Evening star., 1943-05-28


possessions, that a change not only
would result in greater efficiency
in American bombing but would
bring about a big saving in men
and machines.
AS they explain it, and they must
know, having gone through flying
schools at home themselves, the
biggest need is for instructors who
have had combat experience, men
who have survived attacks by the
enemy fighters and flax.
Tail Gunner Speaks.
THE only guy in the world who
can show you how to beat off the
attack of Jerry when he peels off
and comes in," a tail-gunner SER
geant said, sis the guy who has been
up there in the tail and had a bunch
OF fighters swarm at him. Guys
who haven't had the experience can
try to teach you, but you could learn
more on two or three operationals
| than an instructor who hasn't looked
Focke-Wulf in the eye, could teach
you in month of Sundays
This sergeant, by the way, fired
just 1900 rounds of ammunition
on recent raid on Germany.
A young co-pilot with only three
or four sorties under his belt had
this to say about the value of in
struction by men who have made
their bomb run through things much
worse than hell and high water:
L thought I knew something
about evasive tactics until I watched
my pilot on our last trip. He
showed me things 1 didn't know
you could do with ship. I learned
more in five hours than I did in
six months of practice. A pilot like
that could really teach at home.
Put him in charge of training a
crew and when it reached the CON-
bat zone it would know most of the
answers
Veteran Pilots Agree.
veteran pilots, men who have been
here for months, feel the same way
about it, They make it clear that
they do not mean to belttle the
instructors who haven't seen combat
duty, but they also make it clear
tlNt their bombing missions here
nave taught them things which, il
at all possible, should be impaired
to crews before they are sent into
action. They are convinced that
such instructions, even if it slowed
down mass production of bomber
crews a bit, would more than paw
for itself in the saving of men
and planes.
The veterans and newcomers also
are of the opinion that the present
training setup does not include
enough hours of practice at high
altitude formation flying. The crews
get here with the necessary" num-
Der of hours-but not enough. The
hours, SO they say, are logged at the
height at which our daylight raids
are made. They point out that
hours of flying at low attitudes are
useless over here.
Bombers Change Character.
Our heavy bomber is a different
ship altogether at high attitudes" a
pilot with upward of 20 missions
said. THE speed, the maneuverabil-
ity and everything changes. Yet, I
have seen crews with fewer than
six hours of high-altitude flyina
start off over the toughest TERRITORY
in the world"
He said he thought this might be
because, when our bombers first
went into action. they were in the
Pacific theater, where low-altitude
bombing could be done. But you
can't do that over here. Come down
low in these parts and those anti
aircraft guns will knock the insignia
off your wings"
None OF these suggestions for i'm.
proving the training of our bomber
crews was offered with any bitter.
ness. All the men seemed to have
but one aim and that was to make
American bombing the best in the
world and to make it so good that
every single bomb that went up in
our ships would find it's Axis TARGET