Evening star., 1942-05-17
BY FRANCIS E. STAN,

NORFOLK OPERATING BASE,
Va, May 16-A few minutes before
6 o'clock pm. an automobile pulls
up at a hangar and four men in the
natty green uniforms of the Navy's
flying officers climb out. Seven
others, already on hand, stir rest
lessly, like football players warm
ing up before the kickoff. Soon
after there is roar of motors and,
skimming of the waters Of Hamp-
ton Roads big ply patrol bomber
wings toward the sea in the gather
ing dusk.
The guardian angels of the plod-
ding tankers, freighters, cargo ships
and survivors on bobbinG life RATS
are the Nays big patrol bombers.
Day and night they roam the skies,
like faithful old mammies tucking
to sleep at night and watching over
by day their fretful children-the
vulnerable lifeline" ships. Possibly
not until after the wars final shot
will the box score of their grim game
with Axis sea raiders be published
but whether the winged destroyers
are sinking subs or merely keeping
em down, they are doing a magnif1-
cent job.
Night Patrol Most Grueling.
OF all the Navy patrols using this
base, by far the most grueling is
the night patrol. The II men who
step briskly into their ply, or Con-
solidated Catalina" will emerge
hours later, stiffy, slowly. Their
eyes will be red and heavy with
fatigue and their lips tight. They
may have sunk a sub, or prevented
a torpedoing.
practically all of the flying by the
night patrols is by instruments,
explained 1t. COmdr. Jesse j. Un-
derhill, veteran of the sky lanes,
land it gets pretty hard on the
nerves. A year ago lot of the
youngsters who fly in the boats
now would not have been consid-
cred for long patrol duty until they
had more experience and training.
But we've got job to do out
there'-he waved a hand to indi-
cate the Atlantic-"and it's a big
one. Everything considered, these
boys are damned good"
There isn't much difference be-
tween a patrol bomber crew and a
good football team, except the flying
sailors are playing a game they
can't afford to lose. AS on the
gridiron, there is 'backfield." This
would be the four officers, all pilots
and commissioned, although there
are occasional exceptions when a
veteran chief petty officer can take
the controls. Two fly the ship, as
pilot and co-pilot. A third serves
as navigator, fourth as bombar-
dier.
Enlisted Mems Duties Many.
And as in football there are seven
others, more or less anonymous and
unsung. They correspond to line
men. These are the enlisted men,
each intrusted with a task so i'm
portant that one slip could undo
the efforts of the others. In rank
they range from seamen, first class,
to chief petty officers. Two are
radio men, two are machinists, an
other is an ordnance man and the
rest are lookouts. AS a group they
are capable of taking pictures,
manning machine guns. cooking,
dropping flares, replacing ammuni-
ton belts and ref1lling the bomb
bay, and recognizing various types
of ships below. Without them no
set of backs" could score.
Comdr. Underhill had asked:
Like to see some of these boys?"
In his upstairs Office Git wasn't his
patrol this time; night f1iers are
not used more often than once
every three evenings, he tipped a
switch and talked into his inter-
communications telephone. "Is the
crew of Flight 6 here yet?" he
asked. Not the officers" he
stressed, "the rest of the crew. Send
a couple up here"
Two minutes later two young mer.
in blue denim stood before the COM
mander. "Osmond, radioman, third
class, SIR" said the younger. "Kantz,
plane captain, sir" said the other. |
Plane captain? A Navy man would
understand. Willard Kantz, 26, isn't
the boss of a ply or a PBM. A
plane captain" means aviation
machinist.