Evening star., 1942-02-28
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
American Army flyers and anti
aircraft gunners in the Southwest
Pacific have a 5-to-1 margin over
the japanese in point of losses in
ficted, Secretary of War Stimson
declared yesterday.
Summarizing the toll exacted from
the foe since Pearl Harbor, Stim-
son said in communique (No. l2D
that Army flyers and gunners had
shot down 245 enemy planes, while
but 48 American craft were lost in
air combat.
The total was raised to 410 by the
addition of 165 japanese planes
shot down by the American Volun-
teers serving with the Chinese. The
Volunteers lost only 81 aircraft of
their own.
The ratio was described as par
ticularly significant in view of the
overwhelming superiority of the
enemy in practically every en-
counter"
Ground Losses Excluded.
Excluded from the first compre-
hensive official report on the Army
flyers triumphs were losses of
planes on the ground. which the
communique said had been heavy on
both sides.
In hammering at the Japanese in
vasion fleets. the Army airmen have
probably sunk at least 19 Japanese
vessels, including the battleship
Haruna, and seriously damaged 81
others, Secretary Stimson said.
Gn addition, Secretary Knox
reported Wednesday that Navy
warships and warplanes in the
Pacific had sent SO japanese ships
to the bottom)
The text of Secretary Stimsons
statement follows:
From December 7, 1941. to date,
the American Army Air Force has
probably sunk at least 10 japanese
vessels and seriously damaged 81
others. 1t is particularly difficult to
confirm sinking of vessels by aerial
action, because the pilots and OBJ
servers are often at too great an al
titude or are flying at too great
speed to know in every instance the
results of the attack.
Heavy Loss Of Enemy Life.
"In presenting this summary the
War Department has included
among the vessels probably sunk
only those where the observed dam
age was so great as to leave little
doubt as to ultimate destruction.
Among those listed as seriously dam
aged are included only those on
which direct hits were scored. It
seems likely that some of the vessels
so listed were damaged so severely
that they might now be considered
as lost. In many cases, near misses
were reported during bombing at
tacks. Some of the resultant expO-
sions may have caused serious DAM
age to ships. However. no estimate
of the number of vessels so damaged
is included in this report. Many of
the enemy transports were sunk
before troops had an opportunity
to debark, so a heavy loss of life
may be presumed.
"In addition to the damage in
flicted on enemy shipping, our Army
Air Force and our anti-aircraft ar
tillery shot down a total of 245 jap
anese airplanes. In this total are
included only those where the de-
struction was officially confirmed
Many other airplanes were hit and
some of them were last observed
smoking and rapidly losing altitude.
1t seems probable, therefore, that
the total enemy losses in aircraft
were much greater than the figure
given.
Five-to-O Ratio.
"It is interesting to note that dur
ing the same period the total num-
ber of American Army planes shot
down by the Japanese was 48. Thus
the enemy losses of planes in the air
exceeded ours in the ratio of five to
one. This Is particularly significant
in view of the overwhelming numer-
ical superiority of the enemy in
practically every encounter. The
figures given do not include planes
destroyed on the ground. The losses
by such destruction were heavy on
both sides.
During this same period, the