a hydraulic pump shaft,
nose wheel inner tube and relay switch, all of
which were carried on board. Routine inspection
replacements were, of course, made. And, as

previously noted, ccmfcat crew performed most of
the grottnd maintenance work.

The Southern route to Middle East and to Eu-
rope is more feasable during the winter months
than the northern route via Newfoundland, Got-
land, etc. due to the absence of icy conditions
along the tropical South Atlantic route.

LUKE,,, (Continued From Page 26)

It was 5.30 P.M. Clouds that I sailed toward
faded out, just as steam disappears in the open
air.

After Trenton there were no more thermals and
I did a straight glide, depending entirely on my
gliding angle for distance. I passed Quaker-
town, Doyles town, and larighome. The flight was
about to end. I picked out a farmer's field,
circled once, and landed, to the astonishment
and fright of sane cows that made way reluctant-
ly. Now it was six o'clock. Some farming peo-
ple came out and invited me to dinner. Hunger
had fed my ignorance, perhaps, for I did not
know how to say 'no.' I still had the chocolate
bar. But roast chicken . . . After dinner we
dismantled the ship and stored it in one of the
farmer's barns.

From the farmhouse I phoned the ground crew at
Elmira and called Fort Dlx. They sent a car and
two men to assist me. The next morning we
picked up the Wolfe on a trailer and took it
back to Elmira.

A glider landing near Fort Dix caused strange
and lively Interest. I was regarded with a cu-
riosity appreciable only to those real pioneers
who flew early in the century. Aerodynamlcally
a glider may be classed as a plane, but my Wolfe
was a hawk with frozen wings and I also set a
record for hunger!

PATRICK (Continued From Page 4)
action was taken for three years.

Congress finally passed the Air Corps Act of ,
1926 authorizing a five-year expansion program
which contemplated at the end of the period
1,650 officers and 15,000 enlisted men, includ-
ing 500 flying cadets, and the production of
1,800 serviceable airplanes.

The Air Corps Act of 1926 was a victory for
General Patrick, however meager it may appear in
comparison with the present 125,000 warplane
program. And it was General Patrick who opened
the wedge for the mighty Army Air Forces of
today. The man who learned to fly at the age of
60 "tept .'m flying'' in a crisis.

FEBRUARY 1942

Come to the skyways. Brother. Come with me
And know the life that's free from fear and dread,
Where courage rides in constant rivalry
And weakling never yet has dared to tread.

Come to the aky*isys. Brother. Come this hour;

Nor heed the dirge of him who has no spine.

Come feel the thrill and joy of speed and power
And know the glory of this life of mine.

Come where the air is free of sordid stains.

Where the pace is set by skill alone.

Com feel the surge of red blood in your veins
And guaff the cup that coward ne’er has known.

Fear not. Though danger seems to ride apace,

‘Tis but the snarling of a conquered wind.

This life of ours is but one glorious race;

Yet he, who’d win, ssist leave all fear behind.

So to the skyways. Brother. Come today
And venture tip beyond where eagles fly.

Come! Seek real adventure while you may
And drive the foes of freedom from the sky.

Major N.R. Cooper

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

PUBLIC RELATIONS DIVISION, PUBLICATIONS SECTION
ARMY AIR FORCES, WASHINGTON, D. C.

VOL. 25 MARCH-APRIL, 1942 NO. 2

SAFARI ON WINGS

Ferry Comnand fights jungle and desert — By Major Geoffrey Bonnell ... 1

HUNTING FOR TIN FISH

An Amy bcniber on submarine patrol — By Capt. lynn Farnol 3

HONOR ROLL 5

PHYSICAL TRAINING IN THE ARMY AIR FORCES

Keeping them fit for flying — By Maj. Gen. W.R. Weaver 7

TORPEDOES SHIOOT WINGS

Aviation's undersea weapon — By Lt. F.J. NovltsldL, USN . 11

AIR SERVICE COMMAND SUPPLIES THE WCMIID

Action behind the combat scenes — By Maj. Gen. Henry J.F. Miller .... 13
THEY CATCH 'EM WITH THEIR FLAPS DOWN

"Intruder tactics" bag Nazi bombers 17

MAKING AMERICA'S SKY WARRIORS

The Flylrg Training Comnand — By Maj. Gen. Barton K. Yount 19

THE AUSTRALIAN FRONT

Panorama view of a new battlefield — By Oliver Townsend 21

ENGINEERS WITH THE ARMY AIR FORCES

Builders of airdromes — By Brig. Gen. Stuart C. Godfrey 23

POLISH PILOTS STILL SCRAPPING

Daredevils of the Royal Air Force — By Lt. Robert B. Hotz 27

REFIECTIONS OF A BOMBER PILOT

Night boniblng over western Europe — By Flight Lt. G.L. Chesire, RAF. • . 31
FIGHTING FILIPINOS OF THE AIR

Island pilots win their "spurs" — By Major Falk Harmel 33

GLIDERS PLAY IMPORTANT ROLE IN AAF WAR PLANS

Motor less attack ani transj^rt — By Lewln B. Barringer 35

BARKSDAIE-NEVER A DULL MOMENT

Typifies Air Forces Expansion — By Lt. John H. Cheatwood ... 39

HIGH AirnUDE FLYD«J

MAN IN THE STRATOSPHERE

The hman angle at 40,000 feet ~ By Col. David N.W. Grant. 43

WAR IS CLIMBING

What's going cxi "upstairs" — By Capt. Nathaniel F. Silsbee ....... 47

PERFORMANCE AT NEW HEIGHTS

Cold Chamber Testing at Wright Field

Art Work By James T. Rawls

PHOTO SOURCES; Rudy Arnold Photos, pp 3,41; Flight Uagaxine, p 11; Douglas
Aircraft Co,, p 17; Life Magazine , pp 26,33; and official
U.S. Army Air Forces photos.

SECURITY

QlURPltlSE IS A WEAPON AND MUST BE PROTECTED AS A WEAPON.

^ IT IS DEPENDENT UPON CONCEALED PLANNING AND CONCEALED
ACTION, FOR WITHOUT SECRECY SURPRISE IS NOT POSSIBLE. BETRAYED
SECRECY CAN DESTROY MEN AND PLANES JUST AS SURELY AS A BOMB CAN
DESTROY THEM.

EVERY MAN IN THE AIR FORCES HAS SOME INFORMATION THAT IS
DESIRED BY THE ENEMY. CASUAL BITS OF INFORMATION MAY IN THEM-
SELVES APPEAR HARMLESS. BUT WHEN PUT TOGETHER THEY CAN FORM AN
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT PATTERN. THERE IS NO REASON FOR NARROWING
DOWN THE SPY'S MARGIN OF GUESSyK)RK.

THE PUBLIC IS AND SHOULD BE INTERESTED IN LEARNING ALL IT
CAN ABOUT THE AIR FORCES. A SPECIAL UNIT OF THE AIR FORCES
EXISTS FOR TELLING THE PUBLIC ALL THAT IS DESIRABLE AND SAFE
FOR IT TO KNOW. IT IS NOT THE DUTY OF OFFICERS AND MEN UN-
AFFILIATED WITH THAT UNIT TO ACT IN A PUBLIC RELATIONS CAPAC-
ITY, EXCEPT WHEN SPECIFICALLY ORDERED TO DO SO.

MILITARY INFORMATION WHICH IN ANY WAY MAY BE OF VALUE TO
THE ENEMY SHOULD BE DISCUSSED WITH ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE AIR
FORCES ONLY WHEN HE IS ENTITLED TO RECEIVE IT AND REQUIRES IT
FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF DUTY.

THE WEAPON OF SURPRISE MUST BE CVARDED AS JEALOUSLY AS WE
GUARD THE BOMBSIGHT. WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LEAVE WORDS ON THE
GROUND THAT MAY TAKE OUR PLANES OUT OF THE AIR.

R. L. WALSH.

Colonel, Air Corps,

Ammiatant Chief of the Air Staff, A-3.

Safari on Wings

By Major Geoffrey Bounell

Air Force Ferry GomniMnd

F Om months with the Ferry Conmand In Africa
and the Middle East shows you how such of
this war has to be won on the grOimd before It
can be won In the air.

Service and supply are the heart of the Com-
mand.

Ferry pilots tind flight crews are doing a
great job, but every flyer knows that the back-
bcHie of the show Is on the ground, In the hands
of the maintenance men and mechanics who service
the planes in a mess of sand and heat all the
way adopg the line.

And before warplanes are ferried In quantity
to the Far East, African natives carry tons of
foundation rock for runways, and hundreds of
camels carry fuel for engines. Camels and na-
tives are In the thick of It over there.

The ground Is being won. Airdromes are build-
ing up, supplies are coming In, and communica-
tions are much Improved since we set up the
first Ferry Conmand base In the Middle East last
winter. At the moment I am some 9,000 flying
miles away but only a few days out from my
base, and I know that the ships are being pushed
through as fast as possible. But It Is one
thing to talk about fighting an air war thou-
Sfmds of miles fron home and einother thing to do
It. A lot of angles enter In when you start
close to scratch.

There were service stations across Africa vdien
we started, but they were British stations used
only for ferrying single engine ships . The
British shuttled the fighters <si short hops In
squadrons. The bulk of their boni}ers had to be
based on the Isles to carry
the war to Germany, so the
British weren't ferrying big
planes, and had no need for
large airdromes.

We could use the British
stations for forced land-
ings, but to push across the
four-motored Jobs you need
airdromes with plenty of
length to the runways. You
need room to get heavily
loaded ships off the ground,
and with all that weight
they will run a long dis-
tance after alighting. We
use the brakes as little as

possible to save the llnli^.

Existing runways had to be made longer and
their foundations strengthened. New runways and
foundations had to be built. For this work
natives are ised. I have seen hundreds of half-
naked African natives carrying crushed founda-
tion stone In buckets balanced on their heads.

Desert sand has a habit of seeping Into your
engines while your ship Is being warmed up, so
concrete plaitferms had to be built. We use the
engines as little as possible on the grotsid.
When the sand Is blowiig you have to watch your
fuel. Sand doesn't add octane to gasoline.
Neither does the trojdctLl sun.

Planning ahead for ftiel Is one of our biggest
tasks, and the oil companies engaged In the work
have done a splendid jcib In filling our needs.
Fbellng was done entirely from tin cans when we
started. We travel light on fuel, carrying just
enough for each trip, and we plan It careftilly.
Save on fuel and you gain on cargo space. And
cargo space Is gold when It holds tools and
spare parts.

At one desert airdrome they had to employ a
thousand camels In addltlcwi to desert trucks to
keep up with the Increasing demand for fuel.
Bach of the big ludberlng animals brought In 39
gallons of fuel In cans. Supplying fuel by
camel, you have to figure on something like a
29 per cent loss; camels are high off the ground
and many cans break when the natives unload.
But the camels kept the ships flying on.

Servicing Is Important enough for us to build
our flight schedules around It. Long hops, for
Instance, are made princi-
pally at night. We time
th«n for dawn arrivals, al-
lowing ground crews as many
daylight hoiirs as possible
for repair work.

You use a minimum of sig-
nals to keep the enemy from
getting In on the party.
This means that your radio
Is used sparingly, and that
navlgatlcm Is lasually celes-
tial. We started out with
French maps on the desert, but
they offered few landmeurks,
many of those misplaced. We
have our own maps now.

Major Botmell waa one of the first
Ferry Coamand staff officers in the
Middle East, from which he has just
returned, A veteran in aviation, he
flew with the first English scout
squadron to leave for France in the
last war, and later joined the Amer-
ican Army and flew with the famous
First Pursuit Group. After the war
Major Bonnell organised the Florida-
West Indies Airway, called the first
airline to carry U.S. mail to a for-
eign port. He spent 30 years on Wall
Street before rejoining the Air
Forces in July, 1941.

MARCH-AFRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Adequate comnunlcatlons develop only after an
organization has passed through its early
stages, particularly in the type of country we
are working. The comnunlcatlons network is
getting smoothed out, but I've seen the day wh^
the message carrying your departure time reached
your objective after you got there. Signal
changes are a necessity; keeping up with the
changes is a job in Itself. It pays to be ready
with the right answers. Mistakes in signalling
may mean anti-aircraft fire.

The African landscax)e doesn't have a reputa-
tion for carpets, so it isn't ideal country for
forced landings. Flying miles of jungle 50 feet
up, I've seen a natural zoo, with lions, ele-
phants, antelopes and all the main attractions.
We actiially had a lion greet us after cme land-
ing, but it was at an airdrome and the li«i was
a ciib, a pet of one of the boys. The llcm ran
around the alrdrane like a dog* I really felt
sorry for him, because everyone wanted their
pictures tak«i holding him in their arms.

Operating a ferrying service over desert and
jungle has a thousand side shows, and a thou-
sand problems. Sabotage, for instance, is al-
ways a threat. It forces you to double check
every detail before a take-off, even though
everything has functioned perfectly on the last
1^ of the trip. No matter how strange or dif-
ficult the prdblOT, each man pitches in to solve
it. The personnel is top rate.

Having served with the RAF in the last war and
knowing how they had built up an air force to
function in all parts of the world without
established bases or the proper equipment, I got
a great kick out of our first formation of
heavy bombers to come in at a British airdrome.
They arrived in perfect formation and after
landing the crews carried on like veterans.

Our officers and men get along famously with
RAF personnel, with whom we are housed and
messed. Mess halls are like trading posts,
where cigarettes, pith helmets, shorts and the
like are ccHitlnually being swapped. Captured
Italian and German revolvers and field glasses
bring large trades.

Ihe British fix up comfortable living quarters
and mess halls, and there is a good table all
along the way. But the coffee Is bad; if you're
ccmilng, bring your own. We are very careful
about food and water, and either you lay off
food which doctors advise against or you get
Gippy Tummy (a form of dysentery) . Each plane
carries enough water for the trip; at the hotels
we drink bottle water. And it piays to perscav-
ally see to it that your table utensils are
clean.

Actually, the little things count most over
there. Food, rest and a change of clothes are
the necessities, especially on long ferrying
flights. There is a lot of psychol(^ tied up
In it. Day in and day out a man can do a better
job when he is shaved and clean and smart look-
ing. It is up to the captain of each plane to
see that his crew is neat appearing.

We wear simmer uniforms, topjpjed by pith hel-
mets in which the boys all want their pictures
taken, and we are fast adopting shorts. Not
that it is hot— a mere 120 degrees when I left.
But you get a dry heat over there and it does,
cool off at night. The heat doesn't seem to
affect the engines, but it can affect the men,
and teeplng fit is Important. High boots are
issued on reaching the coast eis a protection
against mosquitoes; we sleep under nets. Some
of those bugs se«n as big as the planes we flew
in the last war.

lAich of the plcwieerlng has been d(»ie, but it
is as great a show as ever and we are all proud
to take part in it. When you're a thousand
miles frcMD nowhere it means something to have
your crews thinking and working as teams. Ibat
is half the battle. The esprit de corps Is do-
ing a lot to push the planes up front.

NEW OFFICERS’ SCHOOL

A IR Forces enlisted men are now eligible to
•^^beccme ccnmlssloned officers for administra-
tive px)sts, and an Officers Candidate School has
been established for this training at Miami
Beach, Fla. Also eligible for the school are
Air Forces Warrant Officers and Avlatlcxi Cadets
reccnmended by their school ccmmandants .

The men accepted will be trained for adminis-
trative duties such as squadron adjutants, and
mess, supply and transportation officers. Upon
satisfactory conpletlon of the 12 weeks course,
graduates will be commissioned Seccwd Lieuten-
ants in the Army of the United States and as-
signed to units of the Arny Air Forces.

Applicants must have passed their 18th birth-
days and not have reached their 36th birthday on
the day of conpletlcai of the course for irtiich
they are selected. Other requirements Include
United States citizenship, a score of 110 or
hl^er in the Amy General Classification test,
and three months of military service Inmedlately
preceding the date of enrollment, or a mlnliiuD
of six months cunulative service within the 12
mwith pieriod Inmedlately pjrecedlng the date of
enrollment. Men Interested in enrolling in the
school are instructed to apply to their Cchd-
mandlng Officer.

MARCH-APRIL 1942

Hunting For Tin Fish

By Capt* Lynn Farnol

First Air Force

A S far back as the early 1930 's the Army
Included off-shore patrolling In maneuvers,
using Martin B-lOs to sweep the Pacific for
Imaginary Invaders j similar exercises were car-
ried on by the Second Bombardment Wing at Lang-
ley Field.

Army flyers hunt real prey now. They seek
"tin fish" off the coastlines of two oceans and
the Gulf of Mexico. Hunting eneny submarines is
exacting work. Day in and day out it is rou-
tine, but a routine flight can suddenly become
alive, as happened recently on an off-shore pa-
trol operating from an Air Force base on the
Atlantic coast. Let's follow that flight.

The story really begins at various points in
the country from seven months to a year before,
at Kelly Field where the pilot was trained, at
Barksdale with the bodbardier, in Florida with
the navigator, and with the training of the co-
pilot, radioHnan and gunner. On patrol duty the
crew does not include an engineer. Each menl)er
can handle a machine gun. On this flight the
gunner also mans the camera.

At a "brief" held shortly before take-off the
squadron conmaiKier sketches the route of the

patrol on a green hydrographic chart while the
crewmen stuff themselves into heavy sheejjsktn
flying clothes. An Army "jeep" takes them to
their B-25 in battle paint. A gasoline trailer
and several ammunition trucks are moving away
from the plane as they arrive. The crewmen
stand in front of the ship while the engineer
gives the Twin Wrights a final check. He makes
the pre-flight — checking the gas tanks, manifold
pressure, oil toiperature, vertical euid horizon-
tal controls, and tachaneter. The others wait
while the pilot-conmander holds a hurried con-
ference with the radio-man to check over the
call letters for the day — special daily signals
to the base in case of onergency.

Radio-man and gunner climb into the tail.
Pilot, co-pilot, navigator and bonbardier go up
front. The pilot tates the controls. There is
a jxjwerful roar, and the plane taxles across the
field.

Up over the treetops, and over the surf, 6Uid
each man is at his post, fron the bcaribardler in
the nose to the gunner in the tall. The inter-
ccm links them together. Eyes strain in every

(Continued on Page 29)

MARCH-APRIL 1942

COt..eiJQENC L. EUBANK

CAPT. DONALD KEISER

LT COL, CALEB V. HAYNES

CAPT. CARLOS COCHRANE

CART. JAMCS CONNALLY

MAJOR CURTS LE MAY

RICHARD C.MARTIN

SCT. ADOLPH CATTARIUS

HONOR
ROLL

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS

LlSni* (XHu. STANIET K« IKSINSON* /or l^mding a group of 17 hrmborm against
srtmsy transports in tho Philippinos siiAing ana, hitting another and
dasiaging an enemy cruiser^ The award was siade posthwsously after he
failed to return from recent bcsdiing operations.

M&JGB. U/liaai C4 MylluGFR- for administering first aid to wounded and conse-
quently saving r<any lives during sn attack by ISO Japanese planes on a
Philippines air field. Major Beidger is a siedical officer attached to
the Air Corps.

CAPS. AiyiN J. MlKrjER - for participating in a bombing attack on a Japanese
airdrome in the Philippines. Bis plane was twice hit by anti-aircraft
tire and attacked by 10 Jap fighters. Be maintained his place in
formation and protected the formation leader’s plane fighting off at-
tacks for 20 minutes. Captain Mueller landed his plane despite damaged
controls. It had been hit in store than 100 places.

JSiMSS (XHOUUiT- /or successfully completing a hazardous mission during
which he destroyed a 15,500 t<wi Japanese transport and then evacuated
25 badly needed AAF pilots. The mission was completed under adverse
weather conditions .

Ctm, DONAID EEISER- /or extraordinary achievement during an attack on enemy
shipping resulting in a direct hit on a Japanese cruiser. Be returned
to his base through an equatorial storm.

CAFT. R> FORD- /or commanding a B-17 that attacked enemy warships.

Be insisted on going with his ship although he had malaria. Be flew
1,500 miles, directed operations and returned safely although near col-
lapse.

CAFT. FRED T. CUMMINGS- /or attempting to salvage his plane from a burning
hanger during an air raid on a Philippines air field on December 8. Be
succeeded in taxiing the siachine outside the hangar but Japanese dive
bombers spotted him and amchine gunned him blasting the plane to bits
and wounding Captain Cusminga in the head and arms.

CAFE. HEWITT T. WHEIESS- /or fighting off 18 enemy pursuit planes for 25
minutes and safely returning to his base with a damaged motor.

MARCH-AFRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

STAFF SGfE« JOSEPH L. LOCKHARD- /or voluntarily remaining on^duty in charge
of an anti-aircraft detector unit on the Island of Oal^, December 7 and
detecting the approach of unidentified aircraft which proved to be the
Japanese planes which raided Pearl Harbor. Sergeant Lockhard detected
the planes at 7:02 a.m. approximately 132 miles off Oahu. After re-
checking the distance and aximtth Sergeant Lockhard reported to the
duty officer and furnished him with complete particulars of his find-
ings. Subsequent investigations have proved conclusively that the
planes reported by Sergeant Lockhard were the large Japanese air force
that attacked the Island of Oahu at approxisiately 7:55 a.m. The serv-
ice of Sergeant Lockhard was also noted in the report of the Roberts
board investigating the Pearl Harbor attack. Sergeant Lockhard was
promoted from a private in recognition of his services and is now at-
tending an officers training school in the United States.

MASTER SOT. LOUIS SILVA- /or manning a side gun on the leading plane of a
bomber squadron attacking Japanese shipping. Silva destroyed at least
three of an attacking Jap pursuit squadron.

PURPLE HEART AND SILVER STAR

COL. EUQBHE L« EUBANK- /or successfully dispersing and protecting his septadr
ron's planes during a Japanese raid on a Philippines air base. Col.
Eubank was previously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for lead-
ing a flight of B-17s from San Francisco to the Philippines shortly
before the outbreak of war.

A G3K0UP CS'’ GUNNERS on one B-17 were awarded Silver Stars for "gallantry in
action" during which they manned their guns in a badly hit and burning
B-17, All the gunners were wounded but the mission was successfully
completed and the damaged plane landed. Another B-17 gunner was award-
ed the Silver Star for sticking to his post after receiving a shatter-
ing wound above his left knee. He fought off three attacks after being
wounded and remained at his post firing until he collapsed from lack of
blood. Unfortunately due to disrupted cable facilities the nasies of
these gunners are not yet available,

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS

LEElir. COL* CAIEB V. HAINES, pilot; Major Curtis Le May, co-pilot ; Capt.
Carlos CcKhrane, navigator; Master Sgt. Adolph Cattarius, flight engi-
neer; Tech. Sgt. Richard E. Martin, engineer; and Master Sgt. James E.
Sand's, radio operator- - for 'heroism and extraordinary achievement in
successfully pioneering ocean airlanes and amassing extensive inform-
ation on trans-oceanic flying by landplanes" . These officers and men
comprised the crew of a B-24 which flew a 26,000 mile survey flight to
Asia and return, Lieut, Cot --'el Haynes was awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster
to the Cross having iron tbi- award previously for piloting the B-15 to
Santiago, Chile and return carrying Red Cross Supplies to earthquake
victims.

MARCH-APRIL 1942

Physical Training in the Army Air Forces

By Maj. Gen. Walter R. Weaver

Chief, Air Force Technical Training Command

TF It Is true that an army travels on Its

■^stomach, it Is Just as true that an air
force flies and fights on the stamina, coordi-
natiwi and conpetitive spirit of the men who man
its planes. This is the fundamental principle
upon which the United States Army Air Corps
physical training program is founded.

It is obvious that it takes more than good
physical condition to make a ccmhat crewman.
Intelligence, skill and natioral aptitude are all
demanded. But it is equally obvious that no caie
who is not in first-rate physical condition can
expect to have the endurance, the lightning co-
ordination and the wlll-to-wln necessary in mod-
em warfare.

The latest fighter plane is little better than
xiseless in the hands of a flyer who falls in tne
pinch because he doesn’t measure up physically.
The heroes of our Air Forces in the Pacific war
zone are the men who are hanging on and on —
doggedly— in the face of numerically superior
opposition, and who remain clear-headed and
alert against the enemy.

This is the kind of man the Air Forces need,
and this is the kind of man Air Corps physical
directors are striving to produce.

Syston Is Scientific

Our directors are going about it in a progres-
sive, scientific way. Soon after first report-
ing for flight training, each aviation cadet is
analyzed physically from the standpoint of the
job he will be called upon to do after his
training is over. After he is "sized up", exer-
cises are provided which will correct his defi-
ciencies and develop his strong points until he
has achieved maximum physical efficiency for his
type. These he must perform in a dally class
period of at least one hour in length.

The job of the physical training director is
not easy. He must take young men familiar with
an unregulated life and prepare them for a
strictly-regulated military exlstance. He must
take "soft" bodies and harden them for the
strain of modem combat flying. He must take
awkward muscles and develop control and coordi-

Major General Walter R, Weaver
nation. Fram all kinds of bEu;l^rounds, fl*an all
types of environments, men come to Air Corps
Reception Centers. These men must all be devel-
oped to meet uniformly high physical standards
before they are jjermltted to fly for the Army.
The Air Forces need «md are building a modern,
progressive physical training program.

No effort is made to stemdardlze the jiiyslcal
developoKnt or aptitudes of all Air Forces per-
sonnel. The fact that there are many different
types of physiques is recognized. The objective
of the program is not to try to change these,
but merely to classify each Individual according
to his body characteristics, and then condition
and develop him to the jKjint where his natural
abilities are permitted to "bloom".

Tudbllng Is Effective

It is the aim of the program not oily to build
up each individual to his maxlmmi physical effi-
ciency, but also to keep him that way. In order
to take care of the building-up process, exer-
cises designed to condltlcm and harden the cadet
are emphasized during the early part of his
training. At this point special emphasis is

MARCH-AFRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

placed on timi)llpg, which not only builds mus-
cles and develops coordination, hut also teaches
the student how to roll on the ground during a
rough parachute landing*

Anotner form of exercise designed to develop
balance and coordlnatlcai Is a kind of precision
hop-scotch which must be executed with great
accuracy and timing on a mat laid out In black
and white squares. Still another Is the "wand
drill". In which cadets are taught timing and
coordination by manipulating wooden staffs In
rmlson. lAislc Is often added to increase the
sense of smoothness and relaxation of muscles
necessary at the controls of an airplane.

Among the muscles brought Into play most in
piloting a plane are those of the abdomen, neck
and back. These all receive special attentlOTi
during the earlier phases of the Air Corps
tradnlng program.

Later, as the cadet becomes conditioned, the
time devoted to calisthenics and gymnastics Is
gradually reduced, and Individual and group ath-
letics substituted. These Include games which
can be used all through life for keeping in good
piiyslcal condition. Some of the most comnon of
these are tennis, handball, sqviash, wrestling,
swimnlng, badminton, bowling, fencing and vol-
leyball.

Before being used each sport Is analyzed
thoroughly to determine Its demands on nerve
control. Its Influence on blood pressure and
respiration, the physical characteristics it
cultivates and the nuscles It develops before It
Is Incorporated In the Air Corps program.

Sports which might seriously Injure the cadet
and incapacitate him as far as flight training
Is concerned, such as boxing, football and base-
ball, are not given. Other games. Including
softball and golf, are not used to any great ex-
tent because of their "Inefficient" periods of
inactivity.

The physical training program Is continuous
8dl through the Air Corps flying course. It Is
not limited to any one phase, s\K5h as primary or
basic, and It does not have to stop and start
over again every time a student changes schools.

When a new cadet rejxjrts to a Reception Center
a physical record Is begun which continues as
long as he is a flying officer of the Air
Forces. This record follows him from school to
school, and even out Into cadbat units. Contin-
uous tab Is kept on the physical condition of
all Air Forces flying personnel by means of a
standard physical efficiency and achievement
test. This test, given periodically, measures

each man's physical condition and shows him ex-
actly where he stands In relation to his own
highest state of jdiyslcal fitness, and his rel-
ative status amopg the men of his organization.

Rating System Being Developed

The form of the achievement test has not yet
been crystallized. At present there are a num-
ber of exercises which are beir^ used with some
degree of success. These Include a standing
broad Jimip, a high Jump, a "chinning" exercise
and a running test where the Individual's time
in covering distances of 50 and 150 feet Is
measured. Constant experimentation is going on
In an effort to weld these many tests Into a
standard physical rating system. When this is
accomplished It will be possible to keep a check
on the fitness of all Air Forces flying i>er-
sonnel.

So that the beneficial effects of the scientific
training given to aviation cadets Is not wasted,
a staff of physical Instructors has been em-
ployed for the Air Force Coobat Caninand. It Is
the Job of these men to administer the periodic
physical fitness test, and to see that flyers
exercise often enough and wisely enoqgh to keep
in condition.

Under this program a physical director has
been provided for Air Force Cooi)at Command Head-
quarters, one for each Air Force, and one for
eeu;h of the larger cadtmt lailts. These men will
be not so much physical instructors as advisers.

There is a negative value to the new develop-
ment program as well as a positive one. This Is
the ability to predict through physical tests
who will succeed and who will not succeed in
pilot training. Experljnentation is still going
on along these lines, and no definite plan has
so far been adopted.

One method, however, has shown a high degree
of accuracy, in preliminary tests. The plan,
which was discovered by James L. Livingston, one
of the Air Corps physical training Assistant
Directors, is built upon the natural and cross
coordination necessary in piloting an airplane.

Cross Co<n'dinatlon Difficult

Walking with the right arm swinging in con-
junction with the left leg Is a sample of nat-
ural coordination. Cross coordination involves
moving the right arm In unison with the right
leg and the left arm In coordination with the
left leg. Such movements do not come natwal to
the human body and require cwicentratlon or an
artificially developed skill In order to per-
form. (Continued on Page 10)

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Basliig Ms research upon the niaiQr natural and
cross coordinating movements pilots are called
iqxxi to execute, Mr. Livingston developed three
groups of exercises to measure pt^lcal aptitude
for flying. These have been given to a cross-
section of cadets during a preliminary test
period — ^mlxed In secretly with the other calis-
thenics flying students are now required to take
at Replacement Centers.

All cadets who could execute these exercises
correctly by the end of the first class period
were graded "A". Those who could execute them
at the end of the second class period were
graded "B", and those who needed three periods
were graded "C". All who took more than three
periods to master the exercises were given a
grade of "D". Cadets falling In the "D" classi-
fication, It W6US predicted, would not prove to
be satisfactory pilot material. In the tests so
fbr conducted the system has proved to be 88 per-
cent eiccurate.

Another exercise test for pre-determlnlng pi-
lot failures Is the modified Burx>ee test. In
this exercise the subject throws himself from a
standing to a horizontal "leaning rest" position
and then leaps back to his feet again. Normal
pilot candidates can accon 9 )llsh this feat fran
15 to 20 times In 30 seconds. Trainers figure
that candidates who can perform this stunt only
seven times or less In the prescribed time stand
a good chance of being eliminated from flying
school. Tests so far have shown them to be
right 83 percent of the time.

If these and other physical aptitude tests
stand up in subsequent trials throughout pilot
training centers as convincingly as they have so
far, they may prove invaluable In helping to
determine the type of training aviation cadets
should receive.

Predictions Made Early

If this could be done it would save the Air
Corps a large amount of time and money. One of
the most attractive features of the physical
aptitude test is the fact that all predictions
are made within the first week after the cadet
reports for training.

Recognition by the All* Corps of the need for a
progressive syst«n of physical training for avi-
ation cadets culminated In Instructions being
Issued for the present program as far back as
January, 1011. These Instructions, issued from
Air Corps headquarters, made a one-hour per day
physical progreun compulsory for all aviation
cadets, and provided for at least one physical
Instructor for each school and training center.

The selection of personnel to run this vast
program was begun in February, 1911. Directors
of physical training for the Amy Air P’orces ana
Ikilts of the Connand were appointed and placed
In key coordinating positions in Washington.
These Included James E. Plxlee, former Director
of Riyslcal Education and Assistant to the Pres-
ident, George Washington ttilverslty, appointed
Physical Training Director for the Army Air
Forces; and Birch Bayh, former |4iyslcal and ath-
letic education director of the Washington, D.C.
City School System, appointed Physical Training
Director for the Air Force Combat Camnand. In
addition, each Air Corps flying training center
arai the Air Corps Technical Training Command
selected directors to administer programs lo-
cally.

Chose Qualified Personnel

While the Director of Physical Training for
the Air Forces was busy preparing a general
guide for. use In all Air Corps flying schools,
the physical training directors of each flying
tralnlrg center were selecting the perscamel who
would serve as Instructors. No one was even
considered who did not have a college degree
with a major in physical education, and at least
one year's graduate study or three years of
practical experience.

Always kept In mind In considering applicants
was the difference between a purely athletic and
a physical education background. The Air Corps
decided at an early stage that no candidate was
wanted who did not understand that it takes more
than just muscular development and skill In a
certain game to make an expert ccmbat crewman.

After he was hired, but before any work was
begun, each new instructor was given a six-
weeks’ training course In which he learned how
to drill like a cadet, give orders like an offi-
cer, and generally become orientated to a mili-
tary environment.

Then came conferences— days of them— In which
each man was Invited to contribute Ms Ideas to
the creation of the most advanced plem possible.
Conferences were necessary, for these men were
working In a field virtually wlthcnit precedent.

Before they met there was no specialized phys-
ical training program for Air Corps personnel.
Those Instructloms that did exist were Included
In the Amy Field Manual on physical education,
prepared with an eye primarily to the condition-
ing of soldiers for hand-to>-hand fighting. As a
result of tMs lack of a specific program, some

(Continued on Page 51)

MARCH-APRIL 1942

Torpedoes Sprout Wings

By Lieut. F. «l. Novitski, IJ. S. N.

/COUPLING of the airplane and the torpedo has
'^produced caie of modem warfsu*e's most deadly
Instrunents of destruction.

The torpedo plane’s victory record in the
present conflict is impressive — three Italian
battleships at Tarantoj the Bismarck brought to
bay so an English cruiser could finally torjjedo
her after battleships had fruitlessly poured
heavy caliber shells into her drifting hulkj the
Repulse and Prince of Wales sunk in a few hours
by torj)edo planes, and a score of Italian and
British cruisers and transports sunk or damaged
in the Mediterranean. And let us not forget
Pearl Harbor.

The British aircraft Carrier Illxostrious took
a three hour pasting from a swarm of Junkers
dive badgers one afternoon in the Mediterranean.
Seven 2,000 pound bcmibs hit her flight and han-
gar decks but she steamed into Malta, stayed
long enough to svistaln another bombing attack
and then steamed across the Atlantic for over-
haul. The aircraft carrier Ark Royal, practi-
cally a sister ship, took one torpdo in her
belly and went to the bottom.

Clearly, the torpedo is this war's prime of-
fensive weapon of the sea. An unofficial com-
pilation of naval comnuniques indicates that a
majority of warships of all nations sunk in the
y/av have been destroyed by torpedoes.

What is a torpedo? Why is it so effective?
How Is it used by planes?

The modem torpedo is a self-propelled, self-
controlled underwater missile cairrylng a heavy
explosive charge. In size, shape and weight it
is much the same as the heavier aerial bombs.

It ccxislsts of four main sections, the warhead,
airflask, afterbody and tail. Once launched, it
will travel long distances at high speed. It
will find and hold a pre-set depth. It will
maintain within a fraction of a degree the
course upon which it wets launched or it will
start on that course and then tvirn through a
pre-determlned angle to add deceptiveness to its
attewik.

Hits Weakest Spots

The torpedo's victims xasually suffer a fatal
blow because the torpedo hits them where they
are softest and where the force of the explosion
is confined — ^below the waterline. No naval ar-
chitect has yet been able to protect a warship's
underbody as well as her decks and sides. The

V. 3. , X ^

RAF Beaufort Torpedo Plane

Bismarck and Prince of Wales were the last word
in British and German naval design. But when
torpedoes hit them they went down.

The warhead is the business end of the torpedo
and its sinplest major part. It consists of a
thin reinforced steel or bronze shell loaded
wltJj as many hundreds of pounds of explosive as
the power plant will propel. It also contains a
detonator and a mechanism which renders the
charge harmless until after the torpedo has run
a few seconds on its course.

Behind the warhead is the airflask which car-
ries a sufficient supply of air to support com-
bustion. It is made of high alloy steel only
thick enough to withstand a pressure of 2CX3 at-
mospheres and the shocks of launchlt^. The ends
of the airflask are closed with steel bulkheads.
In the rear end of the bulldiead a small section
of reduced wall thickness Is set aside to carry
water and a few pints of fuel, usually alcohol.

The afterbody ceirrles in it the organs, brains
and the nervous system of the torpedo. In out-
ward appearance the afterbody is a tapered steel
shell decorated with a variety of apertures and
attachments which are streamlined to its shape.
Inside an array of pipes twist and turn to find
their way around shafts, gears, valves and sun-
dry odd shapes of brass, bronze, steel and mon-
el. Each has its own important function.

When a torpedo is launched air is released
frcmi the airflask to the ccmibustlon pot. Sane
of the air is diverted to force fuel into the
same combustion pot while still another stream
of air strikes a cap on the Igniter, which pro-

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

trudes Into the caribustion jx)t, causli^ the Ig-
niter to hum. The combustion pot thus has
flame, air and a spray of ftiel and a merry blaze
ensues. The resultant gaises are led through
nozzles to two counter-rotatli^ turbines mounted
on concentric shafts. After Imparting their
energy to the turbine wheels, the gases pass out
through the tail Into the sea, maklpg the char-
acteristic wake of the torpedo. The turbine
wheels drive two counter-rotating propellers
which drive the torpedo through the water.

Simultaneously with this action, a shot of
high pressure air has spun a small gyroscope
which thereafter constantly indicates to the
torpedo its correct course. Any off course wan-
derings actuate a small air engine which oper-
ates the vertical rudders of the torpedo. For
control in the vertical plane there Is a hydro-
static diaphragm which Indicates the correct
depth at which the torpedo should run and a pen-
dulum which prevents too radical changes in
depth which would result In diving and broach-
ing. These control another tiny air engine con-
nected to horizontal rudders. The tall mounts
the vertical and horizontal stabilizing surfaces
in addition to the rudders and propellers.

Such Is the torpedo, certainly one of the most
Ingenious devices of destruction ever made and
now vastly more effective through its enployment
by fast, far ranging planes.

Originated Here

The torpedo plane is already 31 years old al-
though the public became aware of it only in
1040. Like so many other mediums of attack it
was conceived and given early developnent in the
United States, only to be first used effectively
by another nation. Rear Admiral Bradley A.
Fiske, U.S.N., is generally credited with being
the inventor of the torpedo plane. In 1911 he
succeeded in launching a torpedo from a seaplane
flying over the Potomac River at the dizzy
height of 15 feet. Siibsequent developnents both
here and abroad have progressed to the point
where torpedoes can now be launched from high
speed planes at an altitude considerably in ex-
cess of 15 feet.

The torpedo plane can be used wherever the
banber can be used against floating targets,
and, as already indicated, is vastly more effec-
tive against such targets than the bonber. How-
ever, it should be obviovis from the description
of the torpedo that it is a delicate instrument.
This fact naturally limits the speed and height
of drop, which in turn imposes limitations on
the tactics of the torpedo plane. Torpedoes can

be loaded on wings, in the bomb bay or siting
below the fuselage. The cockpit of a torpedo
plane is equipped with a director for correctly
aiming the torpedo.

The torpedo attack must be delivered from mod-
erately low altitudes at extremely close range
withoul^iislpg all the speed available in modern
aircraft. The altitude must not be too low, or
the splash frcxn the dropped tin fish may fill
the bent) bay and wreck the plane. On the other
hand, if the altitude is too great the delicate
mechanisms of the torpedo may be deranged by the
drop. Speed must be limited for the same rea-
son.

Approach Technique

The range must be close to insure accuracy and
negate evasion tactics by the ships attacked.
At the dropping point the torpedo plane must be
in nearly normal flight position. If the plane
were in a steep glide or dive the torpedo might
nose over when it hits the water and run on a
reverse course. Furthermore, the approach for
the attack must cover several miles so that
accurate observations can be taken. The ap-
proach must be flown under the same conditions
as the main attack. There can be no long, fast
swoop from high altitudes, no quick drop or
speedy getaway.

It will not take pilots long to realize the
risk involved in the combination of level flight
at low altitude and comparatively slow speed
over many miles of sea in view of the enemy.
Torpedo plane pilots must have cold £u:curacy and
a determination to close the range, must be im-
I»rvious to danger. The torpedo plane presents
a difficult target for en«iy fighter planes be-
cause its low altitude makes diving attacks vir-
tually impossible. If torpedo planes have their
flanks covered by their own fighter screen they
are virtually immune frem other plane attacks.
In breaking away the torpedo plane pilot's chief
concern is flak fire from the ship he is attack-
ing. Italian and Japanese pilots seem to prefer
"hopping the quarterdeck"— opening their throt-
tles in a speedy dash just over the decks of
their ship victim. Other pilots prefer a sharp
breakway turn euxi a speedy scoot just above the
wave crests or between other ships if a forma-
tion is being attacked.

There need be no prescribed form for a torpedo
plane attack on ships in port. Success depends
mainly on surprise. For an attack on ships
underway the customary formation is a wide ech-

(Continued on Page 46)

MARCH-APRIL 1942

Air Service Command Supplies the World

By Maj. Gen. Henry J. F. Miller

Chief ot the Air Service Command

S TRETCHING across the length and hr adth of
the continental United States and reaching
into the overseas possessions of this nation a
hnge organization is working constantly, day and
night, to keep Arn^r airplanes ready for action
wherever they are needed. Membership of the
organization is made up of thousands of civil-
ians, men and women from all walks of life, all
knuckling down to a vitally luportant task under
the direction of military personnel. Their job
Is to repair and maintain all Army aircraft, and
to do all the mechanical and clerical work inci-
dental to the main task. Their organization is
the Air Service Conmand of the United States
Army Air Forces; their slogan, "We Keep *Ein Fly-
ing."

Many of these workers and their officers are
engaged in the vital, specialized tasks of re-
pairing damaged airplanes, overhauling and re-
building aircraft engines, maintaining gauges,
navigation instruments and radio equipment, all
of which are important units in the modern Army
airplanes .

The large volume of paper work required by the
extensive operation of the Air Service Ccrameind
is handled by thousands of civilian office work-
ers, off ice managers, stenographers, typists,
auditors, clerks and trained specialists in many
different classifications — all under the direc-
tion of military personnel. Much of this work
is carried on in offices at Wright Field, Day-
ton, Ohio, and much of it at the various Air De-
pots. The whole organization of the Air Service
Comnand is directed from headquarters in Wash-
ington.

Duties of the Air Service Cannand were orig-
inally discharged by the former Maintenance Ccb>-
mand, which was a branch of the Materiel Divis-
ion of the Amy Air Corps. Under Air Force reg-
iilatlons issued from Washington on October 17,
1941, (A.A.F. Regulations No. 20-4) the Main-
tenance Command was inactivated and the Air Ser-
vice Coimand was established Imnedlately to take
over the work of repairing and maintaining Army
aircraft. Under the latest Amy re-organization
effective on March 9, 1942, the Air Service Com-
mand was placed on equal footing with seven
other Conmands.

The same regulations which announced the or-
ganization of the Air Service Comnand to super-
sede the Maintenance Comnand also announced the
establishment of the First, Second, Third and
Fourth Air Service Area Cannands and the inclu-
sion of the already-established 50th Treuisport
Wing as component p8U*ts of the Air Service Com-
mand. Each one of the Air Service Area Comnands
corresponds to one of the Air Force Areas. Each
one covers approximately one-fourth of the
United States. Every continental Air Dejx)! arai
sub-depot is included in one or another of these
areas. Overseas depots are under the technical
control of the Air Service Comnand.

There are now seven continental air depots,
located in various sections of the United
States. The addition of new depots frcan time to
time will greatly increase the strength of the
Air Service Command. Four new depots are al-
ready planned.

Seven Big Depots

Of the seven continental depots now existing,
all but three control numerous sub-depots, emd
these three will be given the control of sub-
depots to be activated in the future. Forty-
seven siib-depots now cone under the jurisdiction
of the existing four continental control depots.

These four are: the Fairfield Air Depot at
Patterson Field, Fairfield, Ohio, near Dayton;
the Middletown Air Depot at Olmsted Field, Mid-
dletown, Pennsylvania; the San Antonio Air Depot
at Duncan Field, San Antonio, Texas; the Sacra-
mento Air Depot at McClellan Field, Sacramento,
California.

The San Antonio Air Depot now controls 19 siib-
depots in Texas, Louisiana, Colorado, Oklahoma,
and Arizona. Fairfield controls 18 sub-depots
in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Mississ-
ippi, and South Carolina. Nine sub-depots, in
California, and Nevada are controlled by Sacra-
mento. The Middletown Air Depot controls one
siib-depot at Bolling Field, Anacostla, D.C.

The three continental depots which will bq
given the control of proposed sub-depots are
ifcibile at Brookley Field, Stobile, Alabama; Qgden
at Hill Field, Ogden, Utah; and the Wellston Air
Depot at Wellston, Georgia.

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

It Is obvious that a staggering volume of work
Is required at headquarters and In the far-flung
air dejwts and sub-dexx)ts In order that the life
blood of the Air Forces may be kept flowing. In
an operation so vitally connected with the effi-
cient action of war planes and other Army air-
craft, there are nultltudes of details. Involv-
ing myriad problems In engineering and mechan-
ics, supply and transportation, personnel work,
office management, and routine activity In me-
chanical and clerical Jobs of almost every de-
scription. All this detell must be handled ex-
pertly. And In order that It may be so handled,
the work must be divided and subdivided and as-
signed to well qualified specialists. The prin-
cipal £isslgnments thus made under the General
Staff of the Air Service Conmand are those han-
dled by the following offices: Engineering,
Supply, Training and Operations, Personnel, and
the 50th Transport Wing.

Actual maintenance of aircraft, equipment aM
supplies which are delivered to the Air Corps
for use In peace or war Is a part of the respon-
sibility resting upon Staff Engineering for the
Air Service Conmand. The Staff Engineering Of-
ficer Is charged also with the formulation of
plans and iwllcles pertaining to the design and
operation of engineering staffs of Air Corps
Depots.

Specifically, the Staff Engineering Officer
must supervise — In coordination with the Field
Service Section and the Assistant Chief of the
Air Service Conmand — the Issuance of necessary
Instructions for the correction of major main-
tenance difficulties encountered In the field.
Whenever the need arises for the change or Im-
provement of existing policies applying to en-
gineering and maintenance procedures, the Staff
Eilglneerlng Officer must supervise the making of
such changes and luprovements. In coordination
with the Inspection Section, Office of the Chief
of the Air Corps, must coordinate all spec-
ial engineering projects and make recommend-
ations on personnel matters concerning military
and civilian personnel In the engineering act-
ivities of the Air Service Cammnd. In making
any reccramendatlon on such personnel matters , he
works in close coordination with the Assistant
Chief of Staff— Jtersonnel.

Depot Engineering Staffs perform maintenance
work on ISilted States Anqy and National Guard air-
craft, aircraft engines, accessories, unit ass«&-
blles and auxiliary equlpnent.

These duties are carried out by an extensive
organization of officers and civilian workers.
The depot Engineering Superintendent Is under the

direct cannand of a Chief Ehgineerlng Officer
appointed by the Comnandlng Officer of the depot.
Several Assistant Engineering Officers make xip
the military staff of the Chief Engineering Of-
ficer. Che of these assistants is In charge of
the Administrative Sectlrai; another. In charge of
the Inspection Section; still another, In charge
of the Flight Test Section; and one. In cheurge of
the Radio Repair Section.

The civilian steiff of the Engineering Officer
consists of a general superintendent of aircraft
shops, a superintendent of aircraft shops, a gen-
eral foreman of Air Corps shops, principal clerk,
principal draftsman, and senior stock tracer.

All sections of the Engineering Staff are div-
ided into branches, and the breuiches are siib-
divlded into units, each charged with its own
specific duties and all welded together Into one
Intricate organization.

One job essential for the smooth, efficient
operation of the Air Service Cannand is the dis-
tribution of necessary supplied to depots.
Equipment and materials rangirg from office sup-
plies to complete airplanes must be furnished
whenever they are needed. The respionsibility of
planning the distribution of supplies eind the
administration of policies and procedure are
functions of the staff officer In charge of Sup-
ply. The actual distribution and the storage of
supplies are handled by the Svpply Branch of the
Field Service Section.

Among six main branches of the Field Service
Secticxi is the Supjply Branch, In charge of the
actual distribution, storoige and issue of such
supplies as spare parts and accessories for air-
planes and aircraft engines, combat equipment
and armament, miscellaneous aircraft equipment,
fuel, lubricants, chemicals and p>alnt, machin-
ery, tools and metals, and many other supplies
on the jjrocurement list of the Air Corps.

All instructions, regulations and correspond-
ence necessary for the pjroper execution of Sup-
ply activities are coordinated under the super-
vision of the Chief of the Supply Branch. He is
in charge of the Investigation of any serious
difficulties encountered In the discharge of
supply duties, and he recommends the remedial
action that may be required. Ife supervises the
supply activities of the depots, studies estab-
lished practices and existing methods of Issue
and storage, with a view toward obtaining the
maxlmm efficiency of the depx>t.

Many other details come under the siq)ervlsl(»i
of the Chief of the Stqply Branch and his assis-
tants — such work as the maintenance of consoli-
dated property records of all items and conmod-

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Itles on the storage and issue list of the Air
Corps, the disposition of any surplus or excess
Iffoperty in accordance with law and regulations,
and the acccmpllshment of other work which is
demanded by the necessity for close cooperation
between Supply and the rest of the General
Staff.

JFleld Service Jjqxyrtant

Other branches of the Field Service Section
are charged with the maintenance of Air Corps
equipment and supplies; assignment of nomen-
clature to Air Corps articles; classification of
supplies and equipment for storage and issue;
initiation of engineering studies for the In-
vestigation of failures and defects in material
or equipment, and the preparation of reports,
required by higher authority, regarding r^nedlal
actlm necessary.

The Field Service SectlcKi also prepares tables
of basic allowances, tables of allowances,
weight and bulk tables, and similar data; pre-
pares other- data pertaining to war plans and
special projects; prepares, stores and Issues
Technical Orders, instruction books and manuals;
prepares annual budgets and administers funds
made available to the Field Service Section;
designs Air Corps technical buildings 6Uid re-
views projects for repairs and alterations;
maintains records of all aircraft, engines and
equipment, showiig the location and condition of
the eqxilpment and the flying time of every air-
plane and engine.

An extensive organization of main branches and
units— some 30 branches and units in all — is
needed to carry out the complete program of the
Field Service Section. The main branches, in
addition to Supply, are those in charge of main-
tenance, publications, comminications , and arm-
ament.

Another Important staff duty of the Air Ser-
vice Comnand is discharged by its training and
operations division, the organization which
trains military and civilian personnel, prepares
tables of organization for ASC service units,
sup)ervlses the movement of service troopjs and
the attachnent of units for tactical operations.

Every facility Is belig used for the training
of military and civilian jjersonnel for service
in overseas depots, continental air depots and
stib-depots. With large numbers of Air Depot
Groups being activated for the handling of sec-
ond echelon maintenance wherever needed, civil-
ian aviation schools are training military per-
sonnel in mechanical branches, under contract,
and civilian specialists are working with Train-

ing and Operations in compiling instructional
material and guides for the p)ersonnel of these
groups .

Training is givai in both classroom work and
practical on-the-job experience, under the
supervision of competent Instructors. The Air
Service Ccmniand maintains a system of pranotli^
all workers who go through the training courses
successfully.

Air shipment of supplies and assenblles needed
by outlying stations are made by the 50th Trans-
port Wing Ifeadquarters, located at Weight Field.
Activated in January, 1941, the Wing is respon-
sible for the scheduling and operation of all
inter-depot air freight movements . The Wing
also furnishes transport airplanes and transjKrt
pilots to function with the training and act-
ivity of jarachute troops and air-borne infan-
try.

Most of the inter -depot shipments are made up
of new engines, propellers, and government-fur-
nished equipment. In other shipments there are
overhauled engines and supplies and reparable
assenblies, transported from outlying stations
to the repair depots.

There are nine squadrons in the 50th Transport
Wing, all assigned to various depots. On the
basis of miles flown and traffic moved, the 50th
Transport Wing would rank fifth on the list of
cramerclal airlines in this country.

All this effort — the efficient work of Engin-
eering, Supply, Field Service, Training and
Operations, Personnel, the 50th Transport Wing,
and all the offices and units of the Air Service
Ccnmand — adds up to the achievement of that one
fundamental objective expressed in the slogan,
"We Keep 'Em Flying."

The Importeuice of this objective can not be
over-«nphasized in the present stnggle. In the
detailed work and routine of the various sub-
divisions of the Air Service Ccnnmand the main
objective must never be forgotten. Every unit,
every Individual is working together toward the
achievement of one goal; and all, working to-
gether, will make a major contribution to win-
ning the final victory.

. • • •

Erik H. Nelson, pioneer Army Air Corps long-
distance flyer and aircraft fenglne expert, who
resigned from the Ariiay in 1928 after a decade of
service, during which he participated in a series
of trail-blazing long-dlstarwe flights, climaxed
by the Round the World Flight in 1924, retinried
to active duty with the Army Air Forces. He was
commissioned a lieutenant-colonel euxi assigned
to the Inspection Division,-

MARCH-AFRIL 1942

1 %.

ii a

•iCS Hf V - — E.j\p

«>^tltutte J«oteta aftei.^^!**^ **®cently th»f

Uie wifa« w. ciioaen for «, ianetn * ^ ^ ^yal aij. n*

‘*®«t th« nicte.Mm« ^ afloat I*®* "'^en a

^ ®® follow. ®®*^lce pub-

r 1

uuM Bors or tm rat:

I hmv Juat aaen that tha RAF flyers have a
Ufa-aaving Jacket they call a "Mae Weet,“ becauae it
buJgaa in all tA« "right placea," Wall, I conaider it a
awall honour to have each great guy a wrapped up in you,
know what t mean?

Yaa, it’ a kind of a nice thought to be flying
all over with brave men... even if I’m only there by proxy
in the form of a life^aaving Jacket, or a li fe-aaving
Jacket in my form,

t alwaya thought that the beat way to hold a
man waa in your arma-‘but I gueaa when you’re up in the
air a plane ia aater. You’ve got to keep everything
under control.

Yeah, the Jacket idea ia all right, and I can’t
imagine anything better than to bring you boya of the RAF
aoft and happy landinga. But what I’d like to know about
that life-aaving Jacket is--haa it got dangeroua curvea
and aoft ahapely ahouldera?

You've heard of Helen of Troy, the dame with
tha face that launched a thouaand ahipa. . .aity not a ahape
that will atop thouaanda of tanka?

If I do get in the dictionary- -where you aay
you want to put me--haw will they deacribe me? Aa a warm
end clinging life-aaving garment worn by aviatora? Or an
aviator ’a jacket that auppliea the woman' a touch while
the boya are flying around nighta? How would you de-
acribe me, boya?

I’ve been in Who’a Who, and I know what’ a what,
but it’ ll be the firat time I ever made the dictionary.

Unwelcome Guests

They Catch ’Em With Their Fiaps Down

O NE of the most successful fighter tactics of
the air war to date has been the pursuit
ship patrol over enemy honfcer bases . The Ger-
mans and British have developed this tactic of
"Intrusion" to a high degree as a night fighter
operation to attack long range night bombers
returning to their baises after a foray over
enemy territory and the Japanese have used It as
a daylight maneuver to catch Allied heavy, high
altitude bombers under unfavorable conditions
durihg the "let down" to their fields.

When the fighter patrol attacks retiirning
bombers In the vicinity of their bases the ag-
gressor has several advantages. The bombers
isually have an extremely limited amount of fuel
left after completing their mission and their
defensive maneuvering is limited accordingly.
Crews of returning bonbers are usually fatigued
and not as alert as they approach their base and
the all Ifl^jortant element of surprise is usually
found aiding the pursuits.

At night the element of surprise is even

greater and the hunting consequently better. In
addltlm to the boB±)ers shot down by the fight-
ers* guns, there are often crashes caused by
destruction of field lights, failure of bond^er
pilots to lower landing gear during the confus-
ion of the surprise attack and bombers running
out of gas during prolonged defensive maneuvers.

Both the English and the Germans favor a
single, twin-engined night fighter for the at-
tack on any given bonber base. The Germans use
the Messerschmitt 110 and the English the Amer-
ican-built Havoc or DB-7 (American model A-20
series.) Both planes carry light bonb loads In
addition to heavy armament.

The Havoc is an all metal monoplane powered by
twin Wrl^t Cyclone engines. It was originally
built for the American Army Air Forces cut the
A-20 light attack bonber. The British ordered
them in quantity durlig the early days of the
war for the same use and dUbbed them Bostons.
When the heavy German day boobing attacks were
shifted to a nocturnal schedule after the Battle

MARCH-AHllL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Over Britain, the Boston's were equipped as
night fighters and called Havocs.

They carry a crew of three or four and are
equlpi)ed with heavy armament, light bomb load
and exhaust screens. For night operations the
plane is painted dull black. In addition to
their lose as "intruders" the Havocs have been
sirecessful In knocking down night bombers over
Et^land. As the A-20 series they are still used
by the AAF.

Patrol German Bases

Here Is how the Havocs make life miserable for
German night boofcer crews. A lone Havoc patrols
over each Germaui bomber base from which night
attacks are launched against England. They
cruise around and above the flak range of air
betse defenses with motors throttled to conserve
fuel. When German bonbers return to land the
Havocs open throttles and dive to the attack.
Fatigue from the flak-filled trip over England
and surprise frequently cause German pilots to
land In a hurry with their wheels up or over or
undershoot, piling up the bomber even If the
Havoc's guns fall to damage the ship.

If the German guns his engines and tries to
run, the Havoc closes the range and engages him
until he lights out for another field. The
Havoc then lets him go knowing that another
Havoc waits over every field the bonfcer can make
with the limited f\»l left after a round trip to
England. After several unsuccessful stabs at
Havoc-infested fields, German bonbers sanetimes
run out of ftiel and crash In darkness.

"Just a piece of cake," Is the way one Havoc
pilot describes the operations. "We shoot at
everything we can see, frequently getting two or
three. The Jerries sanetimes get so jvmpy they
start firing at each other."

Another pilot reported:

"When we approached an enemy airdrome In
France we spotted eight aircraft circling
around. We joined the circle and ojjened fire on
one from about 30 yards. We hit his fuselage
and saw sparks streaking from an engine. We
gave him four more bursts in the port engine and
he blew up. We recognized him as a Helnkel 111.
in the brilliant orange flash Just before he
disintegrated. The other aircraft dispersed so
we cllai)ed into a cloud, badbed the airport and
came home."

When the possibilities of machine gunning
eneny planes are exhausted the Havocs drop their
bonbs on the airport aiming particularly at
lighting installations. The object Is to keep
the field dark as long as possible euxi thereby

prevent the bombers from landing while they ex-
haust their fuel.

A sergeant pilot reported on this tyj)e of
action:

"We had Just about given iq) sighting the Hun.
There seemed to be no aircraft In the sky. So
we made a careful run In over the airdrome and
dropped our bortos from 4,000 feet.

"Great fires sprang to life below. Our gunner
was studying them through the lower hatch when,
looking up, he saw a Nazi bonJjer smack on our
tail its, outline etched distinctly in the glow
ft*on the fires below. It was oily 50 yards away
and he let It have a bubst full in the nose.
The ftjn returned our fire but his tracers passed
below our tail. Then he dived and the gunner
fired straight into his cabin. He crashed di-
rectly below, exploded and burst Into flames.
We could see the fires for 50 miles on the way
home. "

StaBsh On Ground

How the German bombers are smashed on the
ground was described by a member of another
Havoc crew.

"Our objective was an airdrome In Holland,
well back from the coast. We reached it at
7,000 feet. The ground lights flashed on euid
two eneny aircraft landed. We were too high to
attack. The lights went off and we waited.
Five minutes later the lights came on again emd
an aircraft took off. Another was well along
the runway when we came over him. We dropped
our bombs In his path. His lights slewed up
perpendicularly into the sky and he burst Into
flames . "

A good night's work over enemy territory Il-
lustrating the versatility of the Havoc as an
"intruder" is described In the following Pilot's
report.

"We were assigned to patrol a Nazi alrdrane in
Holland. We broke out of scattered clouds over
airdroDie to find the beacon flashing stead-
ily. At 5,000 feet we saw a red cartridge com-
ing up and the ground lights and flare path
Imnediately lit up. When we got a little lower
we could see the eneiqy aircraft getting reaxly to
land and others circling to follow him In with
their navigation lights on.

"One aircraft landed and taxied to a dispersal
point before we could reach him. We got onto
the next one at 500 feet. We could see our
tracer go Into him fran 50 yards. His lights
went out and he plunged straight down. While we
were dealing with him with our forward guns, the

(Continued on Page 20)

MARCH-APRIL 1942

Making Americans Sky Warriors

By Maj. Gen. Barton K. Yonnt

Commanding General, Flying Training Command

'^BE course of events In Europe and more re-
oently In the Pacific area has demonstrated
COTicluslvely that air power Is apt to he the
deciding factor In modem warfare. This year and
next will bring on the great crisis. America
must gadn air supremacy now. The urgency of the
need is a tremendous challenge to our rapidly
expanding aircraft industry to strain every
effort to produce the 60,000 military aircraft
required by our Army and Navy during 1942. It
Is no less a challeiige to our Air Forces to pro-
vide a huge pool of highly trained adraen to man
these planes, as well as a vast army of tech-
nlcadly trained maintenance and service crews.

To meet this challenge the Army Air Forces
have recently set lip a Flying Training Ccmmuid
to centralize thq tremendous task of providing
the flying ijersonnel required for the expanded
air program — a program superimposed on plans
already expanded several times at a breath tak-
ing pace. To take our new warplanes Into the
air, a constant stream of baribardlers , naviga-
tors, pilots, and eierlal gunners must also flow
from our training centers.

Bottleiecks Are Eliminated

The Flying Training Command was created to
bring all of the training centers under me uni-
fied control, eliminate bottlenecks, speed up
the program, and add new facilities so that an
ever enlarging supply of ccmpetent personnel may
be sent to oin* ccmibat conmands. This must be
dome with all possible speed In order to make up
American Air Forces wherever needed in the rap-
idly expanding world ccxifllct.

At the present time the Flying Training Com-
mand is housed on the fifth floor of the liarl-
tlme Building, Washington, and the place Is hum-
ming with activity. New sets of figures are
being worlffid out to step Into line with the
total flying personnel required to meet the pre-
sent goal of an Air Forees of a million men and
with the possibility that this number may even-
tually reach two million. Figures are being
coordinated with aircraft procurement schedules
to ensure the proper proportions of conjbat pi-
lots for fighter planes, two-engine and four-

engine bombers, bombardiers, navigators and
gunners — all to synchronize with the delivery of
the planes. Plans are being set up for opera-
tional training In which pilots will receive
additional training and maribers of combat crews
will learn to work together as a highly effi-
cient teams.

Training courses 6u*e being revised to incliide
the latest tactical lessons learned the hard way
In the actual crucible of war In the air, in-
cluding an Increased emphasis on dive bcmiblng,
the use of aerial torpedoes and the employment
of gliders. In cooperation with other divisions
of the Air Forces, new sites, schools and neces-
sary facilities are being eurranged which eventu-
ally will more than double the present program.

Ehqihasls On Quality

Despite the xmprecedented Increase in our pi-
lot training program — ^ft’cm about 500 per year In
1938 to 30,000 per year In 1942, plus substan-
tial nucAi rs from England for the RAF and small-
er groiq36 liom Latin American countries and from
China— we have kept our emphasis on quality.
The acid test is combat against enemy air
forces, and even in the short period since the
active entrance of the United States Into the
conflict, American airmen have cone throu^ with
flying colors, often against overwhelming odos.
In many cases they have shot down hostile planes
and reached objectives with their bentos oti the
very first trip aloft In enemy skies.

To enlarge the pool of available pilots the
Wen* Department has asked the Civil Aeronautics
Administration to concentrate all CAA Pilot
training In an all-out total war program. First
priority In the tralnlr^ facilities of the CAA
Is to be given to the pilot tradnlng of students
who ceui meet the revised requiranents for ap-
pointment as Aviation Cadets in the Army Air
Forces, and who are mentoers of the Air Section
of the enlisted Reserve Corps. After that the
flight training is to be limited to students
who, while imable to meet the requlranents for
appointment as Aviation Cadets, are otherwise
qualified to pursue a course of flight training
looking to the issuance of flying instructors'

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

licenses under regulations of the CAA., and who
undertake In writing to contribute fkiture effort
In a field of aeronautics adapted to serve the
national Interest, directly or Indirectly.

This means that a total of more than 500 CAA
Pilot Training units In all parts of the coun-
try are now being definitely haumessed to our
war effort. It Is expected the CAA elonentary
flying training will be given to s<nne 46,000
students this year, and that a large proportion
of these will be carried on through the second-
ary stage, with considerable nunfeers taking
cross-country, Instnraent and Instructor flight
tralnli^. To aid the constantly enlarging ac-
tivities of the Air Force Ferrying Comnand, a
special course will be given to approximately
1,000 pilots for this Important field.

Even more striking than the zooming figures
and activity In the pilot training Is the strong
eufliasis we are placing cm the other key mmdjers
of the modem aircrew— the bontoardler and the
navigator. As recently as 1040 our facilities
for this type of training were extremely lim-
ited, but now we are prepared to tcira out these
specialized flying officers in great mmimrs .

Need More Crews

In the same way, we are giving considerably
more attention to the training of pilots for
fcxir-englne bombers. Within the past year or
two the Air Forces' championing of the long-
range multi-engine heavy bonber has been amply
vindicated as a strat;-6-^c weapon of the utmost
value. The newest %'.rslons of our Boeing B-17
and Consolidate' ^-24, backbone of America's
"heavy bomber program," already doubled twice
and recently doubled again, will require an
increasing flow of pilots and ccnbat crews work-
ing together as a team, and the Flying Training
Conmand is giving this a hi^ priority rating in
Its jjresent schedule.

American air power Is already beginning to
Influence the fighting on several fronts in the
world-wide battle for freedom, and there have
been many thrilling examples of how effective
our flyiig training has been and how good our
idanes are In conqiariscm with the best the eneuQr
has to offer. Straining every effort, and all
pulling together, we can look forward to the
time, not so far off, when the air-flghtlng
strength of our nation will be such in both
quality and quantity, that the starred red,
white and blue wing Insignia of America's air
might will be a sign of supremacy — a synfcql of
terror to our enemies 6uid of victory to our-
selves and our allies.

Their Flaps Are Down
(Continued from Page 18)

rear gunner hit another with the top gun.
Cllnblng we saw a third plane coming toward us
and got In several good bursts as he peissed
below.

"We got some altitude by then and saw another
below and off to the port. We dived on him and
gave It to him with our fVont guns. Another was
JiBt beyond so we continued our dive and sent'
him down from 600 feet. We had only begun to
shoot at a sixth when the rear gunner called and
asked is to lift the nose a bit. We did and he
fired astern directly into the nose of Ninber 7.
Nuober 7 went into a vertical dive at 600 feet
and by the time he crashed we were a good four
miles past the landing field.

"During this engagmnent only three enemy alr^
craft were seen to land Intact and taxi off. We
still had our boobs so we cllobed a bit and
dropped them at the point where the aircraft
were seen to taxi off. The boobs burst on huts
and buildings and started quite a fire. We went
hone without Incident except for a few seconte
in an enenQr searchlight."

Another Havoc pilot reported an engagement
with a Junker 88 over France:

"Our target was a French alrdrooie frcm which
the Hun had been sending over bonbers. We
crossed the Somne aind found the field without
difficulty. As we clre^bd down the ground
lights flashed on and we saw a JU 88 gathering
speed for a takeoff. Eds navigation lights went
off as soon as he left the gromd but we had him
well spotted. Wb closed in behind him to a hun-
dred yards and let him have three good bursts.

"His port engine and fuselage Immediately
caught fire and he made a steep diving turn to
the starboard. Our rear gunner then caught the
starboard engine and he crashed in flames 200
yards behind the airdrome boundary fence.
Climbing to 3,000 feet we could see the German
explode. Then we drop»ped our bombs and came
home to breakfast."

The President has signed a bill granting a
$150 imlform allowance to officers ccnmlssloned
below the rank of major on or subsequent to
Septffliber 26, 1941 and all menbers of the Offi-
cers Reserve Corps comnlssloned prior to Sept-
enber 26, 1941 who have been called to active
duty and have served three months. All reserve
officers who have previously received a uniform
allowance will have the amount of that allowance
deducted from the new $150 allowance.

IttRCH-AHUL 1942

The Australian Front

By Oliver H. Townsend

■pLIERS and ground crews of the Army Air
Forces assigned to Australia should feel
more at home on this "down under" continent than
in any other foreign country in the world — with
the possible exception of Canada.

Big (almost as large as the United States) ,
occidental (95 per cent of its people are of
British extraction) , progressive (electricity,
automobiles, large modern cities), Australia
cadblnes most of the best characteristics of the
United States and Great Britain.

The seven million people of Australia are
friendly and have a free and easy spirit which
makes them well-liked by Americans, and vice
versa. Most of them are city-dwellers — over
half crowd into the six big state capitals of
Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and
Hobart.

The standard of living is almost as high as
that In the United States, and the cost slightly
lower. The monetary system is British, and is
based on the pound sterling. A recent ruling
permits the free use of American money in Aus-
tralia on a basis of about $4 to the pound.

Large amounts of American cigarettes are con-
sumed annually, and millions of feet of American
mot:'''n picture film are exhibited. U.S. ciga-
rettes in peacetime ordinarily sell for about 25
to 28 cents per pack. Recently all stocks of
cigarettes — along with stocks of tea— were Im-
pounded for the exclusive use of the armed
forces .

Food In Australia is much like it is in this
country — except for being a bit more on the
"meaty" side. Vegetables don't play the prcxa-
inent role on menus that Americans have beccane
accustcxned to. One of the favorite dishes is
mutton.

Australians are very sports conscious. Many
of their tennis stars and rugby, soccer and
cricket teams have won International fame.
Sports heroes have a national reputation which
exceeds that of movie stars and statesmen.
There is plenty of room for swlDmliig at the hun-
dreds of miles of fine beaches which ring the
continent.

Being below the equator, the seasons In Aus-
tralia are exactly reversed from those in the
United States. Right now sunmer is ending and
fall is coming on. Winter begins in June,
spring In Septaitoer and sunoer in Decenber.

The best way to get an idea of the climate of
this antipodes continent is to turn it figura-
tively up-slde-down and place it in the northern
part of the western hemisphere in the vicinity
of the United States.

When this Is done it Is found that the south-
eeistern part of the continent, containing the
big cities and most of the people, falls in the
neighborhood of Virginia. Perth, biggest city
on the west coast, is situated oti about the same
latitude as San Diego, California. Port Darwin,
^teway to the Orient and only settlement of any
size on the north coast, falls as far south as
Nicaragua — and is just as tropical.

Most Australians cluster in the southeastern
part of their country, and for a very good rea-
son. This is "white man's country". Here the
temperature dips down to top-coat level in the
winter and, doesn't blow the top out of the
thermcmeter in the simmertlme. This is rare,
for Australia is nuch closer to the equator than
the United States, and snowfall is unknown ex-
cept on the highest mountain peaks.

Interior Is Deserted

"Out west", around Perth, there is another
section of territory with a white man's climate.
Here, 1,500 miles across deserted wastelands
from Adelaide, closest southeastern city, is
Australia's California, where about a million
people live.

The populated regions of Australia are all
within several hundred miles of the coastline.

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

The Interior is little more them one vast desert
where the traveler can go for hundreds of miles
without seeing a human settlonent.

Isolated In the tropical heat of the north
coast) on a peninsula Juttlpg northward Into the
Netherlands East Indies, is Port Darwin, mil-
itary center and one of the chief targets of the
Japanese.

In normal times Port Darwin Is a sleepy sea-
port with a population of little more than
2,000, con^xjsed chiefly of Chinese, Malays, Jap-
euiese and native blacks. At the beginning of
the war, however, this population had been In-
creased by British and Australian defense work-
ers to about 7,000.

The accent Is on the Orient in Darwin. Chi-
nese merchants peddle their wares In native cos-
tune, and Incense and Oriental music mix with
American jazz in the waterfront taverns. The
best comiunlcatlons in peacetime were with Sing-
apore, Java, Hong Kong and India — not with other
parts of Australia.

Darwin Is Tropical

In appearance Darwin is like an early American
mining town. The sidewalks are roofed, there
are few trees, and the ramshackle houses are
rarely more than one story high. The city It-
self sits on a 60-foot bluff overlooking one of
the best harbors In the Pacific. In the bamboo
forests behind Darwin crocodiles slide through
muddy rivers, and native aborigines hack out a
primitive existence. Ifcst of the better homes,
erected on the outskirts, are built on high
ironwood stilts to keep out the white ants and
termites.

Only 12 degrees below the equator, Darwin is
hot. Just before the simmer redns come the tem-
perature averages 100 degrees and the humidity
runs between 80 and 90. Tropical white clothing
Is worn almost exclusively, and the houses are
little more than large verandas with enclosed
dressing rooms.

Darwin is the capital of Australia's Northern
Territory, a vast expanse of wasteland twice as
big as Texas — and with a population of but
slightly more than 10,000. Coamunlcatlons in
this sparsely-settled region have been poor.
Darwin has not been connected with other north-
ern coastal towns by roaxis or railroads. The
only link with the rest of the continent has
been a railroad broken by a 620-mile stretch of
highway, running to Adelaide, on the south
coast. Isolated by land, Darwin has developed
into an important air terminal between Aus-
tralia and Asia.

Isolated as it is, an invasion force taking
Darwin still has well over a thousand miles to
go by boat or across the trackless wastes of the
interior before it can reach the southeastern
region — the real prize.

Center of this southeastern region, and eco-
nomic and industrial capital of Australia, is
Sydney. Its population of over a million and a
quarter people makes it the third city of the
British Empire — after London and Calcutta.
Somewhat resenfcllng San FVanclsco in appearance,
Sydney has probably the finest harbor in the
world — l6U*ge ^oi^gh to shelter every ship in all
the world's fleets. Kiown as Australia's Paris,
Sydney is the entertainment capital of the South
Pacific, and the political capital of the State
of New South Wales.

Second city of Australia is MPlboume, capital
of the State of Victoria, 500 miles southwest of
Sydney on the southern coast. Melbourne, with
over a million people, is the seventh largest
city in the British Biipire. Other big cities
are Brisbane, half-way up the eastern coast', and
capital of Queensland, wlth326,000 people; Adel-
aide, capital of South Australia, with 322,000
population; and Perth, capital of Western Aus-
tralia, with 221,800 f>eople.

Aviation-Minded

The great distances of the Australian con-
tinent have been a natural invitation for the
development of ccomercial aviation. Civil avi-
ation was first started there by Army pilots
returning fTom the air fronts of the World War.
Two of the most famous of these flyers were
Keith and Ross Smith who flew all the way home
from Euroije in November, 1919, spending 124
hours in the air.

Planes have played an important part in the
development of Australia. Not only do they pro-
vide quick service between the big cities, but
they are also the only connection isolated vil-
lages of the interior have with the world.

Aside from being bunqiy, the air over Australia
is some of the best in the world for flying, be-
cause of the absence of fog and scarcity of
heavy cloud formations. With more than 20,000
miles of airlines, and with more than nine mil-
lion miles flown annually, Australians are among
the most airminded pieople in the world. They
realize the dangers of attack by air, and the
V6ilues of an aerial defense. "Keeping 'em fly-
ipg" over Australia is one of the most satisfy-
ing assignments to which American air and ground
crews can be assigned.

M&RCH-AHIIL 1942

Engineers Witb the Army Air Forces

By Brig. Gen. Stuart G. Godfrey

Chief of Engineers, Army Air Forces

TN each campaign of this w*u* the Importance

■^of SLlrdromes has been freshly d^ixsistrated.
In the Japanese penetrations of the Rilllpplnes,
Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, airfields have
been the first objects of attack and later the
stepping stones by which Jaxnnese aviation was
able to give effective sigjport to the advance of
land and sea forces.

The German Luftwaffe failed in its att^upt to
destroy the RAF largely because engineers had
provided England with a wealth of camouflaged,
easily repaired and widely dispersed landing
fields which offered a hopelessly decentralized
target and enabled the RAF to keep Its fighters
In the air almost continuously. On the other
hand, observe what happened to the RAF when It
lacked airdromes In Greece and Crete.

Even before these lessons were made clear to
all the world our Army Air Forces had allotted
an Important place to avlatlcm engineers — a new
type of unit consisting of engineer troops spec-
ially trained and equipped to build and hold
advanced conbat airdromes In all types of the-
aters of operations.

Our Siglneers Active

As General Arnold recently pointed out, our
training of "theater of operations" engineer
troops for combat duty with the Air Forces was
greatly accelerated during the pre-war period by
enployment of the aviation engineers In the con-
structlOTi of huge air bases In Iceland, Green-
land, Alaska and the Caribbean. These aviation
engineers "set the teeth In our hanlsphere de-
fense that will force an enemy to run Into our
fist Instead of our chin," eiccordlng to General
Arnold. Meanwhile, the domestic program of adr-
port constrvictlon proceeded apace under the di-
rection of the Corps of Ehglneers.

The bulldlr^ of many new permanent airdromes
in the United States and Its overseas posses-
sions a«i beuses Is an Important activity, of the
Corps of Engineers, acting through Its Division
and District Br^lneers. In war, however, a dif-
ferent type of airfield construction mist be
visualized. This may involve the anergency ex-
pansion of existing air bases by the provision
of auxiliary airfields, smaller and better con-

cealed. Again, It may be pioneer work In s'ome
new and distant theater.

In any event, there will he a vital need for
aiglneer troop units with the Army Air Forces.
The need has become far more extensive and more
specialized than in the days of World War I.
The fwmer small grass plot has been replaced by
an extensive tract of land, cleared of obstacles
and with all-weather use faclll.tated In many
cases by paved runways. For this work, troops
with special equipment and special tralnli^ are
needed. Moreover, an air force, like a field
army or an armored force, tieeds Its own eiigl-
neers — troops who have traljied with it intimate-
ly, who speak its language and understand its
needs.

These engineers with an air force must be
trained and equipped to construct rapidly ad-
vanced military alrdvomes, or to Improve exist-
ing ones. They must be skilled in the camou-
flage of 8d.rfields and the construction of de-
fensive works. Shey must be organized and pre-
pared to repair Instantly fields damaged by
enemy bombing.. Finally, with their trained
riflemen and raachlne gunners, they must be pre-
pared to taJoj an active part In the def^ise of
airdromes .

The first troop unit formed for special work
with the Army Air Forces was the 21st Engineer
Aviation Regiment, organized at Langley Field,
Va., in June, 1940.

This unit has been the peirent organization of
the bulk of existing aviation engineer units.
The menlfold activities of this regiment have
Included work of construction cm their own bar-
racks and grounds, experimental work on runways
Ijicludlng steel landing mts, and the develop-
ment of techniques for camouflaging airdromes.
The regiment has furnished the personnel and
equipment for two sizable deteichnents to carry
out important task force missions.

Since then a score or more of seiwurate avi-
ation battalions have been or are being acti-
vated. Many more are planned.

First Ikilt Formed

To visualize a military airdrome In war, we
need to differentiate It sharply from the usual
commercial airport or permanent peacetime Air

MARCH-AFRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Corps station. The latter offers a conspicuous
and vulnerable target to enemy boiribers . By
great effort it can be rendered less conspic-
uous. But preferably an air force will operate
fpan smaller auxiliary f'ields. Such fields lend
thOTselves better to camouflage. Planes on the
field, instead of being huddled on a parking
apron, sire dispersed in pens around the peri-
phery of the field or in adjacent fields, made
accessible by a taxi-track. Servicing instal-
lations are simpler and are also dispersed and
concealed.

In connection with such airfields, the tasks
for aviation engineers may be described as fol-
lows:

Improvement or provision of advanced air-
dromes, together with all appurtenances such as
runways, landing strips, shelters, airplane
parking areas. Internal routes of connunlcatlon,
water supply, lighting, and other utilities.

Improvonent or provision of routes of conmunl-
catlon to such airdromes.

Provisions for gas-proofing and bonto-prooflng
essential parts of such Installations.

Camouflage of advanced alrdrcmes and other Air
Forces installations.

Assistance in the anti-mechanized defense of
advanced airdromes by construction and defense
of road blocks, and by combat against raids de-
livered by ground forces .

Assistance in the defense of advanced air-
dromes against air attack.

Maintenance and repair of airdromes, espe-
cially after damage by enemy bombers.

Engineers Must Fight

It is seen that these tasks require that avi-
ation engineers be both technical specialists
and combat soldiers. Airports are usually lo-
cated well behind the front line, and the combat
flmcticffi will be the exception rather than the
rule. But in the future, no alfport in a the-
ater of operations will be entirely secure
against either a raid by armored forces, or the
increasing threat of vertical envelopm^t. En-
gineers, with trained riflemen and machine gun-
ners, thus constitute an Important element of
defense. Events overseas have proved that good
riflemen are particularly valuable in dealing
with parachute troops, so vulnerable during
their initial landing. Aviation engineer units
also have some armored scout cars, both 50 emd
30 cal. machine guns, and 37 nm. anti-tank guns.

The aviation engineer regiment consists of a
regimental headquarters, headquarters and serv-
ice conpapy, and three battallora!. Since there

will often be occasion when an entire regiment
will not be needed in one locality, the bulk of
units organized to date have been engineer avi-
ation battalions (separate) . Experience in
Europe Indicates that to build one ed.rfleld in
reasonable time, perhaps in six weeks under
favorable conditions, a unit of the size of a
battalion is needed. The organization and
equiproent of the battalion have been carefully
designed to provide a balanced force capable of
independent work.

Equipment Complete

No pains have been spared to nake the equip>-
ment for aviation engineer units as complete and
adequate as possible, without at the same time
over-burdening the troops. Thus, general-piur-
pose construction equipment weis preferred to
more efficient, but specialized machines. EJven
so, the separate aviation battalion h6is no less
them 220 pieces of heavy equipment, and 146
vehicles. This heavy equipment Includes such
items as diesel tractors with bvilldozers, carry-
all scrapers, auto-graders, gasoline shovels,
rollers of several types, concrete mixers, air
conq)ressors, trencher, well drill, and the like,
with numerous trucks and trailers. Moreover,
sets of addltionsLl special equipment — additional
asphalting and concreting equipment, rock cinish-
ers, draglines, pumps, floodlights, and the
like— are provided in storage for use if and
when needed, as In case of overseas task forces.

A special unit, known as a headquarters com-
pany, is provided for assignment to an air force
to assist in providing for the special englneer-
Irg and camouflage functions of several engineer
aviation battalions. Supply functions for the
Air Forces are provided for by including an en-
gineer supply platoon with each Air Base Squad-
ron; this platoon also has a small utility sec-
tion.

A new type unit is the engineer aviation topx>-
grapjhic caipany, which is designed to work with
the Air Corps pjhotograpMc and mapping squadrons
in the field prep>aratlon and reproduction of
special aeronautical charts and target maps.

No Peacetime Construction

It should be borne in mind that avlatiai engi-
neer units are not Intended for pjeacetlme con-
struction, and have no role in the maintenance
of airports in time of peace. This does not
mean that for training these units can not and
shoulu not be used on definite construction
tasks, but it is not Intended that they supplant

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

the existing agencies, either for construction
or maintenance In the zone of the Interior.
Even In a theater of operations, It Is not con-
tenplated that all airport construction shall
necessarily be performed by aviation engineers.
The latter are Intended primarily for "pioneer"
work on the more advanced airdromes, where speed
Is essential and the utilization of exlstlr^
facilities or Improvlsatlcm of new ones Is Indi-
cated. The more permanent base airdromes In
rear areas, built more deliberately and with
great refinement, are likely to be the work of
engineer general service regiments. These
latter units, given some special equipment and
training, should be able to Include airport con-
struction among their many t*»sks.

Many Engineers Needed

No definite rule can be given as to the number
of engineer troops that may be needed with an
Air Force, though It Is noteworthy that the
British Expeditionary Force contained no less
than 60,000 engineers, one-fifth Its total
strength. The large program of airfield con-
struction In France was doiibtless largely re-
sponsible for this high percentage. As Indic-
ated above, an aviation battalion can construct
expeditiously one advanced airdrome. It can
maintain and repair, under favorable conditions,
perhaps as many as nine. A rough rule for an
air task force, therefore, would Indicate one
battalion or equivalent for every new airfield
desired for Immediate construction, with add-
itional battalions for the maintenance and ex-
tension, of existing fields.

In their Important role of assistance In air-
drome defense, aviation engineers at an air base
naturally come under the conmand of the officer
charged with the defense of the base, and oper-
ate similarly as In other defensive combat mis-
sions. Ehglneer troops statlcxied at an airdrome
with the primary mission of maintaining the
field in flying ccxidltlon will have ample oppor-
tunity to strengthen the defensive works — ^pill-
boxes, emplacements, roadblocks, mine fields,
and the like.

The training of aviation engineer units Is
planned to prepare them for the tasks outlined
above. The basic training of recruits Is given
at the Engineer Replacement Training Centers,
and Is the same well-rounded training that all
engineer soldiers receive.

Troop units are not. In general employed In
the air base construction program being executed
by District Engineers. But In many cases they

have undertaken some definite taste In this pro-
gram, such as the construction of soil cement
emd asphalt parking aprons and roads. During
the past few months they have performed emer-
gency construction work In connection with the
dispersal and protection of airplanes, by means
of tajcl- tracks, hard standings, and revetment
pens. They have assisted In the development of
steel landing mats, and of the best techniques
for alrdrcme camouflage. They have constructed
experimental runways, using various types of
construction.

A major activity of Air Force Engineers and
their regional assistants has been an engineer-
ing survey of existing airports and potential
airport sites, with a view to providing facil-
ities for the possible concentration of the Air
Force Contoat Conmand In any desired theater of
operations In the United States.

In training for airdrome construction, the ob-
jective of speed Is constantly sought for. The
construction of an airport In China, with runway
designed to take Flying Fortresses, required
100, (XX) Chinese with hand tools to conq)lete the
task In 12 weete. A battalion of aviation engi-
neers, with modem equipment, would under tate to
cut this time In half.

AN IDEA FROM A BEER CAN

I NSPIRED by the simple act of opening a can
of beer, a compact lightweight lightening
hole flanging machine has been perfected to re-
place the previously unwieldy metal dies which
weighed from 50 to 80 pounds.

With this discovery, the transporting of heavy
metal dies Into the field Is said to be unneces-
sary and the use of machine work for dies no
longer needed.

Weighing only two pounds, with an over-all
length of 12 inches, the machine is especially
valuable for field operations. It works very
effectively on lightening holes ranging In size
from two and one half to six inches.

The Idea originated with Captain William H.
Barrett, engineering officer of the 2nd Air De-
pot Group, Sacramento Air Depot, McClellan
Field, Calif. It was perfected by Sergeant
Julius F. Merkel, who In clviliah life was a
designer with the Sperry Gyroscope Company.

The CAPABILITIES of oi,r BOMBARDIERS
MUST be commensurate with the inherent
capabilities of their instruments.

MARCH-APRIL 1942

ECtiPSING THEM ALL"

- GENERAL ARNOLD

Polish Pilots Still Scrapping

By Xlent. Robert B. Hotz

P tOLlSH pilots are still In the air over
Survpei^ More than two and a half years
after their country was compered and their air
fixnse destroywl hy Ue Oeman luftwaffe, Polish
alnaei are still lotocklng Nazi planes out of
Continental skies.

He Pe^lse nos sear RAF unlforas and fly ships
of ft'ltlsh and inarican muuifacture . This Is
the thti4 nolfoni they have worn and the third
type of rt»lp they have flown against the Ger-
mns. Sons of tite Poles are aonong the most ex-
perienced eoBiwt pilots In Europe— veterans of
three major air oaiq)algn8. Others have only
recently learned to fly on foreign soil after
flghtlig In the defeated grotaid armies of Poland
and France. But all of them are among the most
efficient, dogged and ruthless pilots arrayed
against the Axis.

The Poles* efficiency as conhat pilots comes
inrlmarlly from, their grim concentration on a
single purpose— the destruction of German
and materiel. These Polish pilots hu e lost
everything hut their lives aiid have tasted bit-
ter defeat twice but they refhse to stop fight-
ing. They live only for revenge and are willing
to go to any to achieve It. This attitude
plus their natural skill makes them deadly in
battle.

Pole Wants Dessert

A Polish fighter pilot expressed this attitude
well In describing his battle with a pair of
Jimker 88's.

"I went after the left luoxl machine, forget-
ting everything else In the world. I thought
only that I would have the l«Tt hand machine for
dessert" .

"They will do anything," said one aAF ob-
server describing the Poles in the RAF. "The
Poles have the best squadrons over there. They
get excited a lot and sometimes land with their
wheels up but when they fight they really get
Into It. If they run out of anmn, they often
ram a German plane and then ball out."

Other American observers and British officers
credit the Poles with several innovatlcwis In
RAF tactics as a result of their daring and dis-
regard for their own safety. The Poles are gen-

erally conbeded to be the first to discover that
the bnge German day bomber fomatlons could be
scattwed by head-on attacks at the format Ion
leaders . This tactic was Instruaantal In en-
abling RAF fighters to break up German daylight
attacks during the Battle of Britain and reap a
heavy toll of disorganized stragglmv.

Solved 109 Problem

The polee are also credited with solving the
problae of the new Messerschmltt 100 armor. For
several days after the new model appeared RAF
fighters were unable to find a vulnerable spot
at conventional range althoi^ they were able to
squirt It with a variety of ammo. The Poles
closed the range to 50 feet and then let fly
with all their guns. The 109's siflq>ly disinte-
grated, showering the pursuing Poles with de-
bris. Several Poles had to ball out when their
planes were damaged by the lOO's debris but the
RAF learned how to eliminate the new models.

The Polish air force of 1939 consisted of
about 2,000 planes, more than half of them obso-
lete. In addition to a variety of old foreign
models, the Poles had several modem types pro-
duced In. Polish aircraft factories at Warsaw,
Lublin, Biala and PodlaskL. These incliided
about 400 twin engined Los bombers and small
quantities of the P-7 and P-11 single seater
pursuits^ the Karas observation plane and ll^t
bomber mod the speedy Wllk attack boaber.

The Infant Polish aircraft industry was boost-
ing and new plants were being planned for the
Vlstula-San River industrial district when war
oaae on Sept. 1, 1939. Oie of the first targets
of the Germeun bombers were the aircraft works
and fields at Warsaw. The factories and mil-
itary adrdromes were attacked at 7:30 a.m. on
Sept. 1 and within two weeks the Polish aircraft
ind u stry was destroyed and the air force stran-
gled by the Luftwaffe's bosbs.

Most of the Polish planes were destroyed on
the gromd. Lasses In the air were not excess-
ive despite the heavy odds against attackers of
Stuka swarms, and big formations of Messer-
schmltts, Heinkels and Domlers. Polish light
attack bonibers concentrated on smashing the
German Panzer fingers stretched far in advance

HARCH-AFRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

of the min 'armies and official German sources
credit Wilk hcai>er fonnaticms with hold-
ing up a.<^ored divisions for as long as 24
hoursTv Palish ! piirsuits were also effective
while th0y lasi^d.

But-the Polish air force was unable to exist
under the pressure of an estimated 2,000 planes

of all types used by the Germans in this cam-
paign. Every Polish air field and supply base
was hanmered incessantly by the Luftwaffe. In
addition to the destruction of planes on the
ground, Itolish pilots were faced with the de-
structiOTi of huge fuel and anmunitlon supplies
and the deveustatibn of their bases. The effect-
iveness of the Polish air force was actually
eliminated principally through destruction of
its bases and supplies although annihilation in
the air would have been Inevitable had the bat-
tle continued. This was evidenced by the romher
of Polish pilots who flew their planes to France
and Balkan countries because there were no more
places for them to set down, refuel and reaum in
Poland.

Most of the Polish pilots who escaped to
FVance and the Balkans joined the French Armee
de I'Alr in France and Syria. On January 4,
1940, General Waldlslaw Sikorskl, pr«nler of the
Polish government in exile, and Guy la Chanhre,
French air minister, signed a pact recreating
the Polish air force and officially attaching
its autonomous units to French forces on the
Western Front and in the Near East.

Beputati(xi Por Audacity

Already the Poles were creating their re-
putation for audacity. They flew any French
equipment they could get off the ground. They
flew against Gernan formaticwis of superior num-
bers and equipment with a fine disregard for
fuel, eumminltion, territory and most of the
other ccnslderaticns of pilots who Intend to re-
turn both themselvos and their equipment to
their base after combat. Polish pilots were
amorg the most frequent casualties from stunting
at low altitudes •

After the fall of France most of the remaining
Poles in the Armee de I’Air escaped to England
idiere they were Incorporated into the RAF. Num-
bers of Polish ground soldiers who filtered into
England were given flight training and attached
to the Polish BAF squadrons . Many difficulties
were experienced by the English in training
Poles.; All of tlie Poles were impatient to get
another crack' at the Germans and as soon as they
were clears of their training airdromes they

would light out for France. Gas for training
flights had to be rationed to prevent these
sorties.

One Polish pilot was towing a target plane at
a training camp in Scotland during the Battle
Over Britain when a big German raid was reported
several hundred miles away. The Polish pilot
wtis informed by radio of the raid and ordered
down. Instead of landing he headed in the di-
rection of the raiders. Ihree RAF pursuits went
iq) and had to herd the Polish pilot to his base.
His plane was an old biplane armed with a single
30 caliber machine gun.

Action In Libya

The Poles in training still regard a run over
the invasion coast, bcxnblng ports euvl machine
gunning German troops wherever they can find
them as the best stmt of exercise and RAF train-
ing officials come to expect it whenever they
allow Polish trainees to go up with live bcmibs
and loaded guns.

The Polish air squadrons with the French in
Syria flew to Palestine after the Fall of France
and are now in action with British Imperial
forces in Libya.

The Polish RAF squadrons in England are now
fttlrly evenly divided between pursxilts and bonb-
ers. They continue to play a lively role in the
air war over the Continrait and provide an excel-
lent addition to RAF morale with their cheerful
perslstaice in contributing to what they regard
as the inevitable victory over Germany.

Here are excerpts from Polish fighter and
bomber pilots' descriptions of actions in which
they were involved. The fighter pilot had just
left a hemd of bridge at the call of "Flight
Scramble" and was at 20,000 feet over the sea
feeling that troible lay ahead because the night
before his Polish mechanic had dreamed of his
aunt in faraway Poland, always an omen. His
squadron sighted and attacted about 20 Junker
88 *s protected by a screen of Messerschmltt
109*s.

Thiqgs Went Dark \

"I looped the loop until thipgs went a little
dark before my eyes, opened throttle and foiind
myself on the tail of a damaged JU. This time
he was close. About 60 yards. I was troubled
a bit by another JU which fired at me. I saw he
was a poor marksman so I got my client in my
sight and gave him a long burst into his engine
over the fuselage until sparks flew. After a
manent I saw he weus on fire. He turned slowly

(Continued on Page 40)

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

AAF Hunting Subs

{Continued from PaHe 3)
direction. No one talks, a few smoke. The
radio Is cautiously silent. They settle down to
monotonous crulstr^g.

Finally a tanker Is sighted and the plane cir-
cles several times In challenge. It dlijs lower,
until the wing tip seems to skim the water, al-
though the ship is a full 200 feet above the
crest of the waves. The navigator leans f onward
and shouts "O.K., she's got It. . .British, but
damn slow about it." They fly on, close enoqgh
to the water so parachutes are useless.

A freighter appears, northbound. They chal-
lenge, report and continue on. They spot the
hulk of a tanker, passing close enough to get a
friendly wave from the patrol ship crew on
guard. The search goes on. There is little
talk, only the drone of the motors.

Then the bombardier's hoarse voice calls on
the intercan, "off to the right about a mile."
The landing gear is lowered to reduce sx>eed.
All eyes are peeled for what might be a peri-
scope and its betraying wake. The bomb bay
doors are opened. The bonbardler toys with the
bomb release. They pass over the spot. Nothing
there.

The direction is changed. One by one ships
are discovered, routinely challenged and forgot-
ten. Then, action at last. From the shore
comes the message: "SOS. ..Investigate." Direc-

tion is changed to comply with the position
given. Throttle open, the plane heads for the
area. A rescue isn't possible, but they can
guide ships to the scene, perhaps find the siib.

They sight something. The pilot changes
course, heads for the spot. Down there eight
men can be counted huddled on a raft that is
bobbing in the choppy sea. The plane circles
lower until the faces of the men ctin almost be
seen. One man stands up and points. They head
in that directloi. In a brief moment they sight
two dories, one with 14 and the other with 20
men aboard. Instantly word is flashed to the
base: Ship submarined — two boats and a raft

with 42 survivors — position. The navigator
hands the pilot a slip of paper. .. "position-
checked."

The plane circles back and forth, crewmen
alert for a camlpg^^ower or periscope, but cai-
stantly in sight of the survivors. For a half
hour they fly around. A ship is sighted in the
distance. The radio-man goes into aotion again
as details are excharged. The rescue ship picks
up speed.

They Jiead for hone still hoping for a crack at

that sub. Then the pilot and co-pilot stiffen
up. The bombardier gets orders to open the
bonb bay; the camera-man is warned. There is a
speck out there, broadening into a horizontal
object in the distance. It looks like a ship.
No, a siibmarlne. But it turns out to be only a
Navy blimp lying so close to the water that it
seems to be swlnmlig alog.

The blimp drops a flare, indicating a sub-
marine below. The plane is banted sharply. The
bombardier waits while the pilot lines up the
plane on the flare and mates the "rim." They
fly over the flare. The bombs burst. The pilot
kicks the pleme around in a steep bank as they
go back to inspect their handiwork. The flare
is blasted to bits. Splotches of oil trail cm
the surface for about 150 feet.

Another flare, and again they dive at it. The
pilot warns "Hold it or we'll bomb the tail
right off the bllag)." The bcmibardier grips the
stick. He plays with the button. . .presses. It
was a depth charge and they turn just in time to
see the full spout. Another bomb is dropped,
another and another, until no more are left.
The sea is sprinkled with little patches of oil. .
Then, as they circle the blimp, another Arny
plane appears out of the North. Two destroyers
are spied racing to the scene. The destroyers
zlg zag in. The water leaps high from their
depth charges. The plane turns away. The crew
settles back for the trip heme.

NEW TECHNIQUES

T hree new labor-saving devices of consider-
able value to the Air Force have been devel-
oped at Albrook Field, Canal Zone, under the sur-
pervision of Major W.W. Gross, Air Base Engi-
neering officer.

One of the new developnents is a imrtable bal-
ancing stand, enclosed by a screen to cut off
drafts. This was developed by Major Gross and
Technical Sergeant C.A. Pattern.

Another new device, built by Corporal D.W.
Henrichs, is a landing gear retracting strut
packing nut wrench for use on all series Curtiss
P-36 and P-40 airplanes. The purpose of the
wrench is to eliminate the removal of the strut
fron the wing when it is necessary to mate ad-
justments.

The third new development is a combination
pump, tank and heating unit which performs the
purpose called for in Technical Order Nunber 00-
15-9— that of emerslng oil temperature regula-
tors in hot oil for prevention of corrosion and
for ranoval of moisture at periods of inspection
and repair. It was deslgnedbyStaffSgt. Miranda.

MARCH-APRIL 1942

Air Forces Adopt ]\ew Shoulder Patch

NAZI PARATROOPER

■pISTOlS, sub-machine guns, Iqilves, spikes,

•^mortars, entrenching tools, field glasses,
hand grenades, compasses, maps, Verey lights,
hatchets and rations are all carried by the
aver^age German paratrooper, according to British
observers. Many are also equipped with collaps-
ible bicycles.

A German paratrooper usually carries a .32
Luger Pistol automatic magazine of nine car-
tridges and one spare magazine in the holster as
well as a tirq?^, but very handy and easily oper-
ated sub-machine gun with a web magazine C€ise
holding three magazines of 30 rounds apiece and
a magazine filler. M^hlne guns and mortars are
dropped separately eind are collected immedi-
ately, if fire is not too great, or after dark.

The sub-machine guns, deadly from 50 to 70
yards, have practically no stoppages and rattle
away at a lively pace. Used as rifles with a
skeleton folding butt extended, they are very
accurate up to 200 yards.

Most German paratroopers carry field glasses.
Many wear knee pads and boots with extra leather
heels to break the shock of the fall.

Each has a large, single-b laded, stainless
knife with a six incti marline spike attached.
The paratrooper has about six blue pear-shaped
grenades with screw tops which reportedly have
not been very effective. Their compasses are
cheap and inaccurate but each man is provided
with an excellent map.

A distinctive shoulder patch has been adopted
by the Army Air Forces and will be worn by AAF
personnel everywhere.

Four colors are featured in the new patch:
white star with red center, stylized gold wlpgs,
and a field of ultra marine blue.

New Air Forces patches will be available in
quantity as soon as the Service of Supply can
issue them and will replace unit patches now
being worn in the AAF. Various units will be
privileged to wear Distinctive Unit Insignias.

PRACTICE ROMRINGS
SCORED RY MOVIES

S EEX3IAL moviig picture equipment soon will be
automatically scoring aerial bombardment
practices at all bombardier training schools.
The present observation crews euid spotting tow-
ers that are tyipg iq> personnel and equipment a
hundred or more miles away from training school
headquarters, will be eliminated.

This new equipment has been developed by the
camera unit of Wright Field's Armament Labora-
tory and already is in use at one bombardier
training school. By increasing the accuracy of
spotting bent) impacts, the new movie method will
assist boni)8u*diers to increase their effective-
ness.

The current method of Judging a bombardier's
accuracy is to utilize radio conmunication be-
tween three scoring towers^ and the bombing
plane; then, the spot of boot) impact is charted
by "triangulation" observations from the several
towers, large ground crews and extensive equli)-
ment must be used to carry out bonbing practices
under these conditions.

With the newly developed projection lens,
screen, projector and a standardized 35 mn. cam-
era, need for the ground crews is eliminated.

The bombardier simply sights his target and
releases his boob; a camera automatically films
. the action and the bemb Impact in relation to a
distinctive ground target amd marker (lights at
night) . Immediately, after the practice, the
film is processed and, with a specied projector,
is shown in a scoring viewer that provides means
for accurately locating the Impact of the bonb
and measuring within two feet the range, de-
flection and circular areas directly from the
scoring grid in the viewer. Results of pjractice
bombings can be recorded at altitudes of from
1,000 to 20,000 feet by using various lenses and
screens .

MARCH-APRIL 1942

I closed my eyes and saw a kaleidoscope of
visions. Superimposed on these, like the
flicker of a film, was a regular beat as the
night rolllhg in from the East chased the sun
over the Western horizon and then, to the sound
of returning aircraft, gave way to the sun once
more. In those few moments I saw the story of
night bombing as it has appeared to me in the
last eighteen months,

I saw the short nights of Sunmer, 1940, fade
into winter: those fruitless journeys across

England to France; take off at dusk and land at
dawn, day after day and regular as clockwork —
Abbeville, Poix, Auldnoye, Charleville: cross-

roads, bridges, troop formations eind then cross-
roaxis again — journeys which were meeint to hold
up the German drive to Paris. 1 saw also Lofty
sitting at the wheel, lean, strong and handscmie
and heard his voice: "I can't see a sausage."

And the rear gunner, who rarely opened his mouth
except to eat chocolate: "Are we over Germany?"

"No." "Well you wouldn't be likely to see a
sausage . "

Then France fell emd I experienced my first
real sight of gunfire. The Happy Valley with
its countless targets: sometimes Mannheim or

Frankfurt or Bnden or Kiel, but mostly the Happy
Valley and always the Zuider Zee as a half-way
house where we could fly round in peace laitll we
found a pinpoint. They were easy, those trips.
The weathef was good and we flew low enoiogh to
be able to see the ground, for the Flak was
nothing to worry about— mostly curtains of ex-
plosive tracer going to 8,000, scxnetlmes 12,000
feet; red, green, orange and white; a beautiful
sight, especially if you were two miles away and
going in the opposite direction.

One night we were attacking an oil refinery in
Western Germany. I was bomb aimer at the time
and could see the target almost as if we were
flying in daylight. As we were running up, eui
unusual barrage started to burst under the tall,
provoking the gunner out of his ciis tomary si-
Xence: "Ac Ac behind. Captain; you'd better get
weaving" —a remark which, frcm the subsequent
aspersions on my character, I gathered the Cap-
tain heartily endorsed, for it was an except-
ionally long run up.

However, at last the target came in the
sights, and rather thankfully I let go. 1
leaned forward to see what damage the bombs were
going to do, but what seemed like ages passed
and still nothing happened. Eventually the tar-
get went out of sight, which it oughn't to do,
so it was obvious something had gone wrong. And
as I was thinking up something to say to the
Captain— I had just noticed I had not levelled
the sight— I saw the bcmbs burst five miles away
in the middle of a wood, followed by the biggest
and longest explosion I have ever seen. Ten
weeks later 1 was reading the Telegraph. There
was an article by a neutral correspondent de-
scribing the effect of British raids, and it
said that on this particular night one of the
aircraft had apparently missed the refinery, but
had hit a secret anniiinltion factory concealed in
a wood some five miles away.

Then as the nights grew longer, the story be-
hind the Images began to take shape. The German
defences began to catch up the early lead which
the Night Bombers had had, and for the first
time we began to realize the true value of meth-
od and organization. Flak and searchlights
appeared on the Zuider Zee: there were rumours
of balloons and night fighters : the proficiency
of German ground crews increased as steadily as
did the number of their guns, so that evasive
action over wider areas became an urgent neces-
sity and radio direction finders suffered in con-
sequence .

At the same time, navigation by wireless was
i>ade more difficult because of enemy interfer-
ence. And there were cases of crews finding
themselves over occupied territory when the
jradlo put thmn over England. As a counter mea-

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS BETTER

sure, our attacls became less stereotyped. Dif-
ferent routes were chosen to spread the defen-
ces; bombing heights varied also and people be-
gan to look on 12,000 feet as not abnormal.
FXirthermore , crews began to experiment with nu-
merous tricks to confuse the defences. Some of
them are still beipg used with success: others
had to be abandoned rapidly.

One day we discovered the current German Air
to Ground signals, one of which — a colour car-
tridge — ^was addressed to searchlights and said:
"I am in trouble. Stop everything." On the
Wednesday one crew tried It out rather diffi-
dently, they found that the defences closed down
as if by magic. On Friday the squadron set off
in high spirits auid fully equipped. Unfortu-
nately it became evident from the Inmedlate re-
sults that the Germans had in the meantime
chaiTged Its meemli^ so that It now read: "I am
an enenQr aircraft; please fire on me." Crews
began also to study the methods and difficulties
of anti-aircraft defence and tried to devise
means of giving the guns the least possible
help. Occasionally letters would come round
fVom Higher Authority with stggestlons or orders
to the same effect. One of them reccnmended the
detailing of one aircraft tq fly round the tar-
get at a low altitude so as to draw all the fire
while the others bombed in peace— but this ex-
pedient was never adopted.

More Damage

None the less, as the weeks went by, more and
more aircraft came back damaged. And then sixl-
denly— as if we were not expecting it — winter
had set in. First, winds and rain and mud. Mud
was everywhere: often ankle deep, and with it
came more and more Night Flying Tests and brief-
ings and high teas, but fewer and fewer deliv-
eries of bonbs. Night after night we drove out
the five odd miles to dispersal, walked out to
the aircraft (the mud was too thick for the
'bijses to drive into the field) cllabed in: ran
ig) the engines, then switched off and waited for
the van to come round with the signal to carry
on or break it up.

It was these periods, when we operated full
time, that kept us going. Otherwise, they were
tedious weeks. Searchlights and Ac Ac were get-
ting worse month by month, but it was the weath-
er on return to base and the cold that gave most
trouble. One night the gavge showed -t0° Cen-
tigrade. The perspex cracked, the Second Pilot
collapsed in the front turret, looking Just like
a snow man. In some mysterious fashion, an inch
of solid ice appeared on the navigation table.
Mannheim was the target. We arrived on our es-

timated time of arrival at 15,000 feet, flound-
ering through the tops of the clouds, and began
to come down. At 12,000 feet the port engine
cut, and at 10,000 the starboard began to cough
and fire intermittently. We came out of cloud
at 6,000 6md the engines began to pick up. But
there vas a blinding snowstorm and visibility
was nil, so we flew back vinder the clouds to
Boulogne.

Fighters Best Defence

With the New Year/ came the most serious de-
fence the Germans lAd yet produced — fighters.
Previously, no one had taken the possibility
feriously. But now more and more crews came
back with stories of encounters and shadowings.
Aircraft would be trailed sometimes for upwards
of em hour, without a shot being fired. On
other occasions, attacks would develop out of
the blue and without warning.

A Squadron Leader in a Whitley was siaidenly
attacked by a Messerschnltt . It was a 110 and
came almost head on, its first burst putting one
engine out and making the turrets unserviceable.
The interconm. went dead and all the pilot could
do W 61 S to keep in the air. The ifesserschmitt
seemed to know this, for he flew round in small
circles, shooting as he pleased. But the Whit-
ley was tough: so was the Squadron Leader.
After a few minutes the German knocked his main-
plane off on the Whitley's tail, and the Whitley
managed to limp home.

The fighters, following the lead of the ground
defences, resorted to all manner of tricks.
They lit themselves up to act as decoys: they
trailed lights behind them, and they fixed
seeu’chllghts on their noses. This latter device
was too much for the rear gunner: he broke si-
lence for the third time and said: "Two search-
lights taking off away to port. Captain." But
in all fairness he was not the only one. An-
other gunner reported searchlights following him
out to sea.

Yes, it is true these fighters came as a men-
ace when they first appeared. But it was not
long before the bcmbers had the upper hand once
more. As the weeks went by, the toll of German
night fighters rose higher and higher. It was
with the vision of this and of countless of
these fighters hesitating to attack and, when
they did, breaking away at the first sight of
return fire, that I woke up, wondering perhaps
to what dizzy heights the eternal battle between
ground defence and Night Bombers would reach by
this time pext year.

— From the Royal Air Force Journal

MARCH-AFRIL 1942

Fighting Fiiipinos of the Air

By Maj. Falk Harmel

pOR leading his squadron of native airmen In
a successful engagement against Japanese in-
vaders and personally shooting down three enemy
planes, a little Filipino flyer named Captain
Jesus Villamor late in December was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross.

Again in February this Kelly Field graduate,
weighing 116 pounds and standing only five feet
four Inches, was cited in a communique of Gen-
eral MacArthvir, this time as the recipient of
the Oak leaf Cluster for repeated acts of extra-
ordinary heroism.

The conmunique told how Captain Villamor met a
formation of Japanese fighters while on a photo-
graphic mission over Cavite province escorted by
several P-40s. The ensuing conbat was described
as one of the most spectacular of the Rillipplne
campaign.

Despite the fact that he was flying a slow bi-
plane trainer. Captain Villamor managed to elude
the Japs and land his plane. His escorting ca&-
rades began a series of thrilling dogfights.
All six Jap planes came to grief. Four were Im-
mediately shot down. The fifth was crippled,
landed on an air field near Pilar and was rid-
dled by artillery fire fron American and Fili-
pino troops . The sixth Jap ship fell out of
control and crashed in the mountains of Bataan.

Although still in its infancy when the Japan-
ese onslaught came, the Philippine Air Force has
played a vital role in the Far Eastern weir.

Only six years ago the Air Forces News Letter
reported that one-third of the Filipino air
force was rendered Inactive when a student pilot
cracked up a Stearman Trainer. Fortunately, the
student pilot was only slightly injured and the

ship was repairable, allowing the Filipino Air
Force to regain its full strength of three
planes.

Air Arm Organized

Two years before, in April 1934, the initial
steps had been taken to organize the Riilipplne
Army Air Corps. Major General B.J. Valdez, ap-
pointed Chief of the Philippine Constabulary,
adopted a number of measures aimed at the com-
plete rehabilitation of this organization, chief
among them being the creation of an air arm.

General Valdez, Deputy Chief of Staff of the
Hilllppine Army, delivered an address at the
graduation exercises of the ninth class of the
Philippine Army Flying School. Briefly out-
lining the history of this school, he said:

"I believed then, as I do now, that a well-
organized air force constitutes not only an ef-
ficient mode of protection against foreign ag-
gression, but also a valuable adjunct in the
maintenance of peace and order."

In the spring of 1937, on the occasion of the
visit to Mexico and the United States of the
n"esident of the Hiilipplne Conmonwealth, Afemuel
L. Quezon, acccanpanied by General MacArthur and
General Valdez, the latter made an unofficial
inspection of Kelly Field, Texeis, and evinced
great pleasure over again meeting one of his
countrymen. Flying Cadet Villamor, then a stu-
dent at the Advanced Flying School.

Captain Villamor 's heroic exploits against the
Japs is another testimonial to the efficient In-
structlcHi methods at the Army Air Corps Tralnliig
Center. The young Filipino, son of a justice of
the Philippine Supreme Court and a graduate of
the Philippine Military Academy at Baguio, was

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

detailed by the Philippine Goverranent to undergo
flying instruction at the Air Corps Training
Center, and reported there in Jtine, 1936. Dur-
ing his primary and basic phases of instruction
at Randolph Field and his advanced instruction
at Kelly Field, he made excellent progress. At
Randolph Field his average in ground school sub-
jects was 85 per cent and at Kelly Field it was
92.56 per cent. At both schools his flying rat-
ing was "B", indicating "Very Satisfactory"
progress. He graduated on June 9, 1937, mean-
while being conmissioned a third lieutenant in
the Philippine Constabulary.

Having specialized in Pursuit Aviation at
Kelly Field, he was for several mcHiths on tempo-
rary duty with the First Pursuit Group at Sel-
fridge Field, Mich. He was then detailed to
take the course in Aerial Fhotcgraphy at the Air
Corps Technical School at Lowry Field, Denver,
Colo. Here the young Filipino airman continued
his fine scholastic record, and when he grad-
uated in August, 1938, with the rating of "Ex-
cellent", the following notation appeared on his
record card: "An above average student. He
displayed great interest in all phases of the
photographic course. He showed extraordinary
manual dexterity in processing negatives,
prints, laying of mosaics, etc. He will make an
excellent photographilc officer." When he left
Lowry Field to return to his native country he
had accumulated a total flying time of 475
hours.

Difficulties Met

As with a great number of new enterprises, the
early career of the aviation arm of the Philip-
pine Army was beset with many difficulties and
disappointments . No qualified officer of the
Philippine Constabulary being available to dir-
ect the organization of this newly authorized
unit, the task was delegated to Captain Russell
L. Mayghan, Air Corps, then Aviation Adviser to
the Governor General of the Philippines, and
well known in aviation circles as the pilot who
barely wcai out in a race against the sun when he
flew an Army pursuit plane from the east to the
west coast in the daylight hours of June 23,
1924. Captain (now Colonel) Maugl:an did not re-
main long on the Philippine assignment. He was
nearipg his fifth year in the Fhlllppines — three
more than the normal tour of duty, when in Feb-
ruary, 1935, Captain Ivan L. Proctor took over
the job. The latter had scarcely started on
this assignment when he became ill and soon af-
ter died, following ein operation. Other misfor-
tunes followed.

Captain Jesus A, Villamor

Finally, through the valuable cooperation of
General Douglas MacArtluir, Military Adviser to
the Philippine Commonwealth, the services of
Lieut. Wiliiam L. Ijee, Air Corps, were obtained.
This husky young officer took over in June,
1985, and brought new life and impetus to the
Filipino air unit. Assisted by Lieut. Hugh A.
Parker, he drew up flying rules and regulations
and carefully selected flying students. Air-
planes were purchased, and the most premising
young officers of the Philippine Army were de-
tailed to take the course at the Army Air Corps
Training Center. Carefully selected enlisted
men were sent to the Air Corps Technical School
at Chanute Field, 111., to receive Instruction
in aircraft mechanics and other trades allied to
aviation. (Continued on Page 38)

MARCH-APRIL 1942

Gliders Play Important Role in A AW War Plans

By Lewin B. Barringer
Ast« aifect®!*, Aip Forces Program

I N July 13th last the Air Corps accepted de-
livery of its first glider, a two-place,
all-metal Schwelzer. This historic event took
place at the Warren Eaton Soaring Eacilities, on
Harris Hill near Elmira, N. Y. dvirlng the 12th
annual National Soarliig Contest. Its inportance
was «nphasized hy the presence of Major General
H. H. Arnold, Chief of the Army Air Force who
made a flight In this ship piloted hy ^5ajo^ FhefJ
R. Dent, Jr., first Air Force officer qualified
as a glider pilot.

In the five months that have elapsed since
then much has been done in this new branch of
our aerial forces. Before going into it, let us
stop a moment and analyze our reasons for in-
cluding motorless heavier-than-air aircraft in
our flying equipment. Military gliders as de-
veloped so far have two basic uses. First Is
the air transport of men, equipment arxi supplies
from one location to another. Second is the
surprise attack of enemy positions by air -borne
shock troops .

The Germans have given us ample proof of the
value of both of these uses. Gliders were
first used successfully by them for attack dur-
ing the invasion of Belgium in 1940. It now
seems reasonable to suppose that this was
Hitler's so-called "Secret Weapon" as troops
landed in gliders were Instrumental in capturlpg

key forts and bridges. It was not until the air
invasion of Crete in May, however, that world
attention was focused on this new weapon which
was Iiere first used in mirribers. Since then we
have lieard of the Germsjis usiig gliders against
the Rxjsslans on the shores of the Black Sea and
currently against the British in Lybia. The
last mentioned is the first report we have had
of the use of gliders for transporting supplies.

Til consideriig the reasons for using gliders
for transport we coiib at once to the fundamental
truth that you ca,n tow more tiian you can lift.
This is the basic econorol.c reason for the xjse of
locCTuotives plus cars, truclis plus trailers and
tigs plus barges In. siirfacs transportation. To
put It simply, in tte pre.sent stage of advance-
ment of s.eriai transport we are carrying our
passengers B.rtl liVelght In tte ''locomotive." The
fli’st reason, then, for usirg transport gliders
Is economit, . This .1 rail; d lately becomes obvious
when we consid.e:r tlmi the two engines of a
transport nlane toivirg th.ree large gilders is
doing a job no?^ r6qe..lr bg eight ergJnes. Added
to this is tte fact tlmt tls cost of tte gliders
will he very considerably less than that of the
transport planes ttey will replace. A3. though it
Is still too early to know wtet ttey will exactly
he, it has been estimated that the overall
equipment costs for trefisporti g by air a body

MARCH-APRIL 1932

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

of men, such as a battalion, by transpttrt planes
and gliders will perhaps be only half that of
dolpg the -job with tramsport plaites alone.

When used for surprise attack the glider can
be a formidable weapon. Towed in numbers at
night these ships can be released at high alti-
tude many miles frcm their objective. They then
glide rapidly down unseen and unheard, and land
close to the objective in the fihst faint light
of dawn. Out of each jum^ a complete ccmibat
team siich as a machine gun squad, fully equipped
and ready for action.

German Types

The German gliders used in Crete were of 10-12
place capacity. They were high wlrig, cabin mon-
oplanes with wipg span of 80 feet and fuselage
length of 50 feet. The semi-cantilever wings,
braced by a single strut on eawih side, were of
wood construction; the fuselage, of welded steel
tiibing. The entire ship was fabric covered.
Aj 5 )arently a two-wheeled landing gear was used
for takeoff and then dropped in flight, the
landing being made on the wooden skid. Those of
us who in recent years, have seen Germeui sail-
planes competing at our National Soaring Con-
tests at Elmira are familiar with this operation
on a smaller scale. It was triel^, to say the
least. If the pilot dropped his Wheels too low,
they were apt to bounce up and damage the bottom
of the fuselage. If dropped too high, there was
danger of their bouncing into and injuring crew
madDers or being smashed on impact.

Performance of these big German transport
gliders is interesting. One to three of them
were towed behind a single Junkers JO-52 at a
speed between 100 and 120 mph. After release
they probably glided, at a most efficient L/D
ratio, at about 70 mph. Levell^ off at about
50, they were landed at 35-40 mph. on beaches,
roads, and in small fields.

Secret of a pilot's ability to land a large,
heavily loaded glider in a small field is a ccm-
btnatlon of flaps and spoilers to give accurate
control of glide path and speed. Added to this
there is the characteristic of a glider in stop-
ping very quickly, without danger of nosing
over, when the stick is pushed full forward af-
ter landing. I once brought a single seater
sailplane with 62-feet span to a dead stop in 40
feet after a landing made at over 60 mph. in a
small field.

Since the Air Force began actively to initi-
ate a glider program five months ago, real prog-
ress has been made in the procurement of equip-

ment and the training of pilots. In the former
category the Materiel Divlslcwi created a Glider
liiit in its Experimental Engineering Section at
Wright Field. This organlzatlcm has carried on
the development of several designs of 8 and 15
place gliders. The Navy is building 12 and 24-
place gliders to be used by the Marine Corps.
Construction of the Amy ships is well under way
and the first static test and flight test trans-
port gliders have been delivered.

A program of flight testing with the small
two-place training gliders has also been going
c»i at Wright Field for some months. Some of the
items tested have been types, sizes and lengths
of tcwllnes, various combinations for multiple
towing, interconmunication between gliders and
towplane and so on.

The most interesting experiment made recently
was the picking iq> of a glider, resting station-
ary on the ground, by an airplane passing over-
head at close to 100 mph. The basic device that
made this experiment successful was a winch
drum, equipped with a brake, in the airplane.
This drun reeled out sufficient line to ease the
acceleration of the glider. Once in the air and
up to towing speed the glider was reeled in to
the proper towing Interval by a small electric
motor driving the winch. The Inportance of this
development is that it may solve the problem of
launching a train of transjort gliders. It will
ccnceivably be possible to pick up several glid-
ers out of a field too small for the safe take-
off of the airplane alone.

Tests At Wright Field

At Wright Field for these tests are several
Schwelzer shoulder-wing training gliders, Frank-
fort hlgh-wlng trainers, a German "Mlnlmoa"
shoulder-wing, high performance sailplane, and a
Polish "Orlik" sailplane of similar design. The
two latter ships are used chiefly for analysis
of design and construction. An 0-49 has been
used for towing and has proven to be an ideal
towplane for the training gliders.

Training of Air Force pilots who will act as
Instructors, supervisors, and test pilots in the
expanded program, has been carried on by the El-
mira Area Soaring Corporation at Elmira, N. Y.
and the Frankfort-Lewis School of Soaring at
Joliet, Illinois. Only one class of six offi-
cers were trained at Joliet as the volume of
training necessary was then not yet large enough
to justify two schools.

Marine Corps pilots have been trained at
Joliet. The Air Corps tradnlng was discontinued
at Elmira due to winter weather ccxxUtlcHns . It

MARCH-APRIL 1942

is proceeding at an expanding pace) at the
Twenty-Nine Palms Air Acad&ny located at Twenty-
Nine Palms in the California desert.

The primary training course lasts four weeks.
The 30 hours of flight training given Includes
auto, auto-pulley, winch and airplane towing.
Several hours of double towing (two gliders be-
hind one towplauie) give the pilots practice in
towed formation flying. Enough soaring flight
Is done to make the pilots thoroughly proficient
in handling the gliders and to instill in tl%m
real enthusiasm for this type of flying. This
last consideration has already proven valuable.
After all, it is logical that a man's interest
in and initiative for any activity will be c<wi-
slderably increased if he gets a real kick out
of it. A pilot has to be either singularly
lacking in imagination or painfully blase not to
gpt a whale of a kick out of soaring flight.

Planning Advanced School

Tentative ftiture plans call for the establish-
ment of an advanced school for glider training.
Here graduates of the primary courses will re-
ceive Instruction in flying the large, troop-
carrying gliders. Their background of flying
the training gliders will then stand them in
good stead, but these big ships will feel quite
different. With their great size, weight,
higher wing loadings, etc., these gliders will
certainly not be sailplanes in any sense of the
word. In fact, as one engineer stated the other
day, they really should not be considered as
gliders, but as transport airplanes with remote
power plants.

Much thought has been given to the piloting
background and experience necessary for pilots
of the transport gliders. Due to the considera-
tion of the size of these ships and the fact
that they will be towed in formation at night,
thought that a pilot should have at least the
minimum airplane tralnljqg of the Air Corps pri-
mary schools or CFT course before entering a
glider school.

Second To None

At the closing banquet of the 12th annual Na-
tional Soaring Contest at Elmira, N. Y. last
July, General Arnold said that we would have a
glider force second to none. World events since
then have shown his wisdom in adding this new
type of aircraft to our Air Force. The prog-
ress we have made so far makes ub confident that
his statement will ccmie true in the not-too-
dlstant future.

GVXTER’S ^ASSEMBLY LINE’

Detroit "assenbly line system" has been in-
stalled at Gunter Field, Ala., to speed up
aircraft lnsi)ectlons and to train enlisted men
to be skilled mechanics.

Hangars are divided into eight equal parts,
each part being called a station. Four stations
in each half of the hapgar constitute a line. A
sub-station or wash rack located outside of the
hangar forms the beglming of each line.

An airplane sent to the Maintenance Hangar is
taken first to the sub-station for a general
check-up which Includes oil pump drainage,
screen cleaning, gas tank inspection, and engine
spraying and cleaning. All discrepancies are
noted on a blank form by the Hanger Inspector
and the plane is moved to Statlcn One.

Wheels, landing gear, brakes, tail wheel, in-
struments, skin, structure, cockpit, propeller,
and thrust beeu*lngs are Inspected at this sta-
tion. Station Two checks cabl^, ignition sys-
tem, flight controls, hydraulic s^^tem, values,
electrical system, and f\iel and oil systons. At
Station Three the propeller is painted and re-
stenclled, the radio Installed, and the plane
vacuum cleaned. All discrepancies found by the
Technical Inspectors are corrected at Station
Four, the plane is recowled and prefll^ted, axid
then returned to its Squadron.

At the Maintenance Hangar Office a ctmiplete
record is kept of the time on each airplane on
the field. This record shows such data as air-
plane field number, serial number, time on the
plane, engine model, serial number and time,
propeller time, last depot inspection rexwrt,
time towards a 50 or 100 hour Inspection and
whether the plane is or is not in conmlsslon.
By means of this record, the Officer in Charge
determines which airplanes are to be called in
for either a 50 or 100 hour Inspection.

The Post Engineering Officer and his assis-
tants are in charge of the Maintenance Hapgar,
and the Hangar Chief, the Hangar Inspector, and
the line Chief are non-ccnmissloned officers.

The War Department has instructed civilians
not to call Interceptor Command Headquarters
for information about reports of pending air
raids. This restriction has been instituted be-
cause of the necessity for keeping all agencies
of the Interceptor Conmeuids free to repel at-
tacks. ttider War Department instructions. In-
terceptor Ccmmanders have the sole responsibility
for ordering all air defense measures.

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Filipino Air Force
(Continued from Page 34)

At General MacArthur's request, the War De-
partment approved a one-year extension of Lieut.
Lee's tour of duty. In the following year an-
other request was made for a one-year extension
of duty for the yoimg Chief of the Philippine
Army Air Corps because of his "outstanding fit-
ness for the duties he Is performing and his In-
timate experience with the Philippine Army."
This was denied on the grounds that additional
flying Instructors at tl» U. S. Army Air Corps
Training Center was urgently needed.

Lieut. Parker, during his service as flying
Instructor at the Hilllpplne Army Flying School,
flew over 1,000 hours. Before he returned to
the States In November, 1937, he was presented
the Distinguished Service Star of the Philip-
pines by President Quezon, with the following
citation:

"For outstanding service to the Conmonwealth
of the Philippines In a position of major res-
ponsibility, there Is hereby presented to First
Lieutenant Hugh A. Parker, Air Corps, United
States Army, the Distinguished Service Star of
the Philippines. As Plans and Training Officer
of the Air Corps Training Center, Philippine
Army, and Individual Instructor of flying ca-
dets, his services have been characterized by
unusual efficiency and professional skill, un-
flagging enthusiasm, and outstanding results.
His work has required Incessant devotion to
duty, a readiness and capacity to c<m 5 )rehend the
particular requirements of Filipino students,
arai an ability to adjust technical Instruction
so as to overcome imususd difficulties. His ac-
complishment and examples have been an Inspira-
tion to every member of the Air Corps of the
Philippine Amy and a source of satlsfeictlon to
the Chief of the Air Corps, the Chief of Staff,
the Military Adviser, and the Conmonwealth Gov-
ernment."

Work Continued

The work so brilliantly started by Lleuts . Lee
and Barker was carried on with no less success-
ful results by Captains Alden R. Crawford, Mark
K. I«wls and Lieut. Charles H. Anderson, as-
sisted by an able staff of Hilllpplne Army Of-
ficers. Captain Crawford was the Acting Chief
of the Bureau of Aeronautics; Captain Lewis,
Acting Chief of the Philippine Army Air Corps;
and Lieut. Anderson, Operations Officer and
Chief Flying Instructor of the Hilllpplne Amy.

Limited by the number of airplanes and flying

Instructors, only three classes of 25 students
each were conducted annually at the Philippine
Army Flying School. Usually, about forty per
cent of these students completed the course.
The first cleuss was graduated on October 30,
1937, and the commencement exercises were an
outstanding event. The guest of honor. Presi-
dent Quezon, delivered the principal address.
Ranking U. S. Army officers present were Gen-
erals MacArthur, Luclxis R. Holbrook, John H.
Hughes and Evan H. Humphrey. High ranking of-
ficers of the Philippine Amy were also pres-
ent. It was at this Ibnctlon that Lieut. Parker
received his decoration fTcm the Hilllpplne Com-
monwealth.

Captain Crawford left the Islands In December,
1939; Captain Lewis In July, 1939, and Lieut.
Anderson In the spring of 1940. The latter was
decorated with the Distinguished Service Star of
the Hilllpplne CoomonweeuLth.

Cited By MacArthur

Approving the request of Captain Lewis to at-
tend the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell
Field, Ala., General MacArthur stated: "Captain
Lewis is on duty with the Commonwealth Govern-
ment, acting as Chief of the Philippine Air
Corps, in which capacity he has shown great ab-
ility. Ife has successfully furthered the deve-
lopment of the Philippine Army Flying School,
has perfected plans for and Is directing the ex-
pansion of the Air Corps and has exhibited
marked qualities of Initiative, leadership and
judgnent." A most promising career In the Air
Corps for Captain Lewis ended whmi he crashed at
Biggs Field, El Paso, Texas, on December 9,
1941.

From the latest Informatlwi available, a mes-
sage from General MacArthur, sent last Novmnber,
Lieut. Colonel Charles Backes, Air Corps, has
been Acting Chief of the Phlllxjplne Army Air
Corps for more than two years. At that time he
had already served four years in the Hilllpplnes
and his tour had been extended another year, but
It was proposed to order him back to the United
States for a period of four months for reasons
of health and In order to permit him to visit
Air Corps Installations and familiarize himself
with current developm^ts.

The properly EQUIPPED and MANNED bom'-
bardment airplane is a PRECISION instru-
ment.

MARCH-APRIL 1942

Biirii^dale - Xever A Dull Monu^iit

By Lif^uf. John If. C^lioafwooil

Barkwdale Field, La.

N o other air field has experienced more com-
pletely than Barksdale Field, La., the rap-
idly changing j^iases of activity that have been
part of the growth and development of the Army
Air Forces.

Pursuit base, GHQ Wipg Headquarters, Air Force
Conbat Cemnand base, advanced Pilot School, Bod-
bardler School, Navigation School and Third Air
Force base — Barksdale has been all of these.

From an obsepre beginning with about 10 in-
structors and as many airplanes, 12 schools have
developed out of Barksdale, each school equipped
with experienced Instructors. Staff schools
within the Southeast, Gulf Coast, and West Coast
Air Corps Training Centers have all received
personnel from Barksdale.

Barksdale's varied career began in 1932 when
it was established as the hcaoe of the 20th Pur-
suit Group. In 1935 the Third Attack Group was
added and the field became the headquarters of
the Third Wing of the new GHQ Air Force. This
lasted until October, 1940, when the Air Corps
recognized Barksdale's value to the expanding
training program and made it a Specialized Fly-
ing School.

On February 6, 1^2, when the Barksdale school
was moved to another location, the field re-
turned to the Cenfcat Conmand, where it remained
until the Command was abolished by the Air
Forces reorganization which went into effect
March 9. Barksdale is now one of the most im-
portant bases of the Third Air Force.

Jkich of Barksdale's most interesting history
was crowded into the years when it was an ad-
vanced Specialized Flying School. This school
was incorporated into the Southeast Air Corps
Training Center and comprised not one but four
schools in its original operaticmal plan. These
schools were Advanced Flying School (TE) (Pi-
lots) , Advanced Flying School CEE) (Bombardier) ,
Advanced Flying School (TE) (Navigation) , and
the Advanced Flying School (SE) (Pilots) . A
brief resume of the functioning of the various
schools follows.

Advanced Flying School (TE) (Navigation)

First of the four schools to receive students
was the Navigation School. The first class, SE
41-A, w£is received in November, 1940. In its

eight months course, this school graduated 52
navigators. At the beginning, very few air-
planes were available, and those on hand were
the obsolescent B-10 and B-12 types and sane
B-18 types. In the later stages, however,
Beechcraft AT-7's were made available in suffi-
cient nunbers ard training was Improved. During
all but the last few weeks of training, flying
Instructors served as pilots for navigation mis-
sions in addition to their other duties.

Advanced Flying School (SE) (Pilots)

Two classes of single-engine pilots were re-
ceived while the school was located at Barksdale
Field. They received training on AT-6, AT-12,
P-36 and P-35 types. One class of 37 was grad-
uated while the remaining students, instructor
personnel and the varioiis line squadrons were
transferred with the school to Craig Field,
Selma, Ala., when that school was activated.

Advanced Flying School (TE) (Bombardier)

The Bonbardier School, second of its kind to
be activated, was patterned somewhat after tne
school then operating at Lowry Field, Denver,
Colo. The two onjor differences were the nec-
essity for operating on bombing ranges located
very near the landing area of Barksdale Field
and the necessity for utilizing the same equip-
ment and pilots that were employed by the Two-
Engine School. The first difficulty was solved
by using single traffic pattern and the second
by training two-engine pilots and bombardier
students together. Ttils last was done by usipg
student pilots for the Two-Engine Pilots School
as co-pilots on bcnbliig missions, while students
of the Bonbardier School were receiving train-
ing. later, hcxrever, pilots were specifically
assigned to duty with the Ba±>ardier School.

Advanced Flying School (TE) (Pilots)

last to leave Barksdale Field was the Advanced
Flying School. (EE) (Pilots) . In one year this
school graduated several hundred two-engine pi-
lots. Some of these graduates were salt to tem-
porary duty with the Air Corps Ferrying Conmand
and have since been assigned to duty with the
Air Force Conbat Conmand. Some others have been
retained as Instructors with the various traln-

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

lug centers. The remainder were sent to bom-
bardment units and the Air Force Conbat Conraand.
Instruction was begun with B-10, B-12, and a few
B-18 type airplanes but later the school fur-
nished AT-7, AT-8 and the Lockheed-Hudson types.

At the time these schools were founded, very
little had be«i done In the field of specialized
student training since the four-section plan of
operation was discontinued. New operational
plans had to be formulated. New ground school
curricula had to be written. Men not qualified
In specific phases of Instruction had to be
trained. New squadrons had to be formed and
trained to maintain the equipment to be used.

Plans ol' operation of each school were worked
out Individually by school staffs. Some degree
of flexibility was allowed so that schedules
would not conflict with other training. As soon
as schools were operating smoothly the training
of key personnel or cadres for other schools was
undertaken.

The problem of Ground School curricula was a
major one, due to the fact that many courses
taught were completely new. Instructors were
assigned the various sinbjects for the multiple
purpose of making detailed studies of all data
available, Inxjorporatlng these texts, and then
conducting classes. Slnv:e there were no special
Ground School Instructors available, these
duties were fulfilled by flying^, Instructors,
bombardier Instructors, and navigator Instruc-
tors during their time on the ground. In many
cases It was necessary to exchange Instructors
between schools when these Instructors were
qualified In highly technical subjects given by
two or more schools.

Coordination between flying and ground In-
structions was obtained by a system of half-
days. In the Two-Qglne Pilots School, for ex-
an^le, the Icwer cljiss was assigned a period for
flying and a period for ground school while the
upper half was assigned the reverse. Similar
systems were enployed by other schools.

In order to Insure proper maintenance for 24-
hour-a-day flylig schedules, several new squad-
rons were activated. These men were specifi-
cally trained for malntalnlrg the type of air-
craft used In the schools to which they were as-
signed. This system proved very efficient. The
average percentage of airplanes of all types In
comnlsslon dally was approximately 70 per cent
durlig this period.

Fran the beginning at the Specialized Flying
School 12 Individual schools have sprung Into
being, and now, some of these have begun to sib-
dlvlde .

Poles Still Flrintl

(Continuer! from Page 28)
as though In oil and want down Into the sea.

"Then 1 saw a machine that had been damaged
and was smoking and another tearing away for all
he was worth. I went after him and approached
him from the rear and above, pressed the button
and something began banging Into my fuselage
from below. It was as If a bucket of hot water
had been poured down my neck. 1 doi't remember
breaking off to the right. I managed to look
euid see If my legs were still whole and then
four flashed by me. 1 don’t know which of
then hit me but 1 was mad with all four of than.
Without warning my machine suddenly caught
fire."

The Polish pilot was knocked vnconsclous try-
ing to bail out andwhoihe came to he was burning
In his spinning ship. He finally kicked his way
out and balled out but was sever ly burned about
the face and spent weeks In a hospital. He ccxi-
cludes: "Now I'm flying again."

The Polish bonber pilot flew a Wellington to
bomb Essen in the German Ruhr valley. His
squadron reached their target, bonbed it from
low altitude and then headed for home in the
light of the fires they set.

Ran J«to Flak

"Shortly after leaving the target we ran Into
a storm of flak. It was so close we could hear
the bursts plainly over the engine roar. Our
Wellii^ started to bounce violently. We went
Into violent Jinking (weaving and zig zag tac-
tics) and cllnbed and dived as fast as possible
to throw the bunmers off. But It was no good.
We counted 12 salvos of fron 20 to 30 rounds
apiece. Things got rapidly worse until we could
hardly control at all. Ailerons had no effect,
the rudder almost none, except that the airplane
respoxxled exactly In reverse. We side slipped
from one side to andther and things looked bad.
Finally we got her on an even keel although we
were still weaving.

"When we reached the Ekigllsh coast I suggested
that the crew leave the building. The crew said
If I was going to stay that was good enopgh for
them so they stayed, getting hack Into the tail.
We found our base. Came In to land, but when I
put the flaps down they only went part way.
Just as we touched the ground there was a ter-
rific cracking noise. The staurboard wing went,
ripping down all the fuel lines Into the engine.
We made it though and nobody was hurt."

MARCH-AHUL 1942

Man in the Stratosphere

By Col. David I¥. W. Grant

Air Surgeon, Army Air Forces

TT is an accepted principle that the most Im*

■^portant Instnment In an airplane Is the pi-
lot. Not only must great care go Into his selec-
tion and In training him as an engineer but It
Is equally lH5)ortant that he keep abreast with
the most recent advances in aviation physiology
and medicine. This must be done If he Is to
qtmllfy for flying to the great heights and at
the high speeds of which the most recent air-
craft are capable.

From the himian point of view the principal
hazards of high altitude flight may be listed as
follows:

(1) Deficiency of oxygen

(2) Decrease In atmospheric pressure re-
sulting In

(a) Expansion of gases In the alimentary
canal

(b) Escape of gaseous nitrogen In the
form of bubbles within the tissues

(3) Increase in atmospheric pressure re-
quiring admission of air to the sinuses
and middle ear

(4) High acceleration:

(a) Intermittent - contributing in some
cases to alr-slckness

(b) Continuous - contributing in some
cases to blacking out

(5) Cold

(6) Pear

(7) Fatigue

The deficiency of oxygen, to which anyone Is
subject who goes to high altitudes without an
oxygen supply, was the earliest recognized haz-
ard of hl^ altitudes. In the World War the ca-
pacity to endure anoxia was rated as one of the
essential features of selection of flight per-
sonnel. While it remains an In^Kjrtant charac-
teristic It Is no longer recognized as the sole
limiting factor for perscxmel In high altitude
flight. Present oxygen equipment. If properly
used. Insures a fully adequate oxygen supply ex-
cept under the most extrane conditions, and it
Is no« realized that the jobs of the pilot and
of his crew present other hazards that are at
least as critical as his oxygen supply.

One of the principal purposes of the Air Corps
indoctrination program now getting underway Is
to di^nonstrate to the young pilot or crew meidjer
that his mental llmctlonlng falls below par when
he goes to 15,000 feet without oxygen, that he
Is likely to faint if he goes above 20,000 feet
without oxygen and that when he goes above

40.000 feet, even with pure oxygen, he Is In a
precarious state. For an adequate oxygen uptake
the lungs require, even with pure oxygen, a den-
sity of more than one-fifth that of air at
ground level. This critical limit Is passed at

39.000 feet and from there on the hazard of
anoxia Increases rapidly. A man is In as great
danger at 42,000 feet breathing pure oxygen as
at 18,000 feet breathing atmospheric air. It Is
difficult to convince young pilots of this truth
except by actual demonstration In a chamber.
They forget the fallacy of the old tradition
that if a man lifts and carries a growing calf
each day he will eventually be able to lift and
ceu’ry the adult bull. It is equally certain
that, on the one hand, a day will come when he
cannot lift the young bull as It Is on the other
hand that, even when breathing pure oxygen, he
will lose consciousness as the eiltitude is in-
creased much above 40,000 feet.

Special Ifentlon

Those features of oxygen equipment and Its use
deserving special menticm In this general survey
are:

(l) The Insidious effects of oxygen lack.
The brain Is affected first — resulting In loss of
Judgjnent, unwarranted self-confidence, loss of
alertness, sleepiness and possible loss of con-
sciousness. A man may go through this entire
cycle and return to the ground without having
realized his precarious state. Those who accom-
plish successful conbats above 20,000 feet with-
out oxygen are apt to boast of their accomplish-
ment and so to encourage such foolhardiness In
others. Those who fall In attempting to repeat
the performance don't live to tell the tale.
The moral Is — depend on the altimeter, not on
your symptoms, to determine when oxygen Is to be
used. A reasonable, conservative rule regarding

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

oxygen usage is that given in T.O. No. 03-50A-1
as follows: "Except in urgent, unforeseen emer-
gencies, all personnel will use oxygen at all
times while peu’ticipatlpg in flight above 15,000
teet. Oxygen will also be used when remaining
at an ailtitude below 15,000 feet but in excess
of 12,000 feet for periods of two hours or long-
er duration and when participating in flights
below 12,000 feet but at or in excess of 10,000
feet for periods of six hours or longer dura-
tion" .

(2) The relation of cold to oxygen use. Oxy-
gen lack aggravates the effects of cold and fa-
vors frost-bite. Also, once a man has become
cold his oxygen requirement is Increased because
of shivering. Oxygen shoiild be used as liberal-
ly as the supply permits when cold begins to
penetrate.

(3) The relation of work to oxygen use. Work
is acccHnplished by oxidation of body fuels and
in anergencles a gunner or other crew menfcer may
require for short periods four or five times as
much oxygen as usvml. The present oxygen equip-
ment renders such work hazardous unless the oxy-
gen regulator is opened to capacity. Even then
there may be an oxygen deficiency above 30,000
feet. Above 35,000 feet work should not be at-
tempted except in extreme emergencies.

(4) The question is frequently raised, "Does
breathing pure oxygen have harmful effects?"
The answer for personnel of the Air Forces is,
"No". Extensive experimentation and observation
have erased all doubts as to the harmful effects
of oxygen.

(5) Another common question is, "Does expo-
sure to oxygen lack from service flying have
permanent harmftil effects?" The answer again is
in the negative, provided that accidents due to
inefficiency while anoxic do not occur. Oxygen
lack sufficiently severe and .prolonged to result
in brain damage might be encountered by flight
personnel only in rare onergency provided T.O.
No. 03-50A-1 is followed. As the first evidence
OTi this question we have the records of the his-
toric flight made in 1875 by three French bal-
loonists. They reached 28,800 feet without oxy-
gen equipment. Two died, presumably of oxygen
lack, while the third, Tlssandier, survived
without apparent harm.

Recent direct experimentation on animals and
accumulated observations on men substantiate
this point.

(6) A quotation from a German manual for fly-
ing personnel is to the point — "The efficient
use of the oxygen apparatus insures mental supe-
riority over the enmijy".

The second hazard listed above is the effect
of decreasing pressure. The body contains air
partly trapped within it, in the ear, in the si-
nuses, in the alimentary canal. As the pressure
decreases during ascent to high altitudes these
gases expand and unless they escape they cause
pain. Escape through the Eustachian tubes of
the ear and from the sinuses causes no difficul-
ty in the healthy man in ascent.

Expansion of geises in the stcHnach and intes-
tines is one of the ccmmonest of discomforts.
Body movements that favor the passing of this
gas are usually effective. Foods known by ex-
perience to be gas-forming should be avoided.
The discomfort of e3cpanding gas is aggravated by
the fact that such gas bubbles will expand much
more in the body, where they are surroimded by
wet tissues, than dry gas in a balloon. Where-
as, dry gas will expand to five times its volume
at 39,000 feet, gas in the presence of excess
water will expand to about eight times its ini-
tial volume.

Decreasing the pressure on the body not only
affects gas bubbles already present in the body
but it permits the free nitrogen in body fluids
to escape frran solution and form bubbles. This
nitrogen is present becaiise the entire body is
in equilibrium with atmospheric nitrogen at
ground level. When the pressure decreases as
one ascends this nitrogen tends to escape. The
bubbles thus formed rarely cause trouble at

25.000 feet. At 30,000 feet some subjects have
trouble after two or three hours. At 35,000
feet some have trouble after one hour and at

40.000 feet trouble may come within 15 minutes.
However, many youpg men can "ttike" four hours at

35.000 feet or one hour at 40,000 feet.

These "troubles" may take the form of Joint
pain, of throat irritation or of itching skln»-
Joint pains may be mild and disappear or they
may become severe enoqgh to caiise a virtual pa-
ralysis of the menijer affected or even fainting.
Throat j^alns and itching skin, once developed,
are almost certain to grow worse as Judged by
chamber tests.

One Cure

Hiere is only one cure and that is descent un-
til the pain is alleviated or disappears. Usu-
ally the man recovers entirely before he is
half-way down to ground level.

Laboratory experiments Indicate that exercise
for one-half hour while breathing oxygen gives
considerable protection agednst this hazard. It
ronains to determine the usefulness of this pro-
cedure under practical conditions.

On descent from high altitudes air must re-

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

enter the middle ear and the bony sinuses.
Clearing the ears by swallowing, by blowing the
nose, etc. Is a technique nearly all can learn
)»ith practice. Except In emergencies, flights
to high altitudes should not be attempted when
one has a cold. Stiibborn Infections of the ear
or sinuses may result.

Clearing the ears does not necessarily grow
more difficult with Increasing rates of descent.
If a man has no difficulty in clearing his ears
ccanlng down at 5,000 feet per minute he can
probably do as well at 25,000 feet per minute.

High accelerative forces whether of the inter-
mittent type, as In rough air, or of the more
sustained type, as In pull-outs, and other ma-
neuvers, constitute caie of the acute hazards to
which flight personnel Is siibjected. The first
form Is of less concern to the pilot than to his
crew. While the pilot either overcomes air —
sickness or quits, the members of his crew may
continue to experience it. This seems to be
particularly true of the tall gunner where rid-
ing Is royghest. Fortunately air-sickness rare-
ly if ever has permanently ill-effects. Unfor-
tunately there is no assured preventative nor
cem we escape the fact that a gunner in the pro-
cess of vomiting Is for the time being out of
action.

The effects of high siistained accelerative
forces as In pull-outs, have been described in a
recent Technical Order, together with the ac-
cepted method for Increasing one's tolerance of
"G". This need not be repeated here, other than
to refer to the figure, showing the crouching
posture that has been taught the German pilots
for some years. This posture is believed to In-
crease one's tolerance by about 1 "G".

Cold Is A Hazard

The hazard of cold is not merely the pain ex-
perienced and the danger of frost-bite. The
principal handicap is the reduced level of bodi-
ly flmctlcns, both mental and physical. Fingers
are numbed £ind operations are clumsily carried
out, if they can be carried out at all. The
physical misery dulls one's awareness of other
dangers. The oxygen system must supply more
oxygen and may freeze in the process of doing
so. Added clothing greatly Interferes with the
bodily movements requisite for routine opera-
tions, and also renders more difficult parachute
escape. Finally goggles and windows become
frosted; in order to clear the windows it may be
necessary to open them and thus lower the tem-
perature even more.

Protection against the hazard of cold is an

engineering problon that is on the way to solu-
tion. Clothing should be loose-fitting and dry.
Rapid ascents in the tropics are more difficult
than in temperate zones because, if adequate
protective clothing is donned before the flight,
the wearer may be soaked with perspiration be-
fore he leaves the ground. Electrically heated
suits seem better adapted to tropical and tem-
perate zones than to the arctic zone. If the
wearer of such a suit must bail out, he cannot
long survive arctic cold.

As emphasized before, the use of oxygen helps
to protect against cold. Hot drinks during
flight also help some. Alcohol makes one feel
better because it dilates skin capillaries and
favors transfer of body heat to the skin. The
resulting temporary sensation of warmth may have
disastrous resiilts since it is accomplished by
lowering "body tenqperature. Alcohol also tends
to inhibit shivering and so to increase still
fiu'ther the danger of continued exposure to
cold. Alcohol should be looked upon as a re-
storative for the man who has been rescued from
cold. It should not be made available to the
man who is expected to undergo a long exposure
to cold.

No Escape FVcm Fear

The hazard from which there can be no escape
is fear. Fear may arise from any one of the
hazards previously mentioned or from a conbina-
tion of them.

It is the job of the flight surgeon, responsi-
ble for selectiOTi of aviation cadets, to elimi-
nate those most likely' to be eliminated because
of chronic fear, but the fear hazard is a mental
state frran which none of us is wholly protected.
Repeated exposure to all the other stresses en-
tailed in flight may be well endured in the ab-
sence of any strong element of fear. It is this
psychological factor of pronounced fear that
seems chiefly responsible for the cumulative fa-
tigue occasionally experienced by war-time pi-
lots.

In sunmary it may be said that the hazards en-
countered by flying personnel are now well re-
cognized through recent advances in aviation
medicine and relatively efficient means have
been discovered and developed for meeting them.
This has been possible through the team work of
engineers, flight surgeons, physiologists, psy-
chologists, and other scientific groups. The
effectiveness of these contributions, however,
finally depends on the cooperation of the air
crews.

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Torpedoes Get Win^s
(Continued from Page 12)
elon with ample space between planes to allow
for a breakway turn in either direction once the
torpedo is dropped. The wide spacing has the
added advantagie of stringing out the targets and
diluting the defenders' fire. The attack is
generally delivered from forward of the beam so
that ships present their largest target bulk and
at the same time add a vector of their own speed
to that of the torpedo thus cutting down the
time avalledile for the ship to dodge.

Oodble Attack

Another form of attack that can be extronely
effective, provided that it is made in force, is
one delivered from a semi-circle of planes
spread across the bow and to both beams of the
eneoy ship. The torpedoes then speed in from
all angles so that avoiding th^ is almost an
Inqxisslble task. The quintessence of success,
however, in a torpedo plane attack is a double
attack in which two flights approach from both
port and starboard bows spaced ninety d^rees or
more apart and perfectly synchronized to arrive
at the target about a minute apart. The Torpedo
has more speed than its targets but can some-
times be avoided by a quick-thinking skipper who
will generally swing his ship to a course op-
posite and parallel to the course of the tor-
j)edo. In so doing he presents the least pos-
sible target bulk and is in a position to dodge
the torpedo by a slight touch of the helm.

But if the ship being attacked swings parallel
to the first torpedo attack he is in no posltl<»
to dodge the second attack delivered from the
opposite bow. The second batch of torpedoes
approach him at right angles to his course to
idilch he is pinned by the approach of the first
batch. Whichever way he turns he finds himself
in a sea full of TOT anxious to fulfill its pur-
pose.

A big help to any torpedo plane attack but of
particular benefit to the echelon attack from
forward of the beam, is a smoke screen laid down
close to the ship to be attacked. The attacking
planes can then come in behind the screen rising
occasionally above it for observation, burst
through the screen, drop and hightail for pro-
tection. Of cowse the question arises "Who
will bell the cat?" for a smoker is a prime tar-
get, although he does have the advantage of
speed and a high rate of change of be8u*lng. A
smoke screen is also a fine barrage target for
flak fire and pilots may comt on heavy fire at
the screen.

OXIMETER AIDS TESTS

A new device called an Oximeter is being used
as a "watch dog" in high altitude chamber
tests. Through an Illuminated "ear-ring," the
Oximeter provides Instant readings without de-
laying the experiments.

Previous to the development of the Oximeter,
the amount- of oxygen in the bloodstream of a man
in the altitude chanber was recorded by securing
a sample of the subject's blood by means of a
needle and syringe. Operated outside of the
altltxide chamber, the Oximeter does away with
this laborious process and permits the tests to
continue without interruptions.

The ear unit of the Oximeter is clamped on the
lobe of the subject's ear so that the light fPom
the lamp shines throngh the lobe into a |dioto-
cell on the other side. Ihe Oximeter capital-
izes on the fact that the blood changes as its
oxygen content changes. Normally satiirated it
is bright red, but as more oxygen is lost it
shades off to deep purple. Rjrple passes less
Hg^ t than red, so any change in the oxygen con-
tent of the blood alters the intensity of the
light lAilch shines through the ear lobe.

The Oximeter was originated by Dr. Glenn A.
Millikan, consultant and lecturer in blo-physlcs
at the liilversity of Pennsylvania.

FREE LEGAL CLIXIC

A l^al aid clinic — believed to be the first
of its kind at any U.S. Amy post— was in-
augurated at Lowry Field, Denver, Col., to pro-
vide enlisted personnel with necessary legal
help.

Hie clinic offers legal advice to Army person-
nel and secures competent l^al aid for thmn in
matters of family relationship, guardianship,
homes and personal possessions, wages and other
Incoae, Insteillment purchases, taxes and other
debts, wills and insurance policies, welfare
laws and civil service, accidents, and rights
under the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act.

If the case warrants, a mmiber of the Denver
Bar Association is called in for help. Then, if
an attorney is needed, the assoclatlcai supplies
its services free of charge to enlisted men.
The Amy is assuming no responsibility for any
of the cases handled.

To reduce average bombing errors by ON&
HALF is equivalent to multiplying the effect-
iveness of a bombardment force by FOUR,

MARCH-AFRIL 1942

W AR is movirig up Into the higher levels, and
the see-saw between high flying bombing
planes, high er flyipg fighters to knock them out
of the sky, then new techniques to get the bonb-
ers up even higher, goes on at a flirious pace.
Put differently, every new offensive weapon
brlpgs an almost Inmedlate reaction in the field
of defense.

For some years science, recently prodded by
Mars in no uncertain terms, has been attempting
to jmepare both men and machines to fly into the
siJsstratosphere, which extends from 5 to 8 miles
(or more) above the earth's surface. At the
outbreak of this war a high ranking British of-
ficial stated that the nation which first per-
fected superbontoers for stratosphere operations
would win. Later in this article we shall see
what is being done along this line by ourselves,
as well as by the British and the Germans.

It should be realized, however, that owing to
weather conditions, particularly over continent-
al Europe, there will still be plenty of bombing
in the 10,000 to 25,000 altitude range, as well
as dive bombing and the fast low flying bariDlng
tactics as developed, for example by the British
using modified Hurricane lie fighters and the
Russians with new heavily armored bomber-fighters.
These activities are not within the scope of this
article.

Difficulties Involved

First of all, then, let us look at some of
the technical difficulties involved in getting
planes and pilots to fly "upstairs."

The first job is to get the bonbei; and its
load up there. This has been made possible by
such engineering gadgets as supercharged en-
gines, constant-speed propellers, and high-lift
wlrgs. The theory of the supercharger is fairly
simple. The gasoline in an airplane engine
bums oxygen fran the air. The higher the alti-
tude the less oxygen there is in the air, there-
fore the higher the engine goes the less effi-
cient it is. Engines, at higher altitudes, be-
come short-winded, like the traveler climbing
Pike's Peak.

Take, for example, a Pratt & Whitney Twin
Wasp, which develops 1,200 h.p. for take-off.

At 20,000 feet, without supercharglig, it would
be turning up hardly more than 500 h.p. and at
25,000 just over 250 h.p. Not so good if speed
is to be maintained. However, with the super-
charger, extra air is pumped into the carburet-
or, and that does the trick.

Turbo-Supercharger Ingenious

The built-in blower type of supercharger is
iBually operated in two gears, going Into "high"
as the higher altitudes are reached. A recent
development in which this country appears to
have a jump on the rest of the world is the
turbo-supercharger. With this ingenious device,
the engine's exhaust gases 8u*e utilized by di-
recting them throngh a small turbine coD 5 )ressor.
This rotates a blower which sends the "thick-
ened" air on to the carburetor.

On the occasion of the Wright Lecture at the
Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences, Decenber
17, 1941, the Collier Tr<^y for the year's out-
standing contribution to aeronautical science
was jointly awarded to Dr. Sanford A. Moss, of
the General Electric Research Laboratories, in-
ventor of the turbo-supercharger, and to the
U. S. Army Air Corps for practical application
of the device to high altitude flight.

Another problem is to get the propeller to
take larger bites of air at the higher alti-
tudes. This means that the blades must be able
to turn in the hiib to allow change of pitch — low
pitch to allow the heavy bombing plane to get
off the ground, and high pitch in the substrato-
sphere to secure bigger bites of the rarefied
atmosphere .

These eufe mechanical solutions to the problem.
Another angle brings us into aerodynamics. It
takes a lot of lifting surface to get a fully
loaded B-17 (around 25 tons) up to 35,000 feet.
One reason why foreign heavy bonbers have been
slow, and therefore highly vulnerable to fast
well-armed fighting planes, is that to produce
sufficient lift the wings have Imd to be large,
and that means plenty of drag. This problem is
beiig tackled by foreign research organizations,
and one excellent solution in this country has
been found in the Davis wing, with its sensa-

MARCH-AHUL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

tlonally high lift-drag ratio. The xise of this
airfoil on oxir B-24 Consolidated heavy hraober
(Liberator to the British) has spelled outstand-
ing performance for this ship.

The Hunan Element

So much for the Machine. How about the pilot
and the other metdiers of the conbat crew? It Is
generally agreed that most pilots and flight-
crew personnel can function normally up to
around 15,000 feet for a short period. Beyond
this level oxygen deficiency begins to produce
certain dangerous symptoms — such as an unusual
buoyancy or possibly Irritability, loss of neno-
ry, lack of judgment, delay in reaction, etc.
Hence oxygen masks are a prime essential, or
better still — as they provide the answer to the
Intense cold as well as the lack of oxygen — ^pres-
surized cabins, of which more presently. The
latest types of oxygen masks Include — besides the
oxygen tiibes — radio microphones, special cold-
resistant lining and doiible-lens goggles to pre-
vent fogging and frost formation around the pi-
lot's eyes throngh the air leeds. It may be re-
called that this happened to ifeijor Schroeder In
1920 In one of history's most remarkable
flights, when a world's altitude record of
33,113 feet was achieved.

Another headache for the hlgji flyer Is aeroon-
bollsm, an ailment somewhat similar to the
"bends" sea-dlvefs experience arfter rising to
the surface of the water too quickly. This Is
caused, not by oxygen or lack of It, but by ni-
trogen. At altitudes above 30,000 feet man's
blood, organs and tissues give off their nitro-
gen In the form of biibbles. This trouble Is
more apt to affect pilots of fighter or Inter-
ceptor plaiies because of the very rapid rate of
climb of this type of ship.

In consultation with the Mayo Clinic, an In-
teresting experiment was performed last spring.
MUo Burcham, Lockheed test pilot, during the
altitude tests of the‘'twln-er^lned P-38 Inter-
ceptor, "air conditioned" himself before step-
ping Into the plane. Donning an oxygen mask he
rapidly pedaled a gymnasium-type bicycle for
half an hour. This worked off enongh of the ni-
trogen bubbles, but he had to cong)lete his high
altitude test flight In the P-38 breathlr^ pure
oxygen, but no air, which contains nitrogen.
The proof of the pudding — ^no aero^ollsm.

This, of course, is only a partial solution to
the prdblm, as such procedure would not be pos-
sible In the case of high flylig defense opera-
tions, owing to lack of time. The case for

pressurized cabins was stated by Dr. Carl
Schnldt, of the ttilverslty of Pennsylvania, at a
recent meeting of the Institute of the Aeronau-
tical Sciences. He warned that as regards
speed, rate of climb and celling, the perform-
ance of military aircraft already available to
the contending air armies Is more than their hu-
man occupants can fully utilize unless sj)eclal
measures are taken to congiensate for some of the
physiological strains.

Dr. Schmidt said that "the closest approach
now available to a solutlcmi of these problems Is
the closed-cabin airplane In which the air or
oxygen Is ccmpressed sufficiently to prevent any
oxygei>-lack, and aviators' "bends", and also
heated sufficiently to minimize the deleterious
effects of cold. . . .But blackouts, due to cen-
trlfqgal force, which is brought to play when-
ever the direction of a rapidly movli^ plane is
suddenly changed, remain an unsolved problem."

D. W. Tomlinson, Vice President In charge of
Engineering, of Trsuiscontlnental and Western
Air, Inc., Is more faailliar with high altitude
flying than any other man in the world. He
anticipates that before the end of World War II
stratobonbers cajmble of 24 hours' continuoxis
flight may be showering enemy territory with
bombs fron altitudes seven or eight miles above
the earth. He says "Up Is as high as we can
make It. The sky has no limit."

For a co»q)le of decades after World War I not
much was done In the way of substratosphere
flight from a military point of view. In Novem-
ber 1931, the Ninety-fourth Pursuit Squadron,
Army Air Corps, made aviation history with a
cross-country flight at an altitude of 20,000
feet from Selfridge Field, Michigan, to Bolling
Field, Washington, D. C. In which all pilots
used liquid oxygen. This was a forerunner of
the modern high altitude coobat flyli^ which to-
day Is playing such a vital role in the fate of
nations.

XC-35 A Pioneer

The first use of pressurized cabins for exper-
imental flight above 30,000 feet came a few
years later with the specially fitted Arn^ Air
Corps Lockheed XC-35 transport. It was In this
plane that ift*. Tomlinson did much of his pioneer
work "upstairs," in preparation for the Boeing
Stratollner — a coumerclal adaptation of the Air
Corps B-17 Flying Fortress — with pressurized
cabins for transccxitlnental jMsserger flights at
20,000 feet, atmospheric pressure being maln-

(Continued on Page 50)

MARCH-APRIL 1942

"DEHIND the story of sensational performance
■^at high altitixie Is a long process of low
temperature testlpg In which materials and work-
ing parts of the airplane are scientifically
punished In cold chambers before they are used
In a warplane designed to operate In the murder-
ous cold and low pressures of the stratosphere.

Present progress In the conquest of the bleak
upper regions would be fatally retarded if the
Army Air Forces did not have cold chantoers with
very special types of refrigeration at Wright
Field, Dayton, Ohio, but depended solely upon
high altitude flight testing.

Air Corps turbo-superchargers, engines, fuel
systems, instruments, guns, oxygen masks and
regulators, cameras and hydraulic systems func-
tion at greater altitude today than is relished
by enemy air forces.

The cold chamber, as a contributing factor,
was first enlisted in Air Corps research and de-
velopment at McCook Field in 1922 ; 20 are in use
at Wright Field today.

Temperature Changes Cause Troi4)le

Airplanes of the Army Air Forces are engi-
neered for the temperature extremes which will
be encountered in operations frcm either tropi-
cal or arctic beises. The stratosphere, where
temperature stabilizes at a median -67° C., and
where the next mission may lead, is not many
minutes' flight above any airdrome, wherever lo-
cated.

Radical changes irt temperature can produce
malfunctioning. Two of the most comnon changes
caused by cold are lubrication troubles and un-
equal contractions of dissimilar materials.
Gyro instrviment oil, for instance, turns to cup
grease at -50° C. Tolerances of working parts
are often wrecked by the contraction-expansion
difference in materials. Some plastics and syn-
thetic rubbers turn brittle. Paints and plat-
ings may crack and peel off.

The cold chambers in which these troublesome
failures are isolated and remedied vary in de-
sign and capacity. For prolonged tests of large
equipment, and when test engineers work inside,
refrigeration of large chanters is obtained with
carbon dioxide gas, ammonia or freon, a non-

toxic gas. Smaller chambers, chilled by a fan
blowing over a charge of dry- ice, have proved
satisfactory for the quick testipg of many small
articles .

To secure basic data, the Materials Laboratory
at Wright Field has for many years used a cold
chamber with a capacity of 800 cubic feet which
can maintain a temperature of -40° C. for three
or four months without difficulty.

Air Corps engineers and those in industry are
supplied with handbook data based on low temper-
ature tests — for hardness, fatigue, impact, ten-
sion and torsion strengths — of the metals, al-
loys, plastics, rubber, lubricants and other ma-
terials VBed in the manufacturing of planes.

When asked how it feels to be exposed to -40°
for four or five hours at a stretch, a veteran
testipg engineer said that no undue discomfort
is felt, unless you have poor circulation — if
your heavy boots, suit, helmet, gloves and face
mask fit with the proper looseness; if you keep
busy moving around; and if you don't take the
heavy garments off after you come out until all
feeling of cold has gone.

FunctlOTial cold testing of equipment, prior to
the crucial high altitude flight testing, is
conducted in cold chambers of the experimental
laboratory in which the developnent project is
assigned.

In the Power Plant laboratory, a big refriger-
ation bunker supplies the chilled air for air-
craft engines being tested under altitude condi-
tions, and services a good-sized cold chamber
which has been vised through the years in such
projects as: checking methods of de-icing car-
buretion systems; eliminating types of leakproof
fuel teinks and hose which grew brittle in cold;
comparative tests of oils and warm-up periods;
priming techniques; development of engine
starters, of remote fuel pump drives, accessory
power plants; eind other similar projects.

Eqvilpment lab Uses Chantier

The Equipment Laboratory is a heavy user of
cold chambers due to the large number of pro-
jects distributed in its several units.

In the instrument and navigation unit alone

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR' FORCES NEWS LETTER

several are iised to check the changes made to
preserve accuracy In higher altitudes of Instru-
ments with delicate springs, dla^diragns, gaskets
and turbines. No less exaictlng are the low tem-
perature tests of electrical systems and the
equipment developed hy that unit.

For physiological and* chemical studies, the
Aero Medical Research liiit has a new low-pres-
sure, low-temperatm*e chamber In which -55° C.
can be maintained. Exclusive of the air-lock.
It can comfortably acccnmodate six men. As an
aid to the advancement of aviation medicine,
this unique chajdber Is Ideal for measuring phy-
sical reactions to exposure In cold and low
pressvire simultaneously, for observing physio-
logical changes In flight personnel while using
oxygen, and for studies of fatigue and aero-
embolism; and the effect of altitude on the
sick, wounded, and on chemicals and medicines
during transport by plane have been Investi-
gated.

In the vital tests of oxygen siqjplles, masks
and regulators In conjuncticxi with development
of new equipment, cold chanbers are used to de-
termine service life, fheezlrg characteristics,
the maxlmun allowable molstvire ccwitent for oxy-
gen, the efficiency of oxygen driers, and the
operatlcm of respiratory valves at low tempera-
ture.

Clothlpg Gets "Winterized"

All new types of heavy flying equljxnent are
siibjected to cold chanber tests by the Parachute
Unit, Including gloves, boots, suits, helmets,
as well as sleeping bags and electrically heated
s\ilts.

(At Ladd Field, Alaska, winterizing programs
take advantage In winter of an outside tempera-
ture tiiat frequently drops to -65° F. New types
of fuel-serviclpg trucks, tractors, snow plows,
crawler-wheel trailers, and various large main-
tenance and salvaging articles are subjected to
every kind of cold test.)

So that guns will function wherever the air-
plane goes, the Armament laboratory attacks Its
low temperature problmns of lubrication, of tol-
erances and prevention of condensation. In a
cold chanber. hydraulically operated units, and
gun chargers, valves, breechblocks, bcmbslghts
and accessories need to ftmctlcn without freez-
ing, Jamnlng or failure.

To bring aerial photography to Its present
performance at high altitudes, cold chambers
were used by the Photographic laboratory to weed
out some camera motors, shutters, film and lens
which functioned well In Intermediate altitudes
but not in the stratosphere.

War Climbs
(Continued from Page 48)
talned at about the 8,000 foot level.

After the Luftwaffe's failure to clear the
R. A. F. from the skies by mass daylight bonbir^
raids in August and Septenber 1940 they began
comirg over In small groups at much higher lev-
els. One airplane used In this way was an adap-
tation of the itesserschmltt Me-110 twin-epglne
convoy fighter as a light bcober with an effec-
tive celling of over 30,000 feet. The Spitfire
Mark I and Hurricane Mark I fighters, which,
with their higher speed and heavier fire-power,
did such deveistatlng work in the mid-altitude
range of 12,000 to 20,000 feet, lost a great
deal of their effectiveness at the 30,000 foot
level. Later models Increased the celling and
the race for higher altitudes in the fighter
class was in full swing.

The latest Messerschmltt single engine
fighter, the Me-109F, is reported to have a
celling of over 38,000 feet, with the Spitfire
Mark V and Hurricane Mark III and the newer
Typhoon (by the makers of the Hurricane) In the
same general vicinity or higher. The Materiel
Division at Wright Field has been attacking the
problems of high altitude flying from many
angles, and in the fighter plane class has a
ship which should hold its own with the best of
than — the Reptibllc P-43 with turbo-supercharger,
now in production and in operation by our Conbat
Ccmnand. A leirger, much more p»owerful advanced
version, the P-47B, is well along, and has been
announced as going into large scale production
within a few months.

Boobers "Up Biere" Too

In the bombardment field the Air Corp)s has
pioneered with the long range 4-englne Boeing.
This airplane has carried strategic bombing
(three to four tons of badbs to objectives over
1,500 miles away) to the substratosphere levels
above 35,000 feet. As the Fortress Mark I, the
R. A. F. Bonber Command has been enthusiastic
about its performance and is looking forward to
the newer models, the B-17E's, now coming Into
production. The newest British heavy duty
bombers, the 4-engine Short Stirling and
Handley-Page Halifax, while in the same league
as our B-17 eis to range and bcmb load, defin-
itely do not have as high a celling, and this is
also true of the German 4-engine Focke-Wulf
Kurier .

Victory usually goes to the plane "on top" and
American research and engineering skill may be
counted on to "Keep 'an flying higher."

MARCH-APRIL 1942

THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Physical Training
(Continued from Page 10)
schools had been giving no physical training
whatever, and others substituted drill and un-
controlled mass calisthenics for a progressive
Individual program.

The conferences were extremely productive.
The first accomplishment was a deteririlnation of
objectives. This was done by making a study of
the various specialized types of Jobs the Army
Air Forces are called upon to do. Men who are
going to be pilots need a different type of
jiiyslcal training from those who are going to be
ground technicians. To date there have been two
general programs set up: one for flyers and <w»e

for technicians. As time goes on a more com-
plete breakdown will probably be made.

Much of what is the present Air Corps phys-
ical training program was developed at the
Southeast Training Center under the direction of
Ernest B. Smith. Mr. Staith, former Professor of
Physical Education at Alburn University, Ala-
bama, was the first jbysical director to be em-
ployed by the Air Forces. He hired a staff,
held conferences and formulated many of the
ideas which now serve as a basis for the entire
system.

Oice the first complete program had been de-
vised and put into operation in the Southeast
Center, the other flying training centers soon
followed siilt. Many of the ideas advanced in
these other training centers have proved to be
improvements over the original program, and in
many Instances have been incorporated in it.
Coordinating efforts between flying training
centers have so far been very successful, and
the best of what has been developed in each sec-
tion is being welded into an increasingly more
uniform program that is getting superb results.

Coordinated though it is, the program is not
run ft- cm Washington. Each flying training cen-
ter— -Southeast , Gulf Coast, West Coast — as well
as the Technical Tralnlpg Ccnmand, Is responsible
for its own system. Directives and instructions
are issued from training center headquarters,
and Instructors are hired there.

Heading the program at the Gulf Coast Training
Center is H.L. Berridge, former physical educ-
ation instructor at the University of Texas.
The West Coast program is being run by Douglas
Dashlell, director of physical education at the
University of Nevada, and the Air Corps Tech-
nical Training Comnand chief Instructor is J.B.
Miller, Director of Hiysical Education and Ath-
letics at the Iftilverslty of Tulsa.

At the present time the Air Corps has a field
staff of approximately 350 physical instructors
and directors. This staff is responsible for
the pl^lcal conditioning of all Air Corps cadets
in a daily program leisting at least one hour.

When the Air Forces expand, a much larger
staff of physical Instructors is envisioned. At
this stage we will have accomplished a program,
that should have been established in the period
inmedlately following the World War. The exper-
iences of the last war plainly indicated the
needs for a program such as we are now carrying
on.

In concrete results the efforts made by the
men who have developed the Air Corps physical
training program as it exists today have been
very encouraging. Since the program was put
Into effect the nunfcer of cadets eliminated from
pilot training in test classes has been reduced
nine per cent, the average height has been in-
creased .227 inches, and the average weight has
increased 4.8 pounds. It is Impossible to de-
termine whether these Improvements are due en-
tirely to the establishment of the physical
training program, but it is safe to assume that
the program is at least partly responsible.

For many years our enemies in this war have
recognized the value of physical training in
preparation for aerial ccnibat. Set against this
in the present ccxifllct is the fact that, pri-
marily, our manpower is at least physically
equal if not superior to that of our enemies.

Our task then is to press, in a cooperatively
short time, a program of air crew and ground
crew physical training that will Increase the
Importance of this factor, thus constituting a
mighty contribution to oior war effort. We have
made a good beginning. And, JiKlglng from the
results obtained so far, the program, in the
end, will have more than Justified its under-
taking.

To meet an increasing demand for meteorologists
in the Amy Air Forces, training in that subject
is being offered to a limited number of young
men, not below 20 nor more than 26 years of age,
who are in their senior year at a recognized
college emd who have satisfactorily completed
thorough courses in higher mathematics. Univer-
sities designated as training centers for ac-
cepted students 8u*e the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.; California In-
stitute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.; New York
University; Chicago University and University of
California, Los Argeles.

MARCH-AHIIL 1942

HERE ARE THE GEORGES

Col. Harold Lee George

l^rig. Gen. Harold H. George, former conmand-
-^ing general of the Philippines Air Force,
and Col. Harold L. George, Chief of the Air War
Plans Division, Air Staff, are often confused.
Such was the case in the News Letter when Gen-
eral George was inadvertently described as a
heavy bombardment specialist.

General George is a veteran pursuit pilot,
having won the Distinguished Service Cross in
World War I for attacking a formation of four
German Fokkers, destroying two and driving the
others back to their own territory. He was re-
cently promoted to brigadier general for "gal-
lantry in action" with General MacArthur's
forces in the Philippines. Colonel George is a
veteran of heavy bombardment, having conmanded
the famous Second Bombardment Group at Langley
Field and participated in the B-17 flights to
South America. He was awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross for his work in these pioneer long
distance flights with four -engined equlpnent.

The Georges are not related althoygh they were
born within a year of each other. General
George is a native of Lockport, N.Y. Colonel

Brig. Gen. Harold H. George

George was born in Somerville, Mass. General
George took flight training with the Air Corps
in 1917 after four years service in the Infan-
try. Colonel George came to the Air Corps in
the same year after brief service in the Cav-
alry. Both served overseas during the World
War, General George with the 185th and 139th
Aero squadrons and Colonel George with the 163rd
Day Bombardment Group. Both are graduates of
the Comnand and General Staff school and have
commanded tactical units of the old GHQ air
force. General George commajided the 24th and
33rd Pursuit Squadrons, the 7th Observation
Sqtjadron and the 8th and 31st Pursuit Groups.

In addition to the Second Bont.ardment Group,
Colonel George has cormiarxied the 72nd and 96th
Bombardment Squadrons and served as a bombard-
ment and tactics instructor at the Air Corps
Tactical School.

When Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philip-
pines early in March, Gen. H.H. George was one
of tlie staff officers who accompanleii )iim to his
new post of Allied Conmander in Australia.

MARCH-APRIL 1942

ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY AIR FORCES

UNDER THE REORGANIZATION OF THE U.S. ARMY ORDERED BY THE PRESIDENT

3 6351

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

PUBLIC RELATIONS DIVISION, PUBLICATIONS SECTION
ARMY AIR FORCES, WASHINGTON, D. C.

VOL. 25 MAY, 1942 NO. 3

THE ODDS BE DAMNED

A saga of the South Pacific 1

ACCIDENTS MUST STOP

The Director of Flying Safety tells why — By Col. S.R. Harris 3

HONOR ROLL

last month's Air Forces heroes 9

SWIVEL CHAIR BOMBARDIER

How the photo Interpreter operates — By Thomas 0. Milius 11

CROSS COUNTRY

News from the field In a new department 15

MORALE BUILDERS

Recreation for the Air Forces — 5y Lt. Col. R.C. Jones 17

A DAY AT AN AIR FORCE BASE

An artist's impressions — By Capt. Rayrnwid Creekmore. ......... .18

RUSSIAN RAMMING DOWNS AXIS PLANES

Soviet crash tactics described . .20

TECHNIQUE

Recent technical developments in the Air Forces 22

IHE TTRTAVlin JUMP

Record holder explains its value — By Arthur H. Starnes 23

INDIA

Another front for the AAf’ — By Oliver H. Townsend 25

WORLD WAR ACES MEET THE CADETS

Rlckeribacker and Hunter tour U.S. bases — By Maj. Falk Harmel 27

Technical and Art Director— James T. Rauls

front cover

The airplane pictured on the front cover is the North American B-25. Famous
for participating in General Royce’ s Australian based raid on Jap forces
in the Philippines, this type of plane was also "blamed” by
the Japanese for making the war’s first raid on Tokyo,

ACCIDENTS

C IGHTY PER CENT OF AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS ARE AVOIDABLE! CALM
ACCEPTANCE OF ACCIDENTS IS PAST. THE SITUATION IS GRAVE.
PILOTS AND AIRCRAFT NEVER SEEN OVER BURMA. BERLIN, OR
BATAAN ARE DAILY BEING LOST; UNFIRED GUNS. UNUSED BOMB RACKS- -

these are being lost- -not in enemy lands but in the quiet

AMERICAN COUNTRYSIDE.

OUR AIRPLANES AND CREV/S LOST IN TRAINING ARE A DEFINITE
GAIN TO THE JAP AND THE HUN--WHILE IF OUR LOSS OCCURS IN
COMBAT. OUR CREWS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT THEIR LOSS WILL BE THE

greater one.

AIRPLANES MUST FLY - -ACCI DENTS WILL HAPPEN, BUT THOSE
CAUSED BY FOOLISH, CARELESS. DISOBEDIENT, COCKY OR GRAND- STAND
PILOTS CAN AND MUST BE STOPPED. SAVE THE COCKINESS FOR COMBAT.

PILOTS. CREWS, AND AIRPLANES MUST BE DELIVERED TO BATTLE- -
NOT LEFT SMOKING HEAPS IN CORNFIELDS FROM CALIFORNIA TO MAINE.

TO COMMANDERS: WEED OUT THE INCOMPETENT AND WEAK, ELIM-

INATE THE DISOBEDIENT. DISCIPLINE THE CARELESS. RETAIN HARD.
FEARLESS. DISCIPLINED MEN.

TO PILOTS; SELF DISCIPLINE MAKES MEN - -UNAFRAID TO FIGHT,
DIE, OR TURN BACK. LET THE ENEMY SEE YOUR BRAVERY. THE AIR

forces know of IT!

TO CREWS. MECHANICS AND SENTINELS ON GUARD; ONLY THROUGH
YOUR EFFORTS CAN THIS JOB BE DONE.

TO EVERY MAN IN THE AIR FORCES, I PASS THESE WORDS.

THE RESPONSIBILITY IS YOURS. THE JOB IS YOURS. DO IT.

The Odds Be Damned

A Saga of the South Pacific

By Lieut. Robert B. Hotz

I T was weird and ruthless war over the
Indies . Native tom-toms blended with air
raid sirens. Idyllic tropical harbors suddenly
sprouted mushrocms of flame and steel under the
Impact of bombs from six miles above. There
were long hours of cruising over steaming
jungles, jig-saw patterned islands, sandy beaches
and watery wastes. There were long hours patch-
ing, gassing and arming ships under the pitiless
glare of the sun and the flame-spitting snouts
of Zero fighters. Long missions wrapped in the
softness of tropical moailight. Brief hours of
sleep snatched under wings of grounded ships and
meals of bananas, coconuts, chocolate and stale
bread.

It was a backyard war. One minute you were
over Jap fields giving them hell eind then you
were back hc«ne to find that the Zeros and
Mltsubishis had blasted your hangars and shot up
your half-cooked lunch. It was a savage war
with 6in active Fifth Colimn, faked signals and
insignia. Everybody who "hit the silk" was a
special t€irget for Jap machine guns.

It was an epic war against heavy odds in which
a handful of AAF heavy bcMfcers took on the Jap
Air Force, Army and Navy in a battle the Japs
will never forget.

Heavy bombers fought the main actions over the
Southwest Pacific. Most of them were Bl7 Ds
and Es with a sprinkling of B-24s . All of them
flew fron the bases in the United States to the
Pacific battlefront, scxne before and some after
the outbreak of war.

Levin Blasts Haruna

They bleisted Jap landing parties And convoys
all the way from Legaspi and Apparri in the

Hiillppines to Bali and Java in the Indies. One
of them piloted by Capt. Colin Kelly gave the
American people their first boost in morale when
it carried Corporal Meyer Levin over the Haruna
200 miles off northern Luzon and allowed Bom-
bardier Levin to lay his only three eggs ob-
liquely across the battleship from 23,500 feet
and sink her. The banbers slowed the pace of
the Jap drive southward and when they were
pushed from their bases they made long night
flights over lost territory to evacuate Air
Force personnel from under the noses of the
Japs.

Some of those men who fought, flew and serv-
iced that handful of AAF heavy bcanbers are now
back in this country to teach the lessons they
learned over the Indies. From them come details
of the air saga of Southwest Riciflc.

There was that moonlit night off Java when a
Icme B-17 searched for a Jap convoy. As Capt.
H.C. Snelser, pilot, describes it:

"We were cruising over the sea at about 4,000
feet when tracer bullets suddenly danced all
around our plane. I ducked into seme clouds and
climbed to about 15,000. We broke ihto the
clear at about 3 a.m. and there below was the
most perfect target I have ever seen — a Jap
convoy of 30 ships escorted by four warships all
silhouetted in the moonlight.

"They were lined up two abreast and hardly a
ship's length apart. They were steaming di-
rectly into the moonlight so they couldn't see
us coming up behind than. I de-synchronized the
engines and Lieut. Marion L. Wheeler, the
bontiardier, gave me directions for beginning our
target run. We came over them and Wheeler

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

planted eight 6(K) pourd boriljs smaok in the mid-
dle of the column of ships. I ctxmted six shif«
slnklrg before we left. With a few more 17s wc'
could have wiped out tiie wisole convoy in tw(i
minutes .

"After we got back to Java three Australians
flew some ancient crates tliat looked like the
old Keystone bombers over the convoy at 500 feet
and SEink some more ships. When they landed they
looked at all the bullet holes in their ships,
laughed like hell, h£td another drink of whiskey
and made another run over the convoy."

Nine For Wheeler

Lieut. Wheeler, Capt. Smelser's bombardier,
s£mk a total of nine Jap ships in the Indies
from his perch in the nose of the B-17. In
addition to the six in the convoy, he bracketed
a heavy cruiser from 15,000 feet off Bali and
destroyed two transports in Macassar Straits
from 27,000 feet. Capt. Smelser calls him "the
best bombardier in the Pacific" .

Bombardiers, navigators and gunners were the
unsung heroes of the Philippines and Indies
battles. After playing second fiddle to pilots
in peace-time practice they came into their own
in the battles above the Indies as equal part-
ners in the aerial conbat team.

Bombardiers played a fvirt, Uuilar ! y impcirt ant
role Iri the destruct.ior: of .lap ivava,.; powi'r. Ii.
addition t.o Lieut. Wheeler aiKi Lorj). l.*'vin.
Lleute , Cecil Gregg and Ralyiii Stone atKi Sere,! .
William Burke compiled exceptional iy accuratt-
bembing records under fire. Lieut.. Gregg, in
tile lead plane making a heavy raid on the iiarbor
of Davao, bracketed a Jap heavy cruiser with
four 600 pound bombs from 30,000 feet. Sergt.
Burke in the nose of a Flying Fortress piloted
by Capt. William Bohnaker got another cruiser
from about the same altitude. Four other Jap
ships were destroyed by bombardiers in that
raid. Lieut. Gregg also sank another cruiser
during the battle of Macassar Straits and sev-
eral transports off Bali.

Captain Wheless

The successful fight of a single B-17 against
18 Zero fighters over Luzon is the aerial
gunners' epic. The lone survivor of Clark
Field, this B-17 was on its way to attack Jap
leinding parties at Legaspi when Jap Zeros made
(Continued on Page 36)

Captain Eugene Vinson, recent ly returned from
the Far East, demonstrates Jap Zero fighter
tactics to a group of Key Field pilots.

MAY 1942

Accidents Must Stop

By Col. S. R. Harris

Oirector of Flying Safety

A smashed up Army bomber In a midwestem cow
peisture Is more of a victory for the Jap-
anese than a Flying Fortress brought down In
ccmbat over Burma.

Losses of planes and perscwmel by accident are
always worse than losses In battle. A bad
accident means one less plane and cme less pilot
or ccmbat crew to carry the fight to the enaiy.
When the nearest Zero fighter Is some 4,000
miles away frcm the accident. It means that this
country has lost one of the most valuable cogs
In Its war machinery without a bullet being
fired or a bonb being dropped In return.

Accidents will happen despite all of our pre-
cautions. We must accept that. But a crackup
resulting from carelessness or cockiness Is
certainly an Inglorious end for the pilot who
has received the best flight training the world
has to offer, and from whom so much is expected
In this war. This type of crackup Is anything
but fair to members of the crew who have worked
so hard to qualify for their jobs. It Is rank
Injustice to the ground men and factory workers
and designers who labored to place the plane In
the hands of the pilot.

Accident Rate Grows

Yet, Air Forces pilots continue to crack up
airplanes at a rate which Is causing serious
concern. This year the rate of accidents to
every 1,000 hours flown by military aircraft has
Increased sxijstantlally.

Such destruction of life and equipment cannot
and will not be tolerated. This useless wastage
can and must be stojjped.

An analysis of airplane accident reports shows
that 80 per cent of all accidents Involving
military aircraft are the result of some human
failure. This means they are preventable. This
means they can be stojjped by constant vigilance,
by the exercise of conmon sense aiKi the observ-
ance of the fundemental rules of safe flying.

No airplane Is so "hot" It can't be safely
flown if handled properly.

The number of accidents attributed to errors
of personnel is increasing at a rate out of
proportion to the increase in airplanes and
pilots .

Accidents attributable to materiel failure

remain at a ccmparatlvely constant rate. Every
effort Is being made through research, design
Improvements, and constant surveillance of
equipment to further reduce these accidents .

Up To Airmen

Reduction of the personnel type of accident Is
strictly up to the men who fly the planes and
the men In caanand.

Accidents can be reduced, but only with the
cooperation of everyone — Commanding Offi-
cers as well as the greenest Aviation Cadets.

In recognition of the vital importance of
accident prevention. General Arnold has set up a
new Directorate of Flylpg Safety as an Independ-
ent unit In the Headquarters Army Air Forces.
It is the job of this agency to see, through
directives, publicity, close supervision and
disciplinary action, that accidents are reduced.
The Directorate has set as its goal a 25 per
cent reduction in aircraft accidents during the
next 12 months, and is ready to take drastic
action to achieve It.

To carry out the program set up by the Direc-
torate, 20 Regional Safety Officers will go out
into the field to inspect and report upon local
efforts to cut down the nuntoer of aujcldents.

These officers will work directly under the
Commanding General of the Air Forces. It will
be up to them to maintain close personal contact
with each Air Force unit within their region,
and to Investigate and report to Headquarters on
preictices, systems, and. In fact, on everything
affecting flying safety. They will also make
special studies of the causes of accidents and
reconmend preventative measures. Directives
will be prepared and published from Headquarters
on the basis of their findings.

Investigations Still Used

The use of the new Regional Safety Officer
systan will in no way affect the existing method
of Invest jgatlig and reporting accidents, liider
this system the Comnandlng Officers of all Air
Forces stations appoint an Aircraft Investiga-
tion Ccnmlttee, composed of three madDers, whose
duty Is to Investigate accidents, determine
their cause, and to make recommendations upon
(Continued on Page 6)

MAY 1942

tkuiUtook---

FOR FERDINAND FUTTS PLEASE LIOHT UP A CANDLE,

HE MISTOOK THE FLAP FOR THE LANDING GEAR HANDLE;
HE OVERSHOT. UPPED WHAT HE THOUGHT WAS THE GEAR,
BUT FOLDED HIS FLAPS AND FELL IN ON HIS EAR.

AVERY HOT PILOT WAS HENRY HIGHTOWERS,

WHO BOASTED OF HAVING THREE HUNDRED HOURS.
TO PROVE IT HE DOVE ON HIS GIRL’S HOUSE ONE DAY-
THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN MARRIED THE FIFTEENTH OF MAY.

iMe Mupid (lAOiftP ■ ’

OANOER.MY UDS AT THE STUPID DROOP
WHO KNEW//£ COULD MANAOE AN OUTSIDE LOOP ;
HALFWAY AROUND IT HE CRUMPLED A WINC ,
AND MUFFED HIS YANK ON THE RIPCORD RINC.

T he cartoons reproduced on these pages are
ajnong a set of 12 which will shortly appear
as colored posters on walls and bulletin boards
throughout the Air Forces. These posters are
"brain child" of Captain Willard Van D, Brown,
of Wheeler Field, Hawaii. The original drawings
were the work of Mr. Jack EWing, Wheeler Field
Fire Chief. They were redrawn for use as
posters by an Air Forces artist.

Before Flight Safety had come to the front as
a vital Air Forces program and before the direc-
torate of Flight Safety had been established.
Captain Brown was pondering what he calls "an
original approach to the problem of pointing out
and en 5 )haslzing to our flying cadets and junior
officer trainees the most consistently re-oc-
curing mistakes which they make in primary,
basic and advemced flying schools, and continue
to make after reporting for duty as rated
pilots . "

Captain Brown knew what he was talking about.
He had graduated from Randolph Field in 1932 and
in 10 years he had been through the mill . He had
observed, and according to his own reports, had
experienced those mistakes in flight.

Captain Brown had seen a few of the Flight
Safety posters published by the Royal Air Force,
but was more interested in showing cause and
effect in typical American fashion. His ponder-
ing resulted in catching the slang and doggerel

of the Air Forces and of using it with illus-
trated cartoons to tell a vitally serious story
with a semi-hunorouB touch.

The three posters reproduced here are good
examples of the entire .set. Others tell of
"iwihappy twerps" who forgot about checking their
landing gear, neglected to switch to a full tank
of gas, forgot the old axiom:

The truest tale a pilot learns, that's known
from pole to pole:

"A ship is never landed 'til its wheels have
ceased to roll".

Of his project. Captain Brown is deadly seri-
ous, and expresses the hope that if the posters
can prevent the loss of a single airplane their
purpose will have been achieved.

The Director of Flying Safety, whose own re-
port on the accident prevention campaign appears
on other pages of this issue, has expressed the
hope that Captain Brown's efforts will stimulate
others in the Air Forces along similar lines.
One of the needs at present is a similar poster
set directed toward accident prevention among
ground cr^s and maintenance men.

The News Letter is prepared to devote space
each issue to the Flight Safety program and
welccmes articles and art work on this subject
originating in the field. Full consideration
will be given every such ccntrlbutlon.

• •

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Accidents Must Stop

(Continued from Page 3)

which to base corrective action. One of these
conmlttees goes to the scene of every accident,
makes Its Investigations there, and submits Its
report to headquarters. '

The questions the committee tries to answer
are: What caused the accident? How did It
occur? How can accidents such as this one be
prevented? Statements of witnesses, a close
study of the wreckage and the circumstances of
the accident, and the pilot’s personal, official
and medical history form the basis of the
report. Sabotage Is always considered as a
possibility until definitely ruled out by the
evidence.

When finished, the report is sent to Wash-
ington where It Is reviewed and siibjected to
critical analysis. The Information taken frcm
it is broken down under 80 headings and tabu-
lated with other data In the form of charts,
graphs and tables. The reconmendatlons of the
Investigating Comnittee are also carefully con-
sidered, and corrective action is taken In the
form of directives and suggestions to opera-
tional units, engineers, training Instructors
and recruiting officers.

Educational Campaign

In addition to continuing this report system
and setting up the Regional Safety organization,
the Directorate of Flying Safety will also con^
duct an Intensive educational and publicity
campaign. This will be designed to acquaint
pilots with some of the more common forms of
accidents, to suggest preventative measures and
to warn them to keep on guard against the care-
lessness that Inevitably leads to eujcldents.

Included in the campaign will be articles,
posters, radio prograums, motion pictures, pho-
tographs and every other kind of Informational
device capable of impressing upon Air Forces
personnel the necessity of teeping a constauit
vigil that preventable aircraft accidents do not
occur. The Directorate is deadly serious in its
effort to cut down these accidents, and proposes
to use every weapon in its power to achieve its
goal.

Experience has always been the direct crlte-
tion of safety in flying. A pilot through long
years of flying builds up a fund of knowledge
upon which he draws automatically in eui emer-
gency.

Up until two years ago ’.ve had, in the main, an
experienced Air Force. It was a small, highly

trained, closely knit group. It was an organ-
ization which had been built up slowly over a
period of years. Its operations were understood
by practically all of its personnel, and it was
supervised by a small nudjer of officers of lorig
experience.

Problems Of Growth

With the declaration of emergency, overnight
there was placed upon the shoulders of this
small group of experienced officers the tremen-
dous problem of building an Air Force second to
none. This meant procurlig more airplanes than
had ever before existed, of obtaining pilots to
fly them, crews to man them and mechanics to
maintain them. On top of this was the problem
of organizing this vast mass into efficient can-
bat units capable of carrying the fight to the
enemy.

In one year and nine months the number of
military airplane pilots increased 315 per cent,
the ramber of students learning to fly Increased
1,000 per cent, the nunber of military airplanes
increased over 4D0 per cent and the number of
hours flown 800 per cent.

Under an expansion program such eis this it
was only natural that a large number of experi-
enced personnel had to be taken from the flying
line and placed in planning, tralnlpg and admin-
istrative posltlcms. As a result the ratio of
experienced to inexperienced pilots dropped
abruptly — frcm one to three to ehout one to six.
Since then, a continuously increasing dilution
has been in progress, until today the ratio of
experienced to inexperienced personnel in the
flying activities of the Air Forces is about one
to 50. This is expected to drop still lower,
to one to 150, by the end of the fiscal year
1913.

Iftider present conditions it is no longer pos-
sible to closely supervise the newly-graduated
pilot, to build up his experience step by step
under ideal conditions, or to substitute close
supervision by old-timers for his lack of
experience. Today another substitute must be
used. It is instruction, and the efficient use
by pilots of the accumulated experience of the
Air Forces throughout the years, as expressed in
directives, posters and other media utilized to
dissanlnate sai*ety informat loi.

Some of the best outlines of what to avoid in
flying are contained in the reports of Inves-
tigating Conmlttees submitted from the field. A
study of these shows that 56 per cent of all
accidents occur in landing and 10 more per cent

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

In taxiing. These above all others can be
prevented by the use of ccnmon sense, and by the
ability of the pilot to stay "on his toes".

These same reports also reveal that a great
mnfcer of accidents could have been prev«ited on
the ground before take-off — ^by pilots simply
taking the time to get the "feel" of any new or
different ship they are going to fly. Ninety-
nine per cent of this getting acquainted process
can be done on the ground, the rest should be
dene up about 10,000 feet before any tactical or
cross-coimtry flying is done with a new type.

A few of the more obvious lessons to be
learned from past accident experiences of Air
Forces personnel are the following: (l) Get

thoroughly eicqualnted with your airplane so you
will instinctively go for the right controls in
case of CTiergency, (2) Don't be foolish, cocky,
or careless, (3) Don't let your mind wander, but
concentrate on flying your airplane, and
(4) Don't disobey instructions and directives.

Flyers who hedge-hop into high tension wires,
crane in with the landing gear up, fly into
thunder heads and collide with other planes do
not belong in an air force faced with the
serious job of conducting a life and death
struggle with the Luftwaffe and the Japanese.

This is war. Our purpose is to win it. But
we can't win it with airplanes that are strewn
in pieces over the countryside, and with pilots
who crack up before they even see a Jap simply
because they are too careless, too cocky or too
disobedient to observe the ftindamental rules of
flying saTety.

We need the cooperation of every officer and
man in the Army Air Forces to put this program
across. Without it we must fall. With it we
can reduce our accident rate much more than the
25 per cent set as our goal . The builders , the
maintenance men and many others are doing their
job to get the planes flying, its the pilot's
job to keep 'em there.

• •

Safety is Possible

M CHE than a year of accident-free operations
imder pre-war and war conditions which re-
quired flying in all kinds of weather has been
completed by pursuit squadrons under the cramand
of Captain Mervin L. McNiclde, Army Air Forces,
according to War Department records.

Captain McNickle was In command of the 39th
Pursuit Sqijajdron of the 35th Pursuit Group from
January 15, 1941 to January 25, 1942, and has
been In cotanarKi of the 307th Pursuit Squadron of

may

the 31st Rjrsuit Group from February 1, 1942, to
date.

During the period in which they were under his
conmand, these two squadrons have craspleted
2,393,745 miles of flying without a casualty.

The record is regarded as the more remarktible
in view of the arduous service performed by the
squadrons during these many months. The 39th
Squadron mode its record of perfect siifety iiider
Captain McNickle 's conmand while engaged in the
Louislam maneuvers, the 1st Interceptor Conmand
Exercises, the 3rd Interceptor Conmand Exer-
cises, the North Carolina maneuvers, several
demondtrations including exercises at Fort
Belvoir, Va., and war-time service in the
Pacific Coast theater of operations.

— ^

REVENGE FOR TOM YOU QIJON

EVENGE will be sweet for Tom You Quon.

His wife and three sons were killed by fire
from Japanese warships while attempting to
escape from Hong Kong. His country hag been
ravaged by Jap troops. And he himself has a few
accounts to square as a result of two years' ex-
perience battling the Japs as a member of the
Chinese Air Force. New Quon is in the U.S. Army
Air Forces, stationed at Jefferson Barracks,
Mo. , waiting for his opportunity to help his
adopted Uncle Sam.

In 1932, Quon, who left China at 14, took a
course at the Alford Flying School, LeGrange,
111. By 1937, when the Chinese war began, he
had 200 flying hours to his credit and returned
to China for active duty. There he was assigned
to pursuit squadrons and flew several makes of
American planes.

"At that time," Quon said, "we were fighting
the Japs at Kwangsl Province near Canton. I got
a good deal of coiribat experience, even though we
often fought against terrific odds, since the
Japs had 50 planes to our one. I was never
wounded, although two of my planes were destroy-
ed and I had to bail out. We didn't have any
flyir^ conveniences, either. We had no radio
and we had to determine our course by land-
marks".

Quon's qualifications are now being studied
for disposition. One possibility is that he may
be assigned to the Air Corps Ferrying Command
because he ferried Russian planes frran Moscow to
China during one period of his Chinese Air Force
experience.

CAPT, FRANK BO^TROM

LIEUT.

Dispatches iron the war fronts bring a steadily growing list of Army Air
Forces Heroes, and while the editors of the News Letter hope to print
each month in this space the names of all those who have been decorated
for outstanding achievesient in action, the pace of combat activity makes
it extremely difficult to present complete reports. The Sews Letter's
Honor Koll will always include complete coverage of all Air Forces cita*
tions made or confirmed by the Adjutant General's Office in Washington.
Last month's Air Forces citations featured these names, although
the individual action was not always described in cable dispatches,

BRIG. GEN. HAROLD H. GEORGE, who was killed April 30th in a plane crash, was
posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Medal--" for exceptionally
meritorious service to the government in a post of great responsibility.
General George served as Chief of Staff, Far Eastern Air Force, as
Conmanding Officer, Fifth Interceptor Command, and from Dec, 21, 1941,
to March 11, 1942, commanded all Air Forces troops in the Philippine
Islands, In this capacity, he had full responsibility for all Air
Forces operations in the defense of the Bataan Peninsula, Corregidor and
the other fortified islands at the entrances of Manila Bay, He had
brilliant strategical and tactical concepts, and under continual attacks
by hostile aviation in greatly superior numbers, demonstrated outstand-
ing capacity for command, operating weak forces in such manner as to
fulfill the urgent needs of the command and to strike the enemy effec-
tively when opportunity offered. His personal courage and unceasing
devotion to duty, his ingenuity in improvising when normal means were
lacking, and his inspiring leadership in the execution of seemingly
impossible tasks kept his force intact and effective in spite of all
enemy efforts and contributed immeasurably to the defensive effort of
the entire command",

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS

BRIG. GEN. RALPH ROYCE-chie/ of staff of the American Army Air Forces
in Australia- -“ for heroism and extraordinary achievement: in aerial
flight against an armed enemy”, Gen, Royce lead a 4,000 mile flight of
three B-17 bombers and ten B-25 bombers in a daring raid on shipping,
airfields, and other installations at four Japanese-held points in the
Philippine Islands on April 13 and 14, .4s a result of the raid, the

bombers sank four enemy ships, probably sank another, hit an additional
airfields and troop concentrations. For this same achievement, the
Distinguished Service Cross was also awarded to LT. COL. JOHN HUBERT
DAVIS, squadron leader of the B-25s, and CAPT. FRANK P. BOSTROM,
pilot of one of the B-17s who saved himself and his crew despite
destruction of his plane.

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

MAJOR DAVID GIBBS— for extraordinary heroism in action in the Philippines
and Dutch East Indies. (No details available, )

CAPr. RAY COX and CAPE. FRED CRIMMINS- for entering burning hangars on
Clark Field during the first Japanese attack on the Philippines, calmly
starting the engines of many planes and taxiing them to safety. (Due
to an error in the cables, Capt. Crimmins was listed in the March-April
SENS LETTER under the name of Ciasmings.^

LIEUT. RUSSELL M. CHURCH-(' f*oa f/iumous^- for conducting an attack on 25
airplanes parked on a hostile airfield in the Philippines in the face
of heavy anti-aircraft fire. Although his plane had been set on fire,
he dived more than a half mile to release his bombs with marked effect,
and died in his crashing airplane.

LIEUT. CARL P. GIES— for extraordinary achievement during an attack on
Del Carmen Field, P.I, With complete disregard for the personal risk
involved, he engaged 20 hostile craft and brought dornn one enemy plane,
and later upon rejoining a companion airplane , was attacked by three
enemy fighters . His furious attack sent one raider crashing and
dispersed the two remaining enemy planes.

LIEUT. JOSE P. GOZAR— for heroically fighting off Japanese planes over
Zablan Field, P.I, When his guns Jammed he continued the attack by
attempting to ram an enemy plane. By his display of courage and leader-
ship and after a series of such maneuvers he forced the enemy to flee
without further attacks against the airdrome.

LIEUr. RANDALL KEATOR-for outstanding achievement in attacking three
enemy planes and bringing down the first hostile plane destroyed in
air combat in the Philippines. He was joined by other American aircraft
and in the ensuing combat two more enemy planes were shot down. While
returning to Clark Field, he pursued an enemy plane and engaged it
until it plunged in flames. (Lieut. Keator was erroneously listed as
Randall Preator in the February NEWS LETTER.)

LIEUT. JOSEPH LAFIEUR-for extraordinary achievement in action in the
Philippines. (Details unknown.)

LIEUT. GRANT MAHOfCY-for volunteering for an extremely dangerous aerial
reconnaissance mission over Luzon in early December. He secured vital
information needed for a subsequent successful bombing attack. Next
day, upon returning from a bombing mission near Legaspi , in which he
destroyed an enemy flying boat, he displayed exceptional courage in
landing his airplane with bombs dangerously hanging from their racks
in preference to bailing out.

SERGT . ANTHONY HOLUB-for his display of personal heroism and devotion

to duty. When a heavy aerial bombardment began on Clark Field, he

ran to his airplane and returned the machine gun fire of attacking

planes from the top turret guns of his craft. After his ammunition

was exhausted, he ran through heavy strafing fire to a nearby damaged

plane, removed as many ammunition cans as he could carry and returned

to his guns, defending his aircraft from serious damage, . _

(Continued on Page 33)

MAY 1942

Before - Camouflaged Airdrome - After

Swivel Chair Bombardier

lly Thomas O. Miliiis

Photo Interpretation t’nit, A-2

W roTTHER you read Shakespeare or the comics,
you know about camouflage — the fallen log
that gets up and nmis away carrying a rifle, the
haystack that skips over the brook and up the
opposite bank in high gear.

Camouflage was old stuff when Birnam Wood went
to Dunslnane in Shakespeare's sneak attack on
Macbeth.

The aerial camera has put old-fashl(xied camou-
flage on the spot. Sleight-of-hand concealment
has been forced into new techniques for de-
ceiving the bombardier up above and the behlnd-
the-lines observer who wasn't there — the photo
Interpreter .

Whether flying at high altitudes beyond anti-
aircraft range or hedge-hopping, at 3 00 miles an
hour, the bcmbardier still has his troubles in
spotting any highly camouflaged target in time
to bomb It accurately. In fact, flyers often
find it difficult to locate their own highly
camouflaged bases when returning from a mission;
in some cases they have to be "talked in."

“Secret Weapon”

Hie plioto-interpreter has been this war's
secret weapon on the anti-camouflage front.
Furnish him with clear photographs and he will

analyze the pictured landscape in detail, clear-
ing up at his leisure all the mysteries that
escaped the above- the-spot observer.

The photo Interpreter is the swivel chair
bombardier. Like the armchair general, he never
misses. A reconnaissance pilot speeds over his
target on the lookout for enemy interceptors,
flak, his predetermined course and altitude. A
photo interpreter, back at base headquarters,
studies the still, flat surface of a pair of
aerial reconnaissance photographs under the
stereoscope, and sees the colorful landscape in
a kaleidoscopic pattern of gray tones before
him.

The stereoscope gives the photo- Interpreter a
third-dimensional view. This compact device of
magnifying lenses, adapted from Grandma's parlor
stereopticon, in the hands of the photo inter-
preter becomes as tidy a lethal weapon as the
Garand rifle. With it he can locate not only
the camouflaged target, biit make a reasonable
conjecture as to the next enemy move. He can
Identify tiie number and typies of aircraft, for
exajnple, and read all the vital statistics of an
enemy area from the picture.

The primary objective for the photo inter-
preter, as for all other participants in total

MAY 1912

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

air war. Is the enemy airfield. Now that the
sky Is a front line trench, the vulnerability of
the airfield to attack — both by bonbtng and by
aerial photographic reconnaissance — has assigned
camouflage to extra heavy guard duty around such
vital areas.

The value of camouflage for known airfields is
to pjuzzle the bcmfcardler, delaying his recog-
nition of his teirget for the split second that
may determine success or failure of the mission.
For new and secret installations or airfields,
the aim is to conceal them as long as pxjsslble
from jjhotographic reconnaissance and interpre-
tation. Thus, delay may be caused in the rec-
ognition of new buildings, new runways, unac-
customed activities, preparations for a cam-
paign, or extension of the size and strength of
known fields.

The photo interpreter has three camouflage
nuts to crack— concealment, disguise and decoys.

The best way to keep an interpreter from
drawing the right conclusion about what goes on
at £in airfield is to keep him from seeing any-
thing. To this end, the enemy will adopt the
most rudimentary form of concealment — Just plain
hiding. The pilot will p)ark his aircraft under
trees out of sl^t, in tents covered with foli-
age, or under elaborate structures of netting.
Supplies are similarly kept under cover, in
every sense of the word.

Tricks Of The Trade

Another device for keeping installations out
of sight is simply to bury them. This is often
a means for protecting fuel stores and pjersonnel
shelters. Their presence may be revealed to the
photo interpreter, however, by small mounds of
earth which are given a startling third dimen-
sion of stereo vision, or by truck tracks or
footpaths leading to the movmds. This type of
concealment may nevertheless be very difficult
to spot unless located during construction. By
comparative pjhotographs , the photo interpreter
may find a clue in the personnel activity or in
the aircraft habitually parked near the sus-
pected areas.

Instead of hiding the installations, it is
possible for the enemy to copy sane of nature's
woodcraft tricks and make the whole field blend
with the landscape — not enough to conceal it,
but enough to delay recognition on the pert of
the bombardier. This protective coloration
technique takes a tip from animals that wear
vertical stripes to harmonize with the tall
jungle grass they live in, or those dappled with

spots like the patches of light and shade in
their forest lairs.

The camouflaged airfield will have an outline
to conform with the pattern of the landscape — a
straight and decided outline in an area of geo-
metric farm piatterns, an irregular and indef-
inite outline in a region of unbroken, unfenced
wooded areas. Installations are sited so as to
take advantage of natural cover such eis woods
and contours of the ground; aircraft may be
parked in gapjs cut in hedges so that their wlpgs
will carry on the line of the hedge. Sites are
avoided if they have geographic cues, such as
lakes, river forks, monuments, or other lauid-
marks that may help a bombardier quickly iden-
tify the location. The installations are toied
down by darkening roofs, runways, and taxi ways
with paint or cinders or sane other medium which
will make them photograph the same tone as the
surroundlrg area. Disruptive painting, however,
if done inadequately, is worse than useless,
both for runways and buildings.

Disguise Is Best

Airfields located in mixed open and wooded
areas, with natural avenues of approach, are
easier to blend into the existing landscape
pattern. The wooded areas are therefore espe-
cially subject to the photo interpreter's sus-
plclai as is any unaccountable traffic hlgh:-
ways. In either heavily wooded areas or flat
opjen country, blending would be less successflil
for concealmait than other devices.

The type of camouflage that poses the most
difficult problem for the photo interpreter is
disguise. The suspicious elements may be
plainly seen, but how can he tell whether they
are what they seon? The answer is found through
judgment rather than through direct recognition.

The photo interpreter may find that furrows,
canals, hedges, fences and other apparent ob-
structions are merely painted on an airfield to
make it seem to be unvisable. (on one field the
German Air Force painted a lake) . Roads, ave-
nues of trees, orchards, and regular patterns of
subdividing farm fields are painted across the
airfield as a usual practice. This artificially
projects the pattern of the landscape upx)n the
field. Each Installation of the airfield may
have its own disguise, appropriate to its size
and situation, in keeping with the surrounding
countryside. The hangar may look like a barn,
with an adjoining orchard painted beside it.
Personnel huts may masquerade as cottages with
garden patches, arranged along their apjpr opr late
village streets, like the layout used at Dekooy.

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Another sector of the field may he planned to
resemble a churchyard. (The German Air Force
does not limit Itself to any standard type of
structure, but follows the policy of using the
obvious but Innocent- looking structures char-
acteristic of the area) . Every building big
enough to be useful should, in such excessively
innocent areas, be suspect.

Fooling The Shadow

Another element of disguise is the technique
of altering the shadow jjattern and the apparent
outline of an installation. On German airfields,
netting and built-up camouflage structures are
extensively used to cast an irregular shadow
pattern and disguise a building's outline. The
interpreter can circumvent these wiles with the
aid of stereo vision's third dimension, looking
for the contours of the structure within the
pattern rather than the general shape.

A neat Na^i stunt for camouflaging an airfield
is to duplicate all installations in a decoy
field, to draw enemy fire, and with no other
operational use. When night bombing is the
threat, a mock airfield is set up sane distance
from the actual field. The shape of the runway
is duplicated and treated so that it gives off a
faint glow, or at least is discernible at night.
The type of decoy field designed for protection
against day bonibing is generally set up nearer
the real field, complete with runways, taxi
tracks, dispersal areas, dunniy aircraft, and in
sane cases even the field markers.

On these dunmy fields the photo interpreter's
close scrutiny uncovers a conspicuous lack of
the usual airfield activity and of minor instal-
lations. His responsibility, whenever he
observes an apparent duplication of airfields,
is to detennlne which is the decoy, so that the
bontoardier will be on guard against this decep-
tion.

The Stereoscope

To circumvent these devious aims of camou-
flage, the photo interpreter has only one basic
tool — the stereo vision made possible by the
stereoscope, which gives him depth perception.
The stereoscojje projects the flat surface of the
pair of aerial photographs into third-dimen-
sional relief. What had appeared to be a flat
rectangle on the picture, when viewed by stereo
turns out to be the domed roof of a camouflaged
hangar. This third-dimensional relief enables
him to determine if the pattern that suggests
trees is merely paint on a disguised runway or

actually trees standing out in full relief and
casting shadows. By stereo he may recogilze the
true nature of what appears as a dark irregular
shadow pattern on the photograph: it becomes

the rectangular roof of a camouflaged aircraft
shelter in a disguising clunp of shrubbery.

As an aid to rapid analysis, the photo inter-
preter must develop a sense of texture and depth
perception. Tlie texture alone may be the tlp)-
off to a camouflaged field — an airfield must of
necessity be firm and hsird. A pattern of paint-
ed fields stretching across it, even though
blending in color with surrounding farm areas,
will show by their hard surface that they are
not bearing a crop. A sensitive perception of
depth — that is, relief, or irregularity in
contour — will help him penetrate the disguise
that depends on outline rather than height.

There are a half-dozen or so touchstones which
serve as clues to the penetration of camouflage,
such as roads, taxi tracks, runways, earth
scarred from excavations, mounds of heaped-up
earth. A methodical procedure for the photo
interpreter, in inspecting photographs for
camouflaged airfields, could be worked out sone-
what along the likes of the following steps.

Procedure

First, to spot an airfield on a reconnaissance
strip of a suspected area, quickly scan the
pictures for stretches of level ground or fields
without obstruction, or with the least obstruc-
tions — large enovgh for landing aircraft.

Second, having eliminated all except photo-
graphs of relatively clear stretches, (which are
level and large enough) , inspect these for
possible hangars and runways — the largest ele-
ments of an airfield, and the most difficult to
conceal. Any building big enough to house or
hide an installation should be open to suspi-
cion. Pay attention to straight stretches of
usable road and long stretches of well drained
turf that might serve the purpose of a runway.

Third, watch for an area in which the texture
is definitely flat and bald, in contrast to the
velvety fields of growing crops. The flatness
may indicate the camouflaged landing field,
scratched ard. packed down with use.

Fourth, watch for slight deviations fron the
pattern of the landscapje. Fields with outlines
that are too geonetrlcal, too regular, or too
big may be merely painted across the airfield.
Roads that are too straight, clean, and sharply
defined may be painted dummies; roads actimlly
(Continued on Page 31)

MAY 1942

CROSS COUNTRY

This will introduce Cross Country , a new
and informal section of this magazine which
each month will feature local news bits. A
lot depends on you. We would like to get
our local news right from the horse’s mouth:
so send in your contributions , including
snapshots and photographs with a human in-
terest touch. Address your contributions
direct to the Editor. AIR FORCES NEWS LET-
TER, Public Relations Division, AAF , Wash-
ington, D.C.

The Edi tor

W HAT family Is "most represented" in the
Service? The Jenkins family of Verbena,
Ala., has seven sons on active duty with the
armed forces. Two are in the Air Forces:
Charles, a master sergeant at Duncan Field, and
Robert, a staff sergeant at Efelln Field, Fla.
The Army Ground Forces and Navy claim the

others The Watkins family of Weishington,

D.C. also can claim seven. Col. Dudley Watkins
is on active duty at the Air Force Proving
Ground at %lln Field, Fla. and six sons are in
service. Lt. John C.A. Watkins, former editor
of the AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER. Is now a student
flying-officer at Tuscaloosa; Jack, also a
lieutenant, has been at Hlckam Field since before
Dec. 7; two others are in the RAF; another is
with the Army engineers in Iceland, and the
youngest, soon to be cannissioned a lieutenant,
is in the senior ROTC brigade at the University

of Michigan Aviation Cadet Van W. Jones of

Kelly's Advanced Flying School has a brother Ted
in the Marines, Richard in the Army, Robert in
the Navy. .... .Mothers with JTour or more sons in
the armed forces are entitled to receive the
SriDlCT of Honor, a gold medal which bears a star
for each son represented. Information concern-
ing mothers who can qualify should be sent to
the Einblem of Honor Association, 60 East 42nd

Street, New York, N.Y One of the first

mothers to be honored was Mrs . Dora Cooper of
Samson, Ala. , who received the Bnblem frcm Maj .
Gen. George E. Stratemeyer, Commanding the
Southeast Air Force Training Center, in a
special ceremony at which four of her five sons
in military service were present. The fifth is

in Basra, Iraq, with the U.S. Military Mission.

Godman Field wants pictures for its
Squadron history book of any and all offi-
cers and men who have served at one time or
another in the 15th Observation Squadron.
When sending pictures, please give full
name, date of service with this organiza-
tion, and rank at that time. Pictures
should be sent to the Public Relations offi-
cer, 15th Observat ion Squadron, Godman
Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky.

"Get 'Em There, Get 'Em Back" is the new
slogan of the Navigation School at Turner Field,
Ga. . . . . . .Althongh he has been flyli^ since 1921,

Col. Warner B. Gates, Commanding Officer at
Lawson Field, meuie his first flight in a com-
mercial airplane recently when he flew to San
Antonio on a Ferrying Command mission. .... .The

Amy's first parachutist chaplain is Raymond S.
Hall of Ft. Benning, Ga. After a week of talk-
ing to the men he applied for permission to take
the five-week training course. He found it
rough going but now is a qualified chutist and
looks forward to each Jump. The men's reaction
to his jumping? "It increased attendance at
chapel", Chaplain Hall rejtorts.

The President has nominated Col. Claire L.
Chennault, commander of the American Volunteer

Group in China, to be a brigadier general

Every time Sgt. Thomas Snow picks \ip the phone
on his desk in headquarters at Camp Blanding,
Fla., he has to say, "Special Services Section,

Sgt. Snow speaking" Pvt. David Sackson,

former conductor of the Charleston Symphony
Orchestra, and a member of the New York Phil-
harmonic and NBC Symphony Orchestras and the
Coolidge and Gordon string quartets, recently
finished washing sjjuds, cleaned up, rushed over
frcm K.P. duty to the Service Club, and brought
down the house at Keesler Field, Miss, with a
Bach violin recital.

Two new service medals, the American De-
fense Service Medal, first to be awarded by

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

the Army since the World War Victory Medal,
and the Good Conduct Medal for enlisted men
have been ordered established by the Pres-
ident. The first will be awarded to all
U.S. military personnel for honorable
service of 12 months or longer between Sept.
1939 and December 7, 1941. The Good Conduct
medal is authorized for award to those
enlisted men who on or after June 28, 1941,
honorably completed three years of active
Federal military service and who are recom-
mended for the award by their Commanding
Officers for exemplary behavior, efficiency
and fidelity.

Harold Gatty, who flew around the world
with the late Wiley Post in 1931 is now on
duty with the U.S. Army Air Forces in Aus-
tralia Major Warren Eaton, inventor of

the radio compass, is now at Wright Field.

Hls former co-workers In a plant at Aliquippa,
Pa., recently sent Pvt. Ray Reed of Geiger
Field, Wash., a 10,000 word letter on a strip of

X»per 6 Inches wide, 40 feet long Friends

In Bethlehem, Pa., sent Pvt. Raymond Kindt of
Mather Field, Cal., a letter 14 Inches wide and

9 feet lopg More than half the newest class

of navigation cadets at Kelly Field's Navigation
School, the largest In the AAF, have had no
previous flying experience. They entered the
school direct from civilian life or other Arvay

branches Gunter Field, Ala., tells of the

civilian, invited to visit the field, who wrote:
"Maybe I could arrange to fly at Gunter Field if

you have a landing field" Herbert C.

Klynstra, who has toured the country with a
nationally known circus as a clown, is now at
Kelly Field. He has also been a carpenter,
acrobat, truck driver, salesman, shipping clerk,
and farm hand.

The Navy has been given full command over all
anti-siibmarlne activities on both coasts, and
Army air units have been allocated to the Naval

Conmanders of Sea Frontiers An Airborne

Command has been created in the Army Ground
Forces, with headquarters at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Several glider units from the AAF will be made
available for special training under the Air-
borne Conmand Great Britain has formed an

Army Air Corps bringing all air-borne troops
under one imit. Previously all planes belonged
to the RAF, but now the Army will have a flying
force of its own for closer cooperation with

ground units Pilots on conmercial airplanes

now broadcast all weather information in special

code Lt. Col. Lester J. Maitland, just

returned from the fighting fronts in the Phil-
ippines and Australia, and the first man ever to
fly from the West Coast to Hawaii, has been
named Assistant Conmandant of Gunter Field.

Soldiers at Logan Field, Colo., have dis-
covered a law making i t punishable to shoot
buffalo out of the Ft. Logan barracks win-
dows ..... .The first group of the AAF’ s Fly-
ing Sergeants have been graduated as mil-
itary pilots from the Gulf Coast Air Force
Training Center. Pilot training for en-
listed men was begun last fall and upon com-
pletion of training the students are ap-
pointed Staff Sergeant Pilots with pay of

$108 per month while on flight duty A

Flying Sergeants' Club has been organized at
Maxwell Field, Ala., and plans are being
made to expand it into a national organ-
ization West Point cadets who take

special training for the Air Forces will be
graduated with their wings instead of de-
voting several months after graduation to
special training,

Filipinos in the U.S. have been made eligible
for enrollment eis flying ctuiets in the Army Air
Forces, and Secretary Stimson has waived cit-
izenship regulatlOTis in their behalf Brig.

Gen. William 0. Butler is the newly appointed
Conmanding General of the Eleventh Air Force.
Gen. Butler came to Alaska from Wright Field....
The Southeast Air Force Training Center esti-
mates that 500 American Anqy fighter pilots who
otherwise would have been eliminated have been
"saved for the service" through the new phys-
ical training program Maj . Gen. Follett

Bradley has been appointed Conmanding General of
the First Air Force, and Brig. Gen. John K.
Cannc*i is the new Ccomander of the First Inter-
ceptor Conmand The Air Force Basic Flying

School at Moffett Field, Cal., has been trans-
ferred to Chico, Cal.

Applicants are needed for training at the new
Glider Pilot Training School at Twenty-nine
Palms, Cal. At present only enlisted men with
two months' service are eligible. To qualify,
an applicant must either be (1) a power plane
pilot, graduate of a CAA primary or secondary
course; or (2) a glider pilot who can produce
certified evidence of at least 30 hours' glider
time or have piloted at least 200 glider
flights .....

MAY 1942

Morale Builders

By Lieut. Col. R. C. Jones

Air Forces Morale Officer

S PECIAL service agencies are being set up In
all CGoniancis of the Air Forces to enlarge
upon recreational, physical fitness and general
welfare activities for all units down to and
Including squadrcais .

The efforts of these agencies will be directed
toward Improving the physical condition of all
officers and men, and toward building up the
morale and "esprit de corjDS" of Air Force units.

The agencies will work under the general
supervision of the War Department Special
Service Branch, headed by Gen. Frederick H.
Osborn. This Branch Is constantly studying the
factors that Influence the effectiveness of
military units and aids field conmanders In
their task of building up morale In their organ-
izations. Activities of the Air Force special
service agencies will also be coordinated by the
Director of Personnel.

Qualifications

As often as practicable. Air Force special
service officers will have physical education
and recreation training qualifications. All
group special services officers will be espe-
cially qualified for these activities. One non-
conmlssloned officer "special services assist-
ant" Is authorized for each squadron. These men
will be selected for their leadership and per-
sonal qualifications. They will assist their
ccnmanders and the group special services offi-
cer In dlrectlr^ squadron physical conditioning
exercises, mass games, sport, recreational
activities, entertainments, and In bolstering
the general welfare.

Enlisted men with coaching, teaching, recre-
ational, athletic or similar experience will be
eligible for these non-ccnmlssloned assignments.
They may also aspire to the physical training
course, AAF Officer Candidate School, If they
have a college degree In physical education or
comparable training, plus experience In the
physical fitness field. Upon graduation, they
will be consnlssloned Second Lleuteneuits and
assigned to duty, either as special services
officers throughout the AAF, or as physical
training Instructors for aviation or technical
training stixients .

Special services activities In the AAF are an
outgrowth of the former A. and R. or Morale
officer's responsibilities. Developnent and
maintenance of satisfactory morale Is a natural
by-product of the program. Although the word
"morale" has been abused and misunderstood In
many quarters. It pertains to a highly Important
feature of mllltery life and efficiency.

"The Old Fight”

General George C. Marshall recently said,
"Najwlecn evaluated morale over material as three
to one. I believe that recent experiences
Indicate a re-estlmate of these values — the odds
being nearer to five to one, or possibly even
ten to one, in some Instances, In favor of the
psychological feictor . "

"The old fight" has been laiyghed at for belpg
childishly dramatic, but It Is nevertheless true
that training alone wcai’t win a war If It Isn't
backed up by a high degree of morale. Call It
what you will — esprit de corps, high spirits, or
a cheerful, resolute state of mind — It all adds
up to the same thing. All work and no play not
CTily makes Jack a dull soldier, but It also may
cause the breakdown of the most highly trained
Array.

Play will not be the only activity under the
AAF special services program. In addition to
the rigorous physical fitness and athletics
program being developed by a ccmmlttee of the
nation's leading experts, there are educational
opportunities offered to ambitious soldiers, and
advice upon Insurance matters, personal finan-
ces, dependents and other similar problems.

Functions

Special services officers assigned to AAF
units will have such varied duties as prcsnotlon
of athletic contests, direction of calisthenics
and mass games, procurement of motion picture
service, organization of amateur theatricals,
development of libraries, production of radio
programs, promotion of crafts and hobby groups,
activation of musical organizations, and
stimulation of recreational opportunities In
nearby civilian communities. In short, they
(Continued on Page 34)

MAY 1942

A DAY AT ABf

Sketches made

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tWise Wi I

tsC*

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iS^ iJr-

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Capt. Raymond €

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ipT

R FORCE RASE

oiling Field, D. €.
cmore, AAF Artist

Crash Teehniqu^^

Russian Ramming Downs Axis Pianes

O NE of the specialties of Russian airmen In
their battle against the Gemen air force Is
the tactic of ramming enenQr planes. The sacri-
fice of a dying pilot in a damaged plane by a
deliberate collision with his foe Is a relic of
the First World War but the Russians have de-
veloped raamlng as a definite tactic from which
both pilot and plane may escape undamaged.

.Ramnlpg was develojjed by the Russian airmen
after they observed that frequently German
multi-motored bonbers escaped after belrg hard
hit and seriously damaged by Russian pursuits.
Often the pursuit pilot scored heavily, kUllrg
part of the bonber’s crew and disabling cne or
more motors. However, these attacks usually ex-
hausted the pursuit's limited aranunltlon supply,
permitting the boober to limp back behind Its
own lines. Ranmlng is designed to destroy these
crippled planes. It takes a ccanblnatlom of
skillful piloting and utilization of the crippl-
ed victim's lack of maneuverability to execute a
successful ranmlng operatlcm with a minimum of
damage to the atteicklng pilot and plane. More
often the attacking plane is damaged and the pi-
lot balls out.

Three Methods

Soviet flyers employ three types of ramming
accordlrg to Major N. Denisov in a recent USSR
Embassy bulletin. The most dangerous is the di-
rect blow. Hitting the enemy plane with a part
of a Russian plane and clipping control surfaices
by slight propeller contact are also used. The
latter method calls for the greatest skill aixi
offers the best chance of survival.

Major Denisov points out that the propeller
clipping method calls for an approach fr<xn the
rear with the attacking plane's speed adjusted
to that of the enany. As soon as slight cwitact
is felt the attacker must drop away to avoid
crashing with the enen^ plane as it falls. If
the ramning flyer is too slow he may easily be-
come entangled with the stricken plane and
dragged dcwn with it.

American Air Forces observers abroad report
numerous examples of the Russians' ramming tac-
tics and there are accounts available from
Soviet flyers who have ranmed German bcnbers and
made successful landings. Here is the account

given by Junior Lieutenant V. Talalildiln who was
awarded the order of Hero of the Soviet Union
for his exploits:

On the night of August 6, 1941, when fascist
bombers made one of their attempts to break
throng to Moscow, I was ordered to take off In
my fighter and patrol the approaches to the
city. I socKi spotted a Heinkel 111 at an alti-
tude of about 15,000 feet. Swooping down I
managed to get on Its tall and attacked.

Russian Describes Attack

"With one of my first biu’sts I put the bonb-
er's right engine out of conmlsslon. The plane
banked sharply and set Its course for hcxne,
steadily losing altitude. I continued to attack
the enemy and gave him about six bursts follow-
ing him down to about 7,500 feet when my am-
munition gave out. What was I to do? I could
have followed the bonber farther but that would
have been useless. With only one epgine It
cculd still fly quite a distance and perhaps es-
cape. There was only one thing to do— ram the
en«ny.

"I decided to chop off his tail with my pro-
peller and opened my throttle. Only about 30
feet now separated the two planes . I could
clearly see the armor plating on the bcxnbers
belly as I approached frcao behind and below.

"At that moment the enemy opened fire with a
heavy machine gun. A searing pain tore through
ny right hand. Immediately I gave my plane the
gun and the whole machine, not just the pro-
peller, struck the barber. There was a terri-
fying crash. My fighter turned upside down. I
unfastened ny belt and drew up my feet, crawled
to the opening and threw myself overboard. For
2,400 feet I fell like a stone not oprenlng ny
parachute. Only after I heard the roar of ny
plane to one side did I pull the ripcord. I
landed In a small lake and made my way to
shore . "

Landed Plane Safely

Pilot Mlldmlev of the Soviet Fleet Air Service
was credited with ranmlng a Heinkel 126 In one
of the first appearances of this new German alr-
(Continued on Page 29)

MAY 1942

M CHRIS Field, Charlotte, N.C., has supple-
mented its supply of expensive wrecking
trucks, used for lifting and transporting
wrecked planes, with an inexpensive substitute.
The new device is a portable hoist which can
easily handle an 8,000 pound plane when attached
to a truck having a winch in front.

The hoist costs less than $200 to manufacture
and is easily constructed. It consists of a
tripod of irc*i pipes which eire attacl^ to the
truck bvmper . A cable runs from a cylinder at
the base of the tripod up through a pulley
attached to the top.

This type of construction has been tried be-
fore, but the strain has always proved too great
for the front springs amd axle. This problem
was solved by adding a small wheel to support
the bmper, thus absorbing the strain.

The new hoist was developed by Major James' H.
Reed, Jr., Commanding Officer of the Morris
Field SiJb-depot. Major Heed first nnde a model
in the base haiigar and tested it in miniature to
prove its effectiveness . Several full-scale
hoists are now in use at the base.

Major Reed was recently cotmnended for his
li^enulty by engineering officers at several
other Air Forces Depots, who have begiwi to con-
struct hoists of their own.

ELECTRIC FLYING SUITS ON ORDER

T he Army Air Forces will soon have several
thousand electrically-heated flying suits,
designed to keep aviators comfortable at 60
degrees below zero.

Many pounds lighter than the sheepskin suits
they will replace, the new suits are not nearly
so bulky. Pilots therefore will have more room
for manipulating instruments, controls and au’ma-
ment. The temperature of the suits will be
autonatically controlled to adjust to changes in
the temperature of tlie air.

The suit is the result of experiments con-
ducted at Patterson Field during the past win-
ter, and of a test flight to Alaska. Tests were
directed by Frank G. Mans on, equipment engineer

at Wright Field. General Electric Co. will
manufacture the outfits.

JEW ALLOY USED

N orth American has developed a new steel
alloy that can take the place of alimlnun in
airplane construction. Use of the new alloy
eliminates the necessity of rivets, since spot
welding can be used. It is estimated the total
weight of planes using the new material will be
UvcreaseO no more than three percent that of al-
imlmin planes. Under the new process approxi-
mately 1,250 pounds of alumlnun alloy should be
saved per plane.

BRITISH DEVISE NEW DE-ICING APPARATUS

A new de-icing appeu*atus has been developed in
Great Britain. It is for use on aircraft
having adjustable pitch propellers, and provides
Imiwoved, controlled delivery of the de-icing
fluid at required times.

The new device consists of a prop-nose spinner
having dotile walls that provide a container for
the de-icer fluid. The outlet of the container
is normally closed by a valve spring, being
opened by adjusting the pitch angle of the pro-
peller blade.

Propeller pitch is controlled frcan the cock-
pit, the arrangement being such that when ice is
f(KTnlng the pilot can open the outlet valve of
the fluid COTitalner by adjusting the pitch angle
of the prop frcm "maximum cruising" throiigh an
angle of about five degrees. The valve plunger
then uncovers the outlet port and the de-icing,
fluid under pressure is sprayed through holes
over the prop blade:.? and other parts of the
plane.

HOW TO "SPOT" BY EAR

T he British Royal Observer Corps has been
conducting experiments with the sovind of
airplanes, and has uncovered sane useful facts.
A few of the more interesting are as follows:

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Unless the plane under watch by the observer
passes very near, the sound seems to come from
seme distance behind it.

Wind affects the volume and Intercity of the
sound of airplane motors, but not the pitch.

A plane sounds louder behind a cloud than in
the open sky. Determination of the exact posi-
tion under such circumstances, however, is
difficult because the sound may be reflected
from one cloud to another.

On a hot day sound travels feister than on a
cold day, and on a damp day It travels faster
and farther than on a dry day. Planes may
therefore be heard most plainly on a warm, misty
evening, or when there is a haze or the barom-
eter is low. With a dry east wind in winter it
is often difficult to hear a plane even two
miles away.

The sound of a plane can be heard quite
clearly in a stone, iron, thin wood or sand-
bagged enclosure; but grass, asbestos boards,
etc. are bad conductors.

An approaching plane has a higher note than a
receding one. The pitch of this note changes
according to the distance of the plane from the
observer. The pitch of high-flying planes
changes slower than low-flying planes, even
though they au’e flying more rapidly.

NEW PILOT TESTING APPARATUS

A nother step toward the more efficient
training of AAF pilots took place recently
at Duncan Field when Captain A.F. Constable
Invented an apparatus to measure the coordi-
nation and potential flying ability of aviation
cadets.

The machine utilizes the rudder and stick of a
regular airplane. Confronting the man to be
examined is a panel with three series of lights —
red and greai. Each time a red light flashes on
the cadet must use his instrunents to line up a
green light with the red. The time required to
accomplish a prescribed number of matchings.
Captain Constable says, will prove an accurate
measure of the cadet's muscular coordlnatlcxi and
piloting skill.

The machines are now being manufactured and
are being sent to a number of cadet reception
centers all over the United States. Captain
Cwistable has been given the job of supervising
the ccranercial producticai.

Jr> the picture below Capt . Constable demon-
strates his device for Lt , Col, I.W,.Ott and Mr,
R.J, Van Horn of the Duncan Field Engineering
Depar tmen t ,

1912

The Delayed Jump

By Arthur H. Starnes

A two year Investigation of free-fall delayed-
opening parachute jumps conducted with the
assistance and observation of two eminent med-
ical authorities, has convinced me that airmen
who must jump from airplanes — and this applies
especially to ccxnbat air crews — should not open
their parachutes until they have fallen to
dense, safe air close to the earth. Close is an
indefinite word, but it is my opinion that
chutes can be opened safely as low as 1,500 feet
above the ground by persons who never have
jimped before.

The investigation, which delved into the field
of physiology and the experience a long-delayed
parachute opening has upon the airman's mind
indicate that such a use of parachutes can be
made with a high degree of safety. Furthermore,
these jumps can be made with what I understand
is standard equipment for all army airmen —
whether they fly at great heights or at alti-
tudes below 10,000 feet. In particular I was
Interested in problems Involving jumps from
heights between 35,000 and 30,000 feet. The
same conclusions apply for these jumps — except
that the reasons for delaying the canopy opening
are more convincing than for jumps from lower
levels.

Reasons

Specifically the following reasons for making
delayed jumps eu’e found to be valid:

1. Delaying opening of the parachute de-
creases the likelihood of an airman being struck
by a falling pleuie or its jjarts.

2. Delaying opening when jumping fran a high
speed airplane will permit the body to slow down
to a safe rate of speed and prevent injury for
the airman due to the opening shock; it will
also prevent damage to the canopy and harness .

3. Enemy flyers who are known to practice
machine gunning of airmen found floating help-
lessly in parachutes cannot fire on airmen who
make free falls. The outline of a falling body
merges into the pattern of the earth below
making it almost impossible to keep track of a
man who makes a delayed opening drop.

4. By delaying the opening one can jump from
high altitudes and not become numbingly chilled
by low temperatures. A chilled, clumsy body
taking a landing shock is more apt to receive
Injury than an agile one.

Arthur H. Starnes, just before his historic
experimental delayed jump from 30,000 feet.

5. The oxygen factor is an Important one on
the side of delayed jumps from high altitudes.
If parac'hutes were opened at heights above
20,000 feet and bottled oxygen was not available
a pilot might die from anoxia. If a delayed
junp is made he will fall in a matter of seconds
into air that is life-sustaining.

Purely as qualifying information I may say
that I have made 51 delayed jtnqs, and more than
300 total parachute jumps . I have made free
falls that range frc»n 2,500 to 9,000 feet when

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

leaving airplanes up to heights of 10,000 feet.

% longest free fall was 29,300 feet made last
fall when I jumped from a corrected height of
30,800 feet. For the record the corrected air-
speed at that height was 165 miles an hour.
Indicated outside air temperature was in the
neighborhood of 46 degrees Fahrenheit below
zero. Weather biireau reports (radio sonde) that
morning indicated 48 degrees below at 31,000
feet. Ground temperature was 64 degrees.

The time of that fall was 116.5 seconds. The
average rate of falling speed approximated 170
miles an hour. The peak was 230 miles an hour
at 26,000 which decelerated to 130 miles an hour
when the chute opened at 1,500 feet above the
ground or 2,100 feet sea level. Speeds varied
considerably with body position in the fall.

I used an oxygen mask, goggles and a ball-out
bottle for jumps above 10,000 feet. These are,

I understand, beipg made standard equipment in
the Army A.lr Forces . In low temperatures gog-
gles are essential to prevent injury to the
eyes.

Conclusions

The conclusions which I believe should be _
emphasized to all airmen in connection with
these experiments follow:

A. Preparation.

1. It is not necessary to practice free fall
in order to take advantage of it in time of ne-
cessity.

2. Standard equipment for airmen is all that
is required. (In making my studies I carried 85
pounds of instruments,, and my total weight was
285 3/4 pounds. Even so, the long jump was ac-
complished without injury.)

3. Proper adjustment of parachute harness
cannot be too strongly stressed. Improper ad-
justment may result in injury when the chute
opens. The rider strap, or main suspension
loop, which forms about the hips should be so
adjusted that when one stands erect this strap
fits tightly just below the cheeks of the but-
tocks. The harness should be snugly fitted.
One test is that if properly adjusted the har-
ness makes it uncomfortable to stand erect. It
is comfortable, however, when seated.

4. Airmen should be instructed that no loss
of consciousness occurs during a free fall even
of sustained duration.

5. The heart beat rate is not significantly
effected, nor is the breathing apparatus. In
other words, during a free fall, an airman can
breathe, shout and talk.

6. The Eustachian tubes should be opened dur-
ing the fall. Ear drums can be opened easily by

a lower jaw action as if one were yawning; or by
opening the mouth wide and hollowing out, or
jjushlng back the upp)er part of the throat in a
fixed position. All these are adaptable to
speeds of descent in free falls.

B. Jumping.

1. Jumps should, when p>ossible, be made head
first from an airplane.

2. Airmen should remenber that if jjarachutes
are opened at speeds in excess of 150 miles an
hour Injury is almost certain. If time for de-
celeration is available the speed of fall will
decrease to 120-135 miles an hour.

3. The airman need not be concerned with body
pxeltion in relation to the earth's surface dur-
ing fall or at the time of ripping the para-
chute. Of seven known types of body movement
during free fall only one type is likely to
cause fouling of a properly p>acked chute. This
is somersaultipg with the legs drawn up against
the belly. This can happen only when the airman
knowingly, and with great effort holds the legs
in place. Releasing the legs changes this som-
ersaulting motion.

4. A definite warning is available for airmen
to announce the approaching of the earth's sur-
face during free falls. This warning commences
to occur at approximately 3,000 feet. It con-
sists of a feeling that the speed of fall has
suddenly increased. It is accanp... led by the
visual Indication of a spreading of the earth's
surface and a sj)eed of rise in the horizon line.
The closer to the earth the fall is continued
the more definite the warning.

5. The gravity pull during the fall is low.
The twisting and turning effect is for the most
p)art comfortable; much more so than acrobatics
even in a light, low-powered airplane. Air
pressures are felt but are not uncomfortable.

6. It is not necessary to stiffen the body or
prepare for the chute opening shock. Relaxation
is desirable but a stiffening of the body mus-
cles does not matter one way or the other.

C. Opening the Parachute.

1. If the parachute is released while the
body is spinning the shroud lines will beccme
twisted. The chute will open nevertheless, and
within a few seconds the body will slowly turn
and unwind the twists.

.2. At the time of the opening of the para-
chute after a free fall — after the body has
reached terminal velocity — there is a black-out.
It canes without warning, pain or reaction. It
lasts for from one to three seconds only, and
(Continued on Page 30)

MAY 1942

9n6ia

By Oliver H. Townsend

B ig, ancient, mysterloiis, crowded — that is
India. Air Forces personnel sent there to
fight the Jap will find it one of the most "dif-
ferent" places in the world.

Shaped like a huge pear, India begins high in
the mountainous regions of central Asia and
stretches 2,000 miles southward, splitting the
northern part of the Indian Ocean into the
Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. As large as
that part of the United States which lies east
of the Rocky Moimtains, it is vastly different.
Sacred bulls wander unmolested throughout the
land, colorful bazaars line the crowded city
streets, and fakirs, yogis and other religious
mystics practice their weird rites in the gar-
dens of great-doned mosques and temples.

Nation Of Contrasts

India is a nation of contrasts. It claims as
citizens some of the richest people in the
world — and many of the poorest. It has scsne of
the most beautiful palaces in the world — and
some of the worst hovels. From the nicely-

turned green of the wealthiest Maharaja's polo
field to the squalor of the poorest "Untouch-
able's" tenement, the contrasts are teenly felt
in India's day to day existence.

The climate of this great x^enlnsula, like its
other characteristics, also varies from one
extreme to the other. Most of the country is
low, flat and hot, esxieclally in the southeast.
But toward the north as the land rises up to
meet the lofty peaks of the Himalayas the tem-
perature sinks in Inverse proportion to the
altitude. Highest point in the Himalayas — eind
in the world — is Mount Everest, rising to the
Flyipg Fortress height of almost 30,000 feet.

Most of south and central India is one vast
plain with a hot season that chases white res-
idents to the cool heights of the northern moun-
tains during at least part of every year. The
heat extends as far north as Delhi, the capital,
on the northern plain. During this season,
which begins in March, the government packs up

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

and moves to cool Simla, 7,000 feet high In the
southern foothills of the Himalayas. The rainy
season, lasting from June through October,
brings relief from the heat to most of India.
Cool weather usually prevails from November to
Febrxiary.

Americans will not find the average Indian
town to be especially enticing. Sewage, drain-
age and sanitary facilities are something that
have yet to be "sold" to most of India. Many of
the smaller towns lack transportation facil-
ities, and it is usually necessary to sleep
under mosquito netting in order to avoid the
insects, which in some sectors are not killed
because of the reincarnation beliefs of the
natives .

A nuAier of the big cities, however, have been
at least partly modernized. In these it is pos-
sible to ride in streetcars and taxicabs, see
electric signs, buy occidental food and American
cigarettes, and generally feel more "at heme".
Many Indians in the larger cities and on the
excellent railroads understand and speak the
Fhgllsh language.

Plenty To Do

There are many interesting things to do and
see in India during free time. The Taj Mahal at
Agras, one of the seven wonders of the world,
has been a tourist mecca for decades. So has
Bernath, the Hindu holy city, where thousands of
people go each year to weush their sins away in
the sacred waters of the Ganges — or to die on
its banks in order to giiarantee their souls a
place in heaven.

Among things to buy in India are braissware,
ebcMiy miniatures, kashmir shawls and tapestries.
These can all be obtained very reasonably pro-
vided the visitor isn't averse to the ancient
and honorable art of dickering.

The monetary system of India is based on the
rupee — ^worth about 30(!^ in American money. Money
is linlform throughout the whole country, emd is
composed of both coins and paper currency.
"Small change" consists chiefly of annas — each
(Mie worth about one-sixteenth of a rupee.

One of the most progressive features of India
is its railway syst^, which provides good serv-
ice between most populated areas. On these
railroads there are three cleisses of travel:
first, second and third. Second class is almost
as good as first and costs much less, and for
this reason is very popular with foreign visi-
tors. The trains themselves are unlike the
trains in this country in that they are divided
into ccmpletely separate compartments, each one

opening directly on the outside. There are no
aisles running from car to car, or even between
compartments, which are completely Isolated
while the train is in motion.

Roads generally are poor, although there are
a ramfcer of automobiles in the centers of pop-
ulation. It is virtually Impossible, however,
to travel from one side of the country to the
other by auto. This explains in part why the
railroad system has been developed to its pre-
sent degree of excellence, and why most travel
is done by train.

The fact that India has been a British colony
for so many years heis made the English language
fairly common among railroad people, merchants
and hotel clerks. In most cities and travel
centers it is not possible to go long without
coning across someone who can speak or at least
understand English.

The native food is very much unlike American
food — with strange names and stranger tastes and
smells. But most railroad stations, hotels and
big cities have restaurants which serve western
dishes at varying prices and varying degrees of
quality.

Just as "different" as their country are the
Indian people.

Crowded into India's ancient provinces are
almost three times as many people as there are
in the United States. This makes it the second
largest populated country in the world, with
well over one-half the people of the British
Bnplre.

India has 16 cities of more than 200,000 pop-
ulation, the two largest being Calcutta and Bcbh
bay. Calcutta, with over a million and a half
people. Is the second largest city in the Brit-
ish Empire. Other great cities are Madras,
Hyderabad, Delhi and Lahore. On the great plain
outside of the ancient city of Delhi is New
Delhi, India's modern capital. New Delhi is the
home of the government and nothing else. It is
a "made-to-order" capital, with miles of great
gardens and boulevards . . These make it the most
beautiful, clean and modern city in all India.
Hub of New Delhi's spoked boulevards is the
British Viceroy's House, a magnificent palace
surrounded by government buildings and gardens,
and with a 177-foot copjjer dome which can be
seen for miles.

Enjoying a civilization that was old when
Columbus set sail for America, the people of
India present a very confusing picture to the
average occidental. They are canposed of more
than 45 races who speak over 200 different lan-
( Continued on Page 31)

MAY 19«

World War ahH the Cadets

Ity Maj. Falk llarmel

General Frank O’D. Hunter, at the controls of a P-40, and Col. E.V. Rickenhacker
(in civilian clothes) are greeted by pilots of Harding Field during their recent
tour of Armry Air Forces Fields, Col. L.L. Koontz , Commtanding Officer of the field,
is at right.

T WO American aces of World War I — Brig.

Gen. Frank O'D. Hunter and Col. "Eddie"
Riclenbacker — have just ccs^pleted a 15,000 mile
nati«i-wlde tour of Air Forces stations during
which they told Amy airmen how they did it in
191B, and how "we can do it again" in 1942.

Upon his return to New York, Colonel Rlc ken-
backer, who won fame ais America's outstanding
World War aerial hero, was officially commended
on the success of the trip by Lieut. Gen. Heru"y
H. Arnold, Cowmanding General of the Air Forces.

Speaking at Mltchel Field, where the tour
ended. Colonel Rickenhacker stated that "man for
man and plane for plane. Uncle Sam has the
greatest aerial fighting machine in the world
today." He predicted a long war, and added that
we will need at least 300,000 pilots to achieve
victory — 100,000 as instructors and 200,000 as
codbat pilots in all parts of the world.

He asserted that the men of the Air Forces are
as "full of fire and spirit today as the Minute
Men of Concord were," and told them they will be
flying planes "that are the last word in per-

fornmnee and armament. No force in the world
can lick you. "

Rickenhacker Cautions

Cautioning against over-confidence, he said,
"1 am not underestimating our enemies and their
equipment. Never underestimate your enemies.
But, on the other hand, let's not get a frame of
mind that he is the top dog."

The heroic exploits of both Colonel Ricken-
backer and General Hunter In World War I helped
them make a profound hn)ression upon young Air
Forces pilots now undergoing training. Both
have held extremely narrow escapes, and on more
them one occasion have been almost on speaking
terms with the Grim Reaper.

In one of Colcxiel Rickenhacker 's nimerous com-
bats over the front lines in France, a bullet
passed through the fuselage of his plane less
them three inches back of his heeid. Time after
time he came back to his home airdrome from
patrol with numerous bullet holes through his
airpleme. Anotlier close call was his remarkable

MAY m2

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

recovery frcm the severe Injuries he received
in the crash of an airliner on February 28,
19il, near Atlanta, Ga., which exacted a toll of
seven killed and nine Injured.

It is not a matter of general knowledge that
Colonel Rickeribacker achieved his 25 victories
despite the fact that sickness deprived him of
more than three month's service at the front.
Shortly after May 30, 1918, when he downed his
fifth victim, the one entitling him to the
unofficial designation of "Ace", he was ordered
to a hospital in Paris to recover from a fever
which for a time threatened to put him out of
the war altogether.

He had hardly recovered when he heard that the
First Pursuit Group was about to be supplied
with the new French Spads to replace the old
Nieuports. Thereafter he stuck close to the
Spad depot In Paris until the first of these new
airplanes was ready for the American flyers.
Seizing It when the mechanics pronounced it fit,
he flew it to its new airdrcme early in July.
He weis made flight leader of his squadron, the
94th, and carried out his customary patrols for
a few days caily to be bested once more by fever.
It was not until September 14 that he was
credited with his sixth victory. During two
weeks in September, Rickenbacker got six more
en«^y planes and 13 In October.

Most of his victories were achieved at alti-
tudes of about three miles. He was accustomed
to going out on early morning patrols when the
cold is very intense. Even so, he put in more
flying time over enemy lines than any of the
pilots under him. He w£is a great believer in
the efficacy of surprise attacks, and in launch-
ing these he took eidvantage of the protection
afforded by the blinding glare of the sun, the
shelter of clouds, and moments of inattention on
the part of his quarry.

Awarded Croix de Guerre

It was due to these precautionary methods that
he achieved more victories than any other
American pilot, £uid remained alive to tell of
them. His first victory on April 29, 1918,
resulted in his being awarded the Croix de
Guerre with palm by the French. During this
encounter his machine gun jainned and he had to
repair it himself, immediately returning to
attack his adversary. The Distinguished Service
Cross was awarded him after his fifth victory,
and to this decoration were subsequently added
nine oak leaves .

General Hunter also received many decorations

for his outstanding exploits of World War I.
During his activities over the front lines in
France, he was outntmfcered by the enemy in every
conA)at in which he w*is credited with shooting
down one or more of his adversaries. In his
first victory during a patrol flight he attacked
two biplanes, destroyed one and forced the other
to seek a healthier climate. In his next en-
counter, accompanied by one other plane, an
attack was made on a patrol of six enemy planes.
General Hunter destroyed one of th«n, and with
the aid of his compeuilcsi forced the others to
retire within their (wm lines.

On another occasion, when he was leading a
patrol of three, the American airmen attacked a
formation of eight planes. In the dog-fight
which ensued, four of the enemy bit the dust,
and General Hunter accounted for two of th^.

ifost Exciting Moment

Perhaps his most exciting mcanent came when,
while separated fran his patrol, he observed an
allied patrol of seven Breguets hard pressed by
an enemy formation of ten Fokkers. He attacked
two of the enemy that were harassing a single
Breguet £ind destroyed one. Meanwhile, five of
the enemy appjroached and concentrated their fire
upon him. Undaunted by their superiority, he
attacked and brought down his second plane of
the day. By this time he had been awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross with three oak
leaves. He received his fourth leaf for his
ei^th victory. In this action he encountered
alone an enemy formation of six monoplace
planes. He immediately attacked and destroyed
one of the enemy and forced the others to dis-
perse In confusion.

General Hunter, now with the Eighth Air Force
at Savannah, Ga., also had his share of "narrow
squeaks" in x>eace as well as war. Once he was
wounded in the foreheaui during aerial combat,
but managed to return to his home airdrcme. In
peacetime he became a third degree member of the
mythical Caterpillar Cliib. His first recourse
to the silk occurred on March 20, while flight-
testing an experimental pursuit plane at McCook
Field, Ohio. During a series of acrobatics the
entire adjustable stabilizer broke away fran the
fuselage and control of the plane was lost
entirely.

Injured In Crash

Sane eighteen months before this Initiation.
General Hunter was returning to Selfridge Field,
Mich., fran Mitchel Field, N.Y., where he had
(Continued on Page 32)

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Russian Raminin^

(Continued from Page 20)
craft on the Russian front. Mildmlev dived on
the bcnber after exhausting his anmunltlon. His
propeller ripped the Helnkel’s stabilizer and
rudder. A flying piece of wreckage struck
Mildmlev on the shoulder but he meumged to bring
his plane down safely. The Heinkel crashed and
burned.

Pilot Vinogradov did his ranmlng in the old-
fashioned way. Fighting a single Nazi bomber
over a vulnerable Russian target he exhausted
his aninunition without getting a decisive hit.
Meanwhile a bullet punctured his gas tank and
his ship burst into flanes. Vinogradov hurtled
into the Nazi bcmiber and both planes were des-
troyed.

Another Soviet pilot who rammed and lived to
tell about it is Alexandrovich Kiselev. He es-
caped with only a scratch on his cheek after
balling out. His plane was lost.

"It didn't come off very well," said Kiselev
descrlblr^ his ramnlpg. "I am sure it is possi-
ble to ram an enemy ship without losing one's
own machine. I was a bit excited and I suppose
that is why I muffed the Job.

"My aninunlticxi ran out. The enemy had hit my
oil tank and radiator and my engine weis just a-
bout giving its last gasp. I didn't want to let
him get away so I went at him frcxn below to get
at his tall with my propeller. It was possible
to calculate the movement so as to clip him with
the tips of my propeller. But a stream of oil
messed up my windshield and I couldn't see very
well.

"Just as I was approaching him the suction of
the air whirls caused by the Neizi plane swept my
machine upwards. I got mad then and rammed him
from above dicing into his left side. I knock-
ed my face against my stick. If I had figured
it out jroperly that wouldn't have happened.

"The enemy plane disappeared. My own plane
went into a spin. I tried to pull out but it
was no use. I took my f^et off the controls,
stuck my head outside and was knocked back into
niy seat by the air blast. I pushed off with one
foot, counted to eight, ripped and floated
down •"

Lieutenant Katrlch of the Soviet Air Force re-
lates another r aiming incident:

At about 10:00 a. m. I was told that an enemy
plane had been sighted heading for Moscow. I
took off at once and soon spotted a vapor trail
at about 18,000 feet. The enenQi was above and
ahead of me. I put oti my oxygen mask and picked

up altitude. I drew up to within 300 feet of
the Nazi plane. I sprayed him from stem to
stern. It was CHily then that the Nazi crew no-
ticed me. The cabin gunner returned fire. I
gave them another icaig burst until I saw flames
streaking from their port engine. After the
third attack my anmunltlon gave out and their
tall gunner was silent . The left engine was
burning but the plane continued to fly. The pi-
lot was apparently counting on my fuel supply
being exhausted. It was then I decided to ram
him.

Thought Of Ramming

"I had thought a lot about ramming. Tte first
reports of ramming by our flyers interested me
but in nxjst of them the planes had been lost. I
thcught it would be possible to ram without sac-
rificing one's own plane and here was a chance
to test my theory.

"I approached the bcmber frcm the left of its
stem and aimed my nose at its tail, calculating
my attack so as to clip its stabilizer and
rudders with the tips of my propellers. Hfy cal-
culations proved correct. There was a slight
jolt. I throttled back and banked. When I came
out of the turn I saw the enemy gliding sharply
downwards. I glided after it. The Nazi pilot
made several attempts to level off. By gunning
his motor he managed to fly level for a few se-
conds before dropping off again. He finally
lost control and dove into the ground. The ship
burned. I landed at my home airdrome. My plane
was undamaged except for a dent in my propeller
which caused heaAiy vibrations."

One of the most spectacular instances of rami-
mlng which throws an interesting sidelight on the
ccmbat psychology of Russian airmen was told by
eyewitnesses at the airdrome over which the
battle occurred. Sergeant-ifeij or Nikolai Totmln
took to the air as his hone field was attacked
by eight Ju-88 dive bombers escorted by a pair
of Me- 109 fighters. Totmin set one bomber's
jxirt engine afire with his first burst but Was
attacked by the Me fighters before he could
finish the bomiber. Totmin banked sharply to
battle the fighters. One Me followed the bomb-
ers but the other stayed to take on the Russian.

Totmin and his Nazi opponent went into a tight
circle trying to turn inside each other. The
Naizi went into a quick cllmh and Totmin followed
him. The Nazi then turned to attack and Totmin
banked sharply to bring his plane hurtling head-
on at the Nazi. Both planes sped toward oach
other but at the last manent before collision
the Nazi heeled his plane over. At that instant

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Totmln banked in the opposite direction and
drove his plane into the Nazis wliTg.

Totmln's plane sta^ered under the shock and
both planes spun earthward. Totaln twice tried
vwisuccessfUlly to ball out but the air pressure
forced him back into the cockpit. The third
time he got out but he was only 120 feet from
the ground and his chute didn’t have time to
open. He fell not far frem the wreckage of the
plane he had raaand.

The Delayed Jump

(Continued from Fate 24)
there are no notlcedsle ill effects.

D. Final dement and alighting.

1. So-called slipping or guiding of the
standard round type of parachute should not be
attempted. Airmen should chiefly be concerned
with damping oscillation as quickly as possible
and centering themselves under the silk canopy.
Danplng swings beneath the chute is accomplished
exactly as the damping of swings in a child’s
rope <*• chain lawn swing.

2. Every effort should be made to turn the
body — ^by gripping the riser straps and giving
the canopy short twists to turn it in the air —
so that the airman is facing In the direction of
drift upon making contact with the ground. It
also is highly desirable to reach upward, grip
tlie riser straps or shroud lines and pull up as
much as possible with the arms at the Instant of
alighting, thus reducing the landing shock.

Color photography is being used to detect
Installations in camouflaged areas. Enemy air
fields, and other important bases which are
carefully disguised and remain hidden in black-
and-white reconnaissance photographs, stick out
like the well-known sore thumb when they are
reproduced in good color photographs. It is
practically impossible for camofleurs to repro-
duce the natural colors with such faithfulness
that the counterfeit will not be exposed by the
color picture.

• •

The Rip Chord, post publication at McChord
Field, Wash., is participating in the "Don't
Talk" offensive on the hc«ne front with a series
of articles and cartoons urging the men at the
field not to divulge military Information.

Every issue of the paper contains warnings
that fifth columlsts are carrying on subversive
activities which should be fought with a policy
of strict silence.

WEATHER SERVICE

» IE to the expansion of the Army Air Forces
Weather Service, there are opportiwkties in
this organization for properly qualified en-
listed persomel.

A high school education, with a bacliground of
mathematics and physics, is essential. In ex-
ceptional cas es , a basic loioaledge of mathe-
matics will satisfy these reqjulreaents . The
Weather Officer at each station Is csfxspered to
determine the ability of the candidate with an
I.Q. test and an Investigation into his mathe-
matical qualifications. If accepted, the can-
didate is placed in training for duty as a
Weather Observer and goes through three months
of tralnlpg, either at the Weather Observers
School, Chanute Field, 111., or at «ie of the
various stations throughout the Air Forces.
Upon completlcn of this training, he is rated as
an observer and is eligible for promotion.

A field training of from 1 to 6 months fol-
lows, whereupon the candidate is eligible to
take entrance examinations for the Weather Fore-
caster’s Course. This course lasts 6 months and
the graduate is rated as a Forecaster. He is
then sent to a field for duty and, provided his
military record is satisfactory, he is ratfed as
a Staff Sergeant and he receives flylhg pay.

Interested personnel may apply to the Weather
Officer at their local stations for assignment
with the Weather Service.

The RAF has a one-arm fighter pilot — 22 year
old Flight Ileut. J.A.F. MacLaughlan. In confcat
over Malta last March he heid his arm shot off.
While convalescing in Africa he obtained per-
mission to fly with an artificial arm. By the
time he reached Britain a medical board passed
him as fit for operational duty.

• •

T he two boys who took the old time Stinson
plane "Ole Miss" aloft and kept it there for
more than a month in 1935 are now "keeping 'em
aloft" over the southwest Pacific for the Army
Air Forces.

They are Capt. A1 and First Lt. Fred Key,
brothers who at one time set a heavler-than-alr
endurance record by flying for 653 hours and 34
minutes over their home town of Meridian, Miss-
Issljjpi in a low powered Stinson monoplane.

The Key brothers in the Pacific are flying
Flying Fortresses over Jap troops, ships and
bases, for only 8 to 10 hours at a time — ^which
is a cinch to them. They have dubbed their
planes the "Ole Miss II" and the "Ole Miss III".

MAY 104?

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

India

(Continued from Page 26)

guages, practice scores of religions, and divide
thanselves Into 2,400 conpletely segrated castes
and tribes.

Most Indians— 240,000,000 In all— are Hindus.
This still leaves room for about 80,000,000
Mohanmedans (more than In any other country) ,
12,000,000 Buddhists and several million each of
Christians, Slldis, Jains, Zoroastrlans and wor-
shipers of local tribal gods.

During the course of Its more than 5,000 years
of history the Hindu religion has produced the
roost clearly-defined caste system. There are
four of these: Breihmans (priests, government
officials and educators) ; Kshatrl (warriors) ;
Valsh (business), and Shudre or "Untouchables'*
(laborers and beggars) . These are subdivided
Into innumerable cleisslflcatlons, each with Its
own set of codes and restrictions.

Much of the Internal turmoil of India has not
been due to this great Intermixture of reli-
gions, but also to the fact that the country Is
divided Into two sets of governments: the na-
tive states and the British provinces. Althoygh
by far the most people are located In the 11
British provinces, there are still enough left
outside (63 million) to support a large nuidber
of sml-autononous Maharajas. These, although
they have pledged allegiance to the King of
El^gland and pay an annual tribute to his author-
ity, retain a large amount of local control.

Rich Prize

The biggest of the native states Is Hyderabad,
half again as large as England. It Is ruled by
a Moslem "Nizam" famovis as "the richest man In
the world". The ruler of Hyderabad, like the
rulers of the other native states, maintains a
private army, levies taxes, and accepts the
feudal oath of fealty fran his subjects. The
British government exercises authority only In
matters of conmunlcatlon, currency and collec-
tion of customs, and occasionally In ceises of
flagrant misrule can demand a ruler's abdica-
tion.

The British provinces have provincial govern-
ments resp«islble to the Governor-General at New
Delhi. They constitute by far the greatest
area of India, and contain most of the people,
big cities and vital coastal areas.

India throughout all history has been one of
the richest prizes In all the world. Its vast
reservoirs of labor. Its great untouched natural
resources and Its productive soil have been the

foundation of many of history's great Empires.
Right now the Jap wants them badly as a founda-
tion for his own empire. Lying In his path are
the Eastern "gateways" to India: Calcutta,
Madras and the tropical Island of Ceylon. Air
power more than emythipg else will Influence the
outcome of the battle for these gateways, and
for the rich hinterlands beyond.

Swivel Chair Bombardier

(Continued from Page 13)

In use will have blurred outlines. Baths, truck
tracks, and diggings Isolated from routine
activities; roads or paths without any appeu’ent
logical destination — these may Indicate camou-
flaged Installations. Earth that has been tam-
pered with, either excavated or scraped, shows
some activity disrupting the area; It Is usually
quite apparent to the photo Interpreter as
either lighter or darker than the solid earth.

•Any installation larger than would be normal for
local uses may be a hangar In disguise. Any
disruption of the local pattern of land use,
such as Irrigated land apparently allowed to go
dry, canals without treifflc, or orchard country
without trees, may Indicate that the land has
been turned Into an airfield. A meteil roof In a
thatched-roof district may be the tip-off to a
new and alien structure serving as an airfield
Installation.

In all, the i)hoto Interpreter should be sus-
picious of these varlatlOTis In the typical land-
scape pattern: (l) any deviation In tcaie from
the general color of the ground pattern; (2) any
unusual shape of field or type of building;

(3) any unnatural texture of ground surface or
communications line.

Fifth, look su-ound the edges and corners of
fields for possible parked aircraft, with spe-
cial attention to the edges of stands of woods
and to hedges in which aircraft-parking bays
might be cut.

At the first sign of a clue the photo inter-
preter must pounce on the suspicious loose end
and unravel It. The success or failure of a
mission often hapgs in the balance during the
unraveling.

• •

A new course includiiig fabric work has been
started in Vancouver for wanen interested in
aviation. The class is preceded by elementary
ground school training. A course is also being
given In parachute packing. The classes have
been organized by outstanding Canadian women
Xri-lots.

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

ARMY EMERGENCY RELIEF

A soldier unnecessarily worried about his wife
or family, the Army has long realized, is
not the best soldier. In this war, the newly
organized Army Snergency Relief intends to see
to it that today's Army can go into battle se-
cure in the knowledge that those left behind
will be cared for in «nerg«icies.

The Army Air Forces have established a branch
of this organizaticwi and sections will be formed
in each air base for the local administration of
this «nergency relief program. Under the pro-
vlsiais of Arny Emergency Relief, all meabers of
the Army on active duty have equal rights to
necessary assistance throughout the present
emergency. Rank or service will not influence
the amount of aid granted to Army personnel or
to their dependents.

Of jjrlmary concern to the relief organlzaticm
are those cases arising from casualties caused
by combat or accidents, hardships cauised by •
sudden change of station of units or individ-
uals, and other emergency financial stress.
Financial aid will be given by A.E.R. on the
basis of actual need. It may be given as an
outright grant, or in proper cases, as a loan.
No interest will be charged on loans and re-
payment by Installment is authorized. Food,
fuel, medical and dental care, hospitalization,
assistance in securing pensions, compensation,
insurance and allotments may also be given when
the need arises.

Application Procedure

Each officer and enlisted man should acquaint
his dependents with the purpose of Army Ekner-
gency Relief and with the fact that they can
obtain emergency aid through the nearest Red
Cross chapter or at the nearest Army post.
ApplicatiOTi for aid should be made to the near-
est A.E.R. branch or direct to Army Einergency
Relief, War Department, Washington, D.C. Each
local branch will Investigate the cases and the
final determination of the need for aid will
rest with the cannandlng officer of each base.

This assistance offered to Amy personnel will
not be a substitute for Red Cross activities,
but will supplanent in certain special cases the
aid given by the Red Cross. Funds will be
raised through individual memberships, both
civilian and military, proceeds from exhibi-
tions, athletic events, entertainments. Army
motion-picture showings at posts, gifts, dona-
tions, and other contributions. A large dona-
tion from the Red Cross will provide for the

initial operation of the relief orga ni zation.

Mr. Robert Lovett, Assistant Secretary of War
for Air, is president of the Army Air Forces
branch of Army Emergency Relief, with head-
quarters in Tanporary "T" Building, Washington,
D.C. Other officers include Mrs. Henry H.
Arnold, vice-president; Major TOn. H. Garrison,
secretary and executive manager; and Mr. Robert
Fleming , treasurer .

World War Aces

(Continued from Page 28)
participated in a flying carnival. He ran into
snowstorms and fog while over the Alleghenies.
When he ascended above the clouds his motor
began to miss and then quit altogether. En-
deavoring a 90 degree turn to land in an open
space, the airplane went into a spin and in the
crash which followed his back was severely
Injured.

General Hunter's second degree inltlaticKi was
a real thriller. On March 5, 1926, shortly
ad'ter joining an early mornlrig formatiwi flight
and while at an altitude of about 800 feet, a
disintegrated piston caused the breakage of the
gasoline line, spraying the volatile fluid over
the engine and cowling. The plane was Imnedi-
ately transformed into a mass of fl6unes, and
General Hunter bailed out in. nothing flat. His
peu’achute did not fail and he landed on the ice
of Lake St. Clair, some 500 feet from where the
flaming plane heid crashed through 18 Inches of
ice. He made his way back to headquarters minus
his mustache almost before anyone except the
pilots in the formation knew anything about his
exciting axlventure.

Perhaps his narrowest escape occurred during
his third initiation on "Friday, the 13th" of
January, 1933. He was then stationed at March
Field, Calif., and had proceeded to Wright
Field, Ohio, to serve on a board of officers to
pass on a new type of pursuit plane for the Air
Corps. Flying as observer cn a flight test with
the late Captain Hugh'M. Elmendorf at the con-
trols, the new plane went into a spin from
11,000 feet and never straightened out. General
Hunter jun?3ed from about 150 feet and struck the
ground before his parachute was completely open.
He spent nine months at Walter Reed Hospital
before he returned to duty status.

• •

A squadron of P-40s being operated in Russia
by Russian pilots reports it has shot down 19
German aircraft while only losing four planes of
its own.

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

The Honor Role

(Continued from Page 10)

PVT. ROBERT J. ENDRES-for completely dis-
regarding his own safety hy running to a nearby
abandoned truck on Clark Field, and despite the
rain of aerial machine gim fire and bursting
bombs, proceeding about the airfield collecting
the wounded who were lying in the open. Filling
the vehicle with casualties, he proceeded to the
station hospital, unloaded the wounded and
returned to the field. Seven such hazardous
round trips saved many of the wounded from
fYrther mutilation and death.

PVT. JOSEPH McELROY-for unusual heroism dis-
played while on duty at Clark Field. Instead of
seeking shelter from an aerial bombardment of
his airfield, he ran to his machine gun position
In his grounded airplane and shot down one en«i?y
plane and forced two others to withdraw.

PVT. GREELEY B. WILLIAMS- (Posthumous) —for
defending his aircraft and opening fire on the
enemy during an attack on Clark Field. He
successfully and courageously maintained his
position behind his gun until killed by a burst
of fire from a hostile machine gun.

For bravery In action In the Philippines and
Dutch East Indies:

IT. COL. LESTER J. TACY (Also Purple Heart
award), Capt. John Daugherty, Lleuts. Francis
Cappellettl, Lawrence Gardner, Cecil Gregg,
Arthur Hoffman, Douglas Kellar, Malcolm A.
Moore, Melvin McKenzie, E. J, Nossum, Robert
Perry, William Ralllpg, Robert J. Rogers, Austin
Stitt, John M. Thacker, and Jdm J. Webster.

Also Sergts. Max Baca, Clyde Anderson, John
Flemlrig, Edward Hargrove, James Hortzel, Russell
Hufftaan, R. p. Legault, Victor Lorber, Donald
Miller, Wilbur McClellan, John Norvell, Howard
Randall, William Sage, David Semple, John Sowa,
Charles Shelllto, Bernard Stroheckler, and C. W.
Thrasher; Corpl. Frauik A. Have, and Pvts. I. E.
Barran, Wilbur E. Brown, J. M. Henderson, John
Makela, Kenneth park, John A. Real, Paul A.
Relmer, and Edwin Schaffner.

PURPLE HEART

Wounded In action In the Philippines and the
Dutch East Indies:

MAJOR HAROID E. DUNGAN, Lleuts. Francis Mc-
Glverln, and Harry Schrelber; Sergts. Michael
Blben, R. D. Brown, John Cootee, Walter Kolbus,
W. E. Manners, Rex Matson, and W. L. Olford;
Corpls. Wlllleim A. Williams, Elmer Connor, and
Frank A. Harvey; Pvts. Robert Chopping, E.
Jumla, Arvld Negdahl, Edward Olsen, and Edwin
Shipley.

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS

For action In the Philippines and the Dutch
East Indies:

IT. COL. EMMETT O'DOOJELL, Major Cecil Caibs,
Capt. Jack Adams, Capt. William J. Bohnaker,
Capt. Harry B. Galusha, Capt. Donald Kelser (Al-
so awarded the D.S.C. and the Silver Star),
Capt. Colin P. Kelly, Jr., (Posthumous award.
Also D.S.C.) , Capt. Frank Kurtz, (Three-time
winner of the D.F.C., also holds Silver Star),
Capt. Clarence McPherson, Capt. Robert North-
cutt, Capt. William Patrick McIntyre, Jr., Capt.
Elmer L. Parsel, Capt. George Schaetzel, Capt.
Edward C. Teats, Lieut. Kenneth Casper, Lieut.
Paul Lindsay, Lieut. Philip Mathewson, Lieut.
Carey Obryan, Lieut. Harl Pease, Jr., Lieut.
Julius B. Simmers, Jr., Lieut. Earl R. Tash, and
lleut. Elliott Vandevanter, Jr.

The following officers and enlisted men were
awarded the D.F.C. for extraordinary achievement
In a flight of bombers from Honolulu to the
Philippines In the latter part of 1941. Each of
the filers, the citations read, "displayed
skillful airmanship and accurate knowledge of
the highly technical details In the successful
execution of the flight, which each phase of
this flight was accomplished indicated a high
quality of navigation. This outstanding
achievement reflects the highest credit on the
military forces of the United States."

IT. COL. ERNEST MOORE, Major Gordon A. Blake,
Major William P. Fisher, Major Alva L. Harvey,

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Capt. Donald. P. Flickliiger, Lieuts. Joe M. Bean,
Richard T. Carlisle, Robert S. Cllnkscales,
Stanley Cottage, Henry Dittman, Carl E. Epper-
son, James P. Ferrey, Morris N. Friedman, (Also
Silver Star), Henry C. Godman, Eddie W. Hayman
(Silver Star) , Curtis J. Holdrldge, Francis K.
McAllister (Posthumous. Also Silver Star),
Guilford R. Montgomery, Donald D. Robins, Weldon
H. Smith, (Silver Star) Paul R. Tarbutton,
Frances R. Thompson, Ernest C. Wade, Robert F.
Wasson, and John B. Wright.

Also Sergts. George H. Brandes (Silver Star),
Glover L. Burke, Jr. (Silver Star), Janies L.
Cannon (Posthumous. Sliver Star), John F.
Carter, John F. Clark, William J. Delehanty
(posthumous), Edwin J. Dobberpfuhl, William S.
Fooght, John M. Geckeler (Silver Star), Joseph
A. Glardlna, Clyal M. Gilbert, William J.
GrlfTln, George A. Heard (Purple Heart) , Stanley

C. Jackola, Coley L. James, Clevis 0. Jones
(Silver Star) , Thomas E . Keahey, Lester Kramer
(Silver Star), Joseph C. Laza, Robert G. Mc-
Intyre, Norman P. Michelson, Edward T. Oliver,
Walter Partridge, Roland F. Provost (Silver
Star and Purple Heart), Armando G, Ramirez,
Arthur L. Richardson, Fred D. Secrest (Purple
Heart) , Vincenzo Spanzlano (Silver Star) , Roger
W. Stephens, John A. Wallach, Herbert E. Wiest,
and Perry W. Whitley. Corpls . William F. John-
son, Meyer levin, Conrad R. Payne (Silver Star) ,
and Pvts . Robert E. Altman, Junior Brooks
(Silver Star), Lincoln H. Dapron, John. W.
Kennedy, William A. Knortz, John J. Labreche,
Willard L. Money, JohnA. Resl, James E. Schoen,
and Homer L. Vincent.

For risking their lives in rescuing a marooned
Air Corps ofYicer on an ice floe In Alaska, the

D. F.C. has been awarded to Lieut. Eugene T.
Yarborough and Lieut. Frank L. O'Brien, Jr.

The Chrysler Corporation is building a
$100,000,000 plant at Chicago, 111., to manu-
factiare 12 cylinder air-cooled Wright engines.

• '•

A new device by which aerial torpedoes, bcmtos
and shells can steer themselves to a target
under their own power has been patented at Great
Britain. Launched by a catapult, the- new shell
is really a tiny pilotless airplane, complete
with engine, propeller and gyros tatic control.
When over the target, the device sheds its wings
and drops — according to the inventor — right on
the objective.

Morale Builders

(Continued from Page 17 )

Will make available to every man in the AAF the
conprehensive program being developed by the War
Department Special Service Branch and the
Special Services Section of the AAF Director of
Personnel.

The Anny Motion Picture Service, an agency of
the Special Service Section, operates the larg-
est single chain of theatres in the United
States. The latest Hollywood pictures are shown
at the same time they are released in civilian
theatres. It is the function of the special
services officer to complete arrangements with
the Army Motion Picture Service to provide for
exhibition of the motion pictures at each base.

Units on overseas assignments are being sup-
plied with selected current films. Prior to
departure, units receive sound and projection
equipnent for 16 mm films as well eis supplies
and repair parts. Enough films are Issued for
either eight or twelve weeks, depending upon the
requirements in each case. At certain tropical
bases, open air programs will be organized
wherever the climate is suitable for outdoor
showings .

Capra Directing

In addition to arranging for the showing of
"civilian" movies, Special Service will produce
their own news and documentary films dealing
with the background of the war and pointing out
the hazards faced by the United States. This
function is under the direction of Major Freuik
Capra, former Hollywood director, now on duty in
Washington. The first series of pictures will
be finished soon and will be shown cxily to mil-
itary perscxmel.

Through the cooperation of Camp Show, Inc-
corporated, traveling shows with professional
talent are "playing" at certain bases. Twelve
such shows are now oi>eratlng on a major circuit
and fourteen shows on a minor circuit of the
smaller camps. Under the direction of the
Hollywood Screen Victory Committee, a "talent
pool" has been organized. Stars who are "be-
bween pictures" or who have free time are belpg
assigned by the pool to play convenient dates
and supplement the regular camp units as added
attractions. In addition, popular bands emd
concert artists are contributing their services.
A similar Broadway talent pool uses "name stars"
who are available.

Provisions have been made to take theatrical
units outside of the United States to various
outposts within safe flying distance. One group
(Continued on Page 37 )

MAY 1942

^ War by Moonlight

RAF ^^Fly-By-Xight” Brings Down Jerry

Of the 33 enemy raiders destroyed last night
it is now established that four were brought
down by A, A, guns. The remaining 29 fell to the
guns of the R.A.F. night-fighter pilots. . . .
our night- fighting forces took full advantage
of the brilliant moonlight . (Air Ministry
Bulletin.)

T ry to Imagine the moonlight sky, with a
white background of snow nearly six miles
below. Somewhere near the centre of a toy town
a tiny flare is burning. Several en«ny bontoers
have come over, but only one fire has gained a
hold. After all the excitement of my two ccan-
bats, 1 caul still see that amazing picture of
London clearly In my mind.

It was Indeed the kind of night that we fly-
by-nl^ts pray for. I had been up about three-
quarters of an hour before I found an enenQr air-
craft. I had searched all round the sky when I
suddenly saw him ahead of me . I pulled the
boost control to get the highest possible speed
and catch him up. I felt my Hurricane vibrate
all over as she responded and gave her maximum
power . I manoeuvred Into position where I could
see the enemy clearly with the least chance of
his seeing me. As I caught him up I recognised
him — a Dornier "flying pencil" . Before I
spotted him I had been almost petrified with the
cold. I was beginning to wonder if I should
ever be able to feel my hands, feet or limbs
again. But the excitement warmed me up.

Big Moment Came

He was now neeurly within range and was cllui)-
Ing to 30,000 feet. I knew the big mcmient had
come. I daren’t take my eyes off him, but just
to make sure that everything was all right I
took a frantic glance round the "office" and
MAY 1912

checked everything. Then I begsui to close In on
the Dornier and found I was travelling nucn too
fast. I throttled back and slowed up Just In
time. We were frighteningly close. Then I
swung up, took aim, and fired my eight guns.
Almost at once I saw little flashes of fire
dancing al<mg the fuselage and centre section.
Hy bullets had found their mark.

I closed in again, when suddenly the bomber
reared up in front of me. It was all I could do
to avoid crashing into him. I heaved at the
controls to jjrevent a collision, and In doing so
lost sight of him. I wOTdered if he was playing
pussy and Intending to Jink away, codb yp on the
other side and take a crack at me, or whether he
was hard hit. The next moment I saw him going
down below me with a smoke trail pouring out.

I felt a bit disappointed, because it looked
as if ny first shots had not been as effective
as they appeared. Again I pulled the boost
control and went down after him as fast as I
knew how. I dived from 30,000 to 3,000 feet at
such a speed that the bottcKn panel of the air-
craft enacted, and as my ears were not vised to
svich sudden changes of pressure I nearly lost
the use of one of the drums. But there was no
time to think of these things. I had to get
that benber. Then as I came nearer I saw he was
on fire. Little flames were flickering around
his fuselage and wings. Just as I closed in
again he Jinked away in a steep cllablng turn.
When he got to the top of his cllnb I was almost
on him. I took sight very carefully and gave
the button a quick squeeze. Once more I saw
little dancing lights on his fuselage, but
almost Instantaneously they were swallowed in a
burst of flames. I saw him twist gently earth-
(Continued on Page 38)

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

The Odds Be Damned

(Continued from Page 2)
an Interception. Capt. Hewitt T. Wheless kept
his plane on course and made a r\m over the
targets while the gunners fought off the Zeros
and the bombardier planted his bombs cm six
transports. By this time Wheless 's plane weis
the target of 18 Zeros blasting with cannon and
machine guns. For 75 miles the B-17 gunners
stood off the Zeros, shooting down six while
bits of B-17 flew around their ears. Private
Kllllm, the radio operator manning one waist
gun, was killed by a burst frcan a Zero. Ser-
geant Brown was shot through the wrist while
manning the other waist gun. When Kllllm was
killed Brown manned both guns alternately and
shot down five Zeros . Other meniiers of Capt .
Wheless' crew Included 1st Lleuts. Raymond G.
Tebored, co-pllot, and William Meenaugh, navi-
gator; Sgt. Schelotte, bombardier, Sgt. Gootee,
engineer and Corp. Williams, gunner.

The battle ended when all plauies exhausted
their aamunltlon. Then the astonished Japs flew
close formation with the Fortress and peered
Into the cockpit to see what was still keeping
It In the air.

After the Japs departed Capt. Wheless flew the
plane 400 miles to his base with all but four
control cables shot away, two engines dead, the
front wheels flattened, the tall wheel demol-
ished and a leaking gas tank. Of the crew, one
was killed, three badly wounded euid all grazed
by Jap cannon shell fragnents.

B-17 gunners accounted for more than one third
of all attacking Jap pursuits over the Indies
and stirred the Tokyo radio to announce: "The

American B-17E Is a four engined pursuit plane
used for all purposes and proved to be very
effective" .

To meet the changing tactics of Jap fighter
pilots B-17 gunners shifted their armament
constantly, strapping guns with improvised
mounts In new eind unorthodox positions to sm*-
prlse the attackers. Tall gunners In the Es
took a heavy toll of Jap pilots who hadn't heard
about the "stinger" and attacked from the rear.

Navigators Role

Navigators played an Important role In the
long and accurate aerial thrusts against the
Japs and the nocturnal evacuation of airmen from
the captured Philippines. Ueut. Fred Rowan, Jr.
navigated the Flying Fortress piloted by Capt.
James Connally on a long and difficult mission
through tropical storms. Jap ships were bombed
and simk and stranded Air Force personnel

rescued during this mission. Rowan's job was
particularly Important in the location of secret
Philippines bases at which the B-17 refueled.
When the navigator brought the ship In the vi-
cinity of the target he acted eis fire control
officer and directed the work of the gixmers in
actual combat.

Chief opposition to the heavy bcmibers came
from Zero fighters. Airmen back from the Indies
and Australia report that the Zero looks like an
AT-6 with a sllnmer fuselage. They are reported
to be fast and maneuverable with a fast rate of
cllub. Armament ranges from six machine guns to
four machine gims and two cannon firing explo-
sive shells. They are not armored and appear to
be much lighter than most pursuits.

Japs Smart

Air Force men who have foiight the Japs report
that their formation flying and tactics are
excellent. The Japs are quick to ferret out
weaknesses In their opposition and then attempt
to press home their advantage with numerical
superiority. Jap fighter pilots are reported to
be extremely aggressive, but no fanatical "sui-
cide" attacks have been observed by our airmen.
In bailing out conbat crews use a delayed para-
chute opening to plummet out of Jap fighter
range since machine gunning of dangling para-
chutists became a standard Jap tactic.

However, despite the famed Zero fighter and
overwhelming numerical superiority, most of the
Jap pilot's successes have been scored on the
ground. They are expert ground strafers, using
Incendiary bullets and fragmentation bombs in
low diving attacks preceded by bcmber attacks
from higher altitudes. Early morning hours,
during meals and dusk are their favorite times
for airdrome strafing. Filter patrols spotted
Army bombers coming In to refuel and re-arm and
then strafed thmn tm the ground with too much
success. Natives co-operating with the Jlips
often made camouflaging ineffective.

Capt. Algene Key told of the Fifth Colum-
nists' work In Java:

"One morning in Java I led a formation of
three planes Into the air and our crew noticed
three puffs of smoke nearby. Three more planes
took off and three more puffs of smoke went up.
We flew over the spot where the smoke was rising
and bombed It with good effect."

A flight of pursuits with U.S. markings
circled an American base In Borneo. They called
the control tower in perfect English 6uid re-
ceived permission to land. As they came In they
sprayed the field with incendiary bullets.

MAY 19^2

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

dropped light boni)s mi the hangars, shot up the
field again and departed.

Yankee Ingenui ty

Some of the tricks work the other way. The
late Brig. Gen. Harold H. George, for instance,
Inmdbilized a field full of Jap bcMfcers on Luzon
with nothing more than a field radio.

"Just after we lost our last plane mi Bataan",
the general related, "the Japs established a
heavy bomber base 20 miles from our lines. I
knew they always listened to our field mes-
sages so the minute I heard the Japs had

cone down, I sent my wireless sergeant to one
end of our drome with a field radio and told him
to send six P-40s inanediately to attack Jap
bonbers at their advance base. He protested
that one of the ships had engine trouble. I
said 'Okay, then send them five'. Of course we
had none.

"Inmediately after the Japs intercepted the
message, they ordered their heavy bon±iers to
take off without bomb loads. We kept up this
variation for four days running before the Japs
caught on. On the fourth day we had a couple
P-40s sufflcently repaired to fly and we caught
their bociDers flatfooted in the midst of loading
on the ground. They had decided they wouldn't
be fooled anymore."

Morale Builders

(Continued from Page 34)
of motion picture stars has already entertained
troops in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Antigua, Santa
Lucia, Trinidad, British Guiana, St. Croix and
St. Thomas. This is being continued whenever
existing conditions permit.

Libraries are being established in AAF sta-
tions and even in squadron dayrocxns. They are
stocked with books ranging in Interest from
li§ht fiction to Important technical subjects.
Traveling libraries, made up of small collec-
tions of new books, are regularly transferred
from one small station to another in all corps
areas. Every overseas unit talffis its own col-
lection of books, provided by the special serv-
ices section, ccwisisting of one hundred paper
bound volumes. Eteadlng material mi the various
transports is also provided. ArrangMnents are
being made to supply overseas imits with current
magazines and newspapers.

"A singing army is a fighting army", and
music is reco^izfed as an Important element in
practically eVery phase of Army life. Swing
bands furnish jazz for dances aixi social func-

tions. Regimental bands provide the musical
setting for parades, ceremonial functions and
concerts. Pit bareis play for amateur theatri-
cals. Morale is never low when there's music in
the air, so Special Service provides song books
and encourages the organizing of barber shop
quartets, choirs, and choruses for both formal
and informal singing.

ArnMig the most Important functions of Special
Service is the organization of sports activ-
ities. Complete athletic equipnent is being
provided for thirty-five different kinds of
sporting activity, ranging from Indoor games to
mass demonstrations. There is a systematic
effort to develop Intrawnural activities as well as
inter-post, inter-camp and inter-station con-
tests. CMnpetltlon with civilian organizations
is also encouraged.

Radio activities have not been overlooked.
The Red, White and Blue network has over 300
stations dedicated to spreading good will in the
service. Programs consisting entirely of
enlisted talent are organized and broadcast over
conveniently located stations. A plan similar
to Camp Shows, Inc., has been organized to have
network radio programs originate at the various
bases.

A weekly tabloid size periodical called
"l!ank", written by and for enlisted men, will be
published for certain overseas forces. The
first issue is expected shortly.

Special Service is directing the correspond-
ence courses offered by the Army Institute at
Madison, Wls. Complete information concerning
the details are available at the Special Service
office at each AAF unit.

U.S.O.

But no matter what the camp itself may offer,
enlisted men Inevitably want to ^t off the post
in their leisure hours. In this regard. Special
Service cooperates with the U.S.O. and other
civilian organizations to provide adequate
recreational facilities in conmunities near the
bases.

Special services officers accompany units
assigned to duty overseas and continue the
performance of the function wherever jxjssible.
Detachments leaving for overseeis duty are pro-
vided with a combination radio-phonograph,
conplete athletic kits and sports equipment.

Ikider current war CMiditiMis, the Red Cross is
the only non-military organi^tion permitted in
the confcat ZMie. The ftaictions formerly carried
on by the Salvation Army, the Y.M.C.A., the
K. of C. and other civilian agencies are assumed
by Special Service.

MAY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Fly by Ni^ht
(Continued from Page 55)
wards and there was a spurt of fire as he
touched the earth. He blew up and set a copse
blazing.

I circled down to see If. any of the crew had
got out, and then I suddenly remembered the
London balloon barrage, so I cllnbed up and set
course for home.

I had time now to think about the action. My
windscreen was covered with oil, which made fly-
ing uncomfortable, and I had a nasty feeling
that I might have lost bits of my aircraft.
Anyway I soon landed, reported what had hap-
pened, had some refreshment and then up In the
air (Mice more, southward ho! for London.

Soon after I was at 17,000 feet. It's a bit
warmer there than at 30,000. I slowed down and
searched the sky. The next thing I knew, a
Beinkel was sitting right on my tall. I was
certain he had seen me, and wondered how long he
had been trailing me. I opened my throttle, got
round on his tall and crept up. When I was
about 400 yards away he opened fire — and missed
me. I checked my gadgets, then I closed up and
snaked about so as to give him as difficult a
target as possible. I got into a firing posi-
tion, gave a quick burst of my guns and broke
away.

I came up again, and It looked as if my shot
had had no effect. Before I could fire a second
time, I saw his tracer bullets whizzing past me.

I fired back and I knew at once that I had
struck home. I saw a parachute open xip on the'
port wing. One of the crew was bailing out. He
was quickly followed by another. The rovind
white dcmes of the parachutes looked lovely In
the mo<willght.

It was obvious now that the pilot would never
get his aircraft home, and I, for my part,
wanted this second machine to a "certainty" and
not a "probable". So I have another quick burst
of my guns. Then to fool him I attacked from
different angles. There was no doubt now that
he was going down. White smoke was coming frcm
one engine, but he was not yet on fire. I
delivered seven more attacks, spending all my
ammunition. Both his engines smoked as he got
lower and lower. I followed him down a long way
and as he flew over a dark patch of water I lost
sight of him.

But I knew he had come down, and where he had
come down — it was all confirmed later — and I
returned to my base ready to tackle another one.

But they told me all the Jerries had gone home.
"Not all", I said, "two of them are here for
keeps" .

--From RAF broadcast “We Speak From the Air"

Alaskan ^^Kashim’’

Here is an inside view of the new "Kash-
im”, built by the men of Air Base Head-
quarters, Fort Richardson, Alaska. “Kashim”
is the Eskimo word for a “Clubhouse for Men"
to which women are admitted by invitation
only. Taking the recreation problem in
their own hands, the 685 men of Fort
Richardson , working in their spare time,
felled the trees, hewed the logs and built
the entire building according to their own
design. It contains a huge fireplace for
barbecues , a bandstand and one of the most
elaborate sandwich bars in Alaska.

A gun camera has been developed to train
pilots in the use of machine guns and aerial
canncn. In mock "dog fights" the pilots "shoot"
their gun cameras and the resultant photographs
show where hits would have been made If real
ammunition had been used.

MAY 1942

This is the tale of the Gremlins
Told hy the P, R. U:

The incredible tale of the Gremlins
But believe me, you slobs, it’s true.

When you’re seven miles up in the heavens
(That’s a hell of a lonely spot)

And it’s a fifty decrees below zero
Which isn’t exactly hot.

When you’re frozen blue like your Spitfire
And you’re scared a Hurricane pink
When you’re thousands of miles from nowhere
And there’s nothing below but drink.

It’s then that you will see the Gremlins
Green and Gamboge and Gold
Male and female and neuter
Gremlins both young and old.

It’s no good trying to dodge them

The lessons you learnt on the Link

Won’ t help you evade a Gremlin

Though you boost and you dive and you jink.

White ones will wiggle your wingtips
Male ones will muddle your maps
Green ones will guzzle your Glycol
Females will flutter your flaps.

Pink ones will perch on your perspex
And dance pirhouet tes on your prop
There’s a spherical middle-aged Gremlin
Who’ll spin on your stick like a top.

They’ 11 freeze up your camera shutters
They’ 11 bite through your aileron wires
They’ll bend and they’ll break and they’ll batter
They’ll insert toasting forks in your tyres.

That is the tale of the Gremlins
Told by the P. R. U.

(P)retty (R)uddy (U)nlikely to many
But fact, none the less, to the few.

--RAF Coastal Command

■..■ \<-.:.-y' ■ '■ ■ V

l®Sil

^>Or#:vy::v.-;

^•5 . ■

Army paratroops in maneuvers

W.-tt& &.cl.

LOT CAN’T BE SAID RIGHT NOW ABOUT THE DETAILS OF THE APRIL
VISIT TO JAPAN . BUT THERE IS ONE QUESTION I CAN TALK AB(XIT- •

WHO DROPPED THE FIRST BOHB ON TOKYO. HY ANSWER IS THAT I DON’T

KNOW: nobody knows, we struck in a mass attack, as planned.

THE FIRST BOMB REALLY ISN’T IMPORTANT. WE WILL DELIVER TONS
AND TONS OF BOMBS TO JAPAN. TOKYO WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING. THAT
FIRST RAID WAS JUST A TASTE OF WHAT’S TO COME

BY THEMSELVES, BOMBS AND HEN LOSE THEIR IDENTITY IN THE MAJOR
TASK. IT TAKES A LOT OF MEN, A LOT OF PLANES, A LOT OF BOMBS.
IT TAKES HARD WORK AND CAREFUL PLANNING.

WE PLANNED LONG AND HARD FOR THAT FIRST MISSION. IT WAS NO
HIT OR MISS AFFAIR. EACH MAN HAD A SPECIAL TASK; EACH CARRIED
HIS TASK OUT TO THE LETTER. EVERYTHING CLICKED. THAT GROUP OF
YOUNG MEN WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE EXPEDITION WAS THE FINEST I’VE
EVER HAD THE PLEASURE TO SERVE WITH.

SOME OF THE BOYS WHO TRAINED FOR THE PARTY COULDN’T BE TAKEN
ALONG, BUT THEY WERE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE REST OF US. WE’RE
ALL TOGETHER IN THIS WAR— AIR CREWS. GROUND MEN, FACTORY WORKERS.
AND DON’T FORGET THE BOYS WITHOUT THE MOTORS— THE GLIDER PILOTS.
THEY WILL BE THE SPEARHEAD OF FUTURE AIR-BORNE ATTACKS.

I’M SORRY ALL OF YOU COULDN’T HAVE BEEN WITH US. WE DELIVERED
YOUR CALLING CARDS. THE REAL MESSAGE IS YET TO COME. WE’LL BE
BACK. WORK ANO^’TRAIN AS IF TOKYO WERE ALWAYS BELOW. YOU’LL
WANT TO PRODUCE THE GOODS FOR THE DAY THE TARGET- -NO MATTER WHAT
IT MAY B6--IS IN THE BOMBSIGHTS.

J»m» H. Dootittt*

Brii»di»r Otitmemt, 0%S. Armr

WJtB. EaJ,

LOT CAN’T BE SAID RIGHT NOW ABOUT THE DETAILS OF THE APRIL
VISIT TO JAPAN . BUT THERE IS ONE QUESTION I CAN TALK ABOUT- -
WHO DROPPED THE FIRST BOMB ON TOKYO. MY ANSWER IS THAT I DON’T
KNOW; NOBODY KNOWS. WE STRUCK IN A MASS ATTACK. AS PLANNED.

THE FIRST BOMB REALLY ISN’T IMPORTANT. WE WILL DELIVER TONS
AND TONS OF BOMBS TO JAPAN. TOKYO WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING. THAT
FIRST RAID WAS JUST A TASTE OF WHAT’S TO COME

BY THEMSELVES, BOMBS AND MEN LOSE THEIR IDENTITY IN THE MAJOR
TASK. IT TAKES A LOT OF MEN. A LOT OF PLANES, A LOT OF BOMBS.
IT TAKES HARD WORK AND CAREFUL PLANNING.

SOME OF THE BOYS WHO TRAINED FOR THE PARTY COULDN’T BE TAKEN
ALONG. BUT THEY WERE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE REST OF US. WE’RE
ALL TOGETHER IN THIS WAR-^AIR CREWS, GROUND MEN. FACTORY WORKERS.
AND DON’T FORGET THE BOYS WITHOUT THE MOTORS—THE GLIDER PILOTS.
THEY WILL BE THE SPEARHEAD OF FUTURE AIR-BORNE ATTACKS.

I’M SORRY ALL OF YOU COULDN’T HAVE BEEN WITH US. WE DELIVERED
YOUR CALLING CARDS. THE REAL MESSAGE IS YET TO COME. WE’LL BE
BACK. WORK AND TRAIN AS IF TOKYO WERE ALWAYS BELOW. YOU’LL
WANT TO PRODUCE THE GOODS FOR THE DAY THE TARGET- -NO MATTER WHAT

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

PUBLIC RELATIONS DIVISION, PUBLICATIONS SECTION
ARMY AIR FORCES, WASHINGTON, D. C.

VOL. 25 JUNE, 1942 NO. 4

CROSS COUNIRY 1

THE FERRYING COMMAND -- By Brig. Gen, Harold L. George 3

HC»IOR ROLL 7

FLY TO TOKYO- -ALL EXPENSES PAID -- By Oliver H. Townsend .... 9

AIRDROMES IN WARTIME -- By Lt. Col. Rudolph E. Smyser 11

PRO PATRIA MORI 13

YOUR SAFETY JOB -- By Maj . W.R. Weber 14

AAF PLANES TORPEDO JAPS 15

THEY LOOK FOR TROUBLE -- By Lieut. Robert B. Hotz 16

SWEEPS OVER FRANCE -- By Flight Lieut. Brendan Finucane 21

CONFESSIONS OF A VETERAN PILOT -- By Capt . W.V. Brown .23

CHANUTE'S FAVORITE SON -- By Maj. M.F. Ranney 26

MAXIMUM AIRCRAFT SPEED -- By Lieut. Perry J. Ritchie 28

BOEING'S FLYING FORTRESS 29

TECHNIQUE ’ 32

RANDOLPH SPEEDS MECHANICS TRAINING 35

GERMANY' S ^MESSERSCHMITT 37

Technical and Art Director— James T. Rauls
FRONT COVER

Vomen in uniform are making an unofficial but striking appearance in the Air Forces.
Although not ordered by headquarters , commanding officers at several airfields are re-
quiring uniforms for women clerical workers (all civilians) in the interests of in-
creased efficiency and esprit de corps. Typical of these ’“uniformed gir Is” is Miss
Kathleen Nelson, secretary to the Post Surgeon at the Air Forces Gunnery School at
Tyndall Field, Fla. In the cover picture. Miss Nelson is shown wearing a uniform of
“Air Force" blue and a cap bear ing the insignia of the branch to which she is assigned .

PHOTO SOURCES

Life Magasine , inside front cover, p.ll, 22; Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Co., p.l5; Lock-
heed Aircraft Corp. , p.l6; Boeing Aircraft Co., p.29; and V.S, Army Air Forces photos.

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

T ire WAR'S first raid on
Japan was a hedge-hopping
raid, l^fore and after the bombs
were released. Air Forces flyers
skimmed along as low as 10 feet
from the ground to make sure
that Jap fighters and anti-air-
craft guns didn't interfere with
the business at hand. One of
the B-25s actually flew under a
power line, just missing a pole,
and dipped its wings under the
branch of a tree. Some of the
planes breezed so low over the

water that propeller blasts
kicked up waves; wings were
raised to avoid the masts of
fishing boats. Japanese boys
threw stones at bombers zipping
low over one of the beaches. As
they approached their djjectives,
crew members were able to detect
the facial expressions of the
natives and watch the Japanese
wave up at them, some waving
handkerchiefs, apparently ignor-
ant of what was going on. After
the bombs had fallen, the natives
again raised their arms to the
bombers— but only to shake their
fists.

A PRIVATE at Foster Field,
Tex., with a week-end leave
coming up wanted nothing more
than to visit his home in
Chicago, His buddies on the
ground line rose to the oc-
casion. We've arranged for
you to fly home in a Type C-3
trainer, they told him, and he
jubilantly prepared tor the
trip. Nat until he was ready
to board the plane did they
explain that a Type C-3 is a
Link Trainer,

AS A RESULT of the Japanese
raid. General Doolittle has re-
ceived letters from hundreds of
grade school youngsters volun-
teering their services to the Air
Forces. "Dear General," scrib-
bled an eight year old from St.
Louis, "if you'll drive by and
pick me up I'm ready to go right
now. I'll fight the little Japs
while you fight the big ones."
The boy received an autographed
picture of the General and his
advice to stay in school and get
an education "so when we want
you you'll be ready."

SIGN OVER the bar in the
officers’ club at San Juan,
Puerto Rico; ”No liquor served
to lieutenant colonels between
the ages of 18 and 21 unless
accompanied by parents,”

fied man for Aviation Cadet
appointment at any time. Such
men must not only be recom-
mended, should they apply: they
must be encouraged to apply.
Where an enlisted applicant for
Aviation Cadet appointment is
disqualified therefor, he will
be informed of the opportunities
and advantages of the Army Air
Forces Officers Candidate
Sc hool . ''

OFFICERS back from combat
duty in the Far East warn
against underestimating the Jap
pilot , whom they describe as a
well trained, clever flyer. His
pursuit technique is rated as ex-
cellent. In bombing attacks he
and his companions usually stick
together like glue, often re-
maining in formation even after
their ships have caught fire.
His aggressiveness is linked
closely to numerical superiority;
the Jap is cautious when the
fight is on even terms. He
plans an attack carefully and
executes it to the letter, al-
though in some instances his
failure to improvise has proved
costly. He invariably refuses
to close with B-17 gunners — and
for good reason.

AT A WESTERN field, so the
story goes, a Cadet circled his
AT-6A for a landing. “O.K.? ,” he
queried, “Not quite,” replied
Control Tower, “not until you
lower your landing gear,” But
the Cadet was silent, “Lower
your gear! Lower your gear! ”
Control Tower was by now
mildly upset. Still no answer.
And the Cadet came in, landed
on an empty belly, messy, but
safe, 'How do you explain
landing gear up after repeated
warnings? demanded the
Operations Officer, “how do
you explain your refusal to
answer Control Tower?” “Sir,”
mumbled the Cadet, “it was the
fault of that buzzer in my
ship. I never heard Control
Tower. That buzzer got louder
the more I eased back on the
throttle. It was so noisy I
couldn’t pick up a thing on my
radio.” ^ \

GENERAL ARNOLD has directed
that all qualified enlisted men
of the Air Forces be given the
opportunity to train as Aviation
Cadets. "Elach unit and activ-
ity. "he states, "must be pre-
pared to lose any highly quali-

ALL WED are ready to stamp
themselves as incurable Dodos
might consider the case of
Lieut. Travis Hoover. Back in
1939, as he neared the end of
his primary flight instruction
at Lindbergh Field, Calif.,
Lieut. Hoover jotted down such
serious words as these: "After

d)out 11 hours of dual, it seems
as if my progress has reached a

JUNE 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

standstill, and I am very con-
cerned. Will I be 'woshed out'
if I don't snap out of it pretty
soon? Why can't I master the
one thing I want to do more than
anything else — ^be able to fly
and fly well for Uncle Sam." A
glance at the Honor Roll list on
page seven shows that Lieut.
Hoover has just been awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross for
piloting one of the B-25s that
staged the war's first raid on
Tokyo.

YOUNG AIR FORCES flyers
who bowbed and torpedoed the
Jap fleet off Midway Island
were asked how it felt to
plunge into combat for the
first time. Some of the
answers: “You don’ t get

thrilled , exactly; you have
tq concentrate too much on

what you've got to do

Scared? I suppose so, at
first, but I got mad right

away I forget how I felt;

with the target below and
the Zeros alongside there

really isn’t time to feel

It just felt good, that’s all;
we’d been waiting for this,”

ONLY FOUR Americans hold
internationol Golden ”C" soaring
certificates, highest soaring
recognition granted, and three
of them are with the Air Forces.
Major Lewin B. Barringer is on
duty at headquarters as a glider
specialist; 2nd Lieut. Chester
Decker is with the Glider Unit
at Wright Field, and John Rc^in-
son is a civilian instructor at
the Twenty-Nine Palms (Calif.)
glider school. The fourth
Golden "C" holder, Robert M.
Stanley, is chief test pilot at
Bell Aircraft Corp.

THE GLIDER PILOT program,
by the way, is one of the fast-
est moving activities in the
Air Forces. Some recent de-
velopments: Prior flight ex-
perience is no longer necessary
to qualify for glider pilot
training, which has been made

are First Lieutenants Herbert
Licht, a former landscape
archi tec t , and Sam Ri t tenhouse ,
a former civil engineer . These
two boss a sweating group in
clearing fields, cutting down
trees, razing stumps, and
ovailedile to all officers, en- building and hauling dummy
listed men and civilians between planes-all in a day’s work at
the ages of 18 and 36 who can camouflage course. Re-

meet physical and mental re- ceiving instructions from
quirements.... Selected graduates and Rittenhouse are

of the glider schools will be lieutenant colonels, majors
appointed second lieutenants, captains, and the teachers

others will be given staff *beir superior officers

sergeant ratings with flight partiality. What’s more,

pay. and all graduates will be ^be ranking officers take it
authorized to wear glider pilot ^^^e it. or pretend they

wings insignia.

ON A RECENT night training
flight Aviation Cadet William
Waters found himself over a
small Carolina town wi th his
gas supply almost exhausted.
He recalled how another Cadet
in a similar spot had dipped
and circled over a small town
until he aroused citizens, who
quickly drove their cars to a
local airfield and flooded it
with their headlights for the
forced landing. So Cadet
Waters circled and dipped.
Finally he saw headlights
shining on a nearby field.
Waters came in— .-and ground
looped smack in the middle of
a freshly plowed cornfield.
The natives, it seems, hadn’t
stopped to light up a landing
field, Theyhad merely applied
their car brakes out of curi-
osity to get a better view of
what was going on up above.

THE THIRD Air Force is due
for most of the action in summer
maneuvers; from July 26 to
August 16 and from August 31 to
September 20 in the Carol inas.
from August 31 to September 20
in Louisiana, and from October 5
to 25 in Tennessee. The First
Air Force will be at the Carolina
maneuvers from Octdjer 5 to 25.

TWO LIEUTENANTS at Fort
Belvoir, Va. , where the Engi-
neer Board is training officers
in the gentle art of camou-
flage, find themselves in a
rather enviable spot. They

AIR FORCES personnel who
participate in submarine sink-
ings will get the Air Medal.
The boys on off-shore patrol
know that sub hunting is tough.
It is estimated, for instance,
that in two out of three
cases a submarine will sight a
plane and dive before the plane
sights the sub. Also, that a
submarine on surface during day-
light con submarge approximately
25 seconds after spying a plane.

NOTES: "V Mail" — letters
photographed on special film,
flown to America and reproduced
for delivery here — has been made
available to all personnel of
our armed forces in the British
Isles, so we hear. It is re-
ported that a ton of letters can
be recorded on negatives weigh-
ing only 25 pounds ... .The aver-
age soldier in field uniform,
according to the War Department
physical training manual, should
be able to run 100 yards in 13
seconds, high jump four feet,
broad jump 13 feet 6 inches and
do 25 push-ups from the ground
. . . .Corporal Franklin Leve of
Maxwell Field won a national
contest to find an American name
for the armored divisions. His
prize winner: "Armoraiders". . .
At last count , 78 band units had
been formed within the Air
Forces.

— The Edi tor

JUNE I9<2

The Ferrying Command

By Brig. Gen. Harold L. George

Commanding General, Air Forces Ferrying Command

T he present war differs from all previous
conflicts in its truly global character and
the pre-eminence of air power. Operations of
the opposing forces embrace the six continents,
four oceans and seven seas in their daily com-
muniques. Despite the magnitude of the forces
involved on land and sea, air power has emerged
as the key to victory.

In a war of this character, battle lines are
stretched around the world. Here at home, we
are building up the arsenal of Democracy to
supply them. The link between is the ^vital ser-
vice of supply. And as operations on the
battlefronts hove been speeded up by the rising
factor of air power, the service of supply must
take to the air to keep pace.

The Air Forces Ferrying Gjmmand functions to
translate factory production into combat air
units along the ever shifting theatres of oper-
ation. We might describe the Command as on aer-
ial service of supply.

December 7 left the Command with the responsi-
bility of delivering all military aircraft to be
produced under the President's program of 60,000
planes in 1942, 125,000 in 1943. Since that
date the Command has plunged headlong into other
vital aspects of war--aerial delivery of equip-
ment and personnel.

In accomplishing its huge job truly prodigi,ous
feats of daring and skill are being performed by
^ the Ferrying Command. New routes have been
blazed above the Arctic Circle and below the
Ecjuator. With few detailed maps and haphazard
weather information, planes have been flown
around the world

A globe circling series of bases have hod to
be estdslished and a special network of communi-
cations set up to provide the daily information
without which regular operations could not be
maintained. Equipment ranging from blankets and
strawberry jam to prefcd>ricated houses had to be
brought in by ship and plane. With native Icdior
to which modern construction methods meant no-
thing, landing fields had to be enlarged and
runways extended.

The War Department has announced that our pi-
lots recently evacuated more than 4,000 persons
from Burma. The Command also played on impor-
tant role in the Battle of the Philippines.
Even after the fall of Bataan our planes mode
two hazardous trips to the Philippines. On the
first trip 25 persons were evacuated. On the
second, just before Corrigedor fell, 30 evacuees
were flown out on a plane carrying a total of 37
men, packed in like sardines. The navigator

practically hod to stand on three of the passen-
gers to take his fixes.

Not long ago the Command was notified that
several thousand pounds of essential military
supplies were needed as soon as possible at a
base in eastern Australia. Two days and 14
hours after these supplies were made ovailcdsle
to us on the coast, we had them delivered in
Australia. During this flight the crew spent
only seven hours on the ground, all for servic-
ing. Meals and snatches of sleep were caught in
flight.

When a badly needed military hospital burned
to the ground in a remote section of Alaska, the
Command was notified. Thirty- six hours later a
24-bed emergency hospital was set up and in op-
eration with materials and supplies ferried by
the Command.

Pilots and crews have experienced difficulties
of all kinds and descriptions--ice in the Arc-
tic. storms and St. Elmo's fire that burned
holes in wings and fuselage in the South Atlan-
tic, Japanese planes in the Far East.

The exploits of our airmen breathe life into
the formalized phrases of official citations
made for "extraordinary achievement", and give
new meaning to the stereotyped wording; "not
only reflects credit upon himself, but upon his
organization, all of the Army Air Forces ond his
country as well."

Landing at a foreign airport surrounded by
barrage balloons with the ceiling zero is such
an exploit. Flying at 22,000 feet over a cloud
bank for hours until the oxygen supply was
nearly exhausted is another. Bringing in a
plane safely over a northern route after on en-
counter with a cold bank that within a few min-
utes deposited more than a ton of ice on the
wings is a third.

There is the crew of a plane which took off
from Java during the early days of the war to
bring out the ground crews of a bomber squadron
withdrawn from the Philippines. With enough
gasoline for only 2,000 miles, the plane suc-
cessfully completed an 1,800 mile flight at
night through hostile territory, changing course
five times with only the stars as a guide, so
that the slightest miscalculation would hove
meant failure, with death or capture by the en-
emy their probable fate. The thrill that ran
through the crew can only be imagined as their
signal for a landing was answered by a flare
from the utter blackness below. But the ground
crews so badly needed in Java were brought out

JUNE I9<2

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

"according to plan”.

At one base in Africa, the crew brought in a
four-motored plane without any advance communi-
cation with a field because the radio station
was closed and the operator was away attending a
festival.

Establishment of our foreign routes raised
many new problems, all complicated by the factor
of distance. Sanitation in many places simply
did not exist. Anti-toxins merely helped in the
battle of prevention. The whole question of
food for such diverse climates as those of
Greenland and mid-Africa, India and Qiina hod to
be examined. Seeds are now being sent out to
detachments in far-off places so our men will
hove the familiar taste of home-grown carrots,
lima beans, onions and pumpkins to assuage home-
sickness as well as hiuiger. Frostbite and mos-
quitoes ore only two of the myriad enemies it is
necessary to guard against in order to keep the
officers and men maintaining our bases in the
health and spirits vital to continuous opera-
tions. Refrigerators, radios, phonographs,
basdsall. badminton and other athletic equipment
have been enlisted in the cause.

Some of these difficulties are on the lighter
side. Ferrying one type of pursuit ship means
limiting baggage to a toothbrush and razor.
With crews constantly on the move, laundry still
is a chronic problem. There is the case of the
pilot whose fiancee spent almost three weeks
waiting at the airport before he could stop
long enough to get a marriage license and have
the ceremony performed.

Yet, while daily problems were being solved,
an eye had to be kept to the future when the
full stream of production would be flowing over
the airlanes to American squadrons and to our
allies' forces everywhere.

Without the aid of existing commercial com-
panies in a score or more fields, this gigantic
task could not have been successfully accom-
plished. Airlines, oil companies, manufacturers
and scores of individuals volimteered their ser-
vices. They are still helping to perform vital
functions in a setup that already has exceeded
in scope the operations of all the civil air-
lines in the United States combined, and that in
the near future will surpass those of the entire
world.

Miraculous as some of the accomplishments of
the Ferrying Command hove seemed in the past,
more miracles must be performed in. the future
before the war in the air can be won. There can
be no resting on laurels, no pausing for breath
until we deliver the bomber that levels the lost
Axis base to the ground.

Fortunately for us, the Ferrying Command had
the benefit of a relatively natural growth, al-
though the nature of its work has mode pioneer-
ing the rule rather than the exception. Created
in Jxme, 1941. by direction of President Roose-
velt to speed up aircraft deliveries to the
British under the Lease-Lend Act. its task was
later extended by international developments to
include deliveries to such other Lease-Lend ben-

eficiaries as the Union of Socialist Soviet Re-
publics, the Netherlands East Indies, China and
other South American countries.

Starting with an original complement of two
officers and one civilian secretary, the Ferry-
ing Command has grown within 10 crowded months
into an organization of several thousand offi-
cers, enlisted men and civilian employees. From
the beginning, questions arose for which pre-
cedent could furnish no answer because there
were no precedents.

The organization which has been evolved to
carry out President Roosevelt's program follows
traditional lines in many respects, yet allows
for infinite variations. It consists in broad
outline of a headquarters, and a Domestic and a
Foreign Wing. The Domestic Wing ferries all
military aircraft from factories to points with-
in the continental limits of the United States.
At the East and West Coasts, planes consigned to
foreign nations are turned over to the Foreign
Wing, which flies them across to fronts in the
Near and Far East, Australia and the U.S.S.R. I
well remember the time when our thinking was
confined to Hemisphere defense. Today we speak
of countries as a few years ago we spoke of
states, speak of oceans and seas as once we
talked of rivers and bays.

A natural by-product of this vast organization
is the training program, only recently insti-
tuted, to keep our pilot strength onple for the
task of ferrying thousands of airplanes a month,
varying in size from the small ‘‘grasshopper"
craft used for artillery spotting and ground
liaison to the huge Consolidated B-24s and
Boeing Flying Fortresses.

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, almost all
our pilots were military flyers. The sudden de-
mand for their services with combat units led to
employment of civilian pilots on civil service
status. Plans call for eventually militarizing^
the entire service by commissioning these civil-
ians as soon as they can qualify. The Domestic
Wing already has set up officer candidate
courses at control centers throughout the coun-
try to give intensive training designed to fit
these civilian ferry pilots for commissions in
accordance with their age and experience. These
courses are conducted during the 90-day civil
service appointment so that ferrying operations
are interrupted only for a short period and by
small groups at each sector.

The whole Ferrying G^mmond estcdslishment. as a
matter of fact, has a training as well as an
operational function. Pilots with lesser
amounts of flying time start out on smaller
types of planes, progress to the faster and
heavier types. After undergoing training at our
4-engine school pilots may be transferred to the
Foreign Wing, where they fly bigger, faster
craft on longer missions. From the Foreign
Wing, they are ovailcd>le for transfer to combat
units, where their experience and training is
invaluable for long range bomber flights. To
develop pilots and crews for the announced pro-

JUNE 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

gram of 500 heavy bombers a month will challenge
our best efforts.

Conduct of operations on the present unpre-
cedented scale has offered a new experience in
organization. Since the Ferrying Command takes
every military plane from the end of the assem-
bly lime, a sensitive finger must be kept on the
pulse of production to eliminate any delays
there. From our control centers, pilots and
crews are sent to the factory to take over each
plane accepted by the Materiel Command inspector
and fly it to a particular destination. I^ir
progress is plotted almost hourly along the
route so that information is available imme-
diately as to the location, route and condition
of any plane at any time. When a plane is deli-
vered, the crews are returned by air to their
home control point or to another factory to re-
peat the process and keep the stream of produc-

tion flowing smoothly.

The Ferrying Command looks to the future with
confidence. Ahead lies a task that a few years
ago would have appeared insurmountcdile. 'Yet we
are now delivering more planes each month than
the Army Air Corps possessed a few years ago.
At home the feeling that we are responsible in
however small measure for the successful accom-
plishment of some war task should inspire us to
greater efforts. On the battlefront, a sense of
representing home and country, the millions of
individuals making up this great nation, nerves
our crews to fight the overwhelming loneliness
of vast ocean or desert wastes, and steels the
pilot, navigator, radioman, gunner and bombar-
dier when the enemy is sighted. In this recip-
rocity of spirit will be forged the attainment
of our common goal, “Winning the War".

Ferrying Ccmmand pilots inspect their open air dormitory at an African base.
Nets are stretched over the beds tor protection against insects. The sur-
roundings may be primitive but the beds, springs and matresses are the
finest from the U.S.A,

D'l*.

JUNE 1942

MA4.CCN. Lewis BRC..eTON

HONOR
ROLL

CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR

Brig. General James H. Doolittle "For conapicuoua laaderahip above and beyond the

call of duty, involving peraonal valor and intrepidity at an extreme hazard to
life. With the apparent certainty of being forced to land in enemy territory
or to periah at sea, Gen. Doolittle organized aa well aa led the air raid on
Japan April 18, 1943. "

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS

For participation in the Tokyo raid on April 18, 1942:

Me jora

John A. Hilger

Captaina

Charles R. Greening David M. Jones Edward J. York

George Barr
Thadd H, Blanton
William M. Bower
Clayton J. Campbell
Robert S. Clever
Richard E. Cole
Horace E. Crouch
Dean Davenport
Robert G. Emmens
William G. Farrow
William N. Fitzhugh
Robert M. Gray

Lteutenanta

Thoma s C. Griffin
Dean E. Hallmark
Nolan A. Herndon
Robert L. Hite
Everett W. Holstrom
Travis Hoover
Richard O. Joyce
Frank A. Kappeler
Richard A. Knobloch
Ted W. Lawson
J.H. Macia
Jack E. Manch

Robert J. Meder
Richard E. Miller
Charles L. McClure
Harry C. McCool
E. E. McElroy
Eugene McGur 1
Chase J. Neilson
Charles J. Ozuk
James M. Parker, Jr.
Henry A. Potter
William R. Pound, Jr.
Kenneth E. Reddy

Howard A. Sessler
Jack A. Sims
Donald G. Smit^

J. Royden Stork
Denver N.. True love
Harold F. Watson
Lucian N. Youngblood
Thomas R. White
Rodney R. Wilder
Carl N. Wildner
Griffith P. Williams

Technical Sergeanta

Waldo J. Bither Eldred V. Scott

Edwin B. Bain
William L. Birch

Staff

Fred A. Braemer
Omer A, Duquette

Sergeanta

Jacob Eierman
Edwin W. Horton, Jr.

P. J. Leonard
Douglas V. Radney

Sergeanta

Wayne M. Bissell Aden E. Joiles Joseph W. Manske
Robert C. Bourgeois Theodore H. Laban Edward J. Saylor
Melvin J. Gardner George E. Larkin, Jr. Harold A. Spatz

Corporala

Jacob DeShazer Leland D. Faktor Bert M. Jordan

William J. Dieter Donald E. Fitzmaurice David M. Pohl

Robert J. Stephens
Adam R. Williams

David J. Thatcher

JUNE 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS

Major Jack N. Donohew Heroism while pilot ing a plane near Kalama» Ifas/i.

Major Louis T. Reichers (Pilot)

Capt . J.V. Chapman, Jr. (Co*pilot)

Lt . J.A. Hutchins, Jr. (Posthumous ) -
Master Sergt. C.G. Green
Master Sergt. J.G. Moran
Tech. Sergt. Francis G, Denary

Harr iman niaaion

flight

to Moscow,

Capt •

James J. Connally

.Lead pilot of a flight of Flying Fortreaaes on boaibing mission
to Jolo, on Jan, 19 ,

Capt. Richard T. Right

Lt. Kenneth L* Akins

Lt. C.T. Allen (1st Navigator)

Lt, John G. Moe (Navigator)

Tech, Sergt. J.M. Cooper

Tech. Sergt. H, Smith (2nd Engineer

Staff Sergt. Errol W. Wynkoop

Hazardous and technically difficult round trip flight from
Bolling Field to the A^ether lands Bast Indies on an urgent and
vital mission. Crew subjected to bombing raid at Palembang,
Java, and later encountered a severe electrical storm during
vhicli the ship was struck by lightning and burned in several
places .

Major J.H. Rothrock (Co-pilot)
Capt. David B. L^ancaster, Jr.
Capt. J.B. Montgomery
Capt. William N. Vickers, Jr.

Lt. Theodore J. Boselli

Lt . Edson £. Kester

Lt. F.B. Rang

Lt, Elbert D. Reynolds

Master Sergt. J.H. Walsh

Tech. Sergt. Charles M. Kincheloe

Tech. Sergt. Horace T. Peck

Staff Sergt. R.J, Barrett, Jr.

Sergt. Edward Schrempf

Corp. Clyde W. Nowlin

Initial flights to the United Kingdom, opening North Atlantic
routes for the Air Force Ferrying Command , Summer, 1941,

Lt. William B. Compton
Lt. Cecil L. Faulkner
Lt . Walter K. Heitzman
Lt. Thomas C. Mustain

Master Sergt. S.L. Jennings ^ Performed hazardous photographic mission over Japanese terri-

Sergt. Benjamin Clifton tory,

Corp. Jerome G. parsons
Pvt. 1st Class J.A, Capute
Pvt, Robert Johns

Lt. C.W. Van Eeuwan (Posthuiaous )
(Pilot)

Lt. J.J. Orr (Posthumous) (Co-
pilot )

Pvt. 1st Class J.W. Gallik

(Posthumous) (Radio Operator)

Pvt. 1st Class E.A, Onufrowicz

(Posthumous) (Aerial Engineer

Aviation Cadet Earl W. Ray

(Posthumous) (Navigator)

Lt. Col. Caleb V. Haynes

Oe liberately sacr if iced thesmelves by diving their d isahled
plane into a gravel pit, exploding its full load of boaibm ,
rather than risk killing civilians in an attempt to land on a
street or a vacant lot in a residential area. Took off from
Mitchel Field, N,Y, , Jan, 1, 1942,

2nd Oak Leaf Cluster ••Flight to Britain

Major Donald Reiser Led Flying Fortresses across the Bay of Bengal to convert

the docks of Rangoon into flaming wreckage, in spite of violent
anti-aircraft and fighter opposition, and returned without a
loss,

Capt. J.B. Montgomery.. Co-pilot, round-the-world flight, September , 1941.

(Continued on Page 20)

JUNE 1942

Fly to Tokyo— All Expenses Paid

BY Oliver H. TowKsend

Heatl^aarters, AAF

(This is the third in a series of articles

describing countries officers and men of the

Air Forces will visit in large numbers be-
fore the end of the war . - -The Editor)

*/^ CME to beautiful, hospitable Japan** is
v^on invitation Japanese travel agencies hove
been bandying thoughtlessly d^out for years.

Doolittle finally did it.

With a party of 79 officers and men. Brig.
General James H. Doolittle last month conducted
a quick tour of Japan*s chief industrial cen-
ters. Members of the party all report they had
a wonderful time.

Although the famous Japanese hospitality was
somewhat lacking when the Doolittle party ar-
rived. the Tokyo radio has announced repeatedly
that the Japs are *‘so sorry** they couldn*t give
him a much warmer reception. In all fairness to
the hosts, it must be admitted that, once they
knew the General had arrived, they tried their
best to get him to stop over permanently. Mem-
bers of the Jap air force are still brooding be-
cause they allowed him to "rush off**.

After all. General Doolittle and his party did
drop in somewhat unexpectedly. Perhaps that is
why the Japanese hospitality was lacking. But
he was simply following the precedent set by the
Japs at Pearl Harbor— and he did leave calling
cards.

All in all, the Doolittle junket was so suc-
cessful that a new invitation, which has stolen
the show from the Jap travel agencies, has been
issued by the Air Forces,

A Better Offer

"Fly to Tokyo— All Expenses Paid*' is the Air
Forces offer, and it* s a much more attractive
one than any the Japs hove made.

In response to this cordial invitation, thous-
ands of Air Forces officers and men are thinking
about making the trip to Tokyo, This being the
case, it seems you all ought to know something
about Japan: what preparations to make, how to
get along with the natives, a little geography—
that sort of thing.

To begin with, much of the success of your
trip will depend on the plans you make before
departure. General Doolittle and his party
planned carefully. We suspect that his exact
itinerary was laid out long before he left.
This careful planning allowed him to visit every
city on his list, and to devote particular at-
tention to many points of special interest.

General Doolittlte proved that although the
Japanese Islands are somewhat isolated from the
United States and its foreign bases, they are

still accessible if you make a stopover in
friendly Shangri-La.

Americans who hove made the flight to Japan
all agree that the trip from Shangri-La to Tokyo
shoi^Jdn't be missed. On the way you pass dir-
ectly over the Rising Sun. Note the sun care-
fully os you fly over — it appears to be setting
rather than rising. This phenomenon is puzzling
Japanese scientists increasingly as time goes
on.

Japan looms off the east coast of Asia like an
imdernourished barnacle on the hull of the Queen
Mary. Although you may not be able to see them
all in one trip, the Japanese Islands extend for
2.000 miles up and down the Asiatic coastline.
If strung along the eastern coast of the U. S. ,
the Jap Islands and Formosa would stretch from
Cuba north to Ldarodor, Tokyo would fall in the
vicinity of Norfolk, Va. Laid end to end, Jcqxm
reaches and reaches until honorcd>le knuckles get
cracked ,

Bombardier' s Paradise

Fortunately for the American traveler, most of
the important points are concentrated in a 300-
mile plain stretching from Tokyo south to Osaka
on the Pacific side of the central island of
Honshu. Crowded into this area are most of
Japan's 70 million people, all of its greatest
cities, and most of its agricultural and indus-
trial wealth. You simply must not miss this
part of Japan — especially if you are a bom-
bardier.

The Doolittle party, despite a split-second
schedule, covered most of the important points
in this area. These included the Navy Yard
south of Tokyo, where a new cruiser and a new
battleship were given special attention; the
Mitsubishi aircraft factory near Nagoya: a “tank
farm” near Osaka; dock-yards at Kc^e and Yoka-
hama; and a number of steel works, oil refin-
eries. armament plants and ammunition dumps.

Many tourist sights such as the Imperial Pal-
ace were ignored completely. Americans hope
that the hospitable Japanese will not feel hurt
because Doolittle left no presents for the Em-
peror. If they consider this to be a violation
of their highly valued protocol, this oversight
can be mode up for in subsequent trips.

A good share of the Doolittle visit was con-
ducted just above the tree- tops, offering a de-
lightfxil view. One of the most interesting phe-
nomena encountered was the terrain, especially
over industrial and military areas, which looked
much different to rear gunners than to bombar-
diers. Often ships and factories that were

JUNE 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

plainly visible to the bombardiers had changed
drastically by the time they came into the rear
gunner’s view.

Travelers to Japan should keep their radios
tuned in- -especially if they understand Japan-
ese. Nippon's radio announcers will take a
great interest in your arrival and quite prob-
ably become very excited about it. This may
puzzle you somewhat, in that the Japanese us-
ually pride themselves on their equanimity. But
at least it will flatter your ego.

As you leave central Japan, as the snow-capped
purple majesty of Mount Fujiyama fades into the
distance, let your eye stray to the south.
There, over the horizon stretch the islands of
Shikoku Olid Kyushu, two of Japan's five largest
islands, Kyushu, home of the ancient port of
Nagasaki, is more than just the place where “the
men chew tobaccy and the women wicky wacky woo*'.
It is also the second most important industrial
area of Japan, and the place where most of its
coal and iron is mined. It, like Tokyo,
shouldn't be missed.

North from the central Jap island of Honshu
lie Hokkaido and Sakhalin, and a number of
smaller islands. Although you may not notice
them all in your first few trips, there are over
500 islands in the Japanese archipelago, some as
large as Great Britain, others smaller than Man-
hattan. Even so, their total area is no larger
than the state of Montana--and three-fourths of
that is covered by non-arable mountains.

This drives the people down onto the plains
and mokes big cities there--Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto,
Nagoya, and Kobe. Tokyo at the last count was
almost as populous as New York, Osaka practi-
cally as big as Chicago. Tokyo's seaport, Yoko-
hama, had almost a million people.

The Japanese people are fanatically proud of
their military history. They have never been
invaded. (Note to printer: stand by for pos-
sible change) . Kublia Khan, conqueror of all
Asia in the 13th century, tried it twice and
failed. The rest of the world has never been
given the chance- -yet. Commodore Perry, how-
ever. did some "negotiating'' under American na-
val guns in Jap waters in 1853 and 1854.

Before the E)oolittle visit, the most specta-
cular debacle in Japanese history was the earth-
quake of 1923, which hit the Tokyo-Osoka area.
Less careful than Doolittle, the earthquake des-
troyed thousands of homes, temples, and build-
ings and wiped out a large percentage of Japan-
ese. In spite of this the Jap has retained his
sense of humor. Admiral Yamamoto, for instance,
recently announced he would dictate peace terms
in the White House.

All in all, there is nothing like a trip to
Japan to help one's disposition in these troub-
lous times. After your first visit you will
long for the day when you can return to these
beautiful little jewels of the Pacific, bringing
with you thousands of your friends, and shower-
ing the hospitable Japanese with tons and tons
of special tokens of our esteem.

mmm.

Pendleton , Oregon, where Doolittle’ s raiders trained, celebrates
the bombing of Tokyo by "their boys"

JUNE 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

^ “ diaperaed" P-40 , well-hidden from enemy view

Airdromes in Wartime

By Lieut. €ol. Rudolph E. Smy$4er

Aviation Engineers

T he present war has demonstrated the military be built for maximum efficiency for either peace
inadequacy of most peace-time airfields. or war, but not for both.

Modern wars are not begun with the exchange of There are many different types of airfields
polite declaration of intentions; instead, with- but once the landing and take-off area is pro-
out exception, the aggressor nation has com- vided they are differentiated solely by the
menced hostilities by a staggering attack on degree and the amount of ser/icing. maintenance,
the air installations of its victim. supply and administrative facilities provided.

Although this formula has been repeated sev- For- military use, the following definitions
eral times without variation, the results hove apply:

been uniformly successful. There is no evidence Airdrome: A landing field at which military
that any of the victims learned except through facilities for shelter, supply and repair of
their own bitter experience that airdromes can aircraft hove been provided. This is the ge-

JUNE 194:^

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

neric term for all military airfields.

i4ir Base: A command which comprises the
installation and facilities required by and pro-
vided for the operation, maintenance, repair and
supply of a specific Air Force. In its strict
sense, the term Air Base can be applied only to
an area. However, most existing military air-
fields in the United States are now called Air
Bases because it is contemplated that, under
operational use, they will provide supply and
repair facilities for a large number of units
concentrated in the vicinity on auxiliary air-
iromes .

Auxiliary Airdromes: An airfield located
within an Air Base operated as an annex. It
does not have all servicing, supply and repair
facilities sufficient for its operation. This
type of airfield is also called a satellite
field .

Satellite Field: This term is of foreign
derivation, and is applied to an occupied air-
drome which is not completely equipped with the
servicing, supply and repair facilities suffi-
cient for its unaided operation. This type of
airfield is identical in concept with an aux-
iliary airdrome.

Alternate Airdrome: An airfield availed) le for
the use of military units in lieu of the air-
drome to which assigned.

Advanced Landing Field: An area of land near
the general front available for the take-off and
landing of aircraft. Minimum facilities for
servicing only are available. Permanent occu-
pancy by aircraft is not contemplated.

Staging Field: A landing and take-off area
with minimum servicing, supply and shelter pro-
vided for the temporary occupancy of military
aircraft during the course of movement from one
airdrome to another.

Dispersed Airdromes: An airdrome in which the
facilities for supply and repair of aircraft and
shelter have been spread out and removed so far
as possible from the immediate presence of the
landing and take-off area.

Dispersal Parking Area: Areas of land in the
vicinity of an airdrome not suited for landing
and take-off of aircraft, which are used for the
parking of aircraft. Dispersal parking areas
*ay, or may not be contiguous with the normal
landing and take-off areas, but are connected
thereto by taxi tracks suitable for the use of
any aircraft which may be parked in the dis-
persal parking area.

Field Airdrome: An airdrome, generally in the
Theater of Operations, which is built for war-
time use only. Construction at field airdromes
is temporary, and the minimum consistent with
military necessity, thus differentiating field
airdromes from airdromes built during p>eace for
permanent occupjancy.

Too often, an airdrome is unsuited before it
is ever built. Selection of the site in peace-
time is frequently based on political expediency
combined with economic necessity; the fundamen-
tal requirement for war time suitability is put

aside. Proper site selection is of course a
compromise and adjustment between military
necessity on one hand and flying requirements on
the other.

Requirements Flexible

Fortunately, the military requirements are
reasonably flexible, as it is more often neces-
sary to locate an airdrome in a given area
rather than in an exact location. Not only
should sufficient land be available for the re-
quisite landing and take-off area, but addi-
tional space must be available for the proper
locating of technical installations, and for the
parking of aircraft. It should be accepted as
axiomatic that except when undergoing repairs,
aircraft on the ground will be in dispersed lo-
cations. Airdromes are a logical target for the
hostile air force, so every possible effort
must be made to make the target inconspicuous
and unr emune r at ive .

Careful consideration should be given to the
requirements of camouflage and dispersion.
Sites should not be chosen which are easily
found by relation to some prominent object which
is clearly visible from the air. For example,
placing on airdrome in the bend of a river would
render camouflaging inoperative, as the river
bend will always be visible from the air. The
presence of woods, trees and hedges in the area
are a great asset from the ca.mouflage point of
view, as these can later be reproduced on the
completed airdrome by camouflage methods. In
addition, they afford cover for dispersed air-
craft, buildings, bomb dumps, gasoline storage
and other elements.

The first requirement of an airdrome is an
adequate landing and take-off area. This may
vary from a level grass strip to an elaborate
system of hard surface runways. Where soil and
climatic conditions permit the growth and main-
tenance of firm turf surfaces, it may be pos-
sible to prepare a grass surfaced landing area
from which light and limited traffic can operate
during any season of the year, thus avoiding the
necessity of preparing some form of hard sur-
faced landing area.

Advantages of Turf

The principal advantages of the turf field are
that it can provide a runway facing into the
wind at all times, and that it is more easily
camouflaged since its surface approximates more
closely that of the surrounding country. Gen-
erally speaking, all-over turf fields are par-
ticularly suited for training centers or even
operational airdromes used exclusively by pur-
suit and light observation aircraft. Under the
strain of heavy traffic, turf is likely to be-
come rutted, especially if exposed to alternate
freezing and thawing. Because of the mud which
is inevitable during the wet season, maintenance

(Continued on Page 34)

JUNE 1912

"It is fitting and proper to die for one’s country."

. PRO PATRIA MORI

A partial list of officers and men of the Army Air Forces officially reported
to have died in the service of their country since December 7, 1941.

Major Generals
Herbert A. Dargue

Master Sergeants
Dave Jacobson

Colonels

George Ricker

First Sergeants
Wallace R. Martin

Ma jors

Austin A. Straubel Chauncey B. Whitney

Capta ins

Eugene D, Cadontseff John L. Du Frane» Jr.

Colin P. Kelly James Gordon Leavitt

Lieutenants

Glen M. Alder
William A. Anderson
Arthur Alfred Amron
Thomas Francis Almon
William T. Biggers
Walter C. Boyle
Jerry Orville Brez'ina
James C. Barhdm
Homer Charles Burns
William A., Cocke V
Jack W. Clark
Robert E. Crouch
Woodrow Wilson Christian
Hans C. Christiansen
Leonard William Carter
William C. Daniel, III
Willard Thurman Degolyer
James R. Davidson, III
John Joseph Doherty,. Jr.
Frederick J. Dittman
John L. Dains
John.R. Van De Lester
John Pershing Robbins
Elias Turner, Jr.

Maurice M. Miller
Arthur Edward Gary
George H, Olson
Lonnie B. Wimberley
William R. Schick
Harry A, Sealey
Foy Roberson, Jr.

Samuel H. Marett
Karl F, Leabo
William E. Luetzow
E.D, Hoffman
John E. Loehrke
Louis A. Johnson

Paul Willard Anthony
Marshall Judson Anderson
Isadore Alfred
N.W. Browne
Willis W. Burney
Glenn Harold Boes
Donald Paul Baker
Hal Browne, Jr.

William Perry Brady
Wilbur Camp -
Richard W, ..(^ase
Ray Lawrence Cox
Nathaniel Thomas Cornell
Robert Devere Clark
L.W.E. Duvall
Roy L. Drew

Arthur Ferdinand Davies
Carl E. Danner, Jr.
George Clark Denter
Kenneth P. Donahue
James Thomas Drake
Dennis Joseph Dowling
William S. Walker, Jr.
John G, Kelso
John A. Hutchins, Jr.
Charles J, Young
James W. Riddell
Forrest M. Hobrecht
William L. Northern, Jr,
Lycurgus W. Johnson
Claude A. Knight
George R. Matthews
T.M. Richards
James E. Snyder
R.A. Saner
Robert T. Hanson
Roy Robertson

Technical Sergeants

Srank St. E. Posey

Raymond E. Powell

Joseph Ambrose

Howell H. Harris

Sta

ff Sergeants

Doyle Kimmey

John H, Mann

John A. Price

Joseph C. Herbert

Paul B. Free

Elwood R. Gummerson

James M. Barksdale

Edward J. Burns

Sergeants

James H. Derthick

Lionel L. Lowe

George F. Loritz

Everett A, Pond

Russell V. Cornford

Stanley A. Donin

Corporals

Edward F. Heard

Kenneth 0. Whitaker

Mack Sweeney

John Jurcsak

Paul H. Duncan

Gerald Duma is

Arthur E. Karlinger

^ , Cecil R. Hamman

Donald F, Meagher

, Antonio Tafoya

Privates First Class'

Ralph S. Smith

Jerome J, Szematowicz

Robert R. Shat tuck

William T. Rhodes

Willard C. Orr

Thomas F, Philipsky

William W, Merithew

Horace A. Messam.

Harrell K. Mattox

William E. McAbe^

Robert R. Kelley

James A. Horner

William E. Hasenfuss

Clarence E. Hoyt

Melvin J. Dodson

James £. Gossard, Jr.

Eugene B. Denson

William Coyne, Jr,

Privates

Alfred Hays

John J, Horan

Robert L. Hull

Robert H. Gooding

Leo E.A. Gagne

Lyle 0. Edwards

Stuart H. Fiander

Willard E. Fairchild

Jack H, Feldman

Russell C. Defenbaugh

Robert C, Duff, Jr,

Malachy Cashen

Dean W. Cebert

Robert S. Brown

Arthur F. Boyle

William J. Brownlee

Brooks J. Brubaker,

Jr. Gordon R, Bennett, Jr

Robert G, Allen

Garland C. Anderson

Leland V, Beasley

Otto E. Wellman

Karl Santschi

Edward E. VanDyke

JUNE 1942

Your Safety Job

ByMaJ. W. R. Weber

GMcf, Accident Prevention Division
Directorate of Flying Safety

G EMERAL Arnold has called upon each meaber
of the Army Air Forces to do all in his
power to aid the acident prevention program of
the Directorate of Flying Safety.

What con you do to help?

First of all, you can cooperate with the 10
special field safety officers who will represent
the Directorate throughout the United States.

These safety officers — all experts — hove been
given the job of preventing airplane accidents.
They will make special investigations and in-
spections. and will study the accident pre-
vention devices used at individual fields. Most
important of all. they will take every step
necessary to see that all officers and men of
the Air Forces know the rules of flying safety.

Help your safety officer. Q>operate with him.
Learn the safety rules and practice them. Es-
pecially learn how to eliminate landing, taxiing
and take-off accidents. There is no possible
excuse for these.

A booklet soon to be published will describe
the narrow escapes Air Forces flyers have had
and how to avoid them. Many of you have demon-

strated a fine spirit of cooperation by contri-
buting your own experiences to this booklet.
Typical of the episc^es described is the follow-
ing, submitted by Lieut. Clay Tice, Jr.. France
Field, Canal Zone;

*We were on a shadow-gunnery mission making
passes at the shadow of a two-ship element which
was flying at an altitude of 500 feet. 1
started my dive at 1,000 feet and at cd>out 100
yards from the target opened fire. I released
the trigger after firing a burst of approximate-
ly 5 rounds but one of my guns continu^ firing.
As there was another ship ahead and cd>ove me
making his cross-over, I realised that following
the pattern would endanger him. Glancing down
in the cockpit I reached for the hydraulic
button that controlled the malfunctioning gun
and placed it in the lock-back position. It was
but a split second before I had accomplished
this but as I looked up again I was almost down
in the water. I reacted without thinking and
come back on the stick but my propeller hit the
water throwing spray up over the cockpit. There
was no damage done to the plane, but diving into
the water at over 200 mph isn't something to
look forward to. If I had kept my head in the
cockpit an instant longer I would hove crashed;
but if I had known definitely where the gun
control was located I would never have had such
a narrow escape."

JUNE 1942

AAF Planes Torpedo Japs

O FF Midway Island the Jap Navy early this month ran smack into a new weapon of Army
air power- -and came off second best.

The new weapon was the Army’s Martin B-26, equipped with a special torpedo carrying and
release mechanism. Sweeping deck- hi gh over the Jap fleet at lightning speeds the B-26s
used the new device to send their explosive fish crashing into the hulls of carriers and
warships . Together with Army B-17s and Navy carrier-based planes they sent the Japs
limping home.

Sweeping out of the clouds in the picture at top is a B-26 medium bomber similar to
those used to blast the Jap Navy with torpedoes. Below an Air Forces officer inspects
the new torpedo release mechanism which made it all possible.

They Look For Trouble

By Lieut. Robert B. Hotz

Headquarters, A A F

S',

Lockheed Test Pilot Milo Burcham climbs out of
a P-38 after checking it in the stratosphere
prior to delivery to the Army Air Forces.

Civilian pilots like Burcham work for all Air
Forces contractors. It’s their job to take
airplanes aloft and look for all types of trouble
before the planes are delivered to combat pilots.

T he sun beats down on the runways at the
great Lockheed Air Terminal at Burbank,
Calif. Scores of war-painted Hudsons, Venturas
and P-38s are scattered over the field. A
dusty station wagon bounces across the airport
dropping a pair of casually dressed civilians
before each of a long row of Hudsons and
Venturas. The civilians buckle on chutes.
Engines sputter, then roar. Twin engined bomb-
ers waddle across the grass toward the end of
the runway. Lockheed test pilots are going to
work .

These Lockheed pilots are an oddly assorted
crew with only two things in common- -a long
and colorful record in the air and a love of
the work they do.

There is Jimmy Mattern, who flew solo from
New York to Siberia in 1933 and was lost for
14 days in the Arctic after a forced landing;
Jim Allison, who fought in Spain and China;
Lewis (Swede) Parker, who was a music student
at Harvard when he learned to fly and who now
mixes bronco-busting with his test piloting;
Milo Burcham, famous in the barnstorming days
for his one-wheel landings and upside down fly-
ing; several “old” KLM and French army pilots;
the former legal counsel for Lockheed who
learned to fly and left his law practice to
become a test pilot; ex-butchers, ranchers and
bartenders who learned to fly in the twenties
and were forced into other occupations during
the depression and returned to flying in the
pre-war boom. All of them are veterans of more
than 2,000 hours and 60 of the staff of 75 have
more than 5,000 hours.

They are typical of the crews of factory test
pilots seen lounging around the operations
office of every big aircraft plant. The work
they do is typical of that done by factory test
pilots wherever planes for the Army Air Forces
are made.

When an Air Force pilot gets a plane to fly
he can be sure that there have been comp>etent
hands on the controls before him. In addition
to the test flights by factory pilots, every
AAF plane is given a final check by an Air
Force acceptance pilot. Unless it is perfect
in every detail it is not accepted. However,
with a good crew of factory test pilots the
work of an acceptance pilot is not too tough.
The bulk of the job of seeing that AAF planes
are fit to fly is done by the factory testers.

Lockheed test pilots like to talk about how
simple their jobs are. And if you watched them
play rummy in the pilot house awaiting call,
flew with them while they checked a few "squawks"
on a Hudson or rode along while they ferried a
Ventura 40 miles to Long Beach, you might think
they were right. But big Swede Parker and
dapper Milo Burcham could tell you some scalp
tingling tales of their experimental testing

JUNE 1912

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

of the original P-38 and there is a dusty set
of maps in the pilot house drawer labelled
“Ralph Virden". Virden was killed last year
while testing an early P-38 and his name be-
longs on the airmen's honor roll in type as
large as those of the pilots lost over Luson
and Java.

Another unsung hero of this routine battle
for control of the blue is Marshal Headle.
former chief test pilot of the Lockheed crew.
Headle was the first man to fly the P-38 and
became extremely interested in the effect on
pilots of flying at the P-38's terrific ceil-
ing. He used himself as a guinea pig in high
altitude pressure chamber experiments. One
day while trying to see how little oxygen a
pilot could live on at well over 35,000 feet
he became confused from lack of oxygen and cut
off his oxygen supply instead of increasing
it. The only alternative to certain death from
oxygen starvation was for the engineers to
increase the pressure in the chamber to that
of sea level as fast as possible. It meant
that Marshal Headle went through the effect
of falling from thot height to sea level in
eight seconds. He may never fly again.

That is the kind of thing that happens when
these test pilots push out along the fringes
of the unknown. It is a dangerous and impor-
tant part of their work but the bulk of their
job is a bit more prosaic. It consists of put-
ting planes fresh from the assembly line through
routine checks, carefully noting and recording
all irregularities in the “squawk book". Then
on succeeding flights each squowk is checked
until it has been eliminated and the plane is
ready for delivery to the Air Forces.

In the days before the Ferrying Command,
Lockheed had its own ferrying service and test
pilots saw a good bit of the world delivering
planes. Elmer McLeod, now chief test pilot,
flew around the world delivering two Lockheed
12s to the Rajah of Jodphur. He lived in orien-
tal splendor with the Rajah for two months while
teaching him to fly. Other Lockheed pilots de-
livered Hudsons to South Africa and the Middle
Ekist via the South Atlantic and the Burbank-
Montreal run functioned with the regularity of
a commercial airline. But now a 40 mile hop to
the Ferrying Command Base at Long Beach or an
occasional trip to Dallas is their only cross
country diversion.

Most of their time is spent wheeling the
twin-engined Hudsons and Venturas over the
ridges and valleys around Burbank and streak-
ing P-38s up to their ceiling. Occasionally
they give diners in the glass enclosed airport
restaurant an infantryman's view of a P-38 in
action by swooping down on the restaurant and
pulling up in a terrific climb.

A test pilot making the first check on a
Hudson or Ventura has a big green book in which
he and the co-pilot record the performance of
the ship. Before he takes it over, mechanics
and inspectors give the ship a final check and

run-up. Then pilot and co-pilot make their own
pre-flight inspection.

Once in the air the test continues in rou-
tine fashion. Test pilots don't “wring out"
the ship in a test of this kind. All of the
wing-pulling-off and slow rolling are confined
to the original models. Once the design and
construction has been proved in the experimental
tests, production models are static tested for
maximum strain on the ground so there is no
need for test pilots to try to twist them out
of shape .

The flight test starts out with a full power
take-off and a rated power climb. Cowl flops,
oil scoops, RFM, fuel pressure, oil pressure and
temperature, head temperature and manifold pres-
sure are all recorded for both motors. The
landing gear is lowered and raised in flight.
Flaps are tested. Bomb doors are opened and
closed and a short run is made on each gas tank
to test the fuel feed system. De-icers are set
to work and the plane is flown on the Sperry
automatic pilot on four different courses. Trim
tcd>s are checked, props feathered and unfeath-
ered. Heaters and ventilators are checked and
the cockpit inspected for air leaks. A pair of
360 degree turns are made in each direction and
all instruments are checked. Props are used in
low and high pitch and the landing gear warning
horn is given a workout.

The book full of data is turned in with all
irregularities noted. The next pilot who
handles the ship after the mechanics have worked
on the squawks will check off those remedied.
The ship is flown until all squawks have been
eliminated. Then it is ready for an AAF ac-
ceptance f 1 ight .

Most Hudsons average two hours of test flying;
P-38s and Venturas usually get about three
hours. With a pilot and co-pilot in the
"office” of a Hudson or Ventura, keeping up the
data book isn't too much trouble. But with a
single pilot squeezed into a P-38 trying to fly
fine of the fastest ships in the world with one
hand, while reading instruments, gauges and
keeping in touch with the operations office by
radio and recording squawks with the other, con-
siderable dexterity is required.

The routine on P-38 testing is slightly dif-
ferent and the initial checking is broken up
into two flights. On the first flight the
rigging, flying characteristics, props, flops,
landing gear and radio are checked. The cock-
pit and instrument checks are done during the
second flight. P-38s are also put through a
special test at high altitude.

From 50 to 60 flights a day are made by the
Lockheed test pilot staff of 75 and it takes a
veteran to hold down one of these jobs. Yet,
all of them still go to instrument and naviga-
tions school in the old Spanish ranch house on
the edge of the airport. They put in regular
hours on the Link and every once in a while they
shoot a few instrument approaches to Montreal
just for old times sake.

JUNE 1942

AL.'STRALIA nuht

( ircHiiu] .Tcw .ivi’.iori'i - ,it
h.i'O soircwiiiTc "liown
uiiuor ' prcpai '.ni; to lo.ij
a I’ 10 tiyhtLT.

GUATEMALA ,ibove>. A covey ot B-17’^ winj; through a
mountain pa^.s on patrol Junes in protection of the Americas anj
the vital Panama Can.il The planes are attached to the Caribbean
Defense Command

BURMA .below AVG "Flying Tigers'
besiJc one ol iheir .~hark-tootheJ P 4d's ,il an

vanci airiiew

THE AIR FORCES A

ifUHiumujjiM,

lOlTND THE WORLD

HONOLULU atove). AAF thei s exhibit the namc-pLitc of their
B-26- all that was worth salvaging after they brought it hack from
the air-sea battle for MiJway.

AUSTRALIA below . Bomber Pilot R. B. Proiity gives final in-
structions to his flight companion, a white parrot.

AFRICA above . A native lends
color to tlie ra-Jio station at one ot the
Ferrving t ommand's airfields deep in
the Dark Continc nt.

i-i j

INDIA belt . Ferrying (bominand
pilots ,ue siiown tiliing out their reports
alter delivering supplies and equipment

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

The Honor Roll

(Continued from Page 8)

Lt . Theodore J. Boselli Harr iamn miaaion to Russia.

Master Scrgt. Adolph Cattarius Flight to Britain, summer, 1941.

Master Sergt« Joseph H. Walsh Harriman miaaion to Russia.

Tech. Scrgt. Charles M. Kinche loe . . . . Four trana •At lant ic ferrying flights.

Staff Sergt. R.J. Barrett, Jr Extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial

flight as 1st Radio Operat or on an urgent and vital miaaion
from Bolling Field to Nether lands East Indies.

Staff Sergt. Elvin P. Wescott Harr ioian mission to Russia.

SILVER STAR

Maj. General Lewis Brereton
Lt . Nelson P. Davis (Co-pilot)

Lt , Bruno Deltissier (Boaibard ie r )

Lt . Raymond W. Giannini (Navigator) ■
Lt . Paul J. Long (Co-pilot)

Lt . Delmar J. Rogers (pilot)

Lt- M.J. Svovode (Navigator )

Staff Sergt. E.E. Lindley(Bombardier )

Part ic ipat ion

in an attack on

the Andaman

Is lands .

April 2.

Lt, Gene L. Bound Outs landing action during aerial engagement ovpr Bali, Feb, 7.

Lt . Robert L. Ferry.,. . . . .Aferitorious achievement in the performance of an aerial flight

against the armed enemy.

Lt . G.A. Whiteman (Posthumous) Ga 1 lantry after his plane had been shot down Dec, 7, in the

Japanese attack on Oahu, Hawaii.

Staff Sergt. Charles A. Fay

Initiative, presence of mind , coolness under fire and determined
action.

PURPLE HEART

Major Norman H. Llewellyn
(posthumous )

Capt . Elmer Felix Parsel
(posthumous )

Lt . James V. Cunningham

Lt . G. Harkness (posthumous)

Lt . Duke Paul (posthumous)

Lt , R.B. Sprang (Posthumous)
Sergt, Howard A. Bennett
Sergt. R. Gregor (Posthumous)
Corp. R.F. Sampson
Corp. Clifford C. Ventriss

Pvt. O.B. Knox (Posthumous)

Pvt. J.C. Paounoff (posthumous >
Pvt. John N. Richards
Pvt. Willie T. Stokes
(Posthumous )

Pvt, Leonard York

JUNE 19H2

Sweeps Over France

By Flight Lieut. Brendan ^^Paddy’’ Finueane

Boyal Air Force

The author, leader of a famous Australian fighter squadron, late in
May shot down his 32nd German plane over France, A few months earlier
he had celebrated his 21st birthday by bagging his 21st enemy aircraft.
Flight Lieut, Finueane’ s 32nd was a new Focke-Wolf 190. It brought his
score even with that of the South African pilot. Wing Commander A.G,
Malan, now officially listed as missing, who had the highest score in
Britain’s Fighter Coessand,

I hove beiea on about 50 sweeps . and aost of
my victories have been gained over France.
I’ve got my bag because I’ve been blessed with a
pair of good eyes, and hove learned to shoot
straight. I’ve not been shot down- -touch wood--
emd I’ve only once been badly shot up (I hope
that doesn’t sound Irish). And for all that
I’ve got a lot to thank the pilots in ay sec-
tion. They are Australians I’ve never aet
a more loyal or gamer crowd of cbag>s. They've
saved ay bacon aony a time when I’ve been at-
tacked from behind while concentrating on a
Messerschaitt in front of ae. and they’ve
followed ae through thick and thin. On the
ground they’re the cheeriest friends a fellow
could hove. I’a sure that Australia oust be a
grand country if it’s anything like it’s pilots,
and after tte war I’a going to see it. No, not
flying, or foraing. I like a job with figures —
ocxiountancy or auditing.

Perhaps that doesn't sound nuch like a fighter
pilot. But pilots are perfectly normal people.

Before going off on a trip I usually h^e a
feeling in ay belly, but once I’a in ay aircraft
everything is fine. The brain is working fast,
emd if the eneay is aet it seeas to work like a
clockwork motor. Accepting that, rejecting
that, sizing up this, and reneB>ering that. You
don’t have time to feel anything. But your
nerves may be on edge--not from fear, but from
exciteaent and the intensity of the mental
effort.

I have cone bock froa a sweep to find ay shirt
and tunic wet through with perspiration.

Our chaps sometimes find that they can’t
sleep. What happens is this. You come back
from a show and find it very hard to reaenber
what happened. Maybe you have a clear impres-
sion of three or four incidents, which stand out
like illuminated lantern slides in the mind’s
eye, Perh<q)S a picture of two Me. 109's belting
down on your tail from out of the sun and al-
ready within firing range. Perhaps another
picture of your cannon shells striking at the
belly of an Me. and the aircraft spraying debris
around. But for the life of you, you can’t re-
member what you did.

Later, when you have turned in and sleep is
stealing over you, some tiny link in the for-
gotten chain of events comes back. Instantly
you ore fully awake, and then the whole story of
the operation pieces itself together and you lie
there, sleep driven away, re-living the combat.

c<»gratulating yourself for this thing, blaming
yourself for that.

The reason for this is siaply that everything
happens so quickly in the air that you crowd a
tremendous amount of thinking, action and emo-
tion into a very short space of tiae, and you
suffer afterwards froa aental indigestion.

The other week I was feeling a little jaded.
Then ay seven days’ leave come round, and I went
back bursting with energy. On ay first flight
after getting back I shot down three Me . ’ s
in one engagement, and the next day bagged
two more. That shows the value of a little rest.

The toKstical side of the gome is quite fas-
cinating. You get to learn, for instance, how
to fly so that all the tiae you have a view be-
hind you as well os in front. The first neces-
sity in coid>at is to see the other chop before
he sees you, or at least before he gets the tac-
tical advantage of you. The second is to hit
him when you fire. You mightn't have a second
chance.

After a dog- fight your section gets split, and
you Bust get together again, or tack on to
others. The straggler is easy meat for a bunch
of Jerries. Luckily, the chaps in my flight
keep with ae very well, and we owe a lot to it.
On one occasion recently I sow on Me. dive on to
one of ay flight. As I went in after him,
another Me. tailed in behind to attack me, but
one of my flight went in after hia. Soon half
a dozen of us were flying at 400 mph in line
astern, everybody, except the leader, firing at
the chap in front of him.

I got my Hun just as my nearest pal got the
Hun on my tail, and we were then three Spitfires
in the lead. When we turned to face the other
Me.’s we found that several others had joined
in. but as we faced them they turned and fled.

The nearest I’ve been to being shot down was
when another pilot and I attacked a Ju. 88. The
bomber went down to sea level so that we could
only attack from above, in face of the fire of
the Ju.’s rear guns. We put that Ju. into the
sea all right, but I had to struggle home with
my aircraft riddled with bullets and the under-
carriage shot owoy.

I force-landed without the undercarriage, and
was none the worse for it. But it wasn’t very
nice at the time.

Well, as I said just now. one day I’m planning
to go to Australia- -and audit books.

JUNE 19^2

Gassing up Barksdale

Confessions of a Veteran Pilot

By Captain W. V. Brown

Wheeze FleM, BawaU

I went to Remdolph and Kelly Fields ten years
ago. as a Flying Cadet. Ve had a nighty
fine class of boys. 208 started I believe, and
83 were graduated/ Alnost all of the fellows
were out of college a year, had worked at de-
pression jobs, and decided that flying held a
vastly more impressive future. Besides. Ran-
dolph Field had just recently been constructed
as a magnificent new training center, and we
were all anxious to take a crack at flying at
this beautiful field.

We turned out some good men, too. To mention
a few: Copt. Bierne Lay. Jr., whose **I Wanted

Wings" and other stories hove made their nark
among the real yarns of flying lore; Jack
Strickler, who is designing speedy ships for
pursuit pilots; several officers who must
remain anonymous who are working night and day
to provide better planes by constant testing
at Wright Field; scores of crack airline pi-
lots. who are also now ferrying military air-
planes for the Allies to all corners of the
globe; and the remainder, without exception I
^lieve. occi^ied with Service flying.

Our training together provided a bond which
is closer than any fraternity could ever hope
to attain. We lived, slept, talked, ate, drai^.
and practiced flying as a closely knit unit
for one whole year, with the result that we
came as close to being 83 brothers with a com-
mon purpose as it is possible for unrelated
men to be . That is why I like to hear of the
present day feats of men from my class, and
why I look bock fondly on their exploits of
the past.

Classic Boner

I recall a classwxte at Randolph Field who
pulled the clossic boner of many another unsung
pilot. He wos making a practice landing during
his basic training stage into a comparatively
small strange field, when he saw that he wos
rapidly running out of field while still roll-
ing on the ground at a fast clip. The fence
ahead became a prominent landmark on the imme-
diate horismi. An experienced pilot would hove
opened his throttle and gone around again for
another atteiig>t, but not this lad. He figured
he could ”Wioa, Nellie!" and pull up short;
so he practically stood on his brakes and
promptly flipped over on his bock.

He was flying a biplane trainer, compar-
atively large and sturdy, and when the dust
cleared and he had oriented himself, he could
see that his ship was resting comfortably on
its upper wing with the fuselage well above
and parallel to the ground, he himself gasing
back down the field upon which he had just

tried to land, with his normal vision somewhat
distorted, since he was hanging upside down
in his seat, with only his tautly stretched
safety belt accomplishing his defiance of
gravity.

Thoughtfully considering the safety of his
airplane and mindful of the fire hazard, as he
hung slothlike in his cockpit, he carefully
cut off his ignition and all other electrical
switches, closed his fuel selector valve, and
after deciding that he was unhurt and ready to
leave the ship in good order, he released his
safety belt with a flip of the catch and immed-
iately fell on his head to the ground four
feet below, knocking himself out and spraining
his neck to such an extent that his recovery
required a three weeks tour in the hospital.

It Stayed Dedicated

A dedication ceremony I shall never forget
was that of a newly completed stagehouse at
an auxiliary field near Randolph. By way of
explanation, a stagehouse is generally a small
wowien building for the comfort and convenience
of instructors who are watching the practice
landing performances of their solo students,
and provides also a meeting place for other
students who are awaiting their turns to fly
and be judged. The house always has ample
pluid}ing accommodations, though sometimes of
a rustic nature, depending on the locality.
This particular house was situated nearly in
the center of a large practice field, with a
commodious and conspicuous adjacent building
devoted to the installation of sanitary facil-
ities.

On this particular morning I was watching
my instructor's other student moking practice
landings over o hurdle, trying to pick up a few
pointers on how and what not to do when I had
my own turn with the ship, when out of the sky
from the west came a large formation of Keystone
bombers, the big luad>ering biplanes flown in
the Bombardment section at Kelly Field in those
days for the training of bomber pilots. They
swept majestically in a wide circle several
times around the field, then swung into line
and passed in review in close formation directly
over our heads, cbout one hundred feet up.

When just above us, a rain of paper rolls
descended upon us from the rear cockpit of
each airplane, with quite a few direct hits
being scored upon the stagehouse. I later
learned that the Kelly instructors had decided
that an edifice of this nature had never before
been properly christened, so they utilized a
real graduation review practice formation

JUNE 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

flight for the execution of their ceremony.
Doggone practical too, considering the nature
of -the bombardment missiles.

While we're dealing in indelible experiences,
here's another feat which will always stick in
my memory. The incident occurred some years
ago in the fall, October to be exact. My
friend., whom we'll call Homer, then stationed
at a field in the northwestern United Stotes,
was on an altitude mission in a two-place <^ser-
vation airplane when he happened to glance at
the instrvunent panel clock and sow thot it was
lunch time. He had completed his mission, so
he lazily half-rolled and headed for the ground.
A few seconds afterwards, the ailerons started
to flutter violently, the ship trembled and
shook, and with a snapping jolt, both ailerons
suddenly peeled off and let go.

The plane immediately went into a tight spiral
almost like a spin, which no amount of counter
control with the stick and rudder would remedy.
Homer ordered his enlisted passenger to bail
out. and watched him as he struggled out of
the rear cockpit and dived off its edge. With
the change of weight distribution occasioned
by this action, the ship began to slow up its
spiral a bit, and finally by his working of
the throttle and the controls in various com-
binations, the ship came out of the spiral and
righted itself. With a little careful exper-
imenting he found that he could partially con-
trol the wings by skidding the ship with the
rudder, that is, he could lift a wing by apply-
ing a bit of opposite rudder. So with rudder
and elevator controls only, he decided to try
to land the airplane and possibly save it.

He attempted to call the control tower at
the field to notify its personnel of his plight
in order to have the crash truck standing by
ready for his landing, but found that his radio
had been put out of commission by the severe
vibration of losing his ailerons. So with
plenty of altitude in which to maneuver the
controls and maintain a fairly even keel, he
wrote a note on a piece of paper from the ship's
log. took off his leather jacket, stuffed the
note in the pocket, and then flew over the field
at a safe altitude and tossed the jacket over-
board in front of a hangar. He then climbed
back up to await results, but he could see his
untouched jacket lying on the ground and not a
soul in sight. After a few more moments he
decided to try again. This time he took off
his shirt, 'wrote the same note, buttoned it in
the pocket, and sent the shirt overboard to
join the jacket.

As I have said, the month was October, it
was lunch time, the locale was northwestern
United States. This particular combination
rendered it exactly the right time for baseball
fans to listen to a radio broadcast of the
World Series ball game being played at that
hour back east in New York. Especially during
the lunch hour all personnel on the ground had
their ears glued to their radio sets. Con-

sequently Homer's shirt, like the jacket, re-
ceived absolutely no attention whatsoever.

Finally in desperation Homer took off his
pants, wrote a third note and placed this one
in a pocket, and now shirtless and pantless
he flew as low over the hangar line as he dared
and tossed over his trousers. This last time
someone heard the motor in time to run out of
the hangar and see the pants floating down,
retrieved them, and in short order had the
crash truck and other personnel prepared for
the possible crackup. However, Homer was such
a good pilot that he brought the plane in for
a nearly perfect landing, with rudder and
elevators alone, sans ailerons, into a small
tree-bordered field, without putting so much
as a scratch on either wingtip. But he had
to remain in the cockpit until someone remem-
bered to bring him his clothes.

yo Dull Moment

Some few years ago the Army was ordered to
take over the flying of the air mail, in the
dead of winter. I know a pilot who was flying
the run between Cheyenne and Omaha, in an open
cockpit ship one cold February morning. When
about 125 miles from his half-way point. North
Platte, Nebraska, he noticed that his fuel
pressure gauge had suddenly dropped to zero.
Having just changed to a full tank of gas, he
thought that the tank selector valve was not
set properly, readjusted it. and worked the
wobble pump a few times. (Incidentally, the
wobble pump is merely a manually operated fuel
pump to bring gasoline pressure to the car-
buretor until the motor driven pump operates.)
The fuel pressure remained up only so long as
the wobble pump was operated. The truth then
dawned on the pilot. His motor driven fuel
pump had broken. Rather than land at some
emergency field with a full load of mail behind,
he decided to try to fly on in to North Platte,
so for some fifty minutes he held the stick in
one hand and worked the wobble pump with the
other, alternating hands when the pumping grew
tiresome.

Upon arrival over North Platte he saw the kind
of a landing he would hove to make. The airport
at that time was shaped like a slice of pie,
the wedge pointing west, with a highway, fence,
and the inevitcd>le high tension power line along
the north edge, and the Platte River forming
the southern boundary with its embankment. The
one hangar was situated at the point of the
wedge, and the arc of the slice was rough with
sand dunes. A thirty mile wind was blowing
from due south, which made for only one choice:
that is to land across the narrow slice, over
the high tension lines toward the river.

After carefully circling several times in
search of the best spot on the field, and having
gone over mentally the things he would have
to do practically simultaneously while landing,
the pilot started his final approach for a
landing. Keeping the wobble pump going with
one hand and holding the stick between his

JUNE 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

knees, he rolled back the stabilizer and rolled
down the flaps with the other hand, using his
left elbow to jab at the throttle to retard
it when necessary, while steering the rudder
conventionally with his feet. When just short
of the ground, he slapped the throttle shut,
grabbed the stick with his right hand from
between his knees, and kept pumping the wobble
pump with his left. Luckily he timed his
actions correctly, for he landed according to
intention and rolled to a stop safely, and
well short of the river bank.

If anyone ever spent a busier sixty seconds
I should like to know about it; for I was that
pilot .

Omaha Express

Then there was the example of straight think-
ing which overcame an emergency with hands
down honors. However, I would not recommend
the practice for habitual usage, since it is
definitely non-habit forming:

On a night flight out of Chicago the weather
had gone suddenly sour, a blizzard set in,
drowning out all radio beam signals, and the
snow cut visibility to a radius of from cockpit
to wing- tip lights (and they looked fuzzy) ; so
there was nothing left for the pilot to do
except keep flying, or else. He kept his course
and maintained a safe altitude for more than
an hour, after which it stopped snowing, but
he was still flying on instruments in the solid
overcast. Estimating his position by elapsed
flying time and with his radio still useless
because of static, he cautiously eased down
to what he thought was a safe minimum altitude
to try to get a glimpse of a break-through or
hole in the clouds. No luck. Finally, he went
as low as he possibly dared and still retain
a safety margin, and after a while began to
fly through open space and scuds, with the
solid ceiling a few feet over his head.

His original destination was Omaha, west and
just a bit south of Chicago. He had tried to
keep his course as nearly correct as possible,
but he had no way of telling what his drift hod
been, whether he was north or south of his pro-
per track, or excrctly how far he was from Omaha.
In short, he was lost, which provided the neces-
sity that mothered his inventive genius.

He noted the first lights he came to, a small
town, and tried to find the main road running
in an east-west direction. With better vis-
ibility but still a low ceiling he noticed
another town off to one side of his course, a
larger one which upon investigation proved to
hove a highway running in the desired direction.
He followed it by the lights of the few cars
traveling at that time of night, and came to
another town. Feeling that he was at least
parelleling his intended course, he was follow-
ing the road along when he happened to glance
down at a car over which he had just passed.
It was a passenger bus. with a lighted sign
above its front windshield. He cautiously
circled and flew low over the bus, getting a

fleeting glimpse of "QIAHA*' on the sign as he
flashed past.

Taking a figurative hitch in his fuel belt,
he lessened his throttle to minimum for safe
flying speed, leaned the mixture control as
economically as the engine would take without
loss of power, and literally circled the bus
into Omaha.

I later asked him what he would hove done hod
he run out of gas.

“I had figured my gas consumption closely"
he said, "and would have kept the last ten gal-
lons for one of two choices. The first, a
trial parachute flare to see if there was
sufficient open space to try a landing with
wing lights, and if not, to climb to sufficient
altitude into the overcast, cut my ignition,
set the stabilizer for a glide, and bail out,
without fear of total destruction of my mail
cargo or injury to myself."

Pretty smart thinking all the way through,
don't you agree? If not, try it yourself some
bitter cold night, without benefit of armchair,
pipe, lounging robe and slippers!

TNT FOR TOKYO

Up! Up! My lads, the moon is fair,

We*ve work to do in upper air.

Cargo, tonight, as you must know.

Is T. N. T. for Tokyo.

Avenge Pearl Harbor and Bataan?

Hell Yes! We’ll do that - every man.

And, time is near when we will sow
Our righteous wrath on Tokyo.

We’ll comb the land, the clouds, the seas
Until we find the Japanese.

And when we do we’ 11 fix them so
They’ 11 not return to Tokyo.

So gather. Eagles, in your might,

A battle brood that’s fit to fight.
Equipped with men and planes to go.

We’ 11 blast Hell out of Tokyo.

N. R. Cooper,

Lt. Col., Air Corps.

JUNE 1942

Chanate’s Favorite Sm

By Ma|. HI. F. Raaaey

€Iluui«te FleM, III.

D own through the years Anerica's soldier
has provided inspiration for story, poem
and song. But no less imposing is his con-
tribution to the pictorial arts, whose vast
galleries reveal him in a multitude of artistic
styles .

Each of America's wars has produced not only
styles and idioms of artistic expression, but
often definite characters. These, in time,
hove become associated definitely with that
war .

World War I gave us such well- remembered
characterizations as the “Dere Mdoel** series.
Ahern's "Balmy Benny" and Bruce Bairnsfather's
"Ole Bill". The Spanish-American and Civil
Wars produced their particular charocters.
Even the present doy cartoon conception of
"Uncle Sam" dates bock to the Mexicon War.

It is not unusual, then, that this war should
produce its crop of characters destined to join
the parade.

At Cbonute Field such a charocter has t<dwn

rank with the thousands of soldiers undergoing
technical training there. His name is "Reggie".
He is the brainchild of Sergeant William T.
Lent, staff artist assigned to the Chanute
Field public relations department.

As to pedigree. "Reggie" has obsolutely none.
He did not come in a dream, nor creep out of
the mists of imagination. He just popped up
one day before Artist Lent's drawing board in
the public relations off ice- -a real flesh-and-
blocd soldier, with an elfish cost in his eye
and a hair-trigger smile. He had a way that
was pleasing a^ a good personality.

Alert Sergecmt Lent recognized in t^s soldier
something that typified all the soldiers at
Chanute Field. Lrat's pen reqpidly traced lines
on his drowing hoord; the sketch took form--
and in o minote or two. there was a character!

Sergeant Lent stylized his mew character,
ond without altering him physically from his
real-life prototype, developed a personality
which had individuality, yet esbodied certain

Sergeant Lent, upper left, and some glimpses from the life
and aviation career, of his brainchild ‘'Reggie"

26 ■ JUNE 19^2

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

collective traits of all the men around him.

Such a depiction is not easy. But Sergeant
Lent — Private Lent in those days--was a skilled
illustrator who came to the Army with a well-
rounded background in the field of art. He hod
left a position in the art department of one
of the country s largest firms and came to
Chanute Field where his talents were put to
work in the public relations department.

"Reggie* made his debut officially as a
cartoon character June 6, 1941, in Wings, the
Chanute Field post newspaper. He offered some-
thing different in soldier art. Unlike most
cartoon strips. Lent used no "blurbs" and the
pictorial story depended entirely on action
for its continuity.

Under Lent’s guidance "Reggie" was a person-
cd)le fellow whose antics were designed to bring
a laugh and at the same time carry a moral.
Often the moral was secondary to the laugh- -but
the two were usually there together.

Thus, "Reggie" in a sense became a "propa-
gandist"--at least an instrument to put ideas
across in a pleasing way without preaching dsout
it. Truth is, he has been detailed to countless
such assignments, putting forth a message in
one way or another, and serving up a smile at
the some time.

And how do the soldier readers who follow
"Reggie's" adventures like him?

Some time ago a poll was taken and "Reggie"
proved himself 100 percent popular. When
Artist Lent was released from service Oct-
ober 16, 1941, because of his age, "Reggie"
dropped from the pages of Wings and the pleas
were so numerous that Lent threatened to con-
tinue the feature after his return to civil
life. However, Lent re-enlisted last January 9
and "Reggie" promptly returned to his former
place in Wings,

Most creatures of the imagination lack real-
ism. Not so with "Reggie". Lent spends hours
observing the men around him and the product
of these observations asserts itself in the
shape of "Reggie's" next strip. The remarked) le
fact is that "Reggie" was patterned after one
typical soldier, but reflects the character-
istics of many different ones.

When Lent returned to duty in January interest
in Aviation Cadet training was at a high pitch,
and "Reggie" was launched on a new career as
an Aviation Cadet, which series is currently
appearing in Wings , keeping the advantages of
this field of training constantly before post
personnel .

The "Reggie" strip has attracted wide attention
and from time to time has been reproduced in
numerous newspapers, magazines and other na-
tional publications. Presently it is appearing
through a courtesy arrangement in Texacts , post
newspaper at Sheppard Field.

In its broader aspects, the "Reggie" cartoon
has hod a material effect on morale at Chanute
Field: not alone in the particular sense that
he has provided amusement through his humorous

antics, but more through the fact that he has
been a source of inspiration. It was in a
large measure because of interest in "Reggie"
that Chanute Field soldiers staged on art exhi-
bition between August 16 and September 9 last
year.

Actually there were many soldiers who had
artistic exility. Seeing "Reggie" as a product
of their own post, made them eager to have a
go at drawing, painting and photography.

The Chanute Field exposition, one of, if not
the first of its kind in the Army, brought
together many men of mutual interest. The
event was widely publicized and interest outside
Chanute Field was equally ardent. Supported
by the post newspaper and civilian newspapers
in the area, thousands of soldiers and civilians
viewed the exhibit, which was climaxed when a
committee of prominent artists judged the win-
ners.

In the ranks of American soldiery today there
are doubtless many other budding masters. The
barracks room scene— the shadowed hangar--the
study of a single face — these and many more
rise up from the soldier’s canvas to present
a story no words con tell. All combine to make
a picture-history that will live.

• •

R escuing SS ship-wrecked sailors is all
in the day’s work for the crew of a big
Sunderland flying boat of the RAF Coastal Com-
mand.

One day while making a routine patrol flight
the captain of the flying boat spotted three
life-boat loads of men floating aimlessly down
below. Landing, he piled the whole bunch — 56
of them — into his ship and brought them home.
He had to taxi for five miles over the sea be-
fore he could get his plane in the air.

The rescued men were the survivors of a U-Boat
attack on a British merchantman 200 miles off
the coast of Britain. They had been adrift
for 16 hours.

S PECIAL instruction in military camouflage
for Air Forces officers will be started
shortly at the Engineer School. Fort Belvoir,
Va. and at the Aviation Engineer School, March
Field. Calif.

The first class, held at Fort Belvoir, will
be for 70 officers- -50 from the Air Forces and
20 from the Ground Forces. The course will
consist of two weeks’ intensive training, in-
cluding concealment of airdromes, dispersal
and concealment of aircraft, and the use of
photographs in camouflage interpretation. The
course will also include the carrying out of
actual camouflage projects in the field.

The purpose of the course will be to extend
a knowledge of camouflage throughout the Air
Forces and to provide every squadron with of-
ficers trained in the use of camouflage in
combat operations.

• •

JUNE 1942

B ack in 1930 it would hove seemed logical to
predict that by 1940 the moxifflum speed for
aircraft would be about 575 mph, since from
1920 to 1930 the speed increase was about 19
miles per hour per year. But it is now 1942
and the maximum speed record is approximately
100 mph less than would have been predicted
in 1930.

This question immediately arises. Why
does the curve flatten out, indicating that
higher speeds are getting harder and harder
to attain?

There are a good many reasons for this.
Among the most important are: the "compress-

ibility effect" on the propeller and airplane;
power plant design; want of more maneuver-
ability; increas^ armament; cost; and last
but by no means least, the physiological aspect.

The factors affecting the speed of an air-
plane are horse power, propeller efficiency,
drag, wing characteristics and weight. Also,
after attaining a speed of about 350 mph an
entirely new factor comes up which has to do
with the approach to the speed of sound. After
passing this speed (350 mph) the effect of
compressibility of the air becomes noticeable,
and the compressibility effects become worse
as the speed increases.

Whenever the velocity of the air around any
part of the airplane equals the speed of sound,
a so-called shock wove is formed. This causes
on entirely new type of air flow. When this
compressibility shock wove forms, a consider-
able amount of energy is lost as heat and the
drag jumps up. At the same time, the lift
decreases so that a greater angle of attack is
required, thus leading to a further increase
in drag. All of these factors are included
in a high speed equation, and a very simple
high-speed curve may be plotted as shown in
the graph. A little explanation of this curve
will enable anyone to approximate the high
speed of almost any airplane.

Three things must be known about the air-
plane; weight, wing area, and horse power.
These three quantities are easily obtoinoble
because of their basic importance in the air-
plane design. From these quantities the wing
loading and thrust horse power loading can be
found by use of the following equation:

CURVES GIVING MAX. HORIZ, VELOCITY

Wing Loading = Weight (Pounds)

Wing Area (Square Feet)

Thrust Horse Power Loading = Weight (Pounds)

Horse Power x .85

Starting with the wing loading at “A", going
horizontally to the line that corresponds to the
shape of the airplane being considered, which
gives point “B”, go vertically from “B" to the
curve that corresponds to the thrust horse
power loading which gives us point ”C" and
going horizontally back to the left side of
chart to point "D" which is the maximum air-
plane velocity in mph.

It is noticed from the graph that it is almost
impossible to get a speed over 575 mph even
with an airplane that is super-clean, having
a 60 lb. per sq. ft. wing loading and a thrust
horse power loading of one lb. per horse power.

(Maximum speeds referred to in this article apply
only to hor ixontal flight. Aircraft speeds in excess
of 600 mph have been made in free falls. As a matter
of interest , this theory of maximum speed was advanced
by Prof. Baldwin at the Univera ity of California as
far back as 1926. --Ed.)

JUNE 1942

toeing

6 fortress . . .

Toughest of All

O IS; of the Most effective weapons in the
Army Air Forces* arsenal is the Boeing B-17
Flying Fortress. General Arnold has described
it as "the guts and backbone of our oerial of-
fensive'*. Under the shadow of its wings, death
and destruction have descended on Jog>s, Germans
and Itolions from Luzon to Libya and from Ham-
burg to Hanoi.

The Flying Fortresses now ranging the air
fronts of this global war ore the result of more
than eight years effort by the workers and en-
gineers of the Boeing Aircraft Co. and the pi-
lots and engineers of the Army Air Forces. The
history of this ship has been as stormy as it
has been significant.

Our air force has always sought to extend the
range of its striking power. By 1934 the Martin
B-10 bomber had point^ the way toward develop-
ment of high speed, multi-engined monoplane
bonbers with an internally braced wing. We en-
tered the four engine field with a design con-
test which was won by Boeing. The Boeing design
called for a four engine monoplane with a 150
foot wingspreod, heavy defensive armament and a
weight of 35 tons. The Air Forces ordered an
experimental model, the XB-15, to be built for
the Boeing design and announced another competi-
tion for flying models of multi-engined bombers.

To enter this contest Boeing hatched a smaller
design from its }(B-1S plans, added construction
features of its highly successful commercial
transport — the Model 247 — and produced the four-
engined Boeing Model 293. Design of the 299 was
begun in August, 1934, and 11 months later the
plane was successfully test flown at Seattle.

This $600,000 experiment weighed 16 tons
against the projected 35 of the XB-15 and had a
wing span of 104 feet. It hod a slim, highly
tcgiered fuselage marked by gun esplocement blis-
ters. Its four engines were set in the leading
edge of its single wiitg; bomb load, defensive
armament, speed and range surpassed those of all
previous boiibers.

Just a year after its design was begun, the
299 was flown from Seattle to Wright Field
(2,000 miles) by Boeing Test Pilot Lee Towers in
nine hours for an overage of 226 miles per
hour— an unofficial non-stop speed-distance re-
cord. . At Wright Field the 299 was entered as
the KB- 17 in coig>etition with twin engined mo-
dels and flown by both Boeing and Air Corps per-
sonnel. Before the tests were completed the big
ship crasted after taking off with locked con-
trols .

On the basis of its performance the Air Forces
ordered 13 YB-17s for service testing in the
field and an extra model to be broken ip in sta-
tic testing at Wright Field. The first YB-17
was delivered in Jontjary, 1937, and all were in
service by midsummer.

Few planes have been given such arduous ser-
vice tests as those first Flying Fortresses. It

KB-I7

B-17B

B-17C

B-17D

JUNE 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

was this batch of Fortresses, flown by the men
of the Second Bombardment Group at Langley
Field, that were to make aviation history and
lay the foundations for the development of heavy
bombardment. The records of the first ferrying
flights to deliver new Fortresses from Seattle
to Langley include the names of some of the men
who later flew these planes to fame--Maj. Gen.
Robert Olds, Brig. Gen. Harold Lee George, Col.

C. V. Haynes, Lieut. Col. Alva Harvey, Major W.

D. Old and others who now wear decorations won
by the exploits in the big B-17s. Among the
crewmen were Copt. Adolph Cattarius and Lieut.
James Sands who rose to their present ranks from
sergeants as a result of their work on four-
engined bombers.

With their YB-17s the pilots and crews of the
Second Bombardment Group smashed records with
great regularity. They flew the Fortresses
higher, faster and farther with heavier loads
than any other military plane and they pointed
out the path of heavy bombardment development in
spectacular fashion.

General Olds led a flight of six Fortresses
from Langley Field to Buenos Aires in February
of 1938 and in November 1939 led another flight
of Fortresses to Rio de Janeiro. The Buenos
Aires flight won the Mackay trophy for the Group
and the Distinguished Flying Cross for General
Olds. General George, and Cols. C.V. Haynes
and Vincent J. Meloy flew three Fortresses to
Bogota, Colonbia. in August, 1938. To settle on
argument on the plane's range, a B-17 was flown
1,400 miles non-stop from Bolling Field to Ber-
muda and return.

During the summer of 1938 military economic
and political pressure threatened to end future
development of the B-17 and might hove succeeded
but for the performance of a Langley Field pi-
lot. During a long range test a heavily locded
B-17 was inadvertently stalled and spun through
a heavy overcast. The plane’s wings were bent
due to the excessive load developed during the
maneuver but the pilot recovered from the spin
and landed the plane safely. Recording instru-
ments carried on the flight showed that the
plane had held up under more strain than it wos
designed to stand.

This performance eliminated the necessity of
static testing the 14th plane in the YB series.
Maj . Gen. Oliver P. Echols, then chief engineer
of the Materiel Division, ordered the static
test plane converted into a flying model and
equipped with turbo-superchargers to experiment
with high altitude performance. At that time
there were no further funds for B-17 develop-
ment. If it were not for the unscheduled
Langley Field performance, the Fortress might
never have climbed into the stratosphere and
proved the value of heavy bombardment .

Engineers of the Air Forces and the Boeing
Company collaborated on installation of the
turbo-svperchargers on this plane and it took to
the air over Seattle in January 1939 as the
'YB-17A, the first stratosphere bomber. On the

basis of the YB-17A’s performance, the 39 B-lTBs
were ordered equipped with turbo-superchargers.

During the summer of 1939 the growing Fortress
family smashed a series of national and interna-
tional records to celebrate the 30th anniversary
of the Air Corps. General Olds began the record
breaking on July 23, piloting a YB-17 to 24,034
feet with a payload of 5,000 kilograms. This
performance set three national records. Two
days later Lieut. Col. Alva Harvey, piloting
another Langley Field YB-17, carried a 5,000 kg
payload for 2,000 kilometers averaging 200 mph
to set eight national records.

August 1 of 1939 was a big day for the B-17s.
Copt. C. S. Irvine in a 17A carried a 2,000 kg
payload 'or 5,000 kilometers, averaging 166 mph
to break the international record set the year
before by two Italian airmen. On the some day
Capt. Irvine reached 34,025 feet in the B-17A
carrying a 5,000 kg payload to smash the inter-
national record set by two German pilots in a
Junkers model in 1938.

That some day the first B-17B to roll off the
Boeing production line arrived in New York just
9 hours, 14 minutes and 30 seconds out of Los
Angeles averaging 265 mph to smash the old
transcontinental record of 221 mph made by the
Douglas DC-1 in 1935. Col. Stanley Unstead and
Lieut. Col. Leonard F. Harman, now chief of the
Bombardment Branch, Production Division at
Wright Field, were the pilots. Their flight was
made at on overage altitude of over 26,000 feet.

The XB-15 which made its first flight in Octo-
ber 1937, also took part in the record breaking.
Piloted by Col. Haynes and Maj. Old the XB-15
carried 31,180 pounds payload to 8,200 feet on
July 30 to set an international record for pay-
lood at 6,000 feet. On August 1-2 Col. Haynes
and Maj . Old set on international speed record
of 166 iqjh over 5,000 kilometers with a 2,000 kg
payload. The 6-15 flew steadily for 18 hours
and 40 minutes over a closed course between
Patterson Field and the MacChesney airport near
Rockford, 111.

Col. Haynes also flew the B-15 from Langley
Field' to Santiago, Chile with a ton of Red
Cross supplies to relieve victims of the Septem-
ber 1939 earthquake in Chile. He received the
Distinguished Flying Cross for this performance.

The B-17C appeared in 1940 with flat paneled
gun position replacing the blisters in the early
models and a "bath tub" gun position slung luide:
the fuselage. Armor plate protected all giumers
and the engines' horsepower was boosted. Early
in 1941 20 B-17C's were diverted to the RAF in
England and Egypt.

About the time the B-17D was making its debut
with leakproof fuel tanks, engine cowl flaps for
better cooling in fast climbs, 1200 hp. engines
and speed of more than 300 mph, the B-17C was
making its combat debut as the Fortress I of the
RAF.

France was basking in the warmth of early sum-
mer. Shimmering heat waves rippled over the
countryside aroiuxi Brest. Only around the great

JUNE 1942

NEW ADVANCED TRAINERS

STRATOSPHERE COLOR COMING UP

The New AT-15

T WO new twin-engine advanced trainers for
combat crew inst r uct ion- - t he AT-13 and
AT-15--are being delivered to the Air Forces.

The AT- 13- -already accepted by the Air Forces
for quantity product ion- - is made by the Fair-
child Corp. It is a midwing monoplane of dura-
mold plywood construction, powered by radial,
air-cooled engines. It will be used for the
training of crews of four to six men, including
pilots, bombardiers, navigators and gunners.
Equipment includes tricycle landing gear, ma-
chine gun turret, internal bomb racks, bomb
scoring camera, radio, compass, marker beacon
and a complete interplane communication system.
Wing span is about 52 feet and weight about
11,000 pounds.

The AT-15--still in the test stage--is being
manufactured for the Air Forces by Boeing's new
Midwestern plant. Like the AT-13, it is de-
signed for the integrated training of pilots,
co-pilots, bombardiers, navigators and gun
crews. Equipped with constant speed props,
radio compass, automatic pilot, radio, flexible
machine gun, gun camera, power turret and bomb
bay, the AT-15 looks like a small twin-engine
bomber. It is constructed of steel tubing with
wood-faired, fabric covered fuselage and plywood
covered wings and surfaces. Powered with Pratt
and Whitney engines, it has a speed of over 200
miles an hour. Wing span is 59 feet, length, 42
feet .

AIRPLANE MODELS HELP WAR EFFORT

Miniature airplanes of both Axis and Allied
powers are being constructed by special con-
tractors to the Army Air Forces. With these mo-
dels, built to a scale of one inch to six feet,
high altitude bomber crews learn how to identify
each nation's warplanes. Models now under con-
struction cover the military and naval aircraft
of the United States, Great Britain, Australia,
France, Italy, Germany and Japan.

W ITHIN the next few months color photographs
will be possible from altitudes of from five
or six miles. Color film ordinarily used for
photos from 12,000 to 15,000 feet will not work
at all from five to six miles- -too muddy and un-
balanced. This problem is being solved with the
use of a three-lens camera with matched lenses
and special combinations of films and filters
which vary from day to day with weather condi-
tions .

Wright Field engineers also report that color
photography is now possible at night--with the
aid of brilliant flash bombs of colored light.
The flashes of these bombs are so bright they
con be seen for 200 miles. Photoelectric shut-
ter trippers insure that the picture is taken
at the peak intensity of the flash.

GENERATOR PROGRESS

Generator Lab

In Wright Field's electrical laboratories.
Materiel Command engineers hove developed air-
craft generators which produce 800 percent more
power than those of a few years ago. This has
been accomplished while the weight of generators
was being reduced from 32 to 27 pounds. This
great increase in voltage per pound was made
possible through perfection of design and in-
creased generator speed. Aeronautical genera-
tors now must supply power for from seven to 20
miles of electrical wiring in Air Forces planes.

JUNE 19^2

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

^ -*v

"FACSIMILE" BOX-CAR AIDS TRAINING

Drew Field's “Ersatz” Box Car

A lthough the nearest railroad is six miles
away, resourceful officers at Drew Field,
Florida, have solved the problem of teaching en-
listed men how to load and unload freight cars
by erecting a "reasonable facsimile" on air base
property. Shipping materiel by freight is a
necessary part of Air Forces supply.

The simulated box car was built under the
supervision of Major Robert E. Slack, Base Sup-
ply Officer, and was the idea of Colonel Melvin
B. Asp, Commanding Officer of Drew Field. It is
complete with ramp and side loading platform,
and is portable. It can be converted from a 40-
foot box car to a longer 50-foot flat car with
very little effort. Sides may be adjusted to
both B '/2 and feet widths.

In a recent demonstration a picked crew of
men were able to load over 9000 pounds of Air
Forces equipment into the car in less than 11
minutes. Another test crew moved two 10-wheel
trucks aboard the car and prepared for movement
in 20 minutes.

THUNDERBIRD'S *TEE"

T he largest wind-tee in the world guides
pilots at the Air Forces Primary Flying
School, Thunderbird Field, Arizona. The huge
tee is patterned after the regulation Army tee,
but is proportionately larger- -with an overall
length of more than 71 feet.

The wind finder may be used as a "convertible
tee", turned by as little as one mile per hour
of wind, or as a pattern tee. If used as a pat-
tern tee, the device will turn only at a certain

adjustable wind pressure- -which can be selected
within a four to 30 mile per hour range. A 10
mile per hour pressure is usually used. This
means that the tee will remain in a pattern set-
ting until a wind of at least 10 mile per hour
velocity develops from a new direction.

The tee was designed and constructed by Mr.
George Frock, Maintenance Superintendent, and
Roy Lindsey, Chief Mechanic at Thunderbird
Field .

WRIGHT FIELD ‘TEST CLUB"

T he new Aircraft Year Book for 1942, pub-
lished by the Aeronautical Chamber of
Commerce, has been printed and is now on sale.

The year book contains a section on the Army
Air Forces, one on the Navy Air Forces and
another on air transport activities, in addition
to a number of special divisions on all phases
of aviation. A directory of airplane, engine
and aviation equipment manufacturers is also
included in the appendix.

Eklitor of the Year Book was Howard Mingos,
of the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce. The
Chamber is located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza,
New York City.

Engine Testing at Wright

The picture above shows the way engines are
tested at Wright Field. The six-bladed “object"
hooked on the front of this engine is not a pro-
peller. Materiel Command officers call it a
"test club". After an engine has whirled this
monster around for a couple of days, Wright
Field experts have a pretty good idea what it
can do for an airplane.

JUNE 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Airdromes

(Continued from Page 12)
of the field and operation of airplanes becomes
more difficult.

Aircraft land and take-off into the wind de-
creasing their speed relative to the ground, and
hence, the distance required for toking-off or
landing. However, it is not always possible to
land directly into the wind. With light winds
under 5 miles per hour, cross-winds are not
serious, but as the velocity increases, it be-
comes progressively more important to control
the direction. Naturally, it will be impossible
to meet every condition for the number of rtm-
ways is limited. Although in peace a larger
number can be built, in war, at a maximum, a
field airdrome may have 3 runways, cmd normally
2 runways will suffice. Only in regions of
constant winds will a single direction field be
constructed.

The arrangement of runways must be such as to
utilize the existing ground to maximum advan-
tage. Conventional symmetrical and triangular
intersecting layouts should be avoided. Not
only are these patterns difficult to camouflage,
but the intersections provide vulnerable tar-
gets. Instead, a more irregular pattern without
crossing intersections should be sought.

Aircraft performance has a definite relation-
ship to the si*ze of the landing and take-off
area. In general, as the wing loading of an
airplane is increased, the stalling speed of the
airplane increases; consequently the speed which
must be attained prior to take-off is greater
and the minimum safe speed which must be main-
tained in gliding in for a landing is also
greater. It follows that the distance required
for an airplane to take-off and land is in-
creased. For each type of military airplane,
the wing loading, as well as the ground roll
required for toking-off and landing are given in
official publications. As these figures are
(Stained by experienced pilots under fovorcdile
conditions, these take-off and landing distances
should be increased 20 to 30 per cent to obtain
the safe requirement for service conditions.
Normally it will not be necessary to know the
exact makes of airplanes and their character-
istics, as by experience, standard runway re-
quirements have been established for all general
classes. The pilot naturally wants the maximum
length possible, and the engineer, pushed
for time, the minimum permissible. The final
length selected will be a compromise, based not
only on the type of aircraft which is to use the
airfield (and any field may hove to take several
types) but also on the condition of the ap-
proaches. the obstructions and the altitude of
the field.

Although greater lengths are desirable for
safety, especially for training units, at oper-
ational airdromes the following are the minimum
runway dimensions which should be equalled or
exceeded .

(1) Light Cbservation only:

Length 2500 feet

Width 100 "

Shoulder. . . . 100 " (each side)

(2) Pursuit

Length 3500 feet

Width 150 "

Shoulder. . . . 150 " (each side)

(3) Bombardment

Length 4500 feet

Width 150 "

Shoulder. . . . 175 ” (each side)

The c4>ove lengths apply at sea level only. In-
creased length must be provided at higher alti-
tudes for the take-off run and the landing run,
as airplanes land and take-off at higher speeds
and climb at flatter angles as the altitude
d}ove sea level increases. As a rule of thumb,
increase the distance required at sea level 10
per cent for every 1000 feet increase in alti-
tude .

It should be noted that the shoulders are an
essential part of the runway, and should be
graded to the some grades. At field airdromes,
it is not contemplated that the entire landing
field will be leveled and seeded. With runways
of adequate width, supplemented by this addi-
tional cleared strip on each side, there appears
to be no military reason demanding the leveling
of the remainder of the area. If the ground is
unsuited for use without runways, planes imcdile
to land on the runways will gain little benefit
by having the whole area graded. The cleared
strip on either side of the runway should give
ample margin of safety for planes temporarily
out of control which run off the pavement.

Although desircd>le to hove clearing continued
to give a cleared strip 500' wide each side of
the center line, at field airdromes vegetation
and low trees which are not major hazards may be
left within this 1000' strip. Where local ter-
rain conditions require, airplane revetments may
be located within 300 feet of the runway center
line. No construction should be permitted in
prolongation of the runway.

In general, the maximum grade, longitudinally
and transversely, should not exceed one per cent
(1%). Grade changes should be gradual, not
exceeding one-half of the one per cent ()^) in
any one hundred foot interval. Runway longi-
tudinal intersection grades should be joined by
vertical curves at least 500 feet in length.
Where practicable, the longitudinal tangent
interval between vertical curves on runways
should not be less than 1000 feet long.

Runways must be sited to ovoid obstacles at
their prolongation, as a clear glide path of not
less than 1/20 is needed. When possible, a
glide angle of 1/40 should be provided for the
distance of two miles in the approach zone. For
instrument, runways or where overload take-offs
are planned, this glide angle should be 1/50 for
the first 1000 feet. (This is the first of a series
of three articles on wartime airdromes by Colonel
Smyser , The second article will appear in the July
issue . )

JUNE 1942

Speetts

'•f

neirly-openeci . and opening, schools throughout
the vast 31-school Training Center. Each
school, in turn, will eventually train its own
mechanics .

A mechanic cannot be thoroughly trained in
such a short time. However, the fundamental
or basic technical knowledge can be given
without entering into too much detail. For
example, the ability of a student to remove
and re-install a magneto or carburetor and to
understand the principle of operation and
routine maintenance is sufficient. It is not
necessary for him to know how to completely
overhaul such equipment. With this foundation,
he can quickly go on with his learning when
he has been reassigned back to his squadron--
or should he decide to apply for advanced train-
ing at one of the technical schools.

From the time the new enlistee reports at
Randolph until two weeks (9G hours of actual
instruction) later, he is in the hands of First
Lieut. W.C. Holton and his specialist-instructor
faculty of 25 non-commissioned officers, each
of whom is an expert in his own right. Lieu-
tenant Holton himself is a veteran instructor-
mechanic with 14 years of experience, including
the eleven years which Randolph Field has been
in operation. He has trained over 20.000
Aviation Cadets in mechanics. He received his
commission only last April.

Students in the mechanics school are all
volunteers, and are chosen by set quotas dis-
tributed between Randolph Field and the other
schools in the Training Center. “These men."
says Lieutenant Holton, "represent the ‘forgot-
ten men' of the Air Forces --the basic soldier
whose ability would never be recognized if it

W HETJ the Gulf Coast Air Force Training Cen-
ter dropped airplane and engine operation
from the Aviation Cadet basic flying curriculum
in February, Randolph Field, the Army Air
Forces oldest and largest of the basic flying
schools, was left with one vast school - hangar ,
fully-equipped, but without a student to call
its own.

But only for four days. It took just that
long to convert that part of fledgling train-
ing into the new streamlined mechanics school
which has been grinding out enlisted ground-
crewmen with methodical regularity.

They aren't expert mechanics, these newest
graduates of the AAF’s new "Training Type
Mechanics School for Enlisted Men", but they're
definitely on the way, if the Training Center's
theory of operation proves correct. And it
has--up until now, at least.

The purpose of the short, concentrated two-
week course is to teach the basic soldier or
newly-enlisted man the approved methods of
inspection and maintenance of training planes,
and such other technical duties normally per-
formed in the school squadrons of the Training
Center. No attempt is made to take the place
of the Air Force Technical schools such as
Chanute Field, 111., where a more comprehensive
course is presented. The short course was
designed specifically to meet the needs of

JUNE I94i!

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

were not tapped and brought to the Service in
this manner.

"Some of them hove never even seen the inside
of a hangar, but that's nothing new to us. We
make mechanics out of them just the same; all
we ask is the willingness to learn."

The curriculum of the course consists of 72
hours of classroom lectures, highly effective
visual training film instruction, demonstrations
and practice jobs — supplemented by 24 hours of
calisthenics and drill. A passing overage of
70 must be maintained at all times.

As for the actual instruction, this is roughly
divided in the following manner:

Six hours to fundamental engine, principles and
engine construction; 12 hours to carburetion,
fuel systems, and technical orders; 12 hours to
ignition, generators, generator control panels,
starters, spark plugs, etc.; six hours to hy-
draulic systems, engine op>eration (starting and
stopping, etc.); nine hours to aircraft con-
struction, landing gear, wheels, and brakes and
propellers; 18 hours to practice work on test
blocks, such as practice installation of mag-
netos, carburetors, fuel pumps, fuel pressure
relief valves or combination fuel units, con-
trollcdsle pitch propellers and trouble-shooting.
The test block period also includes the practice
work of performing a complete 50-hour inspection
on the engine.

The latter is the backbone of the course —
where the student is taught the approved method
of inspection and maintenance through the use
of inspection forms which may mean the differ-
ence between life and death of the man up in
the air.

"And they take pride in their work, as the good
mechanic does," says Lieutenant Holton. “He
may not know the man who flies the plane, but
if he con put his own personal stomp of approval
on the machine he's just as proud as the man
who takes it up."

The school is conducted right on the Randolph
flying line, and is held in one of the hangars
which is complete with classrooms, practice
equipment, and actual training-plane wing and
fuselage cut-aways. A complete museum exhibit
of motors dating back to World War I helps re-
mind the students of what remarkable strides
military aviation has made in the last near-40
years. In the course itself, the student will
see service on motors ranging from the 450-
horsepower BT-9 to 1000- and 1200-horsepower
Allison motors used in the fastest pursuit
ships .

In the practice labs he will "ground-fly" a
complete ground-built, control-operated “mock-
up" of a training plane. He can also trace
its entire electrical circuit through every
tiny wire and switch; he can go back and trace
fuel distribution by a system of glass -enclosed
threads which show the direction of movement.
He will tear down and reassemble starters, gen-
erators, magnetos, and carburetors; he will
learn how to moor a ship when no regular con-

crete mooring rings are available. He will do
all this and much more.

Then, at the end of his two weeks he will
receive his certificate, which usually reaches
him the following week — after he has already
reported to the flying line of his original
field to assume his unheralded job as one of
the nine men on the ground who keep one fly-
ing .

THE GUEEKS FLY OX

I NSPIRED by the desire to carry on the
struggle against Nazi tyranny and to free
their country, the Royal Greek Air Force has
been working for many months to prepare itself
for the day when it could form independent
units to join the squadrons of the Royal Air
Forces in the Middle East .

That day has now arrived, and Hurricane
fighters, ornamented with the colors of the
standard of Greece, will soon be in action on
the desert front.

Many of the personnel, both air crews and
ground staff, escaped from Greece and Crete dur-
ing the campaign of the spring of 1941. Others
followed when they heard of the formation of a
Royal Greek Air Force in the Middle East.
The stream of volunteers increases daily, and
every man is Greek.

The long period of training presented many
difficulties, but schools were estcd>lished, re-
pair centers organized and clerical and opera-
tional branches were formed.

All the pilots flew either on the Albanian
front against the Italians or during the German
invasion. They are looking forward to a renewal
of contact with the Royal Air Force, with which
they fought in Greece.

These forces do not represent the total effort
of the Royal Greek Air Force. Numerous pi-
lots, ground crews, air gunners, observers, en-
gineers and personnel of all categories are
being trained for the expansion that is to come.

In addition, bomber pilots of the Royal Greek
Air Force have already helped in anti-submarine
patrols over the Mediterranean, for many months.
This Unit, which has the cooperation of Greek
Naval officers, is also to be reinforced.

-•RAF Journal

• •

Small models of German planes are used as
practice targets at the Air Forces gunnery
school at Harlingen, Texas.

•

Students at Air Forces gunnery schools prac-
tice first on stationary ground targets, then
moving ground targets, before taking to the air.

•

Fifty million square feet of blueprints were
turned out during 1941 at Wright Field, which
has the largest blueprinting plant in the world.
The machines of this plant can turn out enough
blueprints in one week to span the earth in a
foot -wide circle.

JUNE 1942

Germany's Messersehmitt

Dissecting the 109

The Measerschmitt 109 is one of the German Luftwaffe's standard pursuits.
It is a single seater, low wing, skin-stressed monoplane with a cantilever
single-spar type wing. Its E model is powered by an 1150 horsepower Daimler
Benz liquid-cooled inverted V-12 motor. A similar type 1200 horsepower
motor is used in the F. It carries a three-bladed propeller and mounts a 20
mm cannon and two machine guns which fire forward from the fuselage. Its
normal flying weight is 6,050 pounds. Armor protects the pilot’s head and
back.

The following conclusions on the flying characteristics and maintenance of
the 109 were reached by engineers of the Royal Air Force after extensive
tests of captured models. The flying characteristics apply only to the E

model. No flying experience had been
repor t .

MAINTENANCE

E XAMINATIQ^I of the ME109 models indicates
that great care has been token by German de-
signers to insure ease of maintenance in the
field by crews with a minimum of skill and ex-
perience. Inspection doors are liberally pro-
vided and are locked by a single fastener of the
spring-loaded push button type. The doors open
easily without tools and provide a good flush
fit when closed. Wing guns are particularly ac-
cessible through a large hinged door along the
leading edge.

Rigging points for plumb bolts, straight
edges, etc., are marked by dome-headed rivets
which stand out from the skin and are painted
red. There is no adjustment for wing incidence.
A simple and convenient jacking arrangement is
provided by holes in opposite sides of the fuse-
lage. A bar can be passed through these doors
and supported on framework on either side.

The universal use of multi-pin plug and socket
electrical connections is an inportant factor in
maintenance. These connections consist of
shielded plugs held by wire yokes which are
easily releasable by hand. Every detachable
sub-assenbly involving wiring is served through
such connections so that no dislocation of wir-
ing is necessary when the sub-assembly is re-
moved. On the 109F the sockets of all plug con-
nections serving the engine are grouped on a
single panel.

No fuses are employed. Their places are token
by a small group of switches controlled by tem-
perature. Tripping any one of these switches is
revealed by raising a button on the particular
switch; resetting is done by pushing down the
button. The time spent looking for and replac-
ing ordinary blown fuses is eliminated.

The combined hand and electric inertia type
engine starter is very good and makes starting
independent of the electrical system. Engine
removal and replacement can be performed very
quickly by virtue of the simple standardized
mounting and the electrical plug connections.

obtained on the F at the time of this
FLYING

T he general conclusion is that the 109
handles well and has excellent response to
the controls at low speeds. But all controls
become far too heavy at speeds over 300 miles
p>er hour. The ailerons become virtually solid
at 400 miles per hour and maneuverability at
high speeds is considerably restricted.

The turning circle of the 109 is also poor.
At 1200 feet the circle is 885 feet compared
with 696 feet for the Spitfire. This is due to
the higher wing loading on the German ship,
which is 32 pounds per square foot compared to
25 pounds on the Spitfire. The disadvantages
resulting from high wing loading and aileron
freeze detract considerably from its fighting
qualities, the RAF reports.

These disadvantages are to some extent offset
by good performance at high altitude, excellent
rate of climb, gentle and amply warned stalls.
The 109 has an cd>solute ceiling of 37.500 feet.
Its best rate of climb is developed at low air
speed and consequently the angle of climb is
very good. The 109 has a direct fuel injection
engine which does not sputter or cut out under
negative ”G" such as occurs when diving suddenly
to seek cloud shelter.

The stall is very gentle with no tendency to
spin. Ample warning of the approach to the
stall is given by aileron vibration and buffet-
ting. Owing to the high wing loading the stall
occurs at relatively high airspeeds.

The take-off run is remarkably short and the
initial rate of climb excellent. Flaps are
lowered 20% on take-off. Landing is tricky un-
til the peculiar feel of setting the tail down
is mastered. Wheels are well forward of the
center of gravity and heavy braking is possible
immediately after the wheels touch without pro-
ducing tail lift. The 109 can be taxied ex-
tremely fast.

The ship has an adjustcdsle stcdsilizer. Lack
of an adjustable rudder results in additional
pilot fatigue since there is a large change of

JUNE 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

direction rudder trim required at high speeds
and continuous of>piication of rudder controls to
keep a straight course is very tiring.

Slots open at very high air speed and their
opening is accompanied by aileron vibration
which is transmitted back to the stick and is
sufficient to spoil a pilot's aim in combat and
make accurate looping impossible. Vibration
stops when slots are fully open.

Lowering flaps produces nose heaviness which
is compensated by stcd>ilizer adjustment. Con-
trols of flaps and stabilizer are made by a
single handle which automatically makes adjust-
ments for flap lowering.

On the 109E the ailerons are connected with
the flaps and come down 11 degrees with them.
This does not detract from the effectiveness of
the ailerons but makes them feel heavier. This
inter-connection is not present on the 109F. A
very simple and effective flop position indica-
tor is used. Lines painted on the slotted flaps
at 10 degree intervals lie imder the trailing
edge of the wing and emerge into the pilot's
view as the flaps are lowered. Take-off and
landing positions are indicated by different
colored lines. Flop operations are entirely me-
chanical by screw and nut gear and ovoid the
vulnerability of hydraulic systems.

The 109 cockpit is too cramped for comfort.
It is too narrow and has insufficient head room
and a tiring seat position. The cramped posi-
tion seriously restricts the force the pilot can
exert on the controls, particularly side pres-
sures for the ailerons.

Extreme simplicity is feotured in the engine
controls. The throttle arrangements are made by
manipulating a single lever. Mixture control,
supercharger speed, oil temperature and propel-
ler pitch are all controlled automatically.

Instruments are well grouped with flying in-
struments on the left and engine gauges on the
right. There is no artificial horizon. View is
generally good but due to the cramped cockpit
the rudder can be seen only by turning most of
the torso. The cockpit hood hinges along the
right side and cannot be opened in flight. A
spring catapult con fling the hood clear and the
radio aerial mast of the plane to make a para-
chute escape easier. A panel arrangement dir-
ectly in front of the pilot provides a two inch,
draught free opening for direct vision. This
facilitates maintaining high speeds while fly-
ing through rain, sleet and snow. The cockpit
glass is not bullet proof.

• •

Personnel of the Army Air Forces base "some-
where in Costa Rica'' live in tents with mahog-
any flooring and sidewalls. Although this may
sound ultra-swank, it isn't. Mahogany is the
cheop>est lumber in the vicinity.

The Costa Rican Air Force base is a section
of the Caribbean Defense Command, and the pilots
regularly p>atrol the Pacific and Caribbean in
that area. President Rafael A. Calderon of
Costa Rica often visits the American flyers.

THE LIEUTENANT’ S LAMENT

A lieutenant is an officer ,

Or so some people say.

He wears pink pants and shoulder straps
And draws commissioned pay.

But if you pause and ponder

You will see that they are wrong;

‘Tis such a cause for wonder
That I’ve put it into song.

The colonels live in quarters,

The privates live in tents;

By the post commander’ s orders
The lieutenant merely rents.

The USO gives dances

For the poor enlisted men;

The colonels’ wives plan parties
Where each rooster has his hen.

The college girls
Cast their pearls
Before the crude cadets;

But the men of Mars
With single Bars,

‘Tis them the world forgets!

To buy their meals they are allowed
Just sixty cents per day.

But they must mess in with the crowd
And ten bits for it pay.

And if a post commander

Does, perchance, provide them quarters.

He builds them out of tarpaper
And living there is orders.

What is the rent?

Oh, it is meant

To provide such quarters free--
Lieutenants merely do without
A forty dollar fee!

Oh, lieutenants they are officers.

Or so some may have thought ,

They wear pink pants and shoulder straps
But really they are nought.

They must respect their betters ,

And 'tis numerous they are.

Their bars are really fetters
To an eagle or a star ...

Rank without authority.

Duty without power.

Service without glory.

Officer, for an hour!

Lt. Donald E. Super
Maxwell Field, Ala.

JUNE 19^2

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

PUBUC RELATIONS DIVISION, PUBLICATIONS SECTION
ARMY AIR FORCES, WASHINGTON, D. C.

. VOL. 25 JULY, 1942 NO. 5

FEATURES

REVENGE OFF MIDWAY -- By Lt . Col. Walter C. Sweeney. Jr . .... 3

AIR WAR IN THE ALEUTIANS 4

GLIDERS FOR WAR By Capt . Herbert O. Johansen 5

ROUGHING UP FOR COMBAT -- By Lt. Robert B. Hotz 8

HIDE AND SEEK WARFARE 10

"OLE MISS*‘GOES TO JAVA -- By Capt. A1 Key 14

THE NEXT RAID C»J JAPAN -- By James R. Young 20

JOE DOAKES -- FINANCIER 23

TWELVE POUNDS OF PREVENTION -- By Capt, Harry Barsantee. ... .27

THE RUSSIAN CAUCASUS -- By Oliver H. Townsend 30

THE GREAT ZERO MYSTERY -- By Lt . John M. Jenks 32

AIRDROMES IN WARTIME (PART II) -- By Lt. Col. R.E. Sayser. . . .35

DEPARTMENTS

CROSS COUNTRY 1 CONTROL TOWER 16

ROLL OF HONOR 11 PRO PATRIA MORI 22

TECHNIQUE 24

Technical and Art Director — James T. Rawls
FRONT COVER

Airborne troopa are one of the moat potent atr iking forcea in modern warfare. Not
neglecting thia vital department , theV.S. Army ia developing the beat airborne force in
the world. The cover picture ahowa what our aerial troopa look like while they are be-
ing loaded into one of their big tranaporta--Curt iaa-Wr ight’ a C-46 , chr iatened "The
Commattdo”, The two powerful Wright enginea of thia plane are capable of hauling a large
number of fully-armed troopa , complete with war equipemnt , deep into the heart of enemy-
held territory.

PHOTO SOURCES

Curt iaa-Wr ight Corp, , cover; Boeing Aircraft Co,, inaide cover; U,S, Navy, p, 3, 4;
Rudy Arnold, p, 10; Army Signal Cor pa , p, 18, 19; Fred Hamilton (Three Liona), p, 20;
Sovfoto, p, 31, and official U,S, Army Air Forcea photoa.

/ ) ALLONS OF PRINTERS' INK HAVE SPILLED OVER MILES OF TYPE DIS-

CUSSING THE MORALE OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER. IT HAS BEEN AD-
MIRED, PRAISED. FRETTED OVER. CRITICISED AND CHEERED. BUT NEVER
HAVE WE SEEN IT DEFINED. A LOT OF US HAVE OFTEN WONDERED ABOUT
THIS MORALE OF OURS THAT IS SO FINE. SO POOR AND SO MUCH THE SUB-
JECT OF EVERYONE'S CONCERN. WE CANNOT DEFINE IT, BUT WE WOULD
LIKE TO MAKE AN ATTEMPT AT INDICATING WHAT WE THINK THE WORD
REFERS TO.

MORALE IS A SOLDIER STRUTTING DOWN THE AVENUE WITH HIS CHEST
OUT. HIS CHIN UP AND THAT "I CAN LICK THE WORLD" GLINT IN HIS EYE.

IT IS HIS ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE IN THE ABILITY OF THE AMERICAN
FORCES TO CLEAN UP THE WHOLE MESS AS SOON AS HE CAN GET THERE.

IT IS HIS READINESS TO FIGHT ANY MARINE OR SAILOR WHO CLAIMS
WEIR OUTFITS ARE BETTER THAN HIS. AND HIS EVEN GREATER READINESS
TO FIGHT ANYONE WHO CLAIMS THAT ANY OTHER MARINES OR SAILORS ARE
BETTER THAN OURS.

IT IS HIS GRUMBLING ABOUT MOPPING THE FLOOR, SHINING HIS SHOES
AND STRAIGHTENING THINGS UP. YET HIS INDIGNATION AT EVEN THE
SUGGESTION THAT HIS TENT IS NOT THE NEATEST ONE IN THE SQUADRON.

IT IS THE PROUD FEELING OF SMARTNESS HE EXPERIENCES AS HE
GIVES A MILITARY SALUTE TO AN OFFICER ON THE STREETS IN TOWN.

IT IS HIS UNCONTROLLABLE RAGE AS BE SEES NEWSREEL SHOTS OR
READS NEWSPAPER REPORTS OF AMERICAN DEFEATS OR TRAGEDIES DUE TO
" SUPERIOR NUMBERS OF ENEMY FORCES . "

FINALLY. IT IS HIS UNSHAKEABLE OPINION THAT HE IS THE BEST
SOLDIER IN THE FINEST SQUADRON IN THE HIGHEST BRANCH OF THE
SERVICE IN THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

Richard Dana,

Pr ivate , A .C , .
Brookley Fiald, Ala.

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

F ighter command head-
quarters in on eastern city

Brigade battling Franco' s troops.
Stone was in the thick of war.

recently got a new slant on air-
craft identification. A
feminine aircraft spotter tele-
phoned in and excitedly reported
the presence overhecri of “some-
thing that looked like a couple
of planes with their arms
wrapped around one another. “ It
turned out to be a P-38.

powerful weapon for the Air
Forces. The loss of one of
them, like Maj . Gen. Clarence
L. Tinker, commander of the
Hawaiian Air Force, leaves a
deep gash in our fighting ma-
chine. So did the earlier
deaths of Maj. Gen, Herbert A,
Dargue and Brig. Gen. H. H.
George .

But when your generals are
flying generals you can expect
action, and therefore casualties.
General Tinker was a good ex-
ample of what we mean. It's no
secret that he was itching for
action, that he didn't have to
participate personally in the
Midway action, and that you
couldn't have kept him out of it
with a .50 calibre machine gun.
They didn't come any tougher
than "Tink, '*

The name "general" has too of-
ten been linked with brass
hat." In the Air Forces it can

grease and dirt every Cadet and
mechanic knows cdiout .

All told, there are 83 Air
Force generals--five lieutenant
generals, 23 major generals, 55
B.G.'s, Every one of them is a
pilot. Every one has been
through the mill. The names
Doolittle, Royce and Brereton
stand out as generals who have
personally led missions in this
war. But you can exf>ect plenty
of our other generals to be in
the thick of it. They are built
that way.

ONE OF THE FEMININE gen-
der, so help us, called her
soldier at Fort Bliss, Tex.,
all the way from good old New
York, Company Headquarters
informed her he was AWOL ,
She expressed her thanks for
this information and hung up.

A minute later the sweet young
thing wa s ba ck on the line.
"Is there any way to reach
him at AWOh? ” , she asked,

<^SS^e!5>

CCWBAT ACTION by Army air-
craft is often announced through
the newspapers in Navy de-
pwrtment communiques. If you're
wondering why, here’s the
reason; the Navy controls all
press releases covering com-
bat activities which take place
in a zone of action under Navy
command .

was wounded in action, lay in a
Spanish hospital for a spell,
and went back to the front again.

Today Stone is a 27-year-old
private. Air Corps, and a stu-
dent gunner at the Harlingen
(Tex.) gunnery school. He first
joined up in the infantry but
swimg over to the Air Forces and
aerial gunnery and for good
reason. As he explains it;

“In Spain we were short of
tanks, planes and equipment of
all kinds; anti-aircraft guns
were almost useless. I laid out
there a thousand times--just
taking it while they bombed and
strafed us. I swore that if I
ever got the chance that's where
I'd be--up there, dumping it
down on 'em. "

AT CARL STROM FIELD, Fla..
Lt . Wilson M. McCormick , dir-
ector of physical training ,
requires each cadet to pass a
25-yard swimming test before
completing primary training.
"It is important that every
cadet be able to swim/’ he ex-
plains, “as it may mean his
life in the event his plane is
forced down into water.”

CONCENTRATED FIRE from
hundreds of troops equipped only

only be associated with leather
helmets. The record of our
general officers is a record of
action--of dog-fighting in the
last scrap, post-war barnstorm-
ing and test piloting, of bail-
ing out , crash landings and pio-
neer long hops. Our generals
are made of the same sort of

BACK IN 1937 and '38. when
the country still thought of
pattern bombing in terms of
paper dolls, Sam Stone of
Wichita, Kansas, knew there was
a war on. He was in one--a
machine gunner with Loyalist
Spain's volunteer International

with small arms has played a
major role in bringing down
attacking aircraft along the
Russian front. A purjjortedly
secret document seized from the
Germans by the Russians states;
"It has been found that our loss
of planes from small arms ground
fire has been exceptionally high.

JULY 1942

In one of our air units which
supported a ground attack, the
loss from enemy small arms
ground fire was 50 per cent.
The reason for this lies in the
well organized Soviet anti-air-
craft fire."

The Germans aren't familiar
with this tactic themselves,
even reporting that a Russian
plane has been brought down with
an automatic pistol.

But the Russians seem to be
the past masters of the art.
Every Russian ground unit is
said to attack low flying German
planes with rifles and other in-
fantry weapons. Russian cavalry
dismount and fire from a stand-
ing position with rifles placed
on saddles. Infantrymen lie on
their backs and fire. Even
mortar fire is reported in use.
Said to be especially effective
are well camouflaged four-
barreled machine guns.

the men in advanced flying
school are plugging for paper
napkins with war zone maps
printed on them for the mess
hall tables. It seems that
the "table generals” like to
chart out new ways to surprise
the enemy, and the linen is
now taking a beating as the
strategists gulp down their
food. So, war zone napkins
might do something to lower
the laundry bills.

"it has long been customary
in this country to refer to the
Navy as our First Line of De-
fense.

*We of the Army Air Forces
like to consider ourselves the
First Line of Of fense. "- -A/a y .
Gen, H.S, Harmon at Lubbock Field
ded icat ion .

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

FROM THE BULLETIN BOARDS

McClellan Field, California:
"One sentry shall walk this
post continuously in opposite
directions, ”

OUR PRETTY cover girl of
last issue. Miss Kathleen
Nelson, Tyndall Field secre-
tarial worker, appears to have
scored a hit with the boys.
Reports from Tyndall say her
picture--showing Miss Nelson
in the field's snappy new uni-
form for women employees- -has
been picked up by the nation's
press . The result has been a
flood of letters from male ad-
mirers, young and old. One of
them came from a 14 year old,
who wrote "all the girls around
here write to the fellows in
the service and don't even
bother with little me anymore.
So, I wish to get back at
them (the girls I mean) by
writing a soldier lady and
that is why I picked your pic-
ture, .

IT MAY do some good to
mention that the swanky Ambas-
sador Hotel in Los Angeles of-
fers a flat 50 per cent dis-
count for the duration on all
rooms occupied by commissioned
officers. The hotel has also
waived cover and admission
charges to its Cocoanut Grove,
its theatre, and the Turf Field
Club.

’TOKYO SHOULD be informed
that our supply of Chennaults
is practically unlimited,”
comments Brig. Gen. Laurence
S. Kuter. Deputy Chief of the
Air Staff.

What he means is this: Brig.
Gen. Claire Chennault, famed
for his leadership of the AVG
"Flying Tigers" in China, has
five sons helping to win the
war. Captain John of the Air

Forces commands a fighter unit
in Alaska; Charles has just
joined the Army, hoping to get
in the Air Forces; another son
is in the Navy; another in the
Field Artillery reserve, and
still another in the merchant
marine.

THESE "FLIGHT STRIPS'' you
hear and read about (page 34)
are not widenings of the high-
ways. They do not always run
parallel or close to highways,
as commonly believed. "Flight
Strips" are near highways, all
right, but completely independ-
ent of them. The highways make
it possible for supplies and
troops to be rushed to these
auxiliary landing areas.

'HE WON’T SWEAR by this
one, but the story is told
about three Canadians , sleep-
ing in a tent at one of the
training centers in England,
who were suddenly awakened by
a terrific crash not far away.
“What was it-- thunder or
bombs?”, asked one, "Bombs,”
was the sleepy reply. “Thank
Go d , ” s a i d the third, “I
thought we were going to have
more rain.”

SERGEANT BILL LENT, Chanute
Field's creator of the comic
strip ’Reggie”, described in
the last issue, scored such a
hit with his art work that he
has been ordered to temporary
duty at headquarters in Washing-
ton to produce on a national
scale. His series of comic
strips, features and cartoons,
all on flight safety, hove been
made available to the field and
should show up presently in
camp newspapers. The sergeant's
deft touch is evident in this
issue of the News Letter, which
contains quite a bit of his
work .

Revenge Was Sweet Off Midway

By Lfeiit. Colonel Walter C. Sweeney, Jr.

E AEfl^Y in June it was my good fortune to be
in command of three bombing flights against
the Japanese fleet off Midway Island in two days.
Every man in my command brought credit to him-
self and to the Army Air Forces. We acted
jointly with naval and marine personnel, and all
of us have only the most profound admiration for
the coolness, courage and bravery of such compe-
tent officers and men.

At Midway the morning of June 3 Navy patrol
planes reported that a strong enemy surface
force was approaching the island from a bearing
of 265 degrees true.

Positive information came in about noon, and
our flight of nine B-17Es took off immediately.
After flying about three and a half hours we
found the Jap ships, some 600 miles out, just
where we had expected them.

It looked like an awful lot of ships down
below. There were cruisers, transports, cargo
vessels and other escort ships. We must have
surprised them, and we felt so at the time, be-
cause they started maneuvering at once. The
maneuvering was orderly, but unquestionably vio-
lent .

This attack was made in flights at altitudes
of 8.000, 10,000 and 12,000 feet, respectively.
My flight picked out a large one and bombed it.

At the bomb release line very heavy anti-air-
craft fire was encountered. It continued through-
out the attack, and, as in the attacks that
followed, was plenty heavy. We didn't claim
any hits in my flight on this one; we hit all
around it, but we didn't see any evidence of da-
mage.

Our second element , under the command of
Captain Clement P. Tokarz, attacked a cruiser or
battleship- -we weren't worried about identifica-
tion at the time--and left it burning.

The third element, led by Captain Cecil
Faulkner, went after a cruiser and is believed
to hit it at the stern. One pilot in the second
flight. Captain Paul Payne, couldn't get his
bombs away on the first trip in so he returned
through the ack ack and got hits on a transport,
setting it afire.

Then we headed for home in high spirits, our
only regret that we had no more bombs. On the
way bacL, from about 30 miles away, we could see
the heavy ship and the transport burning. They
were both out of column and appeared motionless,
with huge clouds of dark smoke mushroomed above
them.

We returned to Midway in the dark, got a
little sleep and were up before daylight the
next morning (June 4) to continue the attack.

This time we had more B-17s, seven having
come in overnight. We assembled in the vicinity
of a small island and proceeded out to attack
the same main body we had bombed the previous
afternoon. Enroute to the target we got word
that another enemy task force complete with
carriers was approaching Midway from 325 degrees
true and only a distance of about 145 miles from
that base.

We turned to intercept and climbed to 20,000
feet. Cloud conditions were lower broken, bot-
(Continued on Page 37)

i ir v/ar in ttae ii^leutlans

Fighting Fog and Jans

A merican airmen are slugging it out with day the Jap came again, this time with 18 carrier-
the Japs in a weird air-sea battle along based bombers and 16 fighters. In this attack,
the Aleutian island chain where the rain drives he included Fort Glenn, an Army post about 70
in sideways off Siberia at a mile a minute clip miles west of Dutch Harbor on the island of
and volcanic islands jut out of a fog-covered Umnak.

ocean like telegraph poles. He did better the second time, but all told.

It's the soupiest flying country possible. according to the Navy report, the Jap accom-
Daylight runs 20 hours a day, and the nights are plished only minor damage not impairing the
never really dark but the fog is always around. military effectiveness of the American outposts.
You chase the shore line in and out of bays. As this is written, no further attacks have

coves and inlets and you dodge the cliffs. Or been reported on Dutch Harbor and the Army sta-
you stay under the fog by hugging the water for tions. The enemy has occupied the undefended
miles on end, never over 100 feet, sometimes as islands of Attu, Kiska and Agattu on the western-
low as 10. Distances are great and the bad wea- most tip of the Aleutian chain and has con-
ther eats up your gas. The fog hides your tar- structed temporary living facilities ashore. A
get and blacks out your results. But you dump Navy-approved report states that here "The Japs
your load and go back for more. After a while are getting set for what may become a major
you get used to it. push against continental America."

We’ve been fighting the enemy and the ele- Whatever the result, from the very first

ments in that sub-Arctic muck since early June, move of the enemy, our Air Forces and our Navy
when the Jap squeezed a task force into the were ready for him. On the day of the initial
Aleutian chain while simultaneously pointing a attack our B-17 heavy bombers and the Navy’s
spearhead toward Midway. PBY flying boats were searching for the Jap be-

Our Navy states that the Jap invasion force fore his first plane appeared. Anti-aircraft
in the Aleutians amounted to approximately two batteries at Dutch Harbor opened fire five min-
aircraft carriers, several cruisers and des- utes before the first bomb was dropped,
troyers, a couple of seaplane tenders and from Our bombers in Alaska are carrying the

four to six transports. The presence of troop fight to the enemy, reported Brig. General
transports indicates the attack was aimed at Laurence S. Kuter, Chief of our Air Staff, upon
capture and occupation, the Navy reports. his return from the combat area. "American air-

The first attack came on the morning of June men are also devising special means to put the
3rd, when the Jap sent 15 Zeros and four Kokekiki Japs within range of fighter planes operating
carrier-based bombers over the Dutch Harbor na- from our Aleutian bases. Never hove I seen such
val base and the Army’s nearby Fort Mears . Next (Continued on Page 38)

J UST a year ago at Elmira, N. Y. ■ Lieut.
General Henry H. Arnold promised the nation
that the Army Air Forces would have a glider,
force second to none.

A recent tour to centers of glider activity
throughout the country shows that General
Arnold's promise is being kept. The war-going
glider is here. War-going glider pilots have
been trained and are ready for action.

The “Commandos of the Air" are no longer a
promise but a reality.

Everywhere one finds a serious and enthusias-
tic acceptance of the glider as a military wea-
pon and the glider pilot as a spearhead in mass
air assaults on the enemy.

A little more than a year ago no one took
gliding seriously in this country, except the
few sportsmen who enjoyed the thrills of thermal
and ridge soaring. Now the factories that were
then turning out a few small and impractical
sailplanes are engaged in mass production of
huge and business-like troop-carrying gliders.

Today the glider is as much a part of our war
plans as the Flying Fortress.

The reason for the glider's coming of age is
simple and obvious. Perhaps it was too obvious,
for it embodies a principle mon has been using
since the beginning of transportation: You con

pull more than you can lift. The tug with its
string of barges, the locomotive and its train
of freight and passenger cars, and more re-
cently, the automobile or truck and its trailer
are all examples of the economy and increased
efficiency of towing. Its adaptation to air
transport was a long time coming but now is here
in a big way.

It is a startling fact that by towing a single
glider, a cargo airplane can double its load
with the loss of only about 12 per cent in effi-
ciency. With a tow of two and three gliders,
the advantage is naturally that much greater.
Colonel David M. Schlatter. Director of Ground-
Air Support, of the Army Air Forces, furnishes
this excellent example:

"It has been calculated," explains Colonel
Schlatter, "that a single DC-3 transport plane
flying the route of the Burma road can carry in
a month the same amount of equipment that could
be handled by 56 trucks. If you double the
carrying load of the transport by having it tow
a glider, you are doing the work of 112 trucks.
Then instead of using one transport and glider
team, have many. You con readily see what this

means in the transport picture all over the
world. "

Going further. Colonel Schlatter predicts the
day when single airplanes are an oddity, when
planes with trailing baggage and passenger
" cars" are common.

Limitless Pessikilities

Our whole thinking on the subject of gliders
has changed almost overnight . We have suddenly
awakened to the fact that in the widespread use
of large gliders we have the solution of war-
fare's complicated transportation problems--not
only the transporting of cargo but of troops and
equipment for invasion. The possibilities are
limitless .

There was a great deal of excited talk about
Hitler's "Secret Weapon" when the Germans used
gliders in the invasion of Belgium in 1940 and
later in the taking of Crete in May 1941. Talk
has now given way to action.

At Wright Field there is a Glider Unit working
day and night testing and flying and perfecting
gliders of all types, from small trainers to
large troop-carrying ships.

At factories in Bt. Louis, Wichita, Elmira and
a dozen other places gliders of a size and ca-
pacity that will astonish even the glider con-
scious Germans are rolling off the production
lines.

At preliminary schools in Kansas. Arkansas,
Oklahoma, and South Dakota thousands of men are
being trained in power-off “dead stick" landings
to prepare them for the job of piloting big war
gliders .

At advanced schools in Texas and California
full fledged glider pilots are being graduated
in large numbers, trained in the art of bringing
down their gliders on any available patch of
ground.

At our Tactical Training Centers huge troop-
carrying gliders and their pilots rehearse with
the air-borne troops that will be their “cargo".

Yes, the American glider is definitely ready
for war.

Now a glider is of no earthly, or rather aer-
ial use unless there are means for getting it
aloft. The glider's power plant is the tow air-
plane. In fact, an aeronautical engineer re-
cently pointed out that a glider is simply an
airplane with a remote power plant.

The towing, once the glider is in the air, and

r=HOW IT WORKS

I With pick-up arm lowered, the airplane pilot swoops
down toward the ground station at more than 100 miles an
hour. An Instant alter the first picture was taken, the
grapple hook at the end of the arm snatched up the glider
tow line seen suspended between the two posts.

2 At the moment of contact, the airplane is only about 14
feet off the ground. The pilot quickly gains altitude and a
winch inside the plane goes into action, taking up the slack
in the tow line which is attached at the other end to the glid-
er seen in the background. A 2-place training glider, the
TG-3, was used in this first actual demonstration of a non-
stop glider pick-up at Wright Field.

3 And up goes the glider with the greatest of ease as its
pilot expertly guides his craft to one side of the ground sta-
tion posts. The nylon tow rope and an attachment on the
cable winch In the airplane act as automatic shock absorbers.

the setting free by the pilot when the enemy ob-
jective is reached, presents no real problems,
but getting the glider aloft--the pick-up from
the ground--does , or did, present its difficul-
ties .

First there was the problem of the take-off
for the tow airplane. The added weight of the
glider called for a longer runway. With a train
of two or three gliders in tow it required a
runway longer than is ordinarily practicable,
especially for operations from our fighting
fronts.

Then there was the all-important corrollary to
the first problem; getting the glider and its
occupants off the ground again once the mission
behind the enemy lines was accomplished. Were
gliding missions to be one-way tickets with no
means of getting out in a hurry? Were costly
gliders to be destroyed or abandoned to the
enemy in case of reversals? Wasn't there some
way in which gliders landing in small fields
could be emptied of their equipment and men and
brought back to deliver more troops.

Until recently these were both real problems.
Now the Army Air Forces is experimenting with a
non-stop glider pick-up by means of which our
gliders that go to war will be able to come back
when their job is done, and load up again.

Pick-Up System

This pick-up system is simplicity itself. It
is an adaptation of the mail pick-up by an air-
plane in flight, widely used for many years.

A few weeks ago the writer witnessed a highly
successful demonstration at Wright Field during
which a two-place glider was picked up from the
ground time and again by a power plane zooming
low at more than 100 miles an hour. The demon-
stration didn't attract much attention, but its
significance from a military point of view is

clear-cut. What is cx:complished by a small air-
plane picking up a small glider can be dupli-
cated by a large transport airplane picking up a
war-going glider or train of gliders. The prin-
ciple is the same. All that is needed is lar-
ger and stronger equipment.

The essential ground element of the non-stop
pick-up device is a set of posts resembling the
goal posts on a football field, except that in-
stead of the cross bar a tow line--one end at-
tached to the glider--is suspended between the
poles .

The actual pick-up mechanism is in the air-
plane and consists of two parts, a revolving
reel or drum on which 700 feet of light coble is
wound and a 12-foot pick-up arm with a grapple
hook on the end attached to the bottom part of
the fuselage.

The tow plane comes in and as it approaches
the pick-up ground station, the pilot levels off
much in the same manner as he would in making a
landing, except that his speed is greater, any-
where from 95 to 120 miles an hour. He lowers
the pick-up arm, and as he swoops down the hook
at the end catches the suspended tow-line. At
the moment of contact, with the airplane from 12
to 14 feet above the ground, the cable reel in-
side the plane is permitted to spin freely, pay-
ing out additional tow-cable to cushion the ini-
tial load imposed by the dead-weight of the
glider. Some of the shock is also taken up by
the tow-line itself, which is made of nylon to
give maximum strength with a high degree of re-
silience.

Gradually the reel-brake is applied, the gli-
der accelerates smoothly, and by the time the
speeding tow-plane has levelled off, the glider
is air-borne. Then the brake is locked and
the glider is in full tow. If at any time while

- p

the glider is in tow the acceleration becomes
greater than 1 G, an automatic shock absorber
goes into action.

No Shock or Strain

During the demonstrations at Wright Field,
even with the airplane making the pick-up at
more than 100 miles an hour, there was no no-
ticeable shock or strain on either the airplane
or the glider.

Lest this solution to the pick-up problem
makes the job of the glider pilot seem simple,
don't forget that there is no mechanical device
that will bring the glider to a perfect landing
within the limits of a small pasture behind the
enemy lines. That is up to the skill and judg-
ment of the pilot.

When he once cuts loose from the tow-ship.
5,000 or 10,000 feet up, miles away from the
small pasture that is his objective, the glider
pilot is on his own. He must know air currents,
rate of glide, and the performance of his gli-
der. As he silently glides down, carrying his
precious cargo of men and guns and ammunition,
responsibility for the success or failure of the
mission is his alone. He must make his ap-
proach just right.

Top Man

It is true that the Army Air Forces' troop-
carrying gliders are equipped with flaps and
spoillers to cut down the speed and increase the
rate of glide, but if the pilot misjudges and
undershoots his mark there is no engine to
throttle and gain altitude for him. That is why
the glider pilot will be the top man in the air-
borne troop invasion on the books of our high
command .

GROWING UP:

A C'UY from the nailplam of th-.’ :;portcman hi thiF>

9-p‘.ace transport glidt-T of tht- .'irmy .Mr r^orces, sh'iwn
below. War-going gliders of this type will be the spearhead of
our aerial offensive again;-.!, the enemy. The pilots, at their c-m-
trols will be the key men when our “Commandoa of the .'.ir’'‘ go
into action,

'I'he advantages T transporting air-b.irr;e troops by gliders
are many. One power airplane can tr;w of.-veral gliders of the
type shown below and ‘•von larger onbo, each glider currying
r;in«- or rnoreiully equip{>ed lighting mt-n, !^y cutting the glidrrs
loose Lhousando of feet up and miles away frc;rn the enemy ob-
jective, they can glide in noisele.nsly to strike their blows with-
out warning. Also, gliders can be con;:tructed in a fraction .)f
the time it takes to manufacture a power airplaru , with th<> use
practically no strategic materials, and at ub nit one -fifth Uu-
c )st. Th(.‘ cost of a glider of the type shown hcrre is between
$10,000 and $1J^,000, while a transport airplane of the
load capacity costs about $b0,000.

Troop carrying gliders now being built for the .^rrny Air
Forces are equipped with flying inotrum<-mts and l-.-wuy radio.
In the larger gliders struolural provisions, have been made
for the loading and carrying of mechani'’ed equipment.

•Vt

J" . ....

l,leo». Kober

„,.dqa.rlcr», »»»

An improvised field headquarters, using packing crates for furniture.
Below, elaborate hangars and runways are dispensed with at the front.

T he gnats dive at you like Stukas and the
flies sound like a heavy bomber formation.
The swamp turns your GI shoes from brown to
black. You eat standing up. sleep under mos-
quito netting, and shake the snakes out of your
shoes. Your workshop is a sweltering tent, and
you wish you could find a job to do in the air
conditioned trailer where flight instruments are
checked . The heat bounces off the runways and
hits you in the face. Sweat soaks your shirt
and sand whirls up in your eyes.

It might be an advanced airdrome on any one
of a half dozen combat zones, but it is just a
field somewhere in Florida where heavy bombard-
ment groups of the Third Air Force Operational
Training Units are learning how to rough it.
The life is tough, designed to be as tough
as anything a combat zone offers. All that is
missing is an enemy raid. It's a long way from
operating out of a fixed base with long con-
crete runways, brick and steel hangars, and big
permanent repair shops and barracks to running
mission from a jungle clearing, filled-in swamp
land or leveled hills. Here your control tower
is a precarious camouflaged perch in a tree top,
your repair shop a row of tents and trailers,
your kitchen a hole in the ground with iron
grates, and your quarters a bug-filled tent.

Transition Training

It is a transition that AAF outfits are mak-
ing in increasing numbers as they swing into ac-
tion on more battlefronts of the global war. It
is training designed to teach them how to oper-
ate under the worst possible field conditions
without softening the blows they strike against
the enemy.

A heavy bombardment group always covers a
lot of ground, but when it is dispersed to ca-
mouflage all its ground installations it really
spreads. Everything is on wheels: first, to co-
ver the distances around the base; second, to
enable the base to be evacuated in a hurry. By
the time an outfit finishes its operational
training it is able to evacuate its 200,000
pounds of equipment on wheels in less than six
hours .

Improvising and making the best of what is
available is the keynote of this type of field
training. Furniture is made from old packing
cases. Every bit of scrap metal is salvaged
and used for something. An old tenant's shack
near one field was converted into a beer garden
for the PX. Traveling PX' s were rigged up in
trucks to deliver cigarettes, candy and cokes to
the group squadrons scattered under camouflaged
groves

The operations office and the weather sta-
tion are a pair of tents in which lights burn
all night. Field trunks have been rigged to un-
fold as desks to hold weather and operations
maps. A Link trainer is set up under a canvas
and the pilots put in time on it in underwear,
shorts and shoes. Model identification air-
planes are strung from the trees. The guard-
house is a log stockade made from native timber.

Open Fire Co oking

The cooks preside over great pots, grates
and steam cookers heated by open fires. Mess
tables are built for stand-up eating and the
only utensils are those from individual mess
kits.

Gasoline comes in drums from concealed un-
derground storage depots instead of the conven-
tional hose at a fixed base. Ammunition is also
kept in underground storehouses. Barbed wire
entanglements and machine gun nests surround vi-
tal installations. A brake drum hung from a
limb serves as a gas alarm and when its clang
sounds on the field every man in the outfit
wears his gas mask until the all-clear is given.

Problems that are non-existent in an ordi-
nary base tax the ingenuity of men in the field.
A barber sets up shop with a packing case chair
and a tree for a shop. His razor strop is hung
from the trunk and a board wedged in a crotch
holds his tools and soaps. The waiting room is
a soft spot in the sand. The field de-lousing
equipment is re-rigged to provide open air
showers with hot water.

First aid stations are set up in each squad-
ron and a group hospital is fashioned from a
pair of tents and mosquito netting. The group
dentists operate their drills by band power.
Chaplains hold services in the open air. A
blackout proof screen is erected between a pair
of trees to show training and entertainment
films to the men at night.

Out on the line another row of tents houses
each squadron's armament, supply and repair
units. There are no hangars for the big four-
engined bombers scattered in the far corners of
the field. Turrets and other vital parts are
protected against the sun and sand on the ground.
Sentries guard the planes at night.

Planes operate day and night simulating all
(Continued on Page 21)

Polished desks are out when flight planning time rolls around. Above,
in a rude operations building, a bomber crew gets its instructions.

“Tent shops’’, (above) set up as they would be under combat conditions.
Below, there won’t be any air-conditioned repair shops at the front.

^-^oat J^untin^ . . .

Hide and Seek Warfare

T he airplane and the submarine are engaged
in one of the war's strangest but most im-
portant duels.

It is a game of hide-and-seek that has few
equals - -played along thousands of miles of
rugged American coastline.

The gome matches two unnatural enemies, pitted
together because of a relatively defenseless
third party--the surface vessel. It is the
plane's job to defend it, the sub's job to des-
troy it. But in defending, the plane must seek
and get results. Against the plane, the sub has
only to hide.

If you stop to think of a duel between an air
weapon and an underwater weapon it smacks of
Jules Verne at his best. But when a sub is
spotted down below, you really don't have time
to stop and think.

Sporadic Action

In hunting submarines you swop hours of mono-
tonous, nerve-wracking patrol for infrequent
flashes of furious action, and doubtful rewards.
You know the odds are against you, but you can't
afford to give a damn. Day in and day out you
continue to skim low over the water, looking for
a needle in an ocean haystack, always hoping to
get a shot at the needle and strike oil.

If a U-boat's silhouette is painted on the
nose of your plane, feel free to carry a puffed-
out chest. And if by any chance you're sprout-
ing the Air Medal, burst your buttons--you' ve
had it coming.

The plan of action in sub hunting is logically
shaped around the known facts concerning the
submarine's method of operation. Subs usually

hunt in packs- -somet imes as many as 10 or 12 U-
boats concentrated in one shipping lane. During
the daytime they cruise at periscope depth, or
with decks awash and the conning tower visible.

On surface passage, a sub proceeds on diesel
power at about 10 knots an hour. The noise of
its motors makes it virtually impossible for the
U-boat to hear an approaching aircraft before
seeing it. That's a definite advantage. But at
night, when the sub has surfaced and is idling
about charging batteries, an aircraft can be
heard as far as three miles away before it is
seen, even in bright moonlight. And remember
that U-boats do a lot of their dirty work at
night .

The theory is that if depth charges or bombs
are placed reasonably close to a U-boat, the at-
tack is never wasted. But spotting the sub is
the first big job. And that, in itself, is fast
getting to be an exact science.

The U-boat lookout system is so thorough that
two out of three times the sub will sight an
aircraft and dive before it can be sighted by a
plane. Three members of the U-boat crew usually
stand in the conning tower, arranged back-to-
back in such manner that each man commands a
120-degree view.

When the sun is bright, you hove your trou-
bles. Try looking for U-boats against the glare
in a mighty big expanse of water and find out
for yourself. You learn to play “hard-to-f ind"
in broken cloud formations on the clear days;
and if the underparts of your ship are painted
white you become much less visible from the
water .

In thick weather you can moke the heavy spray
(Continued on Page 29)

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL

LT. GEU. GEDRGE H. BRETT--".4s United States Army member of
War Councils in England, Egypt, Burma, China, Java and Aus-
tralia, as Deputy Commander- in Chief of the Southwest Pacific
and as Commander- in-Chief of the United States Army Forces
in Australia he has shown a keen perception of existing con-
ditions, excellent judgment and a superior quality of leader-
ship, thus rendering exceptionally meritorious service to the
Government in a position of great responsibility.’'

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS

LT. OOL. CHARLES A. SPRAGUE--For exceptional valor inac-
tion against the Japanese in the battle of the Philippines,
Colonel Sprague has been missing since February after engaging
Japanese fighters over Bali. (Also awarded the Purple Heart.)

CAPT. FRANK P. BOSTROM CAPT. WILLIAM P. COLEMAN

LT. HOYT A. JULLY

For gallantry in action against the Japanese , while stationed
somewhere in Australia, No details available. (Captain
Bostrom was also awarded the D.F.C.)

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS

For gallantry in action again
avai lable.

MAJOR WILLIAM LEWIS. JR.

ALBERT J. MOYE ..
CAPT. HARRY E. SPIETH. JR.

f the Japanese. No details

LT. WILLIAM H. CAMPBELL
M/SGT. KARL G. JOHANNSON
S/SGT. JOHN C. HADDOW

LT. JACK CARLSON

PEC. CLYDEL HORN

CAPt «40?v a SPBm^Z

CAPT, ALBEPX J.MOYB

LT, COL, SPf^AGUE

JULY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

SILVER STAR

For gallantry in action against the Japanese. No details available.

BRIG. GEN. MARTIN F. SCANLCX^ LT. JOHN T. CX3MPT0N

MAJOR WILLIAM LEWIS. JR. LT. HAROLD E. SNIEER

LT. WILSCW L. COOK S/SGT. RALPH E. MOUSER

LTS. DONALD K. EMERSON (Posthumous) and VERNON A. HEIDINGER- -
For bravery while participating in a successful bombing raid on
an enemy airdrome north of Australia.

LT. SAMUEL W. BISHOP- -For bravery during the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor.

SGT. LUTHER B. WARD. OORPLS. HENRY R. SHEPPARD and ANIBEW J.
SWAIN- -For extraordinary heroism and bravery in an aerial fight
against an armed enemy. These gunners shot down two Jap Zeros
when their plane was attacked over New Guinea on May I.

PVT. FRANCIS J. CARVEY--For bravery in saving the life of an Aus-
tralian soldier on Mar. 16, when Japanese planes attacked an
airdrome at Port Darwin.

PVT. HEJJRY E. SMITH- -For conspicuous bravery and courage in ac-
tion. (Posthumous) Private Smith was killed while repairing
airplanes at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack.

PURPLE HEART

LT. OQL. ELMER P. ROSE--For bravery during the Japanese attack on
Hawaii. Colonel Rose attempted to take a plane off in the face
of enemy fire. Wounded in the first part of the attack, he re-
ceived first aid treatment and went back to duty as post oper-
ations officer to direct for several hours the work of defense
and aid to the wounded. Other Air Forces men to win this award
for bravery during the attack on Hickam Field are;

S/SGT. WILLIAM S. MOCZAN SGT. RUSSELL M. WEISS

SGT. HAROLD J. O'CKTOIELL CORP. WILLIAM G. KENNEDY

SGT. HENRY SAUNDERS PVT. JOSEPH SILVA

CAPT. DEAN HOEVET--For outstanding skill and achievement in an
aerial fight against an armed enemy. While piloting a B-17
bomber on Feb. 21 against a Jap convoy approaching Bali, the
plane developed engine trouble 170 miles out over sea. Captain
Hoevet dived from 28,000 to 4,000 feet and on his approach to
Java was informed of the expected Jap attack on his base. He
managed to keep the plane in the air an hour with the engines
almost failing, and when the field was clear, landed safely.

CAPT. FlAYMOND SWENSCS'I- -For his cool leadership during a 45-minute
engagement with the enemy while on a night attack against Jap
installations at Rabaul on Feb, 23.

LTS. WILSON A. CHAPMAN and CLARENCE T. JOHNSON- -For displaying
bravery in aerial combat over Horn Island north of Australia
on March 14. Although wounded in an attack by 9 Jap fighters ,
they continued to fight, knocked down one attacker and got safely
back to their base.

^Ole Miss^ Giles to Java

By Captain A1 Key

Back in 1935 the Key brothers, A1 and Fred, established a heavier- than- air endurance
record by flying a low powered Stinson monoplane , "Ole Miss", continuously for 653
hours and 34 minutes over their home town of Meridan , Miss.

Jsnuary 1 of this year Captains A1 and Fred Key of the Army Air Forces, pi loting
the most powerful long range bombardment planes in the world, took off a few minutes
apart from a Florida airfield. They had dubbed their ships "Ole Miss 11" and "Ole Miss
111.” They were bound for Java.

The brothers, flying in the same squadron, bombed and fought the enemy all over the
South Pacific until the evacuation to Australia. Fred stayed to carry on the fight
from Australian bases. A1 was ordered back home for combat instruction duties. At
this writing he is stationed at Barksdale Field, La. His story adds another chapter to
the story of that heroic handful of American airmen who waged the Battle of Java--The
Edi tor .

T he first stop in our flight to the Far
East was to be the West Indies. I told the
crew as we passed over Miami to take a good look
down because it was going to be the last
lighted town they'd see. I was just joking at
the time, but it turned out to be true.

The Navigator said we would arrive at our des-
tination in the West Indies at 2:05 P. M. We
did, and my opinion of navigators rose 100 per
cent right then and there. It was his first
long distance trip as a navigator, too.

Sometime later on, over water and headed for
Africa, the navigator called me on the phone
system and said, “Captain, you've passed the
point of return."

That meant that we were out too far to turn
back, even if we'd wanted to. Just then a storm
struck and we flew on instruments for almost an
hour.

Just as the weather cleared I got a call on
the radio. It was Fred. ”A1, where in the hell
are you? "he asked.

That's a fine question to ask a man who is
right out in the middle of the ocean. I thought
a second and said. “You see that cumulous cloud
ahead; well, I'm just going into it." Fred
said, “I'll be damned; so am I." I looked out
and saw Fred's plane right on my wing. We
hadn't moved 100 feet apart.

Delayed

As it turned out, our ship was delayed due to
engine trouble, and when we landed in Java Fred
was on hand to greet us. He already had been
bombing the Japs, who at that time were advanc-
ing on the Indies.

I was a little shaken up from the flight
across the Indian Ocean, but the commanding of-
ficer informed me that I would go on my first
bombing mission the next morning. I didn't
sleep a wink that night.

Takeoff come next morning before daylight, and
we found the Japs at Macassar straits. We
dropped our bombs and on the way back were
jumped by pursuits. We were flying the first

B-17E's that the Japs had come up against and
they didn't know we had those stingers in the
tail. We managed to shoot down everything that
attacked us. Fred's plane was shot up pretty
badly, but he wasn't hurt, nor was his crew."

^erican flyers kept shuttling back and forth
from Java for about 10 days. But no matter how
many Japs were killed they kept coming.

Next the Japs started on the Celebes and the
Dutch set fire to the oil wells on those is-
lands. One night the Dutch reported that the
Japs were attacking and that the light from the
burning oil wells would serve as a good beacon.

Three flights of us took off that night, and
the Japs were right where the Dutch said they'd
be. Fred, Lieutenant Hillhouse and I were in
one flight. I told the other two to fly around,
and I'd see if I could stir up some trouble. We
“sashayed" around and let go some bombs. Then
the Japs turned on their flood lights.

Fred hadn't cut off his radio, and I could
hear him giving orders to Soupy, his bombardier.
The bombardier's name was Campbell, so Fred
nicknamed him Soupy.

■’Soupy", said Fred, “you see those lights down
there? Well, put 'em out." A few seconds later
I heard Soupy say. "Captain, they ought to go
out soon; there's eight bombs on the way down."
The lights went out.

When the Japs started moving in on Sumatra, a
squadron of American flyers caught thousands of
them in small barges in some of the narrow
straits. The Americans dropped bombs from 1,500
feet and blew Jdps, barges and water almost as
high as the planes.

But the Japs kept coming. And since American
and Dutch flyers had to take time to refuel and
service their planes, the Japs could get con-
siderable troops through.

After Sumatra come Bali. Americans sank 16
Jap ships at Bali. In one raid we destroyed an
airfield which had fallen to Jap troops, to-
gether with a number of Jap planes. Then, when
it became certain that the Indies couldn't be
held, the evacuation to Australia began.

All in a Day«*«

A few of the trials and tribulations of a
student mechanic have been caught by Pri-
vate Paul Snyder, of Kessler Field. Miss., in a
series of cartoons reproduced here. Inspired by
the technical training course at Kessler, they
show what the neophyte mechanic has to contend
with before he is graduated. Hard work, boners,
constant study- -all are part of the picture.
But they all combine to make good mechanics - -and
AAF mechanics have to be good.

ELIMINATION of the red circle in U. S,
military aircraft markings in no way effects the
design of the AAF shoulder patch. The red dot
was removed because it could be mistaken for the
Japanese rising sun emblem. . . .but the dot in
the shoulder patch is still with us.

RESERVE officers , coomiaaioned before Sept.
26, 1941, are now entitled to the $150 uniform
allowance, PROVIDED they had not completed any
three periods of active duty (of three months
each or leas) when called to extended active
duty. The grant does not extend to National
Guard officers : to AUS officers commissioned
since Sept. 26, 1941 who had prior commissioned
service , or to AUS officers above the rank of
captain. But it still holds for AUS officers
ORIGINALLY commissioned since Sept. 26, 1941.

THE old Army cot is OUT-- tossed into limbo
for the duration. The infamous steel torture
device, cleverly designed to look like a piece
of furniture, is to be replaced soon by a wooden
contraption arranged to form one-half of a
doubledecker . The new bed promises no more mid-
night collapses ; no more smashed fingers, no
more pain-wracked forms. It’s wonder ful .

YOU can now perpetuate the name and memory
of your lost or missing buddy through the AAF
Aid Society. Your cash contribution to the So-
ciety's trust fund will be acknowledged in your
behalf to the bereaved widow or family. A card
will explain that you have donated an undis-
closed amount, to be added to the general fund
that the Society will use for post-war assis-
tance to AAF personnel and dependents. Send any
amount to the AAF Aid Society, Room 703, Mari-
time Bldg., Washington, D. C.

THE Adams apple emerges from official ob-
scurity under the terms of a ruling which now

permits your C. O. to make the open neck-band
without tie legal for the dturat ion- -when circum-
stances warrant. Within proper restrictions
governing neatness , the C. O. may now dispense
with the tie when personnel are engaged in
duties that must be continued at maximum speed
regardless of mid-day heat. And on the subject
of ties, have you seen the blue and gold striped
jobs now available at moat Post Exchanges?
These are intended for off-duty wear by AAF’ers,
under the same restrictions that apply to civi-
lian dress. (Wear only when participating in
sports, or in private quarters with leas than
three persons present) .

YOU, too, may be entitled to wear that
yellow faille ribbon with red and blue stripes
that recently made its appearance over left
breast pockets. It's the African Defense Ser-
vice Ribbon, and as widely publicized, appeared
to be restricted to officers and men who com-
pleted a year of active service between Sept. 8.
1939 and Dec. 7, 1941. Actually, however, ANY
officer or soldier who STAKTED active service at
any time within the above dates is eligible to
wear the ribbon and receive the award of the
American Defense Service Medal.

WELL, the word "Air Corps’’ is back again.
That is, for use on signatures . The name Army
Air Forces still goes, and the designation of
General Arnold remains Commanding General, Army
Air Forces. But for the rest of us, the offi-
cial moniker is now John Doe, Lieutenant, Air
Corps. It was that way for years and years, but
changed over to John Doe, Army Air Forces, a few
months ago. It seems that the name Air Corps is
a designation of an arm of the service fixed by
an act of Congress and would need an act of Con,-
gress to change it. The name Army Air Forces
was adopted for administrative purposes by exe-
cutive order.

JULY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

H OW TO SAVE MONEY DEPARTMENT: Next time

you cash a money order at a post office win-
dow, don’t be a sucker and pay the fee ordi-
narily charged for this service. The rule re-
garding collection of the fee has been sus-
pended for the duration of the war, for properly
identified service
men. . . .1 f you were
a Federal employee
before joining the
Army, any accrued
leave to which you
may have been entit-
led can be converted
into CASE, according
to WD Bulletin No.

19 (4-16-42). . . .A
free legal service is
being maintained for
officers and enlisted
men at McChord Field, Washington. The service,
which includes the otherwise costly preparation
of wills, powers of attorney and other legal
documents, will be extended to other fields. . . .
All soldiers honorably discharged for injury or
disease incurred in line of duty, (or aggravated
thereby) and not the result of their own miscon-
duct, are entitled to apply for pension benefits
with the Veterans Aehiinistration. Organisations
conananders will help prepare application papers

, , , ,A pamphlet , ’’Are You a Responsible Per-
son?" is available by mail (100) through the
Book Dept,, Command and General Staff School,
Ft. Leavenworth, Kan, It furnishes a valuable
check list of things- to-do to put your personal
affairs in order, anticipating service overseas.

SAFE arrival of U. S. Army personnel over-
seas will be heralded in the future by "arrival**
cards, which the soldier fills out and addresses
to Mom and Pop, the girl friend and relatives
before leaving. The cards stay right here, and
when the safe arrival of the contingent abroad
has been confirmed, the cards are mailed by the
Army.

SPEAKING of Officer Candidate Schools ,
note that a ten-day leave of absence is author-
ised for all graduates before repor t ing for
duty. If you insist on the official wording,
struggle through Par. 21, AR 605-115 and Par. 12
C, WD. Cir. 126, cs, 1942,

IF you draw the short straw and get your-
self captured, don’t forget that an effec-
tive procedure exists for communicating with
relatives and friends. Within the framework
of the* Japanasi interpretation of these codes,
contact with the luckier ones left behind can be

arranged through the
Red Cross. Captors
are required to per-
mit the prisoner to
send his name, rank,
serial number and ad-
dress of prison to
the International Red
Cross Committee at
Geneva, Switzerland,
postage free. Let-
ters only are al-
lowed; parcels are
banned. Mail to
prisoners of war works the other way. If you
want to write to a captured civilian, the full
amount of postage must be attached to the enve-
lope. Standard forms are supplied by your Red
Cross representative; they limit the message to
25 words.

WHQJ a pretty young stronger sends you a
sweet-scented letter, describing herself as
"Rich, lovely and lonely**- -run, don*t walk, to
the nearest ash can. Deposit the billet-doux
firmly therein, to avoid Uncle Sam*s frown.
Correspondence between Army personnel and un-
known civilians (sex not specified) is out for
the duration. No approval will be given "Lonely
Heart** clubs or other plans intended to incour-
age such correspondence. However, this policy
is not designed to discourage normal letter
writing between soldiers and friends, relatives,
or — of course--the girl back h(»ie.

A soldier who is physically qualified can
now be appointed directly to an Officer Candi-
date School of his choice without having to ap-
pear before the usual board of officers for ac-
ceptance. Any general officer is now authorized
to direct in orders that an enlisted man under
his command, who has been especially selected
by reason of his demonstrated fitness, will be
detailed as an Officer Candidate. Such appoint-
ments are limited to ten per cent of the quota
currently alloted to the command for the school.

C30CZ

ARGENTINA

t3»iS.

T> eing a good neighbor to the rest of the who hav

Americas is one of the specialties of the Most of

Army Air Forces. or soldi

In the effort to help build a united Ameri- trainin'
can air front against aggression, AAF train- In ad

ing centers have opened their facilities to ram, ai;
flying students from our neighbor countries refresh(
south of the Rio Grande. flying ol

In cooperation with the CAA and the Coor- in orde

dinator of Inter -American Affairs, the study A

Gulf Coast Training Center is training a ques. S

large number of Latin American cadets are amc

VENEZUELA

LT. JOSE GUERRERO of
Venezuela (above) is taking a
refresher course at Kelly Field,
Below, a student from Argen-
tina handles the control tower
at Randolph Field.

en sent here to win their wings,
se students are either civilians
who have had no previous flight

to this fledgling training prog-
F training centers are offering
;ourses to a number of junior
rs of Latin American countries
) give them an opportunity to
icon flying and training techni-
of these refresher students
he best flyers in Latin America.

MEXICO

3EATH TO THE AXIS” is the
edge of AAF fliers and Mexican train-
s at Foster Field, above. Lt. Edmundo
argas, of Nicaragua, Heft below) and
. R. K. Simeral. AAF.

BRAZIL sends these student fliers
'above) to Randolph Field.

URUGUAY

MODEL PLANES play a big part in teach-
ing aerodynamics to these Uruguayan students
(above) and a trainee from Cuba (below).
Study is directed by A A F instructors at
southern training centers.

CUBA

The author, for 13 years a noted foreign correspondent stationed in Japan, was held
captive by the Japanese government for two months prior to his return to this country a
year ago. He is the author of two books on the Orient, Behind the Rising Sun and Our
Enemy, and has appeared before lecture groups throughout the nation, including several
Air Forces units. The views expressed in this article are the views of Mr, Young and
must not be considered the official views of the War Department or of the Air Forces
News Letter- -TTie Editor.

I N the next American flight to Japan, two years ago inside the Palace grounds by the Im-
strategic spots must be bombed--the highly perial Household, under direction of Baron

fortified Imperial Palace at Tokyo, and the Tsuneo Matsudaira, father-in-law of Prince

Grand Shrine of Imperial Ancestors, located at Chichibu.

Ise, near the Nagoya aircraft plants. One of the city’s modern fire fighting units

The Palace is located on a 531-acre plot of is stationed in the Palace precincts. The army,
ground in the center of the world's most vul- standing watch, is under an Imperial Prince,
neroble capital. Some cavalry are kept there in the barns, for

The Imperial Palace and environs are as mili- ihe Imperial Polo grounds,
tary in nature as a munitions dump. The entire Jap war machine, functioning as a

A small artillery unit is barracked in the joint board under the title of Imperial Head-
grounds. The Imperial Bodyguard, the elite of quarters, presided over by the Emperor and two
the Jap army, is stationed therein. The central Imperial Prince's of the Blood, meets in the
telephone switchboard is a clearing house and Palace.

signal station for air raid alarms. Wires run All plans formulated for attacks on the United

north about four blocks to the notorious Gestapo States, China, Australia, Alaska and India, are
headquarters. The main dug-out is across the mapped in the special room which might hove been
moat, in the basement of the Dai Ichi Life In- occupied on that April mid-day Doolittle at-
surance Building. tacked; the Imperial commission always convenes

Germany's best Zeiss and Bosch anti-aircraft a.m. and adjourns about 1 p.m.

equipment were purchased and installed five The supreme Imperial network of tactics.

JULY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

strategy, conununicat ions and planning, all cen-
ter in the Palace grounds- -the most military da-
jective of the Japanese Einpire.

The Palace must be pulverized. On the next
trip. Our airmen must bomb the Palace as vi-
ciously as the Sumida river arsenals or the Yo-
kohama chemical rubber, tank and auto plants.

The Grand Shrine at Ise is the burial place
for Japanese ancestors of the Imperial Family.
If the Palace is bombed, and the Shrine demo-
lished, a wholesale hara-kiri will follow, and
the entire government will be overthrown.

Mass Hari-Kir i

Imperial Household authorities would commit
suicide. The head of the Metropolitan Police
Force would kill himself. Premier Gen. Hideki
To jo and his Nazi trained staff would resign.
The Minister of War and the head of the Imper-
ial Western Defense Command would be put in
shame. The Board of Shinto would be tossed out.
Hysteria would prevail.

The fact that a high placed general resigned
after the first American attack, and that the
chief of the defense command was out from loss
of face, proves the vulnerability of the Imper-
ial system. Others hove been thrown into pri-
son.

A close study of the report by Brig. Gen.
James H. Doolittle on the epic flight of his 80
men over Japan, the third attack on Japan since
1937, points up the extreme vulnerability of the
Axis empire partner, and reveals that the Japs
are not the calm, composed residents they have
been interpreted.

Often, it is said, the Japanese are a people
who can endure floods, earthquakes, typhoons,
monsoons, tidal waves, landslides, volcanic
eruptions, great conflagrations and epidemics.
Such were natural events. Air raids are not in
the Japanese book of rules of experiences al-
though air raid drills hove op>erated since 1934.

The first raid, on Formosa, Japan's giant Gi-
braltar of the Pacific, the spring-board for her
Philippines attacks, and earlier the debarkation
point for Hainan and Indo China, caused severe
damage to a field near Taihoku, the capital, in
1937. Chinese, and it is believed some Soviet
pilots, did the trip. Though nearly 2000 miles
distant, Tokyo ordered a blackout for two nights
following that attack.

Chinese appeared over western Japan in 1938 to
drop pamphlets instead of bombs. The psychology
of the pamphleteering was poor for it advised
the Japanese farmer peasants to "overthrow the
Imperial shackles." Workers who fear the Jap
police and revere their god-emperor, instead of
carrying through the Chinese hint, picked up the
handbills and carried them to nearby police sta-
t ions .

A year ago I began a research job for Flying

and Popular Aviation, on a pattern of air attack
on Tokyo. The result, in 5000 words, was pub-
lished in Flying for December, under the title
“Stop Japan Now", the theme being to "give her
Hobson's choice otherwise drop our compromise
policy and face the dilemma with firmness and
force. "

Gen. Doolittle remarked in Washington that
there was little difficulty in finding the as-
signed targets. My research job stated "a
flight of bombers will find, in one glance,
three vehicular bridges and approaches of the
mile-wide Shinagawa river south of Tokyo.
Tokyo's suburbs have mushroomed thousands of
armaments factory smokestacks."

Japan cannot have effective air defenses be-
cause it will be practically impossible to or-
ganize Sufficient anti-aircraft defense on boats
to strike at enemy craft before they arrive at
their objective.

One month after the Tokyo bombing, a great and
famous Japanese ship, the Nagasaki Maru, hit a
mine in Nagasaki harbor and was destroyed. The
Captain, a veteran in the Japanese marine ser-
vice, shot himself in the offices of the N.Y.K.
line. Three months after Pearl Harbor, a well-
known Jap diplomat, Satomatsu Kato, "fell" from
a window in his Paris embassy and was killed.

To bcxob the Imperial Palace on the next trip
will hasten an end of the war and by suicide,
many of Tokyo’s leaders will save the day of .an
Axis hanging.

Roagtaing Up

(Continued from Page 9)

types of combat missions. Nearby towns used as
enemy installations day after day are "annihi-
lated" by the squadrons in training. Missions
are changed while planes are in the air, and
all hands are taught to operate while under
fire. Ground crews learn to cut servicing time
to a minimum to prevent planes being caught on
the ground by enemy attack.

A comprehensive plan for defense of the
field against enemy bombers, paratroops or
ground attack is worked out; constant drill in
defending the field and its installations accom-
panies the rest of the training routine.

This field practice is designed to make AAF
units bound for combat duty able to operate en-
tirely on their own, to build them into self-
sustaining units that can provide their own sup-
ply and maintenance wherever they may be and can
defend themselves against any type of attack.
Anyone who has seen the Air Forces in action in
the bug- filled blistering sand and swamps of
Florida will know that when these men go into
action on foreign soil they will be ready for
anything.

PRO PATIIAMO

A partial list of iicers and men of the Army Air Forces offlcially repdrtMl
to have died in the service of their country since December 7, 1941.

Lieutmnaat CoIoimJk
Stanley K. Kobinson

Majors

Teclmical Smrgetknta
John A. Potter Herman C.

Reust

Staff Sergeant a

Clarence R. Davis

Hugh F^ 'McCaf fetjr

T. ;

Timothy J. Sargeant

Karl F. Har^pHj^
George C. ^od(]{e .
Cilio S. <|^errl%re
Dalton R. 'Hardy

‘:QiaiT«»s^. Page ■
Qiairlas wAVa® Eeuweri
Foster %M.,Walfcer.

Clay^iin C*Jayotte‘Hei<||

Captains '

Waite* W. Sparks > Jr

E Ime r ,Mi itCMn- , ' ‘J,t
RaymonJ';'

amn, '

Richard%«;!lfe|R^
Oscar D,

Francis
Melvin wC:

Kenneth

Stewart Li»F ”

Real Carter ,^hoa^

Andrew John Franctp«e^.
Richer^ James Sandner./
Melvin L. Rake ’ ^

Frank G.J. Micietl ,

Jesse Peter Ottoseq
Boyd Vaughn Mann

. a; /' .*>

Rudd Van Mann" . i ^
Lewi* Howard Miller
Joseph Benedict; Maloney
Harry W, Moseley
William Thorpe Morgan
Francis Kinner McAllistei
Jack Thomas LaUghlin
Erwin Roy Kriel
Ralph R. Johnson
William Rawls Hogg
John Ernest Linwood Huse
Conner Garth Hopkins
Owen R.S. Graham
Philip D. Freeman
Lucius Diebrell Edwards
Robert H. Markley

LieuterufHtti

I^oy W. Smith’- '
dentry

^d*e J. Hogwfl ^ ^

T.J. ‘'Majors - '^01
James J^ flrr -. -f^0%
Randall RV' Scham^,' * 1 1
Harold WillIam’’Wol'l^S^
Darrell Stewart Wing
Rush Howard Wi-llard
ifranci* H^ McAllisteir

'"Ifemphrey

■■Bli)^^05d8y*ndt

Guthrie

* '£‘ '>* ‘ yi-iseiiwan

'%r

hell

(^cWmgrsahl
‘fh’iow

Shoemake ^,,1
X

L. Finney ,4
'|?ii4kfc'’il W. Green

La Verne jr" Need ham
E«n<-iiorr.|s’* .

v^tanWy A.' JUgj^od

X J-f !

Andrew A. Walcsynski
Joseph E. Good
Harold C. Elyard
Virgil W. Dickey

Sergeants

George M, Martin
Morris Stacey
Robertip. Sherman
Joseph J. Chagnon
Benjamine W. Kerr

Corporate

/ Lumus E. Walker
John Ri' vBotelho
' William -H. Offcutt
Csi 'Mitchell
j|'hi

William T. Morgan
Gail Thomas Gpdegraf’jP
Harris Ai’^ S^tuart: , .1;',

.Oiarfes Stden/ Jr. |.i;i%A'^Af-:^4er^on^A. Tennison' _,Fr^

Richard Spotswodd
'Herbert F. Soest >t
Leroy Earle Gritidle
.John Bradley Rush
James 0. Reed
Donn, William Piatt
Samuel Seay Pattillo

/)•

Charles K. Nelson ^
Norman Richard Meeks

■>

James Edward May I . ?

'"AH

Elmer Munn, Jr.

Frank Andrew Kobal
Harry Lamar Matthewa
Gordon Durfey McKenney
Lathon E, Henson
Fergus .O'Conher Luscombe
Gordon Otto Kibbee
Walter C. Iseiy
Gordon E. ifouston,

James Valentine Hamilton
Henry Thomas Horton
William Thomas Gardner
Robert William Finwell
Louis G, Moslener, Jr.
George A. Whiteman

...'x/ ■*

-■fj'-i.'- ,-.\V

- V?

X/.C. J.||S^^rks 'h,:

; Joseph ifriczko "■‘f

William F. Briggs
-.George. J.* Smith
Roger A.' Vaillencourt
Boyd E. Halcom
Howard L. Ellis '

„ Leo Surrells X;

' Frank B. Cooper
I Paul L. StatotiXjS
“ Felix S. Wegrzyn
RUssell Ei^ Gallagher
Frank J. Lango
'Richard L. Coster *■
Paul R. Eichelberger
Leroy R. Church
George W. Baker
Frank R. Dallas
Martin Vanderelli '
Allan G. Rae
Andrew Jv Kinder
William F. Shields
Joseph G. Moser
Merton I. Staples

Avery
gliardi

John R. ^^^tcher
Julian C. Stult’t
’Merrill W. Riner
William C. Klllin
John R. Leyerly ; ^

Privates - ^

Joseph M. Ve liner
Robert A. Bailpy
Jasies L. Bartlett
Jackson A. Chitwood
Edwin Cor such
David C. Lyttle
Robert 'L. Palmer
James A. Ross
Robert H. Westbrook
X M. Walker, Jr.

Joseph S. Zappala
Rutisell P. Vidoloff

Elme r W . South

' 'I

Harry E. Smith
George A. Moran
Maurice J. St, Germain
Victor L. Meyers

PRIVATE DOAKES-TINANCIER

ffom.

TO KEEP 'EM TiyiNO

MIAMI BEACR. ELORIPA

I N January. 1943. the
pay raise finally
caught up with Pvt.
(N4I) Doakes. One Mon-
day morning he couldn't
get up for sick call, so
his Sergeant, a kindly
man. called on ambulance.

The Medical Officer
gave Doakes a long,
diagnostic look and
whistled.

"Spots before your eyes. Private?" he asked.
'Well, not exactly spots, sir. "Doakes
whispered. "More like dollar signs they are."

"Hm. And you feel tired at Reveille?"

"Yes. sir."

"I see. When, exactly did you start feeling
like this?"

Doakes considered. "As near as I con remem-
ber. sir. it was back in August, a couple of
months after the pay raise went into effect.
That was when I started to slip behind."
"Slip behind?"

"Yes. sir. I suddenly noticed it was coming
in faster than I could spend. And then. sir. I
decided to take steps. I stayed up in my room
all one evening tearing up my old budget and
making out a new one. It took a lot of figur-
ing. sir. I con tell you."

"I can imagine. " said the Medical Officer.
"Go on."

"Well. sir. I had this old budget worked out
exactly to twenty-one dollars a month- -right to
the last penny. Fifty cents for photographs,
two- fifty for laundry, three dollars insurance,
three dollars beer, seventy cents haircuts,
eighty-five cents toothpaste, soap, blades and
so on. twenty-five cents stationery, twenty
cents shoe polish, fifty cents papers and maga-
zines. two dollars movies, three dollars cokes
and four bucks fifty cigarettes."

"A good, conservative, sound budget." said
the Medical Officer, approvingly.

"Yes, sir. Well, I got to thinking-- just a
little, of course, sir. I could see there were
a lot of items in my old budget I couldn't pos-
sibly spend any more on--

"So I saw I*d have to spend lots more on
some things. I ran my insurance premiums up to
seven dollars and bought only the best engraved,
monogrammed stationery. Instead of fifty cents
for photos, I got five bucks worth and sent
them out. special delivery air mail, to a lot of
people whose names I found in the phone book.
Along with my haircuts. I got shampoos, facials.

manicures, shines and violet ray treatments.
Instead of comic books and newspapers. I bought
Fortune and Harper's Bazaar. I only used each
razor blade once and took to drinking cokes be-
fore breakfast. If a fellow asked me for a
cigarette, I gave him the whole pack. But of
course the other fellows were getting fifty a
month, too, and pretty soon they stopped asking.
The best I could step it up to was forty-one
seventy-five. "

"Surely that didn't make you as sick as you
look, Doakes."

"I haven't told you about December yet.
sir, "Doakes said, painfully.

"What cdbout Decen^er?"

“That was when I ran into real trouble, sir.
Almost all through the month I suffered rever-
ses. sir. First there was a long session of KP--
I'd had a little trouble with an MP--then I got
a series of special duties that kept me busy all
the time. Firsl thing I knew pay day was here
again, and I hadn't even gotten into my November
pay. "

"Tsk, tsk, " said the Medical Officer.

"Well, sir, last week I really went to town.
On my feet all day long I was, sir, trying to
catch up with myself. But my heart wasn't
really in it. I knew when I was licked, sir.
Haircuts every day, pictures until I couldn't
stand up to pose any more and had to have them
lying down. Cokes for the Squadron. Then came
the dawn this morning, sir, and I just couldn’t
seem to get up."

Doakes closed his eyes and shuddered.

"Nurse!" the Medical Officer shouted, "nurse!
Wheel this man into the contagious ward and pull
down the blinds. He's to have absolute quiet,
and on no account is anyone to rattle any coins
near him. And--oh, yes--mark his card 'in line
of duty' so he won't have his pay docked."

AIRPLANE "GROWS HAIR" FOR TESTS

NEW FLYING SUIT

PROSPECTING FOR BOMBS

T he men in the picture below get a terrific "bang" out of their
work. They are looking for unexploded bombs on the practice
range at Kelly Field. The bombs are left over from World War I,
and some of them have remained underground for over 25 years.

The man in front is operating a metal locator which signals him
when he is over a shell. The men behind are carrying a litter
containing a dynamotor and batteries, used to operate the locator.
When the searching crew finds a bomb, a demolition sguad moves in
with TNT and explodes it.

Pilot Toaster

T his is the Air Forces
new electrically-heated
flying suit, described in
the May News Letter. Little
heavier than an ordinary
uniform, it will keep air-
crews warm down to BO de-
grees below zero. Several
thousand of these suits will
be in use by next winter.

The new suits will re-
place the bulky woolen uni-
forms now used for high-
altitude flying.

Engineers Use Hair Forces

T his P -43 is covered with hair- -but it didn't grow there. The
hairy tufts visible in the photograph are really pieces of
string which were fixed on the plane by engineers who use them to
study air-flow direction during wind-tunnel tests. Pictures taken
of the tufts while the plane is undergoing tests show up inefficien-
cies in aerodynamic design.

FROM RUBBLE HEAP TO AIRPORT

T his is a before-after series showing how steel landing mats and aviation engineers together
can turn a rubble pile into a modern runway, even in such out-of-the-way places as this far
northern outpost.

Landing mats such as these are making it possible for Air Forces planes to land and take-off
in the farthest corners of the earth--sometimes where planes were never seen before. These
mats were laid on roughly leveled subgrade, which was later ballasted with clean cinders, making
the surface smooth and hard.

The picture above shows the kind of ground that greeted the aviation engineers. The completed
runway in use is shown below.

26 AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

CONTROL TOWER CLASSROOM MODELS FOR GUNNERS

LVJLtrol tower operators know their job before
they are permitted to play for keeps. To do
this student operators are provided with a
miniature airport, complete with runways, build-
ings and control tower, to practice on.

In the above picture Private Ferdin F. Terry
brings in a B-24 while Private Jack V. Nelson
operates the control tower. They communicate
over a standard two-way radio.

The control-tower course lasts three weeks,
and is taught by Staff Sgt . Glen Mackay. It
is patterned after the system developed by the
Civil Aeronautics Administration for the control
of commercial airline operations.

OGDEN "ELEPHANT TRAINS*’

Learning to Spot at Tyndall

S O they won't blast the wings off a friendly
plane, prospective AAF gunners down at
Tyndall Field, Florida, learn what both Allied
and Axis planes look like by making a close
study of wall charts and models. Here Private
Francis Grant is getting tips on aircraft recog-
nition from Corporal Harold Ellis.

NEW AAF LIFE RAFT

JULY 1942

Raft and Equipment

Transportation at Ogden

D ispersed parking lots for employees are no
problem at Ogden Air Depot. Colonel R.J.
Minty, Engineering Officer at the depot, has
put the “elephant trains" shown below into
use carrying employees from the parking lots
to headquarters and supply buildings. The
trains operate on a 24 hour basis, and accommo-
date all shifts.

C REWS of Army bombers patrolling over water
aren't going to drown if Air Forces engi-
neers can help it. One of the latest life-
saving devices developed is the collapsible
rubber raft shown above. The raft can carry
five men comfortably, plus emergency rations.
20 feet of line and a waterproof bag containing
a Very signal pistol. The raft is inflated by
pulling a lever which releases carbon dioxide
into the tubing. The oars are collapsible and
may be stored away.

Twelve Pounds of Prevention

By Captain Harry Barsantee

directorate of Flying Safety

B ack in college we had a course in English
Literature and the textbook was on enormous
tome entitled "Twelve Centuries of English Prose
and Poetry. *'

After lugging it to class a few days we re-
named it "Twelve Pounds of English Prose and
Poetry. ”

I was reminded of this when I arrived in Wash-
ington a short time ago and somebody handed me a
stack of manuscripts a foot high and weighing a
round dozen pounds. (I know: I’ve toted them
back and forth from home to the office a number
of times.) This pile of manuscripts was the an-
swer to General Arnold’s recent directive asking
pilots of the AAF to write and submit to him ac-
counts of their narrowest escapes from fatal
airplane accidents.

“Here they are, ” I was told. "See what you
con do with them.”

The manuscripts were already somewhat dog-
eared through constant study by statisticians,
engineers and other experts in the field of ac-
cident control who had gleaned much valuable
data on accident causes from them. My task was
to select the most typical narratives and re-
write them for publication in booklet form.

Prevention Wholesale

"Talk about an ounce of prevention," I mused
to myself after leafing through the first few.
"Here's at least twelve pounds of it!"

Actually, some 500 narratives were submitted,
ranging from a couple of p>aragraphs to 10 pages
in length. The narrators included raw cadets
who hadn’t yet soloed and two-star generals who
were flying before World War I. Virtually every
type of ship ever used by our Army was men-
tioned; the locales ranged from Alaska to Fhierto
Rico to France; just about every conceivable
situation in which a pilot would ever find him-
self was described.

Naturally, it looked like a rich vein of in-
formation on accidents and their causes; a tech-
nician’s bonanza and a writer’s dream.

A few days of refining, however, brought the
realization that the lode was not as rich as it
appeared. There was a sameness about the
stories which soon grew almost monotonous.
There weren’ t 500 basic causes of accidents, I
soon discovered; as a matter of fact, there
weren’t 50, or even 25. Lieutenants with a
dozen hours made the same mistakes as did Col-

onels with thousands of hours, and these errors
caused trouble in heavy bombers and basic
trainers alike. Ships changed greatly in de-
sign, but accident hazards common in 1917 were
still prevalent in 1942.

However disappointing this discovery, it cer-
tainly was illuminating. If accident causes are
BO few, so basic and so simple, surely correc-
tive methods can be equally basic and simple.
Of this I am thoroughly convinced after poring
hour after hour over these hundreds of narra-
tives.

Cockiness and over-confidence, it seemed,
popped up in one out of every two or three man-
tiscripts. Listen to this;

My most hair-raising experience came one
tine clear day while I was making sport of
sailboats by blowing them off course with
prop wash. About the third pass around, I
became just a little too much interested in
the boat’s reactions and before I had time
to realize what had happened my prop hit the
water. There was a roar, a jerk, a huge
spray and one moment of a thousand years.

So ended my days of blowing sailboats!

Weather was a factor in a good 20 per cent of
the near-accidents, but in almost every single
case the pilot admitted that he deliberately in-
vited disaster by digressing from the regula-
tions or the rules of common sense. For in-
stance:

My face is red as I write this, but I

must admit that the very same weather report
that I got after landing had also been
available at my point of departure and I
hadn’ t even bothered to check! Only luck
and a crazy hunch had prevented what cer-
tainly would have been a nasty smear.

Improper preparation on the grotmd before tak-
ing off is a major cause of accidents, as every
experienced pilot knows. Stories in support of
this fact were legion. This excerpt from one
is typical:

In my eagerness to get started on that long-
cherished trip I jumped into the newly re-
paired plane and took off in the general
direction of Detroit. No maps, you under-
stand; no drawn course of any kind, no
flashlight-- and , I realize now, no brains!

The accounts having to do with just plain
’’boners" made a sizeable pile in themselves.
Typical is this fragment:

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

JULY 1942

j4s I taxied up to the line, burning to cru-
cify the inspector who had passed on a plane
in that condition, the clerk ran out.
“Lieutenant", he yelled , “you took the wrong
plane. I said number so-and-so but you took
number this- and- that . This plane hasn’t
even been finished by the assembly depart-
ment!” Kes , sir; I had been flying a ship
that was literally falling apart, and the
horse was 100% on me.

Carelessness

Inattention, carelessness, thoughtlessness —
call it what you will — it is the reigning cause
of accidents in our Air Forces. Not more than
15 per cent of all mishaps reported can be at-
tributed to forces over which the pilot himself
has no direct control. I rather expected, since
it would be only human, that many of the pilots
would have a tendency to place the blame on
their ships in order to cover their own mistakes
or shortcomings, but such was not the case.

pilot error and faulty supervision is respon-
sible for the vast majority of accidents.

In view of this, it would certainly seem that
the remedies are obvious and not too difficult
to apply. Education will do the trick among
those amenable to it; disciplinary action must
be taken among those who will not respond to
education.

One of the first steps in the program of edu-
cation is a booklet which is now being distri-

buted. Entitled "Lessons that Live, as Told by
AAF Pilots”, it contains eighteen of the most
typical among the hundreds of accounts sub-
mitted .

There is nothing of an admonitory nature in
the book except that each story naturally points
a moral by implication.

The theme of the brochure is aptly pointed up
in a foreword by Colonel S. R. Ifarris, who heads
the Directorate of Flying Safety.

There is an old axiom to the effect that
experience is the best teacher. It’s a good
axiom and I wouldn’t quarrel with it. Where
accidents are concerned , however, experience
is likely to be bitter and costly. The
first lesson can be and often is the last.

In flying, it’s a whole lot better to learn
from the mistakes of others than to make
them yourself. Presented here are true
stories of accidents or near- accidents ,
written by Air Force Pilots who lived
through them. Each could have resulted in
one or more fatalities if Lad^ Luck had not
smiled at precisely the right moment. Read
them; yes, study them and resolve right now
that you will never make the same mistakes .
This booklet should help you to grow old in
the business of flying!

The booklet also contains a vital message from
General Arnold, as well as charts, tables and
other oddments of information of especial in-
terest to pilots. It is profusely illustrated
in full color.

JULY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Hide -Seek Warfare

(Continued from Page 10)
and whitecops work for you. Lookouts on U-boats
surface cruising on such days hove difficulty
locating aircraft that jjatrol near the water be-
cause seaspray gets in their binoculars, forcing
them to go below now and then to dry out their
goggles.

In case this suggests that U-boats lie around
on the surface like decoy ducks, consider that a
submarine can make a crash dive 25 seconds after
it spots you. And within 40 seconds after a U-
boat submerges, count on it as being out of
range. That gives you a total of 65 seconds ac-
tual working time, not very long; so spotting a
sub is just the beginning.

It all means that you can't have too much
speed. And it also means that you can't relax,
because that crowded 65 seconds may come any-
time--sometimes after eight hours of patrol
duty--and you don't want to miss the fun.

To counteract the speed with which a U-boat
con submerge, you usually make for the sighted
vessel in a straight line, hoping to drop your
eggs before the sub has dived. Once it has
dived, the only aiming mark for the bombardier,
is the swirl left behind on the surface, caused
by the conning tower

The after-effects of on attack on a U-boat are
usually informative, although often dishearten-
ing. But they do give the bomber crew an oppor-
tunity to evaluate the success of the hunt.
Depth charges themselves give off an oily resi-
due after they explode, so a slight smear of oil
and minor debris is not considered significant.
Even a considerable quantity of oil may mean
only that the relatively flimsy external fuel
tanks on the sub have been broached, or that the
bellows-action of the depth charge blast has
forced some oil through the self -compensating
system. Appearance of large quantities of oil.
however, are considered evidence of a "near
miss", and the escaping oil leaves a trail by
which the sub can sometimes be followed for
hours .

Bubbles Can Fool You

Don't get too excited over bubbles rising to
the surface in a small stream. They may only
mean that the U-boat is adjusting a temporary
upset by "blowing" some of its air or water bal-
last to regain even keel. But bubbles in large
and continuous quantity are evidence of damage
to the external connections of bottles of high
pressure air, often carried in the casing under
the upper deck and above the pressure hull.
While this is annoying to the sub creW, it is
seldom serious.

Large bubbles that produce an active boiling
of the water's surface over an extended period
intimate that Hitler & Co. is having its trou-
bles down below. Such commotion generally means

that serious internal flooding is taking place
in the U-boat, and that its commander is blowing
Out the main ballast in an effort to restore
buoyancy. When accompanied by large masses of
oil. it may even mean that the fuel tanks are
being emptied. It is possible, however, for a
Sub to fill and sink without any considerable
external evidence such as large quantities of
debris. Consequently, the bombardier always
tosses over an extra egg or two for good meas-
ure.

A submarine under attack frequently will break
Surface momentarily at large angles, either
stern up or bow up- -but this may only be due to
temporary loss of trim or control, and in itself
is not conclusive evidence of serious damage.

All in all, with speed at a premium, you get
to work on the “shoot first and talk about it
later" basis. It is not surprising to hear that
depth charges hove been tossed on unsuspecting
whales. And no one should complain at this. It
might have been a U-boat, and it's always worth
an explosive egg or two to find out.

And you must remember that more U-boats are
being bagged than are announced in the papers.
It's hard enough getting them without reporting
to Hitler each time it happens.

"ALWAYS WARM 'ER UP BEFORE TAKING OFF'

G ermany's newest heavy bomber, the Hein-
kel HE- 177, appears to have two radial, but
actually has four liquid cooled engines. Two
are placed side by side for each nacelle, with
o circular nose radiator. Dive-brakes are a
notable feature of the new plane.

The Russian Caucasus

By Oliver H. Townsend

Headquarters, AAF

J UST north of the Holy Land, in the very
shadow of ancient Mount Ararat where Noah
ended his nautical ”cross*country*V lies the
rich Transcaucasian valley of the Soviet Union.

Stretching along the border between Russia
and Turkey, where Europe ends and the oriental
East begins, the Caucasus is the focal point of
German drives through Russia and the Middle
East.

And for good reason. Here are the great oil
fields that feed the mechanized forces of the
Russian Army. Here also is the world's largest
supply of high-grade manganese- -enough to keep
the wheels of the steel industry of Europe and
America turning for centuries.

Tucked away between the two great mountain
ranges that run from the Black to the Caspian
Sea. the Transcaucasian valley has remained
pretty much of a mystery to the outside world.
Even the natives themselves know little about
their homeland.

Americans, like everyone else, have never
bothered to find out much about the Caucasus.
Now they must, however, as they join the rest of
the United Nations in the defense of this area
from the Axis pincer drives.

Although the Caucasus has a much more tropi-

cal climate, it is actually in
about the same latitude as New
York City. You could get there
by going out to Mitchel Field,
taking a plane and heading due
east for about 5,000 miles.

The trip would take you out
over the Atlantic, then over the
northern tip of Portugal, ^ain,
the Mediterranean, Italy,
Greece, Turkey, and finally the
Caucasus itself. Once there,
you would probably "set her
down” at Baku, the oil capital
of the Soviet Union.

Baku is a big, bustling,
cosmopolitan city. Located on
the shores of the great inland
Caspian Sea, it is the shipping
point for the tons of oil sent
every day up the Caspian water-
ways to the industrial cities to
the north, and westward through
the great pipelines across the
Caucasian isthmus to the Black
Sea ports of Batum and Poti.

Baku is a modern, yet an an-
cient city. The job of getting
the oil out of the ground and
into the boats and pipelines has
brought a western industrial air
to the old oriental town.
Streetcars, busses and automo-
biles whirl passed donkey-riding
peasants. Modern business cen-
ters have sprung up among the ancient shops and
dwellings, and modern homes and parks are making
residential suburbs out of the city's outskirts.

The thousands of workers and adventurers
that have been attracted to Baku by the oil in-
dustry give it a gay, holiday air even in war-
time. Most of the 800,000 to a million people
speak Russian, mixed in with the scores of na-
tive dialects that stamp Baku as a crossroads
between the East and West .

Look Like Forests

At night the oil wells that fill the coun-
tryside around Baku look like great forests
against the moonlit sky. Out beyond the oil
wells there's desert--desert that stretches
westward for miles toward the foothills of the
Caucasian mountains.

Back in this "hill country'', west of the de-
sert, outside the big centers of population,
many of the ancient customs of the natives are
still preserved. Ekich small community has its
own language, few of which were ever reduced to
writing until a few years ago. Russian is not
even spoken, and is rarely understood, by most

JULY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

of these people. Up imtil a few years ago they
knew very little of the ’’outside", and few of
them realized there was any country in the
world except Russia. Parts of the Giucasus even
remained unexplored until recently.

Although the benefits of sanitation and
cleanliness are still largely unappreciated in
the Caucasus, the natives are very friendly,
and, like their country, very picturesque.
Their horsemanship, their black lamb-skin caps,
their long black coats and knee-high boots are
echoes from the day when the Cossacks were the
pride and the scourge of southern Russia.

The Soviet government in recent years has
brought many of the benefits of western civili-
zation to the Caucasus, including education, the
Russian language and rural electrification.
Such westernization, however, hasn't changed the
native taste for foods. If you want to eat
their food, you'll have to be educated to it.
Che of the favorite dishes is bread made out of
corn meal and water, finished off with a swig or
two of sour milk.

Li fe Not Bad

The life for the men, though, isn’t bad.
They let the women do all the work. Between
wars they sit in the village squares smoking and
swapping stories while the women raise the chil-
dren, do the housework and till the fields. To-
day the village squares are empty--the men are
in the Red Army.

In the middle of the Caucasian isthmus, be-
tween the Black and Caspian Seas, is the second
city of the region- -Tif lis . Tiflis is even
more of a Babel than Baku, with Armenian. Tur-
kish, Jewish, Greek, Russian, Iranian, German
and scores of Caucasian dialects all mingled in
the market places and cafes.

Tiflis is the capital of the Soviet Social-
ist Republic of Georgia. Russia's Georgia, al-
though not as large as our own, has nearly as
many people- -and Tiflis is almost twice as big
as Atlanta. The other two Russian Republics
that comprise the southern Caucasus are Azerbai-
jan. where Baku is located, and Armenia, in the
mountain’s south of Georgia. The money used in
these Republics is the same as that used all
over Russia--rubles , worth roughly about 20
cents .

The climate of the Caucasus varies greatly.
Along the Caspian it’s dry and hot. Along the
Black Sea it’s tropical, and up in the mountains
it’s cold - -especially in the Greater Caucasus
range, running just north of the Transcaucasian
valley. These mountains are higher and wilder
than the Alps (they contain the highest peak in
Europe- -Mount Elbrus) and form an effective
barrier to an invasion force heading southward
across the great barren steppe from Rostov,
Kerch and the Don River basin.

And the Russians know how to use the moun-
tains as a barrier. For years they’ve trained
special troops to fight their way across the
glaciers and crevices of this forbidding range.
They know they have to defend the Caucasus not
only for itself--but also because it is a step-
ping stone to Iraq and Iran, and a link in the
German attempt to join forces with the Japs in
southern Asia.

There are two other gateways to the Cauca-
sus besides the isthmus--the Black Sea to the
west and the Holy Land, to the south. The
fight to gain these approaches is a tough one.
Americans who get in the battle will have some
of the best fighters in the world on their side--
and some of the United Nations’ most prized
possessions to defend.

By Lieut. John M. Jenks

Headquarters, AAF

J APAN'S "How to Fool the Enemy" Department
must have stayed up nights working on its
wacky system of aircraft designation. But once
you hove the key, the great Zero mystery folds
up like a jxirachute.

The so-called Zero is generally described as
a fast, highly maneuverable fighter plane. Its
chief claim to fame was gained in action against
Allied aircraft in the Southwest Pacific. Mat-
ter of fact, it is one of the best operational
fighters in the world. Actually, there is no
single Japanese plane with the exclusive desig-
nation of Zero. Every Jap plane of every type
placed in service during 1940 is a Zero. To
make it more complicated, this includes both
Army and Navy ships.

The Japanese designate their military air-
craft with two numerals representing the year
the plane went into service. To start with, the
Jap calendar begins at 660 B, C. As a result,
our year 1940 becomes 2600 (according to the Son
of Heaven) , Only the last two numerals are ap-
plied to plane designation. Conseguently, 1940
models are designated by "00", or just plain
"Zero." The letter T which precedes the numer-
ical designation stands for "type".

“Strange Setup”

This strange setup appears to be a deliber-
ate attempt to baffle '’ususpecting foreigners,
but even the Japs must stew and fret to under-
stand it. For example, there is a Navy single
seater fighter: an Army single seater fighter;
on Army heavy bomber; a Navy torpedo bomber; an
Army light bomber and a four-engined Navy flying
boat--all designated as T-97. This designation
merely means that they all went into service
during the Jap year 2597 (our 1937) .

The Zero fighter generally referred to is a
single seater Navy ship made by Mitsubishi. It
is sometimes called the Mitsubishi Zero. Its
official Japanese name is the "Mitsubishi Navy
Fighter T. 0. "

The Zero looks like a North American AT-6
with a slimmer fuselage and wing guns. It re-
tains its raw metal silver color and is often
identified by the sun flashing on its duralumi-
num stressed skin. It carries one 20 mm cannon

and a 30 caliber machine gun in each wing and a
pair of 30 caliber machine guns mounted to fire
through the propeller. Early models of the Zero
lacked pilot armor and were extremely vulnerable
to machine gun fire. Later Zeros carry some pi-
lot armor but offer much less protection for the
pilot than standard American pursuits. It
carries a jettisonable auxiliary fuel tank slung
under the fuselage which adds about 500 miles to
its normal cruising range of 1500 miles.

One of the United Nations* leading authori-
ties on the Navy Zero is Lieut. Col. Boyd D.
(Buzz) Wagner of the AAF, who has had consider-
able contact with them both in the air and on
the ground. He describes the Zero as follows:
Descri pt ion

"It’s not a wonder plane, but it has the re-
spect of all oUr pilots. The Zero's wings and
fuselage are made in one piece, which means the
Japs can't change wings if they are damaged, but
must replace the whole job. The system has an
advantage in less weight and speed of manufac-
ture if the Japs can make enough for replace-
ments, which I doubt. I doubt if even we could
with that system.

"The landing gear folds completely into the
fuselage, creating no additional drag, and the
plane is entirely flush riveted with only a few
drag-creating protuberances. The cockpit is
roomy and comfortable. Armament is controlled
by a lever on top of the throttle which permits
the pilot to fire either cannon or machine guns
or both.

The Zero is credited with a top speed of
well over 300 mph and does pretty well up to
3.0,000 feet. It can dive as steeply as AAF
fighters but has trouble pulling out as rapidly.
It has outclimbed AAF pursuits, however, and a
favorite maneuver in the early days of the war
was for a 2^ro to allow on enemy pursuit to get
on its tail and then go into a steep climb, flip
over in a sharp loop and come out on the tail of
its opponent. The Zero's cannon have not proved
effective against other fighters but have caused
considerable damage to heavy bombers.

AAF fighters have an advantage over Zeros in
their sturdier construction, pilot armor, leak-
proof tanks and heavier armament, 50 caliber ma-
chine guns and 37 mm cannon.

Other Jap Planes Now in Service

AICHI T,99 - Deck- landing, Low-wing
Torpedo Bomber

T he AAF has opened its first flight
strip, “somewhere on the middle
Atlantic seaboard." The strip, shown
above, is 8,000 feet by 500 feet, with
a runway down the center 7,000 feet
long and 150 feet wide, paved with
concrete eight inches thick.

Roomy enough to accommodate the
flight operations of two full squad-
rons, the number one strip is also
capable of handling the largest of AAF
planes, as shown by the Flying For-
tress taking off at right, and landing
below.

Flight strips such as these are
being erected in many defense areas as
auxiliary landing fields and dispersal

Airdromes in Wartime

By Lieut. Col. Rudolph E. Smyser

A^atiOD EBfllnecrs

P EACE- time practices governing the construc-
tion of airdromes hove followed a conven-
tional pattern. A large tract of land is ob-
tained and the entire area is graded and leveled.
The runways are laid out in rigid geometric
patterns, every effort being made to obtain
pleasing symmetry. Special efforts are taken to
make the runways conspicuous.

All this, of course, is undesirable on an
operational airfield.

Regardless of the shape of the landing area or
the relationship of the runways to each other,
taxiways are necessary to permit maximum utili-
zation. All runways should be connected to each
other and to the dispersal parking or revetment
area to permit the rapid movement of airplanes
from dispersed positions to the runway. Taxi-
ways in general follow the perimeter of the
lending area, but like runways should avoid
conventional patterns; whenever possible, they
should follow the trace of existing roods. The
required width is 50 feet, with a clearance of
15 feet from wing tip of plane to nearest tree
or obstacle; paving thickness may be slightly
less than for the runway. Taxiways should be
laid out in a series of tangent, rather than in
a sinuous trace. A two per cent grade is accept-
able. These taxiways also serve as service
roads for supplying airplanes at their dispersed
locations.

a gas attack, regardless of protective cover,
this type of revetment becomes a gas trap. No
type of construction should be permitted to
interfere with the free and rapid egress of the
aircraft .

Whether the revetment will be covered depends
on local climatic conditions and the supply of
materials. A removable, fire and chemical
resistant covering will give protection against
weather and liquid chemical; it is also valudsle
in deceiving the enemy as to whether or not the
revetment is occupied. Considerations of major
maintenance, such as engine changes, must not be
permitted to influence the height of the roof.
The covers must be as low as possible to permit
concealment. The impracticability of concealing
a large structure mitigates against such covers
for bombing planes. Considering the clear span
required, the provision of a cover becomes a
definite engineering task of some magnitude.
Air raid shelters for the combat and maintenance
crew are a necessary part of a revetment.

Puraui t Remains

Pursuit aircraft will remain on the actual
airdrome area, near the down wind ends of the
runways, as they must be able to take-off with
minimum loss of time. Although not desirable,
it may be necessary to permit parking these
planes within 300 feet of the centerline of the
runway.

For bombardment and observation airplanes, the
ability to take the air rapidly is less nec-

Except when undergoing major repairs, air-
planes at operational airdromes will be dis-
persed. generally in protective pens or revet-
ments. Hard standings and route of access to
these dispersal areas are essential . For safety
and control, dispersed airplanes not in revet-
ments should be in groups of three planes, each
plane at least 150 yards from the next, and with
no group closer than 200 yards at any point to
any airplane or another 'group. Revetments
should be 150 feet opart, and must not be laid
out on straight lines nor be in prolongation of
the runway or other natural bombing runs. The
floor of the revetment should provide a hard
standing and be above ground surface. Sunken
revetments can be built, but are operationally
unsuited. Not only does the depression become a
sump unless underground drainage is provided,
but the difficulty of getting aircraft in and
out of the revetment is increased. In event of

essary. Accordingly, it is these airplanes that
can well be dispersed some distance from the
airdrome proper. No exact guide to this dis-
tance can be given as it depends not only on
local terrain, but also on the requirements for
protecting the dispersed aircraft from sabotage
by local inhabitants, or from possible hostile
airborne action. One mile is not excessive if
it facilitates concealment.

So far it has been assumed that the landing
area can be seen by the pilot, but in actual
practice, a great proportion of landings will be
made at night or under cxiverse weather condi-
tions. for which provision must be made. Peace-
time systems of lighting, visible for miles, are
manifestly inappropriate. Present practice is
to place beacons, visible fron certain positions
only, some distance from the airdrome. Having
located the beacon, by means of a series of
hooded lights, designed to be visible at varying

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

JULY 1942

altitudes, the pilot is brought to the proper
runway at the desired altitude. Further hooded
lights, of minimum intensity, frequently with
colored filters, give the pilot his angle of
glide, and indicate the edge of the runway. A
few floodlights may be available, but are not
employed except under unusual conditions, the
additional illumination needed being obtained
from the landing lights of the plane. Whenever
possible, lights will be set flush with the
ground, but only under unusual conditions will
elaborate underground conduits be used to carry
the power. Noraially a flexible cable to a port-
able generator in a trailer unit will suffice.

Servicing and Storage Facilities

Fixed servicing and supply facilities ore not
built at field airdromes. Not only do these
elaborate systems take larger quantities of
material and require much time to install, but
they are tactically unsound in the presence of
an enemy. Gasoline, small arms ammunition,
bombs, and other supplies must be delivered to
aircraft at their dispersed locations. For this
purpose air force tactical and service units are
provided with special trucks, trailers, and
dollies. The construction of the storage units
of the following types is normal;

Storage of gasoline will be preferably in
underground tanks not exceeding 25,000 gal-
lon capacity. Tanks should be in pairs with
individual tanks separated by 3 feet of
earth or equivalent concrete wall with the
same amount of overhead cover. Pairs should
not be closer than 100 feet with duplicate
but separated pipe connections. If under-
ground units cannot be built, above ground
tanks should be dispersed, and surrounded by
a protective earth traverse on all sides.
Tanks of 25,000 gallon maximum cap>acity, if
given this protective traverse, should be
spaced- at least 150 feet apart; without pro-
tection individual tanks or storage piles
should be spaced not closer than 200 yards.
Regardless of spacing, all above ground
tanks must be located in woods or other
areas suitable for camouflage. In lieu of
large capacity tanks , storage frequently
will be in drums. Piles of drums should be
treated the same as above ground tonks.
Wiere opportunity presents, gasoline may be
delivered in tank cars to a railroad siding
near the airdrome. This siding should be at
least mile from the airdrome, and on a
road suitable for heavy trucks. In lieu of
delivering to tank trucks at the siding, it
may be necessary to lay a temporary pipe-
line from the siding to a distributing point
on a road nearer the airdrome.

Underground storage of small arms ammu-
nition, bombs, pyrotechnics, and chemicals

will be exceptional. Normally, all storage
will be dbove ground in dispersed and con-
cealed splinterproof magazines or igloos.
For bombs and other supplies which are not
affected by weather, open storage in re-
vetted traverses is ample. Whenever pos-
sible, the standard safety distances given
in Ordnance Technical Manuals should be fol-
lowed, but modification will hove to be mcrie
to fit the actual terrain.

Spore parts for engines, airplanes, wings
and other items of Air G>rps Supply require
protection primarily from weather. Although
valuable, the quantity (m hand at field air-
dromes will not justify attempting to give
protection against small arms fire or bombs.
Theater of Operations type warehouses only
should be built, care being taken to get
maximum camouflage by the fullest possible
use of any existing structures, or by siting
to dstain the maximum inherent concealment.
These warehouses need not be on the landing
area itself, but should be on roads within
500 yards of any repair hangar that may be
erected. (This ia the aecond of a aeriea of
articles on wartime airdromes by Colonel Smyser ,
The third article will appear in the August

Lieut, General H , H. Arnold, flanked by
Brig. General James B. Doolittle , awarding me-
dals to Tokyo raid flyers at Bolling Field,
D. C. , on June 27,

JULY 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

Midway

(Continued from Page 3)

toms at 1,000 feet, tops at 6,000 feet with high
thin-scattered at 18,000 feet. The carriers
were circling under the clouds and we had to
search for them. There isn't much doubt that
they had seen us and were trying to ovoid our
planes .

All elements of the main body of the fleet
could be daserved except the carriers; then, af-
ter a search, three carriers were seen to break
cloud coverage. Again it was Captain Payne who
spotted the first carrier. He directed us over
his radio, and we went in to attack.

The enemy started firing as soon as we opened
our bomb bays. The fire wasn't effective, but a
bit disturbing. The fighters came up to attack,
maneuvering beautifully, but they failed to fol-
low through. It appeared that their heart was
not in their work, and in no case was the attack
pressed home.

We divided our ships into three groups.
Each group was instructed to take a carrier, and
we bombed away. We are fairly certain we hit
the first carrier, but we didn't claim it. The
second group, under command of Captain Cecil
Faulkner, hit its carrier amidships. Lt. Colonel
Brooke Allen, commanding the last flight, se-
cured hits on the third carrier. We didn't hove
time to wait and see them sink, but we left
knowing they were badly crippled.

Captain Faulkner's tail gunner sustained
the only injury, a cut finger. There was some
damage to the ships from machine gun fire and
anti-aircraft fire, but we all returned to Mid-
way successfully. We found the island had been
attacked in our absence. During this attack we
lost a crew chief and an officer who remained on
the ground.

Japs Sink Their Own

That afternoon (June 4) we went out again to
attack a troop ship convoy reported to be ap-
proaching from 265 degrees true and estimated to
be <d)out 260 miles from Midway. Enroute we got
orders to attack a carrier bearing 334 degrees
true and cdsout 180 miles from Midway. We searched
that vicinity, but although a burning carrier
and a burning capital ship were sighted, no com-
missioned carrier was located. We learned later
that the others we had hit sank or were sunk by
the« Japanese.

As sunset was approaching we decided to at-
tack a heavy cruiser. All remaining units of the
enemy fleet were now deployed and weaving. We
attacked at 25,000 feet. Visibility was perfect
and the bombing run excellent. At the bomb re-
lease line an anti-aircraft shell burst at our
altitude off the wing of the number three plane
followed by fairly heavy fire. As soon as our
bombs were dropped we adopted evasive tactics.

We scored hits on the cruiser and left it

burning, a heavy cloud of smoke issuing amid-
ship. Numbers two and four planes were unable
to release their bombs on the first run so they
returned and attacked another ship. They did
not remain to determine the results of their at-
tack as the Japs had gotten a bracket on them
and the fire was extremely intense and all
around them. About 25 enemy fighters were
sighted below on a northerly heading as we put
out for Midway, but none reached our altitude.

This some afternoon Major George Blakey led
another flight of B-17s in and attacked the
burning carrier. Attacking at very low altitude,
they Succeeded in scoring many hits.

Fortresses Blast 'Em

All told, on the afternoon of June 4 our
B-17 s are credited with scoring three hits on a
damaged carrier, (probably the AGAKI) ; one hit
on a large ship; one hit on a cruiser which was
left burning, and to have damaged one destroyer,
believed to hove sunk.

Other B-17s carried on the attack the next
day (June 5) , contacting an enemy contingent of
battleships and cruisers to the westward of Mid-
way despite unfavorable flying weather. (Noting
the Navy's official report on that action by our
Army bombers;

‘They attacked, and scored a direct hit on
the damaged cruiser. Another bomb damaged the
same cruiser's steering gear. She was last ob-
served listing badly and turning in tight cir-
cles. This attack was followed quickly by a sec-
ond Army Air Force attack which scored a hit on
the stern of a heavy cruiser. Meanwhile, at
about noon (June 5) U.S. Marine Corps aircraft
located the damaged enemy cruiser and delivered
one direct hit .

‘In the afternoon of June 5, Army 'Flying
Fortresses' attacked enemy cruisers again and
scored three direct hits upon one heavy cruiser.
On the return trip, one of these planes was
lost: a second was forced down at sea 15 miles
from Midway. All except one of the crew of the
second plane were rescued . "

Our morale was high throughout, but after it
was over we were os tired a bunch of flyers as
you ever wish to see.

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

JULY 194

Aleutians

(Continued from Page 4)
a belligerent, bristling and scrappy outfit as
we have up there."

Army fighters and bombers were up after the
enemy from the outset of the June raids. That
is reported by newsman Keith Wheeler of the
Chicago Times, whose series of Navy-approved ar-
ticles have come straight from the Aleutian
theatre, where Wheeler has lived and flown with
the airmen.

"A ranging P-39 encountered two Jap cruiser
type observation planes in Umnak Pass and shot
one down in flames, " writes Wheeler.

During the second day's raid. Army fighters
shot down two of nine enemy pursuits which
strafed Fort Glenn installations; the remaining
seven attackers withdrew without inflicting dam-
age.

That same day, Wheeler reports, “Catalinas
led Army bombers through the fog to two carriers
hanging out 250 miles south of Umnak island.
That day a torpedo-carrying B-26 established
contact long enough to attack. He bored in at
the carrier's looming hulk, one of Japan's lar-
gest, and cut loose his tin fish. Instead of
going into the water, where it could aim itself,
the torpedo dropped on the carrier's flight
deck, and worked as much destruction as a 2,000
pound weight can work anywhere it happens to
fall. It did not explode."

B-26 Torpedoes

Wheeler describes "our first sizeable lick
at the enemy" as action by two B-26 bombers
“ that suddenly found themselves out of the mist
and sitting over a 10-gun heavy cruiser, one of
Japan's best. They attacked and hit her bow and
stern with two torpedoes. It appeared, they re-
ported laconically, as though 'destruction
seemed certain. "

Impossible weather made contacts with the
enemy few and brief after those first grueling
48 hours, until June 10, when a scouting Cata-
lina located the invaders in Kiska harbor.
Then, five B-24s launched the first concentrated
attack on Kiska. Describing this action, Wheeler
states that the 24s came in low over the harbor,
got caught in heavy anti-aircraft fire, climbed
back to 18,000 feet to dr<^ their loads, "and
left one heavy cruiser flaming in the harbor,
hit squarely by heavy bombs." Later that same
day, he adds, B-24s made direct hits on two
cruisers and a destroyer and left them burning.
Two of the 24s were lost.

A battle-scarred B-17 bagged an enemy trans-
port ship and a fighter plane in a single flight
to Kiska in mid-June, according to Wheeler, who
reports: “The fighter went down in flames af-

ter trading blows with the bomber's gunners.
The transport was lying in the harbor when a

500-pounder caught it squarely amidships. The
next plane to visit the island found the Jap
transport belching a mile-high tower of flame
and black smoke. The next day only her stern
showed above water."

Our aircraft have continually attacked enemy
shore installations. On one raid Army bombers
dropped 56 eggs on the Japs at Kiska. But, as
always, the glue-thick fog made it difficult to
determine results.

Based in the Alaskan theatre, according to
Wheeler, are our B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers,
P-40, P-39 and P-38 fighters, B-26 medium bombers
also used as torpedo planes, and airliner DC-3s
converted into Army transports.

The same writer describes the "workhorse"
Navy PBY Catalinas, whose squadrons are making
history by tirelessly flying patrols and searches,
shadowing Jap surface ships, fighting Zeros,
loosing torpedoes, strafing subs, carrying cargo
and troops, and even serving as makeshift dive
bombers. Wheeler reports that some Catalina
airmen flew 102 hours in two weeks, with the
planes beached for repairs only when they would
no longer fly. Meanwhile, the Navy's submarines
search for underwater targets, and are credited
with sinking several destroyers.

Land-based aircraft, fighting under unified
Navy command, often operate from bases cut out
of areas Wheeler picturesquely describes as
"mucky morass that looks like land God plowed ex-
perimentally and then wisely decided to throw
away. " '

It is a "blindman's bluff" sort of aerial
warfare, waged hour after hour in the pea- thick
soup. You fly clad in heavily-lined rubberized
parka and pants, high boots and thick wool un-
derwear. You sleep in tents and burrows and
pare living down to its lowest essentials. An
underground chamber is likely to serve as “HQ "
Canned sausage , canned corn beef , canned salmon
become the order of the day. You gulp down
steaming black coffee between flights. The pi-
lot calls the navigator "the key man up here;*
the navigator says a mile visibility "is all we
need." When crossing the dateline you argue
j about whether the bombs will be dropped today,

I tomorrow or yesterday.

Heading the Air Forces bomber command in
the Alaskan theatre is Colonel William O. Eareck-
son, who not only directs but leads bombing mis-
sions, and has served as co-pilot, squadron
leader, navigator and even gunner. An Alaskan
fighter unit of the Air Forces has all its
planes decorated with the sign of the "Flying
Tiger", and is commanded by Captain John S.
Chennault, son of Brigadier General Claire
Chennault. whose Flying Tigers of China have
made themselves well known to the enemy.

As General Kuter expresses it: The Japanese

are now between two Flying Tigers, "and both
of them clawing,"

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

HEADQUARTERS ARMY AIR FORCES
WASHINGTON, D. C.

^ VOL. 25 AUGUST -SEPTEMBER, 1942 NO. 6

r'"

If*

►

•4

FEATURES

AMERICAN FIREWORKS OVER EUROPE -- By T/Sgt. Robert Golay 3

"WE FOUGHT AT MIDWAY" -- By Capt . Charles E. Shelton 4

TAILOR MADE FOR COMBAT -- By Capt. Selby Calkins 8

WE SCOUR THE SEAS -- By Air Vice-Marshal G.B.S. Baker, RAF 10

HUNTING FOR ONE IN A MILLION --By Lieut. John M. Jenks 12

MIAMI BEACH GOES TO WAR 13

THE TRICYCLE LANDING GEAR -- By Capt. James A. Johnston 16

THE LUFTWAFFE TODAY 20

RED SENTRIES OF THE SKIES -- By Major N. Denisov .Russian Air Force .23
AIRDROMES IN WARTIME (PART 111) -- By Lt. Col. R.E. Smyser ... .27

FRIEND OR FOE? -- By Capt. F.W. Warlow 30

EXjYPT -- By Oliver H. Townsend 33

DEPARTMENTS

CROSS COUNTRY 1 CONTROL TOWER . . . . . .14

ROLL OF HOfOR 11 PRO PATRIA MORI 22

TECHNIQUE .... .24

Technical and Art Staff:

James T. Rawls, Director - Capt. Raymond Creekmore
Sergt. William T. Lent - Paul Reed

Photos from official Army Air Forces sources

s r

Hi66t Peute^ifiU Weapm

REAL AND POTENT WEAPON IS BEING CARRIED ABOARD OUR BOMBERS.
THIS WEAPON IS TEAMWORK- -THE PRECISION TEAMWORK FOR OUR
FLYING COMBAT CREWS.

PRECISION TEAMWORK COMES OF MEN KNOWING AND LIKING ONE
ANOTHER: OF TRAINING AND PRACTICING LONG ENOUGH TO KNOW EACH
OTHERS ABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS: OF FACING DEATH TOGETHER FOR
A COMMON CAUSE. ON THE GROUND. IT PRODUCES EASY FELLOWSHIP AND
A NEW KIND OF DISCIPLINE. IN THE AIR, IT IS THE MOST POWERFUL

force our enemies must face.

ALL MEN IN A BOMBER CREW MUST WORK TOGETHER AS PRECISELY AS

the parts of the internal mechanism of a fine watch, any error

BETWEEN PILOT AND NAVIGATOR ON A 2,000 MILE RUN OR THE SLIGHTEST
FLAW IN CO-ORDINATION BETWEEN BOMBARDIER AND PILOT IN THE SHORT
RUN ON THE TARGET CAN MEAN THE FAILURE OF A MISSION. IF THE
FLIGHT ENGINEER CANNOT KEEP THE COMPLICATED MECHANISM OF A
BOMBER IN ORDER DURING FLIGHT OR THE RADIO MAN DOESN'T KNOW
HIS JOB, WHY RISK THE SHIP ON A MISSION AT ALL? AND IF YOU WHO
MAN THE MACHINE GUNS IN COMBAT CANNOT COVER EVERY FOOT OF THE
SURROUNDING SKY WITH LEAD. DEATH STARES AT THE ENTIRE CREW.

PILOTS. BOMBARDIER. NAVIGATOR, FLIGHT ENGINEER. RADIO MAN

and gunners must stop functioning as individuals the minute

THEY STEP ABOARD THEIR BOMBER. THEY MUST BEGIN TO OPERATE AS
ONE. THAT IS WHY PRECISION TEAMWORK ISA VITAL PART OF EVERY
BOMBING OPERATION AND THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON ABOARD OUR BOMB-
ERS. SUCH PRECISION TEAMWORK PRODUCES PRECISION BOMBING.

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

TO A GOOD many
the term Kivi
(kee-wee) won't
mean a thing,
and we aren't
much concerned
about it. The
name Kiwi right-
ly belongs to a non-flying,
witch-like New Zealand bird
about hen size, and although it
popped up some 25 years ago as
the slang description of non-
flying Air Force personnel, we
are not sure it means all that
it did bock then in view of the
recognized importance today of
earthbound officers and men in
the Air Forces.

We are concerned at the
moment with the mechanical Kiwi,
or what we like to call the
Mekiwi, and which we will hove
no truck with and don't mind
saying so. In fact, we are
about to suggest on open season
on the flocks of Mekiwis now
roosting throughout the Air
Forces .

The Mekiwi, if you please,
is on airplane mechanically un-
fit to fly because someone
flunked his j<^ or became care-
less or failed to realize the
importance of maintenance in
aerial warfare.

If our useless Mekiwis
nested primarily in the combat
areas, we might be tempted to

dig up some excuses. But when
this country has three to four
times as many available planes
out of commission as have such
spots as Alaska. Hawaii and
Panama, we haven't much of an
argument .

To hunt down the Mekiwis and
keep more planes in the air.
Headquarters needs ammunition
in the form of ideas and sug-
gestions from the field, espe-
cially from officers and men
directly engaged in maintenance
and technical inspection work.

Mekiwi hunting demands,
first of all, a general buckling
down to work, but we do need to
hear more about the specific
boners that have come to your
attention. Send in suggestions
for a series of *do's" and
"don'ts". Shoot us ideas for
articles, cartoons and posters
that might help improve the
standard of maintenance.

Reports tell us the Mekiwis
are thriving on such earthworms
as these:

Bodily removing a generator
when a slight adjustment of
the voltage regulator would
have corrected the trouble.

Warming up a plane where loose
rocks or gravel can cause
serious injury to nearby
planes and crews.

Failing to ground the magneto
wire and thus preventing the
engine from being stopped.

Using improper cleansing
agents that ruin equipment or
endanger life and property.

Failing to make proper no-
tation on Form One when re-
moving a plane part, thus

prompting a crash after a
pilot has taken up the plane
in good faith.

Bolding up a IQO-hqur in-
spection for lack of such
simple “10-cent store” i terns
as washers and gaskets.

That merely scratches the
Surface of easily correct ible
boners that dqily ground our
planes and breed Mekiwis . How
about passing on information
concerning the maintenance
bottlenecks that are gumming
up the works? Jot down your
ideas and suggestions and send
them to Headquarters in care of
the Sews Letter. It will help
eliminate the Mekiwis.

ONE OF THE WILDEST con-
firmed war stories to come our
way features a British fighter
pilot who downed two Nazi planes
without firing a shot. His re-
port; "Owing to the position
of my Hurricane and that of
another machine of my squadron.
I crashed into a Do. 215 (Ger-
man) with my right wing. The
wings of both planes broke up.
■I then crashed into another
Do. 215 on my left with my
left wing. I then went into a
rocket (wingless) dive." While
the Nazi planes were crashing to
earth, the Hurricane plunged
down out of control. The
English pilot landed safely by
parachute, his only injury a
sprained ankle .

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

AUGUST -SEPTEMBER, 1942

DICTIONARY of British
slang: “Mickey Mouse, ” bomb

dropping mechanism; "brolly,"
parachute; "bus driver,” bomb-
er pilot; "dust bin,” rear
gunner's position; "George,"
automatic pilot; "balbo,”
large formation of aircraft ;
"completely cheesed," no hope
at all; “collect a gong," get
a medal; "crabbing along,”
flying near the ground or wa-
ter; and "Kipper Kite," coas-
tal command aircraft used to
convoy fishing fleets in the
North and Irish seas.

COMBAT NOTES: If a ra-
ther important that pilots know
the voice of their flight dir-
ector. The Japs are old hands
at radio deception. At Midway
the Japs were talking a lot of
English on frequencies used by
American planes Anti-air-
craft fire directed at one plane
has been known to pass right
through and hit the following
aircraft. In strafing of any
kind, it is important not to
follow exactly in the path of

the ship ahead Jop Zeros

are believed to be landing on
carrier decks without the use of
hooks Last minute checks be-
fore combat on such items as
guns charged, carburet ion and
proper engine RFW are very es-
sential. A check-off sheet
mounted on the instrument board

has been recommended Full or

partial deflection shots are ac-
counting for the great percent-
age of planes downed in fighter
combat .

AN informant from the South-
west Pacific Area warns against
running for shelter when the
bombs begin to fall on an air-
drome. Lie flat on your face
behind small protection s\x:h as
sand bags or in shelter trenches
says he, and your chances of
getting nicked are less likely.
Take this advice, we are told,
and you will be surprised how
close a bomb can hit without
doing you wrong.

enlisted ranks have given us
cause for smiles. The one, at
a southern comp, nervously asked
the Sarge what that AUS meant
after his name, and was told it
stood for Army of the United
States. "Whew, " mumbled the re-
cruit, *I thought it meant
flJSTRALIA. •* The other, re-
portedly at Keesler Field, and
nervous for another reason,
walked into a post building,
hesitantly peered about, and
asked a nearby Corporal if there
happened to be a men's room
around. The Corporal pointed
toward the door marked “En-
listed Men." The recruit sor-
rowfully shook his head and
said: "I can't go there; I was

drafted "

WE PICKED this one up at
least fifth hand, but an Avia-
tion Cadet at some field or
other, after being transferred
to another field for advanced
training , is said to have
written his former tactical
officer in this fashion:

"At last, after weeks of
silent suffering, I am now far
from the range of your juris-
diction and as far as I am
concerned you and all of your
staff can take a jump in the
lake. "

Not long after, so the story
goes, the Cadet got this
reply: "All information as

to troop movements must be
submitted on Form 245B.”

A teletype report pass-
ing over our desk was cause
for a second glance. It read:
TWO LINK TRAINERS DEPARTED
THIS STATION DATE ETA
281600Z END. Just when we
thought the faithful Link had
finally soloed, we learned
that the message referred to
Link trainer operators.

YOU PROBABLY DON’T know
too much about the Swiss Air
Force. Neither did we, until
we ran across such incidental
information as this: The Swiss

Air Force was originally a
branch of the Army but was made
independent in 1936. Since
September, 1939, it has been in
a state of partial mc^ilization.
Under the Swiss militia sys-
tem, each young male citizen,
unless he pays a special mili-
tary tax, enters the armed
forces. After serving as a pri-
vate soldier for six months,
he may volunteer for flying
duty. If so, he enters a fly-
ing school, progressing to ad-
vanced training. Active duty
can come only in the event of
mobilization. The Swiss Air
Force is organized solely for
defense, has no bomber command.
Flying personnel are reported
extremely proficient. Equip-
ment is either German Me 109s
or French Morane 405/6s, both
manufactured under license in
Switzerland, Swiss pilots are
said to prefer the French ships.

•sf'

-■i

‘P

A memorandum calling our
attention to Army Regulations
on the conservation of val-
uable material , including a
reminder against the use of
duplicate paper clips, didn’ t
carry the punch it might
have, inasmuch as the memo was
weighted down with two shiny
paper clips. 1 / / /

V —

WE CAN’T PROVE i t , bu t
the report comes from the Mid-
land (Tex.) bombardier school ’*
that more practice bombs are
dropped every day on Texas ^
prairies than the daily aver- ,
age of real bombs dropped by
the Germans in the September , ^

1940, Battle of London.

American Fireworks Over Europe

A nd there we were, upside down at ten feet
dropping our bomb", and so goes the old line
without which any aerial gunner would feel as
naked as though he were without his clothes, but
back of those lines lies a story that entitles
most winged warriors to tell their own stories
in their own way.

Through the events' of the past four months
it has been my good fortune to become an aerial
gunner, and through consequent events, to be a
member of the first American codbat crew to drop
bombs on occupied Europe. Because of these
events. I have been requested to set down on pa-
per as nearly as possible the trend of events
that reached their climax with the Fourth of
July raid on Holland.

I entered the Army Air Corps in June of
1940, at Chanute Field, Rantoul, Illinois. I
had been a newspaperman on the Fredonia (Kansas)
Herald and someday after the war I hope to be a
newspaperman again. It wasn't long before I be-
gan to move about, leaving Chanute a month later
to attend the Aircraft Armorers school at Lowry
Field, Colorado.

Training Was Valuable

Later, that training which I received at
Lowry was to be one of the most valuable pieces
of time which I have ever spent. However, at
the time it was a lot of hard work figuring out
how so many little gadgets put together in one
’’shell" could cause twelve hundred rounds a min-
ute to come out the muzzle.

After graduating from Lowry Tech., my jour-
neys really began, and from that time, October
25, 1940, until J^ril 29, 1942. I was stationed
at eight different stations for varying periods
of time--Brooks Field, Kelly Field, Goodfellow
Field, Sherman-Dennison Air Base, all in Texas;
Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma City. Oklahoma;
Hunter Field, Savannah, Georgia; Lawson Field.
Fort Benning Georgia, and Fort Dix, New Jersey.

In all this time, I was on and off combat
status rather spasmodically, but even at that
time, I hod definitely made up my mind, that one
way or another, should I ever get into the com-
bat zone, I'd either become a gunner or some
other part of a combat team.

After landing in England, which was pre-
ceeded by a boat ride that was by no means un-
eventful. things began to move rapidly and
things happened fast. Early in June of this
year orders came through from the commanding of-

ficer that eighteen men would proceed immediate-
ly from our base to one occupied by British per-
sonnel for the purpose of a short but intensive
period of instructions as aerial gunners.

The training which we received from the
R.A.F. instructors at this base, has and will
continue to be. one of the guiding factors in my
present and future operational flights. Too
much cannot be said about the tireless way in
which these boys, none of them over 25. unfolded
for our observation and discussion stories which
theretofore they had never discussed even among
themselves. Stories of actual experiences by
men from Malta; of sweeps ogainst the Norwegian
coast; of low-altitude attacks against shipping
in the channel and the North Sea. It was from
these men that we learned what to expect from
“Jerry". Through mistakes that had cost the
R.A.F. lives, we profited.

We were gr.eatly pleased to find that the
particular British squadron, with whom we were
to coordinate our efforts, was flying ’’Bostons",
the British version of the Douglas A-20. But
suddenly we discovered that we were a long way
from being ready to go on ’’Ops", the British
term for operational missions. There was the
job of each crew getting to know each other, to
learn the little pecularities , which tend to
make one individual different from another; the
radio men had to learn the English procedure,
and in general we all had a lot to learn.

Met Sgt, Cunningham

It was at this point of progress in events
that I first got to really know Sgt. Bennie B.
Cunningham. Bennie is a quiet-spoken lad from
Tupelo, Mississippi, who says very little, but
always does his job plus just a little more.
Beanie and I were crewed up with Captain Charles
C. Kegelman. ’ who was commanding this particular
operational group.

It had been my good fortune to know the cap-
tain for some time before we come overseas, and
having seen several demonstrations of his fly-
ing. I knew he was tops when it came to being
skipper of a plane, either in the air or on the
ground. Believe me. it means a lot to have a
C.O. like that.

The observer was Lt . Randall Dorton, Jr.,
who, in the captain's absence was more or less
mother to his little brood, and continually kept
after Bennie and myself to keep training, rain
(Continued on Page 35)

S TAFF Sgt, John J. Gogoj
of Bellrose. N.Y. , was the
top gunner in one of the Air
Forces* B-26 torpedo planes
that put their tin fish into a
Japanese aircraft carrier during
the Battle of Midway. His pi-
lot, Lt . James Muri, of River-
side, Calif., was guiding his
plane to the scene of battle
several hundred miles from Mid-
way. When the B-26 was about
25 miles from the Jap task
force, which included at least
four carriers, Sgt. Gogoj *s
story began.

"We were sailing along,
headed right for the Japs' ships
out ahead of us. Me, and my
guns were pointing forward, out
over the pilot's cabin, ready
for any trouble from in front
of us. That's where the Japs
were, and that's where I ex-
pected trouble from, "Gogoj
said .

“Then I heard Ashley, --
that's Earl Ashley, a pfc, he's
from Williamstown, South Caro-
lina, --start shooting his gun
in the tail. I swung around,
and there about 500 feet away
was a Jap pursuit plane right
on our tail. It was one of
those Zeros.

"He was shooting right into
us, I could see the flame com-
ing out of his wing guns and
that cannon was lit up plenty,
too. All I know is that I
swung my guns on him and
squeezed the trigger , --then
hell started popping.

“He hit my left gun with
one pf those coiuion shells. My
turret cover was all busted.
Pieces of it hit me. Pieces
of it cut my scalp, " he said
pointing to a half dozen cuts
on his scalp. "I put my hand
up to my head. Then I felt
something kind of sticking to
my right temple. It was sticky
and wet. I tried to brush it
off, but I couldn't get it
loose. It was under the skin.
I picked at it like this," he
indicated, making a tweezer-
action with his thumb and fin-
ger. "It was a bullet that had
gone in under the skin. I got
ahold of it and pulled it out .

"Then I went down below
into the plane and took some
sulfanilimide and started to
bandage my head. I had the
bandage all ready and just
ready to put over the cuts when
a bullet hit my hand here,"—
and Gogoj pointed to a scarred
nick on his left middle fin-
ger, --"and bounced off, I guess,
and hit me here over the left
eye. Boy I tell you that made
me mad. I was sure bloody then.
You might say that after that
I was immune to pain, but I
sure looked bad with blood all
over my face and coveralls.

"Then I went back up to my
guns. The right one was still
working. And it was a good
thing because another Zero was
on us. He wasn't actually
shooting at us. but was up cdjove
us about a thousand yards. I
could see that he was trying
to get just a little more alti-
tude so that he co\ild zoom down
on us. I figured he was ready
to drop on us. so I opened up
with the right gun. I pulled
the trigger.

"Tracers went up into him
right around the pilot's com-
partment. I think I got him
all right because he just plain
disappeared .- -just left com-
pletely. I'd like to go back
to Midway to look at our plane.
You know we had more than 500

bullet holes in her. She isn't
much good now, but it was worth
it. putting that torpedo into
that carrier. It sure was
worth it . "

All members of the B-26 crew
were awarded the Distinguished
Service Cross for their per-
f ormance .

“We got in 54 hours of fly-
ing time in four days," said
Capt . Charles E. Gregory, of
Houston. Texas, after his re-
turn from piloting a B-17 in
the Midway battle. “At one
time we were as close to Yoko-
hama as we were to Honolulu.
But not as close to Yokohama
as we'd like to be."

Copt. Gregory and his crew
scored definite hits on a Jap
battleship and a carrier. Dur-
ing the height of battle Sgt.
Bernard Carroll, of Tom's River,
New Jersey, upp>er turret gunner,
calmly spoke to Capt. Gregory
over the inter-phone. Said
Sgt. Carroll: “Some Zero's

right behind us. Sir. If you'll
slow down a little bit, Lomax
and I'll get 'em." Cpl. Melvin
Lomax, of Wichita. Kansas, was
the rear gunner.

Sergeant George Scherba, a
Pittsburgh boy who htis three
brothers in the service, tells
what a belly-gunner in a B-17
went through off Midway.

"After weeks of 'special

.4L\

x‘

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

eltou, Hlckam Field

alerts' we were given orders,"
Scherba said. "Take-off was
scheduled. No one seemed to
know where we were going- -lots
of rumors about Australia.
Once in the air, we found out
where we were going and why.
As we were flying along I spent
most of my time jumping in and
Out of my lower ball turret.
I practiced tracking diligently
because something told me I
was going to use it. I thought
the world of that turret before
we left and before we got back
I was 'nuts' about it.

"Just as the sun was on the
horizon, I heard someone say
over the inter-phone, 'There
they are, boys!' I swung my
turret to the front and saw
clouds of smoke coming up from
burning ships down ahead of
us. It was a good sight because
I knew someone had done a f ine
job. We were at least 10 to
15 miles away when I saw the

first bursts of anti-aircraft
dot the sky.

"I saw the shropotel spatter
all over the ocean," Sgt.
Scherba continued. "They kept
firing like this while we got
the Sun behind our backs for
our bombing run. As we got
closer every boat seemed to be

opening up on our planes. We
were so low that the Japs
couldn't get it through their
skulls to shorten their range.
It seemed all their shots were
bursting above us. A carrier
that was burning at the stern
was firing heavily from the
prow.

"A plane headed for it, but
before I could see what happened
I noticed a heavy cruiser im-
mediately below us. I opened
up on it. The guns started at
the stern and went over the
whole length of it, I was fir-
ing bursts of 6 to 10 rounds
at it steadily. The cruiser
seemed to suck the tracers right
into its deck. All the while
the Japs were shooting at us

Sketches by

Capt. Raymond
Creekmore
AAF Artist

and it was a funny feeling to
be looking down into their gun
barrels from my position.

"Then I heard 'Enemy Air-
craft' over the inter-phone.
Looking out I sow a Zero fighter
coming up about a thousand yards
away. The tail -gunner let him
come up to about 400 yards. I
opened up too. From the tall
stories c^out fanatical Japanese
pilots, I thought he would close
in fighting. Not this Jap.
Tracers were flying all around
him as he broke away. Just at
that point three groups of
tracers hit him. He started a
zigzagging glide towards the
sea with black smoke pouring
out of him. I did not see him
crash because I started looking
for other targets. All in all
I saw just three Zeros. When
we landed a tail -gunner from
another plane told us that he
saw our Zero f ighter crash in
the sea."

A hard luck story was told
by 2nd Lt . Bernard E. Anderson
of Fayette, Utah, a bombardier
on a B-17. Anderson's plane,
piloted by 1st Lt. Fred Wesche
of New Jersey and 2nd Lt. Arthur
, L. McMullen of Akron, 0., joined
a flight of 16 other planes
sent oyt from Midway in chase
of the fleeing Japanese navy.

“After searching for five
hours we finally sighted two
Japanese vessels which I think
were cruiser s ," Anderson re-
counted, "Three planes up in
front of our formation went
after the first ship below and
I don't think a single one of
their bombs missed, because
the vessel just buckled up in

(Continued on Page 37)

onE-mnn li

'^HE Army Air Forces’
^ newest safety device is
a seat cushion for sitting
down purposes that becomes
a one-man raft for life sav-
ing purposes.

The gadget was demon-
strated for Wright Field
officers recently by Lt.
David Alien, of Ft. Benning,
who leaped into Indian Lake,
Ohio, from 5000 feet and
paddled ashore.

At the right is Lt. Allen
poised for his jump. On
his back is his main para-
chute; in front is strapped
his emergency chute and
under the Allen rump is
the rubber life raft.

On arriving in the water
(picture 2) Lt. Allen dis-
engages himself from his
chutes, and turns the valve
of a small gas tank attached
to the raft, inflating it in-
stantly.

He then pulls himself
into the raft (picture 3) and
proceeds to bail out the
water shipped during the
boarding operation.

In the final photo, we see
the Lieutenant ready to go
places by means of paddles
strapped to his hands.

FE RRFT

Tailor-Made for Combat

By €aptain Selby Calkias

Wright Field

A torpedo- carrying B- 26 medium bomber

T he scene might be enacted in any one of a
dozen or so cities in the United States,
from the Mexican to the Canadian border, A
group of young workers, lunching within hearing
of a steady roar of aircraft engines, have the
day's newspaper on the table in front of them
and are discussing yesterday's successful attack
by American Air Forces over France or Germany or
Libya or some far outpost in the Pacific.

The discussion is less one of words than an
exchange of knowing smiles. Then:

"C'mon, you guys, lets get back to the shop
and do it some more," says one of them.

Maybe the combat "show" they have been read-
ing about was a torpedo attack by an Array plane
known heretofore as simply a medium bomber. Or
maybe they had been reading of the exceptional
Success of an already obsolescent-- from our
standpoint here at home- - f ighter plane which has
proved to be a pretty good ground strafer and
light bomber in the North African desert.

These lads are young but skilled. It is
likely that their supervisory heads are veterans
in aircraft construction and maintenance. Cer-
tainly they are every one of them artisans, for
they are employes of one of the U.S. Army Air
Forces Modification Centers, set up and operated
for the Materiel Command's Production Division.

General Wolfe Is Chief

The Materiel Command is the Army Air Forces'
agency for supplying our far-flung fighter com-
mands with the airplanes and the equipment needed
in this global war. And the Production Division

is its "shirt-sleeves" organization. From Brig-
adier General K.B. Wolfe, Chief of the Pro-
duction Division, down to the newest apprentice
to skin his knuckles on a cylinder stud in a
factory, the one objective is more airplanes,
more guns, more bombs --more sudden death for
the Axis. It takes rolled up shirt-sleeves, and
sweat and daring thinking, to do the job as
rapidly as it has to be done. That is the "why"
of the Modification Centers.

Does an idea for a telling blow against the
Japs form in the alert brain of General Doolittle?
He and General Wolfe go into a huddle. Some-
where in the United States a number of airplanes
start touching down on an airport and taxiing up
to huge shops, one by one. Engineers and proj-
ect officers armed with rolls of blueprints and
technical instructions filter in from Wright
Field, and another Modification Center project
is under way.

No telling what happens after that maybe

Tokyo will get bombed again. Maybe Jap aircraft
carriers will be sinking all over the Pacific
because the Nips didn't know that land based
bombers carried torpedoes. Or maybe ships that
the Luftwaffe “knew" had a range of only a few
hundred miles, suddenly strike at key industries
a thousand miles from the nearest Allied air
base. Let 'em guess!

Colonel Bryant L. Boatner, Chief of Special
Projects at Wright Field, passes over the spe-
cial projects of our Modification Centers with:
"We don't say much about past jobs--we might
want to do 'em again"! Then he boils down the

AUGUST -SEPTEMBER, 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

broad Modification Center program with a homely
comparison:

“Siq^Kwe you aKike kitchen stoves.** he says.
"Your factory is all tooled up for one model on
a mass production basis ond you're turning out
thousands of them. Then your salesmen tell you
that you've got to add another gadget or your
competitors are going to put you out of busi-
ness. Which is easiest --retooling your plant
or adding another little shop where the gadget
con be installed on the mass production stoves
before they meet their competition?**

“That's the basic function of all our Mod-
ification Centers- -we add. subtract and change
to meet and beat our competition- -the Axis. We
can take production airplanes and fit them for
Arctic or desert <^ration. increase their range

or build up their boad) loads sometimes fix

up little surprises for the yellow Aryans in
Asia and the poperhanger *s stooges in Europe.**
he explains .

Broadly, the purpose of the Modification
Centers (exclusive of special projects in the
“surprise** category) is to permit up-to-the-
minute developments to be incorporated in combat
aircraft without interrupting the flow of pro-
duction from factories. Of course when a number
of these changes merits inclusion in all pro-
duction airplanes, steps are taken to provide
tools and manufacturing methods for the change.
All preparations are made without interrupting
the flow of production. Then, when everything
is ready, the change in tooling and methods is
mode literally overnight- -and from that point
forward the uninterrupted production stream from
the factory is a stream of the more advanced
type airplanes .

Personnel Are Experts

Such procedures in one airplane does not
wipe out the affected Modificotion Center. On
the contrary, it continues to operate- -perhaps
with the some airplanes coming in for even never
installations --perhaps with another type, from
another manufacturer, getting the attention of
the experts assembled there.

The word "experts'* is used advisedly. Per-
sonnel of the Modification Centers are not be-
ginners. In the search for facilities which
could be used at the earliest possible moment
and used to the greatest advantage, the terminal
overhaul shops of the nation's airlines loomed
like beacons in the night. The Army Air Forces
knew that these airlines had for years been
training crews of skilled mechanics in the need
for speedy, yet perfect, overhaul and repair and
even major modification of their transports. An
organization which can take a work-weary pas-
senger transport and turn it out a few hours
later in factory-new condition, is an organiza-
tion which has been trained to perfection.

Thus it was that the airlines were approached

with a proposal that they operate these Mod-
ification Centers under contract with the Army
Air Forces. They voiced assent with the same
eagerness that gave our war effort their air-
planes and their pilots and their experience
in so many other phases of the war's demands
upon their industry.

Today the airlines operate exactly half our
Modification Centers. Others are operated by
manufacturers themselves, and a few by the Army
Air Forces at Air Depots. By and large, the
airlines hove carried the major load in volume
of modification work perform^ to date.

Geography A Factor

By design. Modification Centers operated by
airlines have geographical advantages. For
instance bombers manufactured on the Pacific
Coost m»H destined for ferrying to a c<»dbat zone
via a South Atlantic route, may be flown from
the factory to a Center in Texas. They arrive
there os plain “production jobs"--but they'll
leave ready for combat against the type of com-
petition they'll meet and equijqsed for the kind
of weather or terrain they'll find at their des-
tination. Too. there are Modification Centers
geographically close to North Atlantic jump-off
points, and in the Pacific Southwest and North-
west.

Do Intelligence reports advise us of con-
ditions in North Africa which our ships are en-
countering? There's a Modification Center in
Arizona, perhaps, where those conditions can be
exactly duplicated for test purposes. Would it
be wise to plan on operating certain types of
ships imder Arctic conditions? We con take care
of that too, knowing that when we send our ships
away to fight they'll do what they are intended
to do.

Finally, our Modification Centers serve us
in another woy. We know that Army engineers
here at Wright Field, or engineers in the air-
craft industry, can't foresee every condition of
combat in a global war. or every trick of a wily
enemy. But they can cancel those tricks out and
develop new ones.

Everyone knows that tite Japs found no tail
guns in the earliest “Flying Fortress'* bombers
they met over the Philippines. True, the Jap
guns downed but few of the big Boeings in flight.
But our pilots out there clamored for tail guns--
and got then. They were production jobs, for
there were no Modification Centers then. But
now such pleas would be answered from Modifica-
tion Centers in the interim before the produc-
tion change could be made.

The Modification Center organization is
expanding in size and scope. There's no inti-
mating whet surprises in the way of speedy alter-
ations “to meet the competition*' are in store
for the Axis.

C CMPARATIVELY little of the work of Coas- Catalina of the Royal Air Force broke cloud a
tal Command receives the limelight of publi- few hundred feet above her. Those on board the
city because of necessity what happens at sea is Bismarck had no illusions as to what her pres-
not everybody’s business, at least not until ence meant. Every A. A. gun and some of the main
long after it has ceased to be spot news. As a armament as well opened up: the aircraft was

result less is known of the duties of the air- hit, a shell fragment passing up between the two
craft of the Command than is the cose with other pilots: but the sighting report was made none

Commands of the Royal Air Force. It is not un- the less, and the lost contact was re-estab-

commonly thought tbat their role is defensive lished. The Schornhorst in 1940 ond the Lutzow
and that their main objective is the protection in 1941 both attempted to break out. But their
of the Coasts of the British Isles. freedom was' short lived, and they returned to

In point of fact nothing is further from the port for prolonged repair as the results of en-
truth. The Coastal pilot, passes over the Brit- counters with Coastal Aircraft,
ish coasts on his. outward mission to return. The fortunes of war ebb and flow, and at

hours later, to his aerodrome or anchorage. In times the dice are too heavily loaded. Later
the meanwhile he moy have been operating any- the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau broke out of
where on the coastline of Germany or German Oc- Brest in a dash to the German ports. They made

cupied territory from the North of Norway to the run at high speed under cover of bad weather

Gibraltar: or out deep in the Atlantic, 600 and relays of shore-based fighters concentrated

miles or more. over them throughout the passage in overwhelming

numbers. They effected their escape, not with-
First Duty out damage, in circumstances which clearly fa-

vored success.

The first duty of the Command is recon- Such actions are incidents which stand out

naissance, searching for the enemy on the sea, against a background of weeks and months of in-
under the sea ond in harbor; but the matter does tensive reconnaissance of the harbors and dock-
not end there, for, once he hos been located, yards in which the German Navy shelters, and
the enemy is attacked with all the means avail- which provides the necessary information on
able. The command is equipped not only with which to anticipate projected movements. In ad-
long range flying boats and reconnaissance air- dition patrols must be mointained to search for
craft but also with aircraft capable of bombing and locate convoys of merchant ships which pass
or dropping torpedoes, in addition to long up and down the North Seo Coastline. Shipping
range fighters. Many of the types used are of plays a substantial part in the German econ-
American origin--the Hudson, - which has done yeo- omy: it eases the overloaded and somewhat

man service throughout the war on medium range groaning German controlled railways: it carries

general reconnaissance and U-boat hunting, the supplies of food and ammunition to German troops
Catalina and the four-engined Liberator. abroad and it brings back from the occupied

What then are the problems with which Coas- countries spoils in the form of iron ore, farm
tal Command have to deal? There is a German produce, fish and other necessities for the Ger-
Navy, which is powerful enough to cause consid- man people ond their war effort. Bitter ex-
erable trouble if it gets out of control and perience has caused them to arm their ships
breaks out onto the crowded Atlantic trades heavily and to form them into convoys closely
routes. The escaf>e of the Gneisenau and Schorn- escorted by flok ships mounting A. A. guns and
horst in March 1941. resulting in the sinking of covered by shore-based fighters. Nevertheless
at least 19 merchant vessels, provides an ex- they are continually harassed and attacked by
ample of the damage which major naval units are day and night, at times not without losses, 'with
capable of inflicting. The Bismarck set out on the result that many a ship carrying a German
a similar voyage which ended less happily for cargo lies at the bottom of the North Sea.
her. After sinking H.M.S. Hood, she tried des- The convoys make their journey in stages,

perately to make a port in the Bay of Biscay in putting into harbors on their route. But even
a damaged condition. In the bad weather she had here, protected by shore defenses they ride un-
shaken off the following British fleet and her easily at anchor, alert for the drone of air-
chances of escape were favorable. And then a (Continued on Page 29)

st. Lieut. P.L. Moore

Maj . C.C, fCegelman

Capt. R.L, Morri

DI STIMGUISH ED SERVICE CROSS
MAJORS Conrad Necrason, Hervey H. Whitfield.
FIRST LIEUTENANTS Robert Taylor Hanson, Randall
Dorton. SERGEIANTS Bennie B. Cunningham, Robert
Golay .

DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS
MAJOR Charles C. Kegelman, CAPTAINS James J.

George E, Kiser, Robert L. Morrissey.
FIFiST LIEUTENANTS James B, Morehead, Herbert C.
Mayes (Post.), Pren L. Moore, James P. Muri
SECC^D LIEUTENANTS Richard R, Birnn (Post.),
Gerald J. Barnicale (Post.), William D. Harbis,’
Jr. (Post.), A.T. House, Jr., Russell H. Johnsen,
William W. Moore, Garrett H. McAllister (Post.),
John P. Schuman (Post.), Colin 0. Villenes,'
William S. Watson (Post.), Thomas N. Weems, Jr..’
Uonard H. Wittington (Post.). SERGEANTS Raymond
S. White, Salvatore Battaglia (Post.), Richard

C. Decker (Post.), John J. Gogoj , Jack D. Dunn,
Ernest M. Mohon, Albert E. Owen (Post.), James
Via (Post.). CORPCRALS John D, Joyce, Frank L.
Melo, Bernard C. Seitz (Post.). PRIVATES Earl

D. Ashley, Benjamin F. Huffstickler (Post.),
Roy W. Walters (Post.).

Lynch, Harold J. Martin, Lawrence R. Mesereau,
Andrew J. Reynolds, Jacob P. Sartz, Richard
Werner, Merle C. Woods, Claude Lee Dean. SER-
GEANTS William P. Bonner, William P. Campbell,
Durward W, Resmire, Henry J, McElderry. Glen
Beard, William E. Bostwick, Earnest E. Creach
Kullervo T. Aaltonen, Ralph B. Baldridge, William’
D. Bettis. Orville W. Kiger, James 0, Mink,
Robert A. Mocklin, Michael J, Novello. COR-
PORAL James L. Shannon. PRIVATES George W.
Motley, James W. McCabe, Ralph C. Riddle, Albert
A. Wagner, Francis J. Marvey.

PURPLE HEART

COLONEL Hilmer C. Nelson, CAPTAINS Carl M.
Sidenblad, John J. Webster. FIRST LIEUTENANTS
Cha rles C. Johnson, Harry J. Schreiber. SECCND
LIEUTENANTS Keith B. Brown, Eddie W. Hayman,
Wallace F. Pickard, Melville Pound, Kenneth T.
Taylor. WARRANT OFFICER Gottlieb J. Kaercher.
SERGEANTS William L. Bayham, Robert G. Eidem,
Charles A. Fay, Kraig L. Van Noy, Vernon c’.
Rider, Glover Burke, John M. Diehl, Arthur W

SILVER STAR

BRIG. GENERAL A.L. Sneed. COLONELS Caleb V.
Haynes, William D. Old, Robert L. Scott, Jr..
Birrell Walsh. MAJCRS Julian M. Joplin, Robert
D. Van Auken. CAPTAINS Dalene E. Bailey, N.H.
Blanton, Bert M. Carleton, Walter Coss, Fred
Eaton, Felix M. Hardison, W.J, Hennon, J.J.
Kruzel, Guilford R. Montgomery, Edward I. Pratt,
Jr., Wayne K. Richardson. FIRST LIEUTENANTS
Frank E. Adkins, Ben S. Brown, James A. Gibbs,
Donald J. Green, John H. Posten, Eugene A. Wahl,’
Varian K. White. SECCND LIEUTENANTS J.J. Boll,
Paul F. Conroy, Robert L. Hartzell, Thomas J.

Norgaard, John F, Dorondo, Milton J. Dunn,
Ethelbert E. Lovell, John J. Ostrum, Gerald l’.
Suprise, George J. Van Gieri, Theodore E. Wesala,
Lewis Coburn, Ira Pickingpaugh, David Runager.
CORPORALS Robert A. French, George C. Ames,
Robert Stewart. George Tillett, Bryson C. West,’
Ford Everett Dodd, Frederic W. Sprague, Merritt
Wimsett. PRIVATES Daniel A. Mahoney, Russel
C. Thompson.

SOLDI ER ’ S MEDAL

FIRST LIEUTENANT Edward O. Hubbard. SERGEANT
Samuel C. Dragone. PRIVATE Woodrow W. Ravenscraft.

Hunting for One in a Million

By Lieiii. •Jiihn M. Jenks

Headquarters, AAF

T he man in Colonel Leon B.

Lent's office set a dis-
tracted pigeon on the desk and
pointed to it triumphantly.

"Suicide pigeon squadrons) '*
he yelled. "Just think of it!
Thousands of birds--each with
a little bomb tied to its leg!
Then all we have to do is train
'em to fly into the propellers
of enemy airplanes! It'll win the war for us!''

Colonel Lent, who is used to this sort of
thing, ran fingers through his snowy hair and
explained gently that the idea just wouldn't work.
What he didn't explain was that the pigeon man
belonged to the lunatic fringe of visitors who
almost daily wander into his office at the Na-
tional Inventers Council in Washington--like the
man who proposed that battalions of skunks be
posted around airfields to guide night fliers in
by sense of smell,

"We get them all the time," says Colonel
Lent, "but each one is given a sympathetic hear-
ing and courteous treatment, because we never
know when the one idea in a million will come
along . "

Definitely not in the "big idea" class are
such screwball proposals as a bridge around the
world for the swift movement of troops and sup-
plies, or "death ray" devices that capture so
many addled imaginations.

A Plane That Never Stops

One " inventor " proposed a perpetual motion
airplane that would run forever by means of an
electrical motor hooked up to the prop which
would run generators, which in turn would supply
juice for the electrical motor, which in turn
would spin the prop, and so forth, ad nauseum.

Not all of Colonel Lent's visitors are crack-
pots, however. In fact, nearly five thousand
inventions submitted to the Council within the
past two years hove been considered sufficiently
meritorious to be referred for development to
Various branches of the Army, Navy and other
government agencies.

This is roughly 5% of the total of 90,000
inventions, suggestions, ideas and what-have-you
that the Council has reviewed since its organ-
ization in October of 1940. Of the acceptable
5%, about one quarter are in the field of mili-
tary aeronautics with the remainder divided among
Ordnance, Signal Corps, Engineers, Medical Corps
and other government departments connected with
the war effort.

After Colonel Lent and his staff of seven

highly trained engineering and technical experts
refer an invention or idea to the Army or Navy,
it is swallowed up in the mists of official se-
crecy, and the clamp-down is impenetrable. Even
the Colonel rarely knows what happens to them.
It is possible that many instruments, devices
and gadgets now used in our military aircraft had
their origin on Colonel Lent's desk.

Among the practicable proposals now going
through the appraisal mill are jet propulsion
devices of the "rocket" type to add power for
aircraft take-offs on short runways, and refuel-
ing equipment designed to increase the effective
range of fighter planes.

Other ideas and devices which have interested
the Army Air Forces include engines, construction
methods, de-icing equipment, flying instruments
of many types, lubricants for armament and other
things that must function properly at both high
and low temperatures, and photographic equipment.

“Most of the stuff that is being developed
at the present time is good," states Colonel
Lent. "So good, in fact, that we don't dare
speculate on the extent to which they may someday
affect our military proficiency.

"Unlike some other branches of the armed
service, most good inventions useful to the Air
Forces come from Air Forces personnel--so tell
the boys to keep up the good work."

Right after Pearl Harbor, the number of ideas
that funneled into the Council's offices in the
Dept, of Commerce building in Washington spiralled
astronomically .

From a daily overage of 200 before December 7,
1941. the volume of suggestions grew to more than
2500 a day, and the flow has only recently begun
to ebb. The quality of ideas submitted also im-
proved after the Jap stab in the back, indicating
the more serious members of our society, out-
raged at the sneaking attack, were thinking along
invent ive lines.

Civilian Thinkers

Unusual though it seems, some of our most
important military weapons and devices hove been
invented by civilians without military experi-
ence. The airplane, for example, was invented
by the Civilian Wright brothers, the submarine
by Civilian Simon Lake, and so on.

Were it not for the National Inventors Coun-
cil. the flood of inventions and ideas from civ-
ilians would have to be reviewed and passed upon

by officers of the Army and Navy a task

which would distract needed talent from its war-
time duties. Into this breach steps the Council,
(Continued on Page 29)

M iami Beach has gone to war. The Technical
Training Command has converted this luxu-
rious playground into a gigantic war factory
producing thousands of trained ground officers
and men for the Army Air Forces. The conversion
of Miami Beach's civilian facilities into a vital
part of the Army Air Forces war effort is as
spectacular and effective as any that private
industry has made.

The streets are still lined with ultra-modern
glass and steel hotels and the ghosts of night
clubs. The sea still pounds along the long
stretch of white sandy beach and the full moon
and tropical nights are still better than any
of the Tin Pan Alley songs written about them.
But the streets now resound to the tramp of G.I.
shoes and the cocky stanzas of the Air Corps
song roared by hundreds of sunburned marching
men. The empty night clubs are classrooms.
The hotels stripped of former furnishings are
barracks. The beaches and golf courses are full
of sweating soldiers getting whipped into shape
with drill and calisthenics. Few see the moon
except on weekends. Call to quarters sounds at
8 p.m. and taps at 10.

Every available scrap of space has been
pressed into use by the Technical Training Com-
mand. Much valuable time has been saved by
avoiding new cons t ruct ion . A large modernistic
department store is now a classification center.
Air conditioned theaters are used as lecture
halls in the mornings before the matinees begin.
Many night clubs are classrooms during the day
and blossom at their old trade after dark. The
former burlesque theater has been converted into
a USO clubhouse. Former brokers offices, stores,
ballrooms and hotel courtyards have all been
converted into classrooms.

Biggest of the three Technical Training Com-
mand installations at Miami Beach is the Replace-
ment Center commanded by Col. Mert Proctor.

Tens of thousands of Air Forces recruits flow
through the center for three weeks processing
and classif icat ion before assignment to perma-
nent posts. The Officers Candidate School or-
ganized by Col. James Stowell trains men to be
commissioned as administrative officers in the
Army Air Forces. It offers a three months course
based on a streamlined West Point curriculum
adapted to Air Forces needs.

Most interesting of the three installations
is the Officers Training School organized by
Lieut. Col. W.A. Roberts. Here officers com-
missioned from civilian life because of special
talents which can be utilized by the Air Forces
are put through six weeks training to whip them
into the physical and mental condition necessary
for the assumption of their responsibilities
as Air Forces officers.

To learn how to command soldiers, these men
commissioned directly from civilian life, are
soldiers themselves for six weeks. They are
organized into squadrons, stand guard, police
their quarters, act as orderlies and are trained
So that any man can take over command of his
squadron at any time.

Anybody who thinks assignment to Miami Beach
means lolling in the lap of luxury is due for a
shock .

Sweat and study is the theme of the new Miami
Beach . The war is close to the men at Miami
Beach. Patrol planes are constantly buzzing over-
head. Sentries patrol the beaches and the black-
out descends every night at dusk. Men of the early
OTS and CCS can remember the days when they saw
torpedoed tankers blazing hardly 10 miles from
their hotel barracks. From early morning until
dark the officers and men of Miami Beach are work-
ing hard at their task--to turn out trained
officers and men to match the flow of weapons from
our great industrial system.

Before you sink any base pay
in the purchase of a new win-
ter service coat, be sure your
tailor designs it according to
the new approved style. War
Dept, specifications now au-
thorize only one typ>e of coat--
basically the same as that worn
heretofore by other than Air
Corps officers. The approved
coat is provided with side
pleats in the back, has a fully
detachable cloth belt supported
at the side seams by removable
cloth belt loops, and the fourth
button will be bone or plastic
instead of ornamental. In the
enlisted men's department,
service coats will be worn
without the pleated bi-swing
back, to save wool.

KIT; --If Representative
Durham of N.C. has his way,
a Pharmacy Corps will be esto±>-
lished in the Army for the pur-
fH)se of eliminating an overlap
of authority among other med-
ical branches that reportedly
confuses the purchase and han-
dling of drugs and medicines.
It's not likely that you phar-
macists now on latrine duty
will learn much about this op-
portunity before late Fall, as
the proposed bill is now under
consideration by the Military
Affairs Committee of the House.
More proposed legislation, re-
quested of Secretary Stimson,
would remove the necessity of
obtaining a new oath of office
and acceptance of a commission

Misuse of military insignia
is currently plaguing offi-
cial circles, and all person-
nel returning to this country
from foreign stations or from
coodiat units preparing to go
overseas are warned to avoid
displaying squadron, group or
other identifying markers for
the benefit of press photog-
raphers--as well as for any
enemy agents who read news-
papers. And in connection with
insignia, note that “any person
wearing military insignia or
any colorable imitation there-
of without proper authority
shall.... be punished by a fine
not exceeding $250, or by im-
prisonment not exceeding six
months." Yes--this applies to
the, girl friend.

J/y you were in World War I,
be advised that the draft
registration cards you and
23,999,999 others signed 25
years ago have been transferred
from the War Dept, archives
to the Census Bureau, where

home, or drove the neighbors
wacky with trumpet toots,
they've made it a bit easier
tor you to turn your talent
into tunes for Uncle Sam. Lib-
eralized regulations regarding
eligibility of military person-
nel for attendance at the Army
Music School have recently been
announced, and they provide
that candidates must be at least
25 years of age and not more
than 44 years and eight months
at time of examination for ap-
pointmeit. In addition, three
months service in the armed
forces is required. Previously,
only non-commissioned applicants
with three years service as
Army bandsmen, plus other
qualif icat ions , were accepted.

from an officer each time he
is promoted. The thought be-
hind the suggestion is not to
make it easier for you career
boys to leap up the ladder,
but to save the War Dept, con-
siderable paper work.

time limit on railroad
tickets used on furlough has
been extended from 60 to 90
days, and now the boys are won-
dering when furloughs them-
selves will be extended to 90

days Officers who have

faced the danger of sleeping
on park benches in overcrowded
Washington will be happy to
learn that a Billeting office
has been set up in the War Dept,
to which they can apply in ad-
vance for hotel or residential
accommodations at the Nation’s

Qipital All members of the

armed forces will be granted
spjecial concessions in computing
their income taxes, under the
terms of the new war revenue
bill now before Congress. The
bill provides an additional
$250 personal exemption for

single men and $300 for married

they are available as a source
of evidence on age and place of
birth for persons lacking birth
certificates. Also, veterans
of the last conflict who served
overseas are now entitled to
wear a service ribbon attesting
to that fact. The ribbon has
a black center with a wavy red
and blue stripe at either end,
and may be purchased at most
PX's.

<^TYLE NOTE : - -G . I . footwear
will undergo structural
changes soon, but the appear-
ance of your clodhoppers is
not likely to be improved, nor
their weight lessened. In-
stead of the quarter pound of
crude rubber that now is used
in composition soles and heels,
about 10% of uncured tire scrap
will be used. Less bouncy,
but lots of badly needed rubber
will be saved.

Link Getm Tniigli

D own at the AAF Advanced Flying School at
Moore Field, Texas, they have fitted out
three Link Trainers with high-velocity B.B. ma-
chine guns, and the boys are shooting lead pel-
lets at moving targets that look like Heinkel
Ill's,

It's a brand new idea, developed by Lt . Col,
German P. Culver, as part of his plan to im-
prove students' gunnery before they are assigned
to outdoor ranges with . 30-calibre ammo. The
gadget works so well that the Gulf Coast Train-
ing Center has given its assistance, and all ad-
vanced flying schools in the southwest may be
equipped with the indoor gunnery ranges before
long.

Thirty-seven feet away from the gun-equipped
Trainers is a target range, where a small elec-
tric locomotive pulls the targets along a small
railway track. Traveling at nine feet per sec-
ond, the target moves at a speed which, to
scale, represents 120 miles per hour. This will
soon be steppied up to 140 miles per hour. Eighty
pounds of compressed air enable the students to
blast away with a muzzle velocity of about 300
feet per second .

First Photos of Hew Range

^HE novel compressor shown at top
furnishes 80 pounds of pressure for
the air gun mounted on the Link Trainer,
enabling the student to fire B.B.’s with
machine-gun rapidity. The tube on top
of the hood is where B.B.’s are inserted.
At left, Lt. Col. German P. Culver, in-
ventor of the device, is shown demon-
strating it. Note that the hood of his
trainer has been removed for “contact
flying”. At left below is a close-up of
the target, traveling a circuitous course
wliich the trainee must follow constantly
with his sights, as shown in the photo
below. The muslin drapes in the back-
ground collect pellets that miss, and
they are used over again.

Xhe Trieyele Landing Gear

Johnstoi4

T he tricycle landing gear is almost as old
as heavier- t han-air flying. On the first
man-carrying powered airplane, the under-
carriage consisted of a set of sled-runners,
wide enough and long enough to prevent the fly-
ing machine from tipping over in landing. This
contraption made it necessary to launch the
plane from a greased track; upon landing it
came to a stop as abruptly as a sled fresh out
of snow.

Airmen soon found that construction of launch-
ing tracks at every open field desired for land-
ings and take-offs was impractical. They added
light bicycle wheels. And in the first old
pusher type airplanes, it was natural that the
two main wheels should be located beneath and
behind the airplane motor on the lower wing,
with a third wheel up in front to support the
nose. Thus the tricycle gear came into exis-
tence .

Further experiments in flying, however, led to
tractor propellers and f ron t -mounted engines.
In such types, the two main wheels usually were
located by designers to follow the weight.
Pusher airplanes were seen less and less often,
until finally the type almost disappeared- -and
with the pusher went the tricycle gear.

Some Changes ifade

This condition existed during World War I,
through the boom era of tr ans-At Ian t ic hops and
on until about 1937. Then, with prospects of an
air war on the horizon, there were increasingly
loud whispers of 2,000 horsepower engines and of
400 - or - mo re- mi le per hour fighters. Drastic
changes in airplane design began to receive real
at tention.

Out at the Douglas aircraft plant in Santa
Monica, Calif., an old Dolphin began slapping

the runways with three wheels for an under-
carriage. The laughs continued when a steel
tricycle-gear frame cooked up by North American
Company’s engineers, the frame loaded to the li-
mit with sand bags, turned over during a test
one bright morning while being towed behind an
automobile. But the tricycle landing gear was
staging a come-back. It has since gone on the
Consolidated B-24 heavy bomber, the North Amer-
ican B-25 and Martin B-26 medium-bombers, and
the Douglas A-20 light bomber, the Bell P-39
and Lockheed P-38 pursuits, and the Douglas
DC-4 and DC-5 transports.

Among pilots, vague opinions about tricycle
landing gears still are prevalent. Praise,
fear and criticism vary with each group using
such equipment. It is the writer’s opinion that
few know exactly why the gear is on improvement,
or the best way to handle it.

It is particularly important to understand
that with the tricycle gear, and its compara-
tively short nose wheel arm and broad base of
support, the center of gravity is ahead of the
main wheels. In the conventional gear, having a
long tail arm and small tail wheel, the center
of gravity is behind the main wheels.

Let’s assume that we are in an airplane with
conventional gear and forced to land in a cross
wind. If we have not straightened out before
touching the runway, or a gust happens to have
hit the rudder while we are still taxiing fast,
or the pilot has over-corrected with motors or
brakes, we are almost certain to find the tail
swinging to one side. And since the airplane
will tend to exaggerate this tendency, if we
don’t correct promptly, we are going to have a
"ground loop."

Scientifically speaking, the danger is in the

AUGUST- SEPTEMBER. 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

center of gravity going outside the radius of
the turn and outside the 1 ine- of - inert ia move-
ment. When this occurs the airplane must be
"flown” every second to prevent a "ground loop'
or possible accident .

"Crab-Wise” Approach

It's different with a tricycle gear. You can
come in “crab-wise" for a landing right down to
the approach and even on to the runway until the
wheels touch. Your airplane actually will
straighten out and assume a runway heading equal
to the ground track being made good on the ap-
proach .

Provided the runway or landing surface is not
so slick that the wheels are unable to get trac-
tion, it is impossible to "ground loop” a tri-
cycle landing gear in the accepted sense of the
word. Tests have been made, locking one brake,
or gunning one motor. Under such abnormal con-
ditions the airplane either continued straight
ahead or changed course slightly and held that
new course. Continued application of a motor
will, of course, slowly swing the airplane
around in a long-radius turn, but normally the
tricycle gear will safely withstand abuse from
amateurish operation which would wreck a conven-
tional -geared airplane.

Blown tires are always a danger in aircraft
landings, but a tricycle gear will not ground
loop with a blown tire. When a tire blows at
the highest possible speed on the ground, the
airplane will change course not over 15 degrees
and will hold the new course.

Wet asphalt, grass and icy runways constitute
a very real danger to modern airplanes, and
those equipped with conventional gear often have
accidents in landing under such conditions.
With the tricycle gear, when one brake is ap-
plied as the wheels touch a very slippery run-
way, the airplane may change heading and some-
times will spin around, but it will not change
course off the runway--it will continue on the
path it was making good when the skid began.

Many pilots appear apprehensive of the nose
wheel of a tricycle gear, usually because they
have heard it is subject to failure without
warning. This is the worst misconception that
exists. Nose wheels will "take it" when treated
with normal caution, having respect for design
limitations. Most nose wheels have failed when
operated on muddy ground, soft sand or deep snow
or when a pilot attempts to taxi against a
turned wheel or a wheel having improper position
of the towing pin lock.

Most nose wheels "caster "--that is, they trail
from the pull of the strut in spite of the fact
that the nose wheel strut has a forward slant.
Muddy fields, sand, snow and high grass all tend
to eliminate the caster effect of the nose
wheel. When anything of this nature "builds up"

in front of the wheel to a point in line with
the strut, the castering effect is destroyed.
As a result, the accumulation becomes a pure re-
sistance, tending to twist the nose wheel side-
ways until it is crosswise to the taxi direc-
tion.

Here is a major cause of nose gear failures- -
pilots attempting to pick up speed in rough
going, or. in trying to pull out of the spot,
gunning the motors against a turned nose wheel
and snapping the strut. It is easy to see how,
unless excessively heavy braces are installed,
the retraction strut can "snap” under the pull
of 1,700 horsepower engines when the nose wheel
is turned sideways.

Operation Hints

A few hints on operation with tricycle gear
seem to be in order, so here goes:

When entering your airplane look at the nose
wheel --be sure it is straight.

Roll straight ahead for several feet before
beginning a turn and lay off the brakes and
motors as much as possible. Sudden brake appli-
cations jerk the nose wheel around.

In approaching intersec tions for turns, anti-
cipate the turn sooner than with conventional
gear. Put on the outside motor well before the
turn; hit the inside brake easily.

Always stop with the nose wheel straight.
This is best accomplished by rolling straight
into the stopping point and applying both brakes
equally .

Check the motors before coming to the end of
the runway prior to the take-off. After the
check, roll on to the end of the runway and be-
gin the turn at slow speed, using the outside
motor, with as little brake as possible. Keep
rolling and before completing the turn bring the
inside motor up to a speed equal to that of the
outside motor.

On take-offs , once on the proper heading, ease
the motors up to 1500-1 700 revolutions and hold
them there for three or four seconds , al lowing
the airplane to pick up speed-- this gives the
nose wheel a chance to begin "tracking” pro-
perly.

Most t r icyc 1 e - gear ed planes will not take
themselves off, so when elevator control is
gained at 60 or 70 miles an hour, ease the con-
trols back, letting the nose wheel lift off the
ground, and run on the main wheels until take-
off speed is gained. Don’ t trim the elevator
tab to the tail-heavy position for take-off; the
gain in speed and the retraction of the landing
gear after take-off would make a stall imminent .

In landing, set in with more than stalling
speed and land on the main wheels, nose wheel
off. After landing, hold the nose where it is
until a little speed is lost and then let the
(Continued on Page 38)

MECHS OF THE
AIR CORPS

■p OR every AAF man in the sky, at least
ten must remain on the ground, per-
forming the thousand and one tasks required
to “Keep ’Em Flying”.

The AAF has confidence in its mechan-
ics. It is betting millions of dollars worth
of equipment and thousands of lives that
they know what they're doing. In order to
make this a safe bet the AAF makes sure
its mechanics are the best. Only the cream
of the enlisted personnel of the Army can
be Air Forces mechanics --and then only
after months of intensive training. In
return for his services the Air Forces
pays the mechanic well --up to $150 per
month plus clothing, food and shelter.

The AAF mechs not only “Keep ’Em
Flying” in the United States--they follow
their planes right into the toughest combat
zones. Thelr’s is no soft life, but they
have the safisfaction of knowing that they’re
good, and that they’re doing one of the
biggest jobs in the Air Forces.

Constant care keeps ’em -humming.

A meehauic-armorer puts the stinp into n pursuit.

Oh! We are the lads of the
Air Corps

Nuts to you! Mud in your eye!

We’re the guys who made
’em fly,

The grease balls of the Air
Corps.

It takes a crew like me and
you

To keep the planes up in the
blue,

Grease balls keep rolling
the Army.

We’re the vital “Ten” and
something more,

You’re hot on the stick when
we make ’em tick,

But you’ll come home when
the weather gets thick.

To the mechs, the grease
balls of the Air Corps.

From the song "Mechs of the
Air Corps," by Robert Crawford k

irim

of a B«I7 are given last rainute pre«flight inspection

Thousands of screws m\i«t be inspected

Through Briiish Eyes

The Luftwaffe Today

Front View of " FW 190"

A n examination of Germany's present air
strength suggests that the Luftwaffe of 1942
is inferior, both in numbers and in quality, to
the Luftwaffe of 1941.

Such a statement may appear to be born of
optimism, yet the more the facts are probed the
more certain the condition appears. The flying
equipment of the Luftwaffe has been improved dur-
ing the past year, but the introduction of new
fighters and bombers cannot make good short-
comings in other fields.

Briefly the reasons for the present short-
comings are: (1) Loss of valuable leaders and

experienced pilots, (2) Less thorough training,
(3) A wider distribution enforced on the Luft-
waffe, (4) Heavy losses in Russia and over Malta,
(5) Curtailed production as the result of R.A.F.
bombing, and (6) A falling aircraft production
relative to Allied production.

The backbone of the Luftwaffe's flying per-
sonnel has been the several thousands of ex-
members of the Condor Legion who fought in Spain.
They were the first European airmen to gain ex-
perience of air tactics in modern war. Almost
all the well-known Commodores and Wing Commanders
of Jagdgeschwader Pursuit Groups and practically
all the fighter pilots with more than 70 vic-
tories to their credit, belonged to that crack
formation. The late Colonel Molders, the late
Majors Wick and Balthasar, the present Inspec-
tor of Fighters, Colonel Galland, and the Com-
modores of Pursuit Groups, Lieutenant Colonel
Lutzow, Majors Trautloft and Oseau, all belonged
to the Condor Legion. Most of the holders of
the Knight's Insignia of the Iron Cross flew in
the Spanish War.

Like the German Army, the Luftwaffe suffered
heavy losses during the Russian Winter offensive.
It has paid a heavy price for its raids on Malta,
and in meeting the daylight challenge of the
R.A.F. over France and the Low Countries. The
number of obituary notices in German papers an-
nouncing the death of Luftwaffe personnel who
fought in Spain rose sharply during the Winter
months. There were many fatal accidents, and
the Luftwaffe's fighting strength was drained
still more by transfers of experienced airmen to
training schools or to the staffs of Air Divi-
sions, Air Corps or Air Fleets, and other admin-

AUGUST- SEPTEMBER, 1942

istrative posts where their experience was con-
sidered of great importance. Moreover, several
Luftwaffe of f icers- - their number will remain un-
known until the end of this War--were drafted
to other services, and there is at least one in-
stance of a former pilot of the Condor Legion be-
coming a submarine commander.

Airmen trained since the outbreak of war
have been sent into action by the thousands.
Although many of them have shown courage and
skill as high as that of their older comrades,
they lack the long experience which the "Span-
iards " gained . Moreover, they are not as well
trained as the regular airmen or those who joined
a front-line unit during the first 18 months of
t he War .

Since the Battle of Britain, when the Luft-
waffe suffered its first severe losses, training
has had to be accelerated to match the output of
the British Commonwealth Joint Air Training Plan.

Before the War, German pupils averaged about
200 flying hours before they received their
wings, and underwent special operation instruc-
tion before going to a Staffel, an operational
squadron. Now, the average pupil obtains his
pilot's certificate after 100 hours, and most of
the operational training is gained on active
service. As the selection of candidates is now
less strict than before the War, the average
German pilot of today cannot be as efficient as
the overage airman of a year ago, and still less
than at the beginning of the war.

Equ i pmen t

Squadrons of the Luftwaffe fighting on the
principal fronts--in particular over the Channel
area--are equipped with better aeroplanes than
they had a year ago. The ME 109F1 and F2, and
the Focke-Wulf FW 190H single-seat fighters hove

Three-quarter View of FW 190"

better performances than the earlier ME 109E.
The ME HOC is being replaced by the ME 210, and
reports from Germany indicate that the Focke-
Wulf company is still experimenting with the FW
187 Zerstorer (Destroyer) . The Henschel HS 126
is no longer in quantity production and is being
replaced by the more efficient FW 189 twin-boom
type built for tactical reconnaissance and ground

AUGUST -SEPTEMBER. 1942

AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER

attack. Of the new bombers, only the Dornier
DO 217 multi-purpose bomber is yet in service.
Comparatively few of the queer - looking three-
seat Blohm and Voss BV 141, the four-motor HE 177
and the new Junkers JU 91 four-motor bombers
hove been in service so far. These typos are
only just coming into quantity production and few
are likely to be seen for some time--unless
there is truth in the report that German air-
craft factories in former Polish territory have
been building new types in large numbers for
some time

Perhaps the most important point of all is
the numerical strength of the Luftwaffe. The
Luftwaffe of 1942 is certainly inferior in num-
bers to the Luftwaffe at the outbreak of the
Russian campaign. At that time the operational
strength of the Luftwaffe was about 6,500 first-
line aeroplanes. This fell to about 4,000 ma-
chines by the end of 1941 and the first-line
operational strength can now hardly exceed 5,000.

This deficiency in numbers is not offset by
the higher quality of the equipment. More effi-
cient fighters and bombers can make good a defi-
ciency in numbers only when the opposing air
force cannot command aeroplanes of equal quality,
or when the force with superior quality can con-
centrate at a few vital points while the more
numerous force is widely scattered. Neither con-
dition applies to the Luftwaffe. Allied Air
Forces are using aeroplanes at least equal in
quality, and the Luftwaffe is now widely scat-
tered and unable to concentrate as it could in
the early days of the War.

Di s t r i bu t i on

At the start of the Russian campaign in
June, 1941, the bulk of the squadrons of the
Luftwaffe were stationed along the Eastern Front,
waiting for reinforcements, particularly in
fighters, from Marshal Sperrle's Luftflotte (Air
Fleet), which had had to guard the Western Front.
The units did not arrive before the middle of
July in the Southern and Central sectors of the
front .

Elsewhere there were only comparatively
small Luftwaffe contingents. General Geissler’s
Air Corps had been recalled from Sicily and had
gone East. North Africa held a bare 200 fighters,
reconnaissance machines, Stukas and bombers;
more were not required as the opposing British
forces did not receive reinforcements until some
months later. Practically all the Luftwaffe
units which had fought in the Balkans and over
Crete had been transferred to the Ukraine.

Probably fewer than 50 German first-line
aeroplanes were stationed in Greece and Crete,
and even the Italian air units which could be
spared for newly occupied countries were small
because of the heavy losses which Mussolini's
"White Eagles”, had suffered from the attacks of

the Royal Air Force in Africa.

Inside Germany, fighter--and in particular
night f ighter--protection was poor. General

Side View of " FW 190”

Kammhuber was busy forming his Night Fighter Di-
vision which was to be equipped with more suit-
able types. Until then, the chief German night
fighters were the elderly Arado AR 68 and Heinkel
HE 51 single-seat fighter biplanes, although a
few HE 113s and ME llOs were used. The new
Night Fighter Division was to be equipped with
ME 109s for interceptor work, with ME 110s for
pursuit, and with JU 88B night fighters for pur-
suit and intruder work.

The pauses in air operations during the
Winters of the first two years of the War were
not accidental. The Germans used them to over-
haul their war machine, to improve its organiza-
tion according to the lessons learned, to train
and re-equip the troops, and to prepare for com-
ing offensives. Something like a million and a
half men were sent to the factories in each of
the two first Winters of the War in order to
speed up production, but in the third Winter the
Russian offensive upset the Nazis’ plans and de-
manded the recall of thousands of German sol-
diers who had been sent home on industrial leave.
In consequence, armament production schedules
were not fulfilled, and still sterner measures
had to be enforced to raise factory outputs.
One of the new rules made absenteeism a crime
almost as great as treason.

Shortage of labor is Germany's most serious
problem--as it was in the last War. In an at-
tempt to overcome it, the Germans are employing
still more women in industry and still more for-
eigners .

Despite all the measures taken, aircraft
production from June, 1941, to the end of the
first quarter of 1942 fell far short of German
needs. Output increased by a bare 10 per cent,
and was attained only by extending existing
plants. Though higher than a year ago, produc-
tion is inadequate to meet the increased commit-
ments of the Luftwaffe and, judged side-by-side
with Allied production, shows a comparative de-
cline that may soon become catastrophic.

But it is too early to assume that the symp-
toms now visible are comparable with those that
marked the decline of German air power in the
last war .- -Reprinted from Aeroplane .

A iMurtial list of officers and men of the Army Air Forces officially reported
tdhave died in the service of their .country since December 7, li41.

Coiensia
Richard E. C^b

Matter Sergeanta
Fred Peoples

Lieutenant Colonel
Otto C|l

Fir at Sergeants
Herbert B. Martin

Edward Flanick

Technical Sergeanta

Majors

Rosa Thomas Hopkins
David P. Laubach
Mark K. Lewis.«^
Charles L. R'^iii^,
Jack S. Ms]^^'

Daniel A. Dyer, Jr
Monroe M. Clark

j.HiC. ■T8e|OTtob,;,;_..^

f]L^ j,’ ^11 j y*

Cl^iH^^' WcpherkM

Staff SergeiSnts

Cebrge K. Gannam
y I Felix Bonnie

William Charleil JOne
Edsnind B; Le-pper
Jasies L, Reed '
Edward R.' White

m^ie^i^i^tock,

H, Gearin"

^nald S. MacKay, Jr,
iy[.IM>es X , . Maddoe

Qirrett

Robert- 0 * .Corkery
l^rnon E. .^lidker.
Earl R.Sbve^M.

, ihrold W. ; 9 boiBaso

^^ohn ifc. Crut birds ‘ z*'
^orige'^,.'Howa^ ^
^Leuis Scdhleiier
Richard S. Livingstoc
.Donal V. ‘OtSpnatn
■'Theodore 'F^ '-Byrd, .. Jr*,

•*A&^w -Slaiw

#b'|iry MerriB'/t ' , C

' K^VSon H. ucxkiewicz
v^"*^or**s Pr Ice ■ I

• James I. Lewis-

Eugene L. Chambers

' .':- *» *«• v|!*»s,„ J ^

Dexter C. WoodsMijf’y
' Alan Thibido /
Charles £. HcNaty

^ Sec 00# Juis^egenSk

Wnb Jasws ,ns#a|ii • ' .-Donald Lawon Qtaae *'* Is

Turner Earnest, Savjgie Benjamin Harry Sharsain\

WeiMier C. Von Dor eke l« left H, Dewitt Kelley „ '
Roy^lhtrrel' CroVhers James Sherrill Carithers

John Fergu 8 oii''Stovenson Charles Allen Kinzle >; ;4
Jack Windham Pounds ' Richar.d'Rda'ard Baldslefb

' m ' je

Newton Henry Sinntaon RaymRn ‘ttajit ClSient -

A I J

David Allen Southard TVMSlIO^.JoClCSO^ Barber *

Wm. Walter Bennett, Jr>' Frjtnk Baskoll Pulley *
James Irven White > ■, Dana Rm* Bradford ■ ■

Angus Martin Johnston vRonald Charles HoCklbp:
James Wm. LaucK John Samuel FeiutoU

Robert Gay Kaspar „ Qkorge Hemiogsray Betuleisjb

Mario Lawrence Biava l^ank SavaiiMVMtliilli^f^fk-^T.

Duane Tripo Crosthwaite Glen' Roy Me't#^ 4 ^ jp.||

Lawler Clyde Neighbors Albert Lumen

'-^ 1 * ^ ^

Jay E. Pietzsch John S. Greene fl

Privates i

William M, Northway
^Donald D, Plant
i William H. Manley

Lawrence P. Lyons , Jr
Joseph Jedrysik
.» Theodore K. Joyner
Otto C. Klein
, Rex Nelson
*' I^slie V. Long

Robert R. McLennan
Robert L. Jennings
Carroll P. Foster
Lawton Jay Woodworth

;'iAtlaon<.E*’;. I^bbins

JRitselj U^^9etsiw
‘'HirBert-R.> lielM^lin
4worge G« ^Leslie
’‘‘Mdward N. Lusk
Jamgs R. Johnson
..Marion E. King
Earl Hood
'Hugh Rice;. Jr.

Emory G. Lasseter
iJeslie D. Meyers
’■■DarrieBP'’!. Edwards
Diri^ley B. Williams -

Red Sentries of the Skies

By Major I¥. Denisov

Russian Air Force

A ir patroling is a very important phase
of the combat duties of fighter planes. Pa-
trol fighters can safely cover their own ground
troops on the battle-field, on the march and in
bivouac. Properly executed patroling prevents
the enemy planes from reaching military objec-
tives. The following is based on the combat ex-
perience of our fighters:

During combat it is impossible to have
forces everywhere. The main mission of fighters
is to support the assault groups or echelons and
parties raiding enemy rear. It does not mean,
however, that other ground troops are without
protection; these latter simply hove less air
cover .

Combat plans for fighters must include a
careful study of meteorological conditions. A
cloudless sky simplifies our fighter problem but
also permits higher altitudes and greater maneu-
verability for the enemy. Clouds at overage al-
titudes require close coordination between pat-
rol ships. If it is very cloudy the methods de-
cided will depend on the altitude of the clouds;
if our patrols are improperly employed, the
enemy planes can approach under cover of the
clouds and. breaking through them, make sudden
attacks. Conditions of visibility, light and
other meteorological factors, studied before
hand by the commander, frequently permit the
fighters to gain a tactical advantage over the
enemy: and also permits anticipating the attack,
nullifying the element of surprise.

Very important is the schedule of flights
based on consumption of fuel. For clarity. I
shall cite an example. A squadron under command
of Captain Potanin was covering our ground
troops attacking an important objective. The
captain organized his command on a two-altitude
and two-relief plan. The schedule called for
half of the planes to be in the air while the
other half was refueling. When the fight started
the beautiful schedule become practically a
worthless piece of paper. What happened was
that most of the unit was over the ground troops
at the same time so that when refueling was nec-
essary the ground troops were left undefended.

During the critique of the battle it was
learned that all the pilots operated their
planes at maximum speed all the time. Naturally
the schedule, which was based on average speeds,
was worthless. Although the number of take-offs
was more than the schedule called for, at times
most of the planes were in the air and at other
times the ground troops were without protection.

This occurred because the personnel of this
squadron was accustomed to fly at maximum speed
forgetting cd>out the flight time and the effect
on the mission. Maximum speed, which consumes
the most fuel, is applied to overtake the enemy,
for acrobatics and the air fight itself. Using
maximum speed in any other cose causes the pilot
to remain in the air a shorter time and burns up
considercd)le fuel unnecessarily.

In one case, one or two flights can be in
the air at the same time to cover a very limited
areo at all altitudes; in another case patrols
may be disposed in groups echeloned in altitude.
A combination of these two methods may be used.
One cannot prescribe one method for all cases.,

The Germans hove tried different methods in
attacking our troops. Sometimes they concen-
trate their attack in one place and, echeloning
their flights of four to six planes on a time
basis, try to bomb our troops. Sometimes they
use the so-called tactics of nuisance bombing--
their bombers, mostly singly, periodically fly
over our troops dropping bombs promiscuously.
It is evident recently that, fearing losses, the
Germans have applied the principle of force in
their attacks. For example, in several sectors
of the Southwestern Front recently it was no-
ticed that the bombers were accompanied by a
considerable number of fighters. Such mixed
groups of 25 to 30 planes were mode iq> of Junkers
and Messerschfflitts.

One of Our squadrons had six Laggs cruising
over the front line. The upper flight was fly-
ing in a 5 - 6 point cloud density and the other
under the clouds at a 1,200 meter altitude.
There appeared four Junkers-87's. flying in
pairs, at a distance of 1% kilometers and just
under the clouds.

Thd first attack was made by our lower
flight on the leading pair of Junkers. One of
them caught on fire and plunged to the earth;
the other, expending his ammunition, disappeared
into the clouds. The second pair came on and,
not changing their course, went into the clouds.
The lower flight commander, knowing that the
other flight was above, kept his altitude and
continued observation. The succeeding events
proved the correctness of his actions.

Emerging from the clouds a Junkers plane
from the first pair headed for his own lines but
was observed by our upper flight. Our leading
plane began pursuit and the remaining two Laggs
continued to patrol. (Continued on Page 38)

FROM THE BLUE

T he P-47s are girding for action.

These big. tough packages of firepower, long
looked forward to as "the best fighter planes in
the world",