Evening star., 1932-02-28


But / would not advise any pilot, re-
gardless of how good he is, to try that
until he has flown over the river at least
several times in clear weather and has
familiarized himself thoroughly not only
with the numerous sharp bends In the
stream, but also with the islands IN mid
river and the occasional mountain peaks
some of them from 800 to 1000 feet
high-that sometimes come almost down
to the rivers edge.
OFTEN the fog is 50 dense that even
pilots thoroughly familiar with every
popularity of the rivers course are
forced down. Many times found the
fog too much for me and had to come
down and take my chances with the
river pirates, of which there are thou
sands Wheneve~ / would land on the
river hundreds of then1-occaslonally 1t
seemed like thousanCS-would appear al
most instantly. They aren't serious
menace to planes; fortunately a plane
can taxi away from them faster than
they can maneuver their junkS and sam
pans, and if they start firing, as they
sometimes cid Il have a number OF holes
shot in the wings of my plane), it is al
ways possible to hedge hop away from
them. But let river steamer or barge
run aground, which happens almost
daily, due to the eyer-shifting silt, and
the bandits will make short work of it.
But the main point is that this ever
lasting fog over the river would cripple
the airplane carrier with its airplanes.
Should there come a clear day, or
should there be holec in the fog, and the
Japanese should send out squadrons of
their best and fastest fighting ships in
an attempt to bring down the Chinese
pilots lowering overhead ready to bomb
Japan's feet, the chances are that the
fog would have blanketed the mother
ship again within an hour and that the
japanese airplanes and pilots would be
captured.
Even should it remain clear all day,
there is no guaranty that the Japanese
planes would find single Chinese ship
in the air. And after they had cruised
around and dropped a few bombs, and
their gas supply had run low, they would
find it almost impossible to land on their
mother ship. For which the Chinese
again can thank the Yangtze River-that
and the prevailing winds at this time of
the year. For the Yangtze flows east and
west, and every day from now until May
there is a constant north wind blowing
over the valley. A plane must land into
the wind, but unless that wind is fairly
strong, the landing deck of the mother
ship isn't long enough. The carrier must
give the plane some help by Steaming
directly against the wind, which has the
effect of producing a longer landing
space. But the Yangtze is too narrow
for the carrier to sail across stream, and
nine days out of ten the wind isn't strong
enough for planes to land without any
help from the mother ship. Yet-still
more fortunate for the ChineSe-the
wind is too strong for cross wind land
ings.
But if the day should happen to be
clear of ground fog, why couldn't the
japanese send out their seaplanes and
amphibians, which could land on the
water and be hoiSted aboard their mother
ships? They could. But if Gen. Chang
cracked them all up in the last year, the
Central Chinese government has at least
IS Wasp-powered Vought Corsair pursuit
fighters that are armed to the teeth.
These are lighter and faster than
Japan's heavy, slow seaplanes and am
phibians, and, with capable handling,
should be able to force the Japanese
ships out of the sky And don't forget
that whether or not there is a ground
fog the heavy cumulus clouds that range
from 5000 to 5000 feet are always there.
and would offer an effective screen for
the vought Corsairs. After they had
forced the Jananese seanlanes down