Evening star., 1940-10-13

yourself flying at 1900 feet. Your target,
from that distance, is just small, shimmering
spot in the water. You check your instruments
and push over into your dive, picking up the
target through your telescope sight To the
top speed of your high-powered motor is
added the tremendous pull of gravity. You are
heading straight down for the ocean at 400
miles an hour.
You pile through cloud and wind levels
which shake your plane numerically, and the
ship bounces and bumps, trying to shake you
loose - but you are strapped in tight You
keep swallowing to neutralize the accelerating
pressure changes. Your ears crackle and pop.
The propeller and motor raise bowling din
that tears at your eardrums until your head
seems about to burst
In matter of seconds you are only $500
feet above your target - and still diving. You
snatch a hasty glance at your altimeter,
align your point of aim in the hairlines of the
telescope sight, release your bomb. Then, at
somewhere around a thousand feet, you start
your pull-out. Your physical reaction to this
abrupt breaking of the dive is like nothing
else in human experience Blood drains from
your head, and it seems as if all the forces of
nature were squeezing you. For a moment
you go into "blackout." and day turns to
night. You are weak and exhausted as your
vision returns - but then you look down and
see the wake of your bombs splash in the
center of the target, and you swap grins of
oongratulation with your rear seat gunner. A
perfect hit.
Pride Of the "HeN Divers"
1HAT is dive bombing, as the pilot knows
it, in modern plane designed and constructed
for the job. 1t was about 1890 that we got the
first of these: Curtiss Hell Divers" Rugged,
two-place biplanes. highly maneuverable,
rugged to carry their bombing cargoes under
the fuselage. they we're the pride of every
pilot lucky enough to be assigned to one, and
the progenitors of all the current dive-bo
ing planes.
The first ones were assigned to the aircraft
carriers Lexington and Saratoga, and the
development of bombing technique since
then has been largely carried out by aircraft
carrier units.
The squadron that l used to command,
while attached to the Lexington, was typical
Eighteen planes in all we operated in sections
of three planes each. Taking off from the
carrier. we would climb in loose formation
to rendezvous at 1900 feet or higher, where
the chances of observation from ground or sea
level are small, and planes are relatively safe
from antiaircaft batteries. Just before reach
ing the position from which we were to strike,
we would close the squadron into dive-bomb-
ing formation. A few moments of jockeying
for position, and then. as squadron COM
mander, would rock my wings - the signal
for attack. With the other two planes of my
section, one at either wing would peel off,
and start the laundering path downward.
Spacing their dives only few seconds apart,
the other sections would follow. At $500 feet,
or thereabouts, we would release our bombs
and start our pull-outs.
Split seconds are loaded with the import
of hours in dive like that. will never forget
one dive at sea off California last year. The
squadron was in formation, rocked my wings
to signal an attack, and pushed over, picking
up the target through my telescope sight.
My section mates roared down at my wings,
the other sections close behind 1t was COM