The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-09-03
gte Gaesma Gfmes'
:
. PLIGHT

S~s
Airplsns Now Potent
And Decides Conflicts
ny FREDERICK MOORE
(sabhing for Ray Tucker)
WASHINGTON-The launch
ing of the battleship Iowa. the
heaviest naval vessel ever built,
d . distinct anuclimsx- Though
several months viii be required
% complete the monster. 1t In
already out Of date. The air
eraft carrier and the supersub-
marine are the warships Of to-
day.
The floating fortress In
relic q an era that passed
abruptly with the sinking of the
Prince Of Wales and the Repulse
OF Singapore on December sth-
With the destruction Of the
former, the largest and newest
dreadnought Of the British navy,
IN the first high seas engage
ment with the japanese. appro-
priations under consideration In
cur Congress for similar giants
q the waves were Immediately
stopped - by request Of the
Navy Department,
The long debated controversy
over the value OF the capital
ship was abruptly resolved. The
sirplane triumphed: its advo-
Gates were INDICATED, and the
s'old admirals" bowed in defeat
We have five more such man.
moth men-of-war under con-
struction. but by the time they
are finished We shall probably
be In real need Of scrap iron.
The naval battle Of today be-
gins with an effort 10 deprive
the adversary Of sight. Scout
planes being the eyes Of \ fleet.
the loss Of them means what
binding blows would mean to q
pugilist In the ring. certainty Of
being Knocked out. The bomb
ing Of the two great British
ships was due to their going into
battle without an aircraft UNI
brella - despite all previous ex-
perience.
The Japanese more fully eval-
uated. apparently. before we or
the English did. the high import
ancs Of the observation. the
bomber and the torpedo plane.
Their initial objsctives at Pearl
Harbor and in the Philippines
were our airdromes and the lines
Of machines standing In rows
along our runways. They took
. toll Of hundreds that opening
day Of the war. But we had
the industrial capacity TO re-
place the Losses quickly. and we
took the lesson with alacrity.
Our succession of marine de-
feats at their hands came to
NJ end in the Strait Of Aacas-
sar battle. Since then we have
held the japanese no longer in
contempt. After recognizing
that they were excellent sail
ors and flyers. we met them with
sufficient force and caution.
And, attacking their eyes first.
We have by now half-blinded
their navy. A good fiftey per
cent Of their carrier force has
been sunk
The war and navy depart
ments are gratified with re-
ports Of continuing successes
by our flyers on three far-sep-
arated theaters. From Asia,
Egypt and the islands north of
Australia comes news Of the
general superiority of our men
and machines in the air. Quail
itative supremacy over the jap
anese il now well established
Since the arrival Of our Sky
Dragons in China, enemy bomb
ting Of Chungking has prac-
tically ceased. and for the first
time in the five years of the
Oriental conflict the Japs have
had . good taste OF their own
hitter pills" An official naval
communique on the renewed
Solomons battle said, The per-
Torrance Of our fighter aircraft
based on Guadalcanai has been
outstanding" Thirteen TO one
was the score in q single en-
gagement- And our A. A. +.
Is giving the hard-pressed
r. A. r. effective assistance
along Rpmmers desert line Of
supplies
The problem IL now one Of
numberx- How soon can we
get enough planes from our fac
tories across the seas to those
fronts-and at the same time
70 the British Isles and Russia !,
incidentally, the term Sky
Dragon comes from the famous
Chinese legend Of the Cloud De
mon. which every native artist
has aspired TO depict IN dreadful
ferocity-
From all the IS states come
complaints that I'VE are kept
IN the dark" and resentment II
rife that the government evi-
IDENTIFY thinks we can't take IL
Eve realize, 20 the saying runs,
sthat we are having losses and
We want to hear what they