Evening star., 1942-09-13
u. ). Airmen Believe
Japan Lost Best Of
Her Pilots al Midway
Nippon's Prospective
Flyer Shortage Viewed
AS Big Factor in War
BY CLARK LEE.

by CLAhh LEE.
Associated Press War Correspondent.
WITH THE PACIFIC FLEET OFF
SOLOMON ISLAND, Aug. "a CDe-
layedD American naval aviators
who shot down AZ japanese planes in
the battle of the Solomons re-
ported today that the japanese
pilots definitely were less skillful
and experienced than those they had
met in previous air battles over the
Pacific.
MARINE pilots downed an ad-
ditional 81 Japs and anti-air-
craft fire accounted for "a more.)
Our aviators are convinced that
Japan is short of trained carrier
pilots and that she lost the cream
of her carrier flyers when four car
rlers were sunk at Midway. 1t is
belived that most of the japanese
naval pilots who participated In the
Pearl Harbor attack now have been
killed.
Enemy pilots today made mistake
after mistake which cost them their
lives. Their mistakes, plus our nu-
merlcal superiority in the air over
our own task force, accounted for
our sweeping victory. Furthermore,
our pilots now are becoming thor
oughly seasoned and trained in COM
bat
Not One Third as Good.
Here are some typical comments
of our fighter pilots:
Those fellows today weren't one
third as good as those at Midway"
This must be their second team" :"
These birds just pulled up in
front of your sights and fell away
flaming when you pulled the trig-
ger"
They definitely were inexperi-
enced in combat"
They were mighty shy of mixing
It,"
(Undersecretary of the Navy
Forrestal, just back from a visit
to the South Pacific area, said
he also knew of greater ineffi-
cheney of japanese pilots fighting
In that area)
Once more the sturdy construction
OF our planes paid dividends in saw
ing lives of pilots whose planes were
damaged by the japanese Zeros or
anti-aircraft fire Most japanese
planes burst into flames when
sprayed with bullets.
Light Opposition.
Our own attacking force, which
socked a Jap carrier, reported only
light opposition over the enemy
ships. There were few enemy fight
ers in the air and these lacked agS
gressiveness. They never pushed
home their attacks. A few bursts
from our gunners were enough to
frighten them away.
Only one of our attacking planes
was slightly damaged over Jap
carrier.
Our dive bomber pilots, who shot
down three enemy dive pombers
when they met them on opposite
courses after attacking respective
enemy ships, also reported thai the
japanese showed little inclination
to fight and unsuccessfully at
tempted to run away.
Didn't Attempt to Shoot.
The rear gunners on the enemy
dive bombers didn't even attempt
to shoot at our planes.
Our aviators are not drawing final
conclusions from the poor perform
ance of the Japanese pilots today.
But they are hopeful that most of
Japans best flyers already have
been lost and that opposition
henceforth will be weaker.
The pilots believe that Japan's
prospective shortage of pilots,
rather than her inability to produce
planes, may eventually be one of the
decisive factors of the war. Espe-
cially if our pilots are supplied with
new and superior airplanes which,
reports say, are being built or
planned in the United States.