The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1943-09-28
THUNDERBOLTS MAKE
HISTORY in AIR WAR
CONTINUED Fran Page One)

pilots were willing to tangle with
the PATS and Fortresses.
-Four fighters came up through
the clouds, took one look at our
heavy formation and ducked back
in a hurry" said Maj. Ralph c.
Hanshal, 81, 1915 Huntington ave-
nue., Covington, KY, co-pilot in the
leading squadron.
Jerry must know the Jig is up
when PATS can 60 that far" said
one pilot.
Single-engined fighters had al
ways been considered to be held
close to their bases by the limita-
ton on fuel loads. The normal
range of the Spitfire, Britain
standard fighter, is only about 500
miles.
The Thunderbolts overcame the
limitation with a powerful 18-cyl-
inder engine supplying all the pow
er four-bladed propeller can alb
sorb to lift the extra gasoline load
in light composition tanks. These
tanks can be jettisoned as soon
as they are empty or when the
pilots need more speed for fight
ing.
The success of today's operation
indicates the Fortresses can pos
sibly as much as double the scope
of generations into Germany with
the same iron-clad escort that has
COMPOUNDED the Nazi opposition on
shorter forays into France.
The Enden attack-the third for
the Fortresses since May on Ger
many's naval base nearest to Brit
ain and big port for the entry of
Scandinavian ore to the Ruhr war
actories-carried the U. S. Eighth
Air Force across the line to a
new record months operations.
With three days of the month to
go, the Fortresses' second raid in
two days brought the September
total to 10 to equal the high mark
set in July. U. S. Maurauder me-
diums, which made only five raids
in July, licked off their goth this
month with another attack on the
Nazis' Beauvais-Tille airbase, As
miles from Paris. The Marauders
were escorted to the target by
Thunderbolts and Raj Spitfires.
The French air field at Conches
also was raided by Marauders, es-
corted by Spitfires, this afternoon,
it was announced authoritatively.
The Beauvais- Tile attack mark
ed the eighth pounding of the field
this month by Allied bombers in
the incessant drive against the
German air forces ground install
lations.
Overnight, Raj Mosquitoes kept
the Allied day-and-night campaign
going with attacks on the Rhine
land.
Typhoons and Typhoon bombers
sank tug and barge today and
damaged eight other vessels in at
tacks on shipping in Hollands two
Schelde estuaries.
Reporting the operation, the Air
Ministry news service said enemy
anti-aircraft fire exploded one of
the aircrafts ammunition contain
ers, bu THE pilot brought his plane
home safely.
When the Thunderbolts m d e
their debut here last spring, they
were Immediately criticized by
some observers as inferior to the
Spitfires and Focke Wulfs in ma
neuverability and other points.
The Thunderbolts were being de-
veloped as specialized, high-alti-
tude Cup to 100000 feeD and long
range fighters.
They have had notable success
escorting the Fortresses shorter
distances and accompanying the
Marauders on almost daily raids
for over two months in the course
of which only a dozen bombers
were lost.
A month ago. Gen. Henry H.
Arnold, chief of the Army Air
Forces, was able to state cate
gorically that the Thgnderbolt had
proved itself better than the Spit
fire for the purposes of our bomb
er escorts and today's operation
demonstrated its long-range capa-
bilitieS.