Evening star., 1943-08-17
Rickenbucker
fContinued From First Pape,l

that if Allied air bases could be op-
Grated from Northern Italy I'VE can
get in the back door of Germany"
TITS a question of morale" he
said, "the same as in Hamburg a" y
The bombing of Hamburg is some
thing no people on earth can stand
no people on earth, including our
selves" Capt. Rickenbacker pre-
dicted use of air power would even
tually bring crackup in German
morale.
Predicts Big Developments.
The famous flyer predicted that
something is coming this winter
that will shock the world-maybe
sooner" He declined to elaborate.
After the fall of Germany, he said,
it would take at least another year
to defeat another savage and
treacherous enemy in the Pacific"
only miracle can bring victory
sooner" Capt. Rickenbacker pre-
dicted in a statement issued as he
called newspapermen to his Office
here for press conference.
But Capt. Rickenbacker added:
Il have confidence in the pos
sibility of that miracle, and the ac-
complishment of that miracle lies
in the hearts, heads and hands of
every American man, woman and
child and your faith in God"
Capt. Rickenbacker, who made
his 97-day tour for Secretary Of
War Stimson but made clear he
was speaking "as private citi-
zen," asserted that ''if Mr.. Stain
has not seen fit or considered it ad-
visable to participate in conferences
with our President and Mr. Church.
i'll, We must bear in mind that he
is head of great nation fighting
a total war and has little time for
anything but immediate results"
Capt. Rickenbacker said, Il have
found the Russian people anxious
to know the Americans and Brit
ish better"
consequently" he said, ''let us
keep an open mind. Let our great
leaders, If necessary. including our
President and Mr.. Churchill, visit
Russia and Mr. Stain with the hope
of more complete and better un-
derstanding-not only during the
war, but for the postwar period as
well. as it is my conviction te will
need them, and they will need us,
to preserve world peace and elm
mate the possibility of third world
war within the next Is years"
Capt. Rickenbacker described In
detail what he saw on his latest
world trip, starting from Miami
Fla, last April 20.
He said the experience level of
German fighter pilots on the Rus
sian front had shown "a decided de-
cline in the last six months" and the
best German pilots had been with
drawn from the Russian front to
combat the English and Americans
in the west.
Capt. Rickenbacker said the Rus
sian pilots were enthusiastic" over
the American types of planes.
Everywhere" he said, was found
the passionate conviction of ulti-
mate victory on the part of tRus-
siam soldiers and their commanding
officers"
Capt. Rickenbacker praised the
Stormovik Russian tank busting
airplane, which he said sis operated
just like dive bomber. but always
below 500-foot altitude" and dwelt
at length on the Russian system of
speeding up war production through
incentive payments.
"All employees in all plants in
Russia are on the incentive plan.
with a minimum base wage for all"
he said. For quality and quantity
they are paid in additional wages
first, and for outstanding effort on
the part of employees, additional
quantity and quality of food is add
ed to the increased wages.
There is no absenteeism prob