Evening star., 1942-12-19
Qualify Of Jap
Flyers Declines,
Hero Reports
Home Front Urged
To Be More Serious
In War Attitude
BY the Associated Press

In War Attitude
BY the Associated Press.
Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker,
back from a ar-flung war sur
vey which brought him three :
weeks adrift on life raft in the
Pacific, reported here today that
the quality of japanese fighter
and bomber pilots is going down
very rapidly"
In contrast, the World War flying
ace said, the level of the American
flyers in the South Pacific "is going
uphill"
Capt. Rickenbacker landed In
Washington today, met his wife for
the first time since his rescue, then
saw newspapermen at Secretary Of
War Stimsons press conference.
Civilian Complaints Assailed.
ut is quite evident" he reported.
"the the great majority of the Jap
anese pilots are inexperienced and
green"
Capt. Rickenbacker drew his ex-
periences from an inspection trip to
New Guinea and other points in the
South Pacific, including Guadal-
canal Island in the Solomons. OF
Guadalcanal, he said:
There I found real hellhole--
mud and corruption-if only the
people back home could know what
those boys are doing for us and put
ting up with, I think they would
take this war more seriously"
He referred to complaints which
he has heard since his return
against gasoline and rubber ration
ing, saying they seem ridiculous
when you have seen what those boys
haven't got"
Capt. Rickenbacker declared that
on Guadalcanal tremendous sue
eesses were being accomplished by
bomber and fighter pilots who were
destroying vast amount of enemy
shipping, including cruisers and de-
stroyers.
Anxious to Keep Going.
He added an opinion that IF it
weren't for their tremendous sue
cess in combat, don't believe those
boys could possibly last physically
or mentally very long, but due to
the great stimulus of their successes.
they are all happy and anxious to
keep going.
after seeing these boys in the
air and on the ground" he con-
tinued, "I've come to the conclusion
that If we brought combat troops
back into America and put factory
workers in their position, we'd have
production doubled in 80 days
time.
The experiences of Capt. Ricken-
backer and his seven companions
after their plane was forced down
at sea by lack of gas October 81, he
said, would be considered as nothing
If they could be used as stimulus
to the people back home, driving
them on to greater efforts, because
without materials they are produce
ing those boys out there can't do
their job"
Parts of Gull Eaten.
Telling of his experiences after
the plane was forced down, Capt.
Rickenbacker said their first food
came from seagull which perched
on his head and was shared by
careful movement. Parts of the gull
were eaten, and other parts were
used to bait two small fishing hooks,
which enabled them to obtain some
more food.
On the second day after Capt
Rickenbacker and his companions
were forced to take to the life RATS
in their anxiety to get away from
their sinking plane they had forgot
ten food and Water-one of the men
in his raft took out Government
issue Bible and I'VE organized little
prayer meetings, evening and morn-
ing, taking turns about reading pas
sages from the Bible and humbly
praying for delivery"
The flyer saia that if he did not
have witnesses to support him, he
would hesitate to discribe one ex-
perience. AN hour after a prayer
meeting he said, "a seagull came
in and landed on my head. You
can imagine with what nervousness
l reached up to catch it."
Fish Bones Eaten.
Two fish were caught on bait
which the gull's entrails provided,
he related. They were divided
equally, and there was no waste
the head, the body, the bones were
delicious" The first water, Capt.
Rickenbacker said, came on their
(See RICKENBACKER, Page 2-XJ