Evening star., 1942-08-09
Bv Gladwin Hill,
wide world.

wide world.
WILLIAMS FIELD, Ariz.-The caoln
of the roaring, silvery twin-ensineo
plane straining for the takeo1, was IKE
a steamroom.
The temperature outside was lis. But
the same Arizona sun that makes 1t so
hot makes perfect flying weather month
after month, without day lost, Wnlcn
is why they keep this vital training
center here.
The dark. smiling young man IN the
blue coveralls and brown cap crouched IN
the bucket seat by the door. tense and
expectant.
It was not the tenseness Of para
trooper making his first flight; the
chances are that . parachute Jump Will
come out all right. In this case, there
was no telling the odds Of success or
failure. It all depended on how we'll
he had learned his work. This was the
nrst test.
As soon as the control tower signaled
the o. X. to take Of and we soomed into
the air, the dark young man snapped
loose his safety belt and hoped forward
through the pilots cockpit into the
bright transparent nose Of the plane.
On either side of him, the whirring
propellers flashed In the sunlight. Be-
low, the baked sagebrush desert floor
swept swiftly beneath the plane.
The young man hunched over re-
markable device that looked like q dozen
big microscopes crAmmed into one, COW
cred with complicated scales, gauges,
screws.
Meet the Bombardier.
You ought to meet this young man.
With his blue coveralls, brown cap and
shy smile, he isn't awfully impressive.
But in what he represents he is one Of
the crucial figures in our waging Of the
war.
This boys name is Azad sarkisian. He
is % years old He was born in Armenia
and came to this country with his fam
lily when he was g. His father is steel
worker at Indiana Harbor, Ind.
On December 7, l94l, Azad Sarkisian
was in his fourth year at the University
OF Chicago, studying political science.
Along with hundreds Of thousands OF
other young men, ne resolved to drop
what he was doing and help fight the
war.
He checked In at the West Coast Air
Force Training Center in Santa Anna
Calf, on March ~. He had intention Of
becoming q pilot, because that's what
he thought the Air Force was, pilots.
But an ofi1cer gave Azad and his fel-
low cadets little talk, telling them
what lot Of people have been learning
since we got in the war That the single.
handed daredevil pilot went out with
"Helrs Angels" and that winning war!
today depends on aerial teamwork
You don't learn to Be bonbadiel
these days by going aloft and droppint
cans over the side until you start comint
close. The remarkable device that aim
the bombs performs computations tina
q dozen college professors couldn't d
with all the paper and pencils in tn
Department Of Commerce.
It takes three months to learn Il
operate LQlS ueNlCc-tIld1 dAlO dAA VAN
other things . bonbadier has to know
Navigation. Just before the bombs Ar
released, the bombadier 10 In oontro
of the plane, the pilot following his cues
Mathematics. Physics. Aerial Pho
Biography. And Is other subjects, SOM
of which are confidential
At Williams Field, where Azad landed
q bombadier cadet with . set OF uni
forms, . $4,000 insurance policy an
s75 month, after preliminary trainin
at Santa Anna, he found q school wher
they discourage your taking notes hom
to study.
Cadets can take all the notes the
want in class, but those on confidentia
matters have to be studied in the class
room and locked in the safe there q
night. Barracks are inspected period
ically to see that no students have for
gotten this.
Before they complete their IL week
there, they have to put in as much as
hours some days, turning out at 4:3
am, working at classes, ground train
ing and flights until midnight, ant
turning out again at $50.
His flrst flights were "dry runs" OF
which he and another student would 6,
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