Evening star., 1943-05-14
THE STAR, WASHINGTON D. G., FRIDAY MAY H. 1a

~, L. ", L hIDA L, y
In the pilots compartment imme-
diately above the bombardier's glass
cage, the pilot was getting orders by
radio. Soon off in the west appeared
small dots, quickly growing in size
until they loomed up as the B-25s.
Then from the northwest came the
big Bits loaded with bombs.
Target Pulverized.
We joined the flight, cruising high
above the Bits and alongside OF the
B-25s. Suddenly the bomb bay
doors opened, and slowly the bombs
tumbled out.
Bomb falls are deceptive. They
seem to come out leisurely, turn
over and fall with unhurried haste.
But what they do is terrific.
A 200-foot target, drawn in a cir
Gle in an unpopulated area Of
North Florida, was plastered and
pulverized. Suddenly these slow
falling bombs erupted in flash Of
fire and burst of flame. They
WEI. 500-pound bombs. little fel-
lows co.,pared to the block busters
used by he Royal Air Force on
German cities.
Then in came the flight Of Bits |
at low altitude. Ordinarily these big
babies come over at 5000 feet and |
up, and with the marvelously ac-
curate Norden Bombsight pin-point |
the target from that range. But on
this bomb run, for demonstration |
purposes, the It's came over at about |
$500 feet. The bomb bursts didn't |
seem large nor serious from our spot |
high above. but when we dropped !
down to l 900 feet we saw the result |
as a drifting wind-borne curtain of |
dust and smoke lifted from the |
target Within the 200-foot circle
we counted As great bomb craters |
Only three or four fell outside the |
target and these, a major explained, |
would have been effective by their |
detonation shock and particularly |
against personnel. 1t was very
impressive show Of bombardment !
aviation.
Air Navigation Efficient.
Earlier, the correspondents were
| shown the elements of celestial
| navigation, with the Air Force using |
pilots in sealed link trainers navigat- |
ing themselves alone. You got the
idea it isn't fun to be lost 1000
feet up with no friendly airfield on
which to land. And you learned how
pilots get out of spots like that, even
though they have no radio beams on
which to come home or aid from the
ground. Pure instrument work will
BRING them home. Air navigation is
highly specialized science in itself.
The detection apparatus is so CO.
ordlnated that if the United States
has along its ar-fung coast line a
complete network of detection
equipment it is then only a oues-
ton OF enough fighter ships to beat
on any enemy attack long before it
reaches its objective. Presumably
this network exists along most of
the coastline, and obviously concen-
tratlons of fighter equipment exist
In sufficient quantity to beat off any
enemy attack anywhere. But first
the attack must be spotted. That is
the job OF the detection apparatus.
1t does the job so thoroughly and
completely that 1t dWarfs the Wild
est imagination. It isn't inconceiv-
able, so far has 1t gone, that fu-
ture development will be actual op-
Grafton OF the guns of an attacking
plane by button on the ground. 1t
hasn't yet been done, but the science
Is advancing so fast it may come.
This would convert the pilot merely
into an instrument to receive radio
direction.
Comforting Reinsurance.
Details Of the armament of these
attack ships cannot be told, but they
have plenty of stuff to toss death at
the enemy. 1t is comforting to know
that no spot on the rim of the
United States is outside the range of
these detection devices and the
fighter ships directed by their data.
Here at AAFSAT is so much air
stuff you become bewildered But
we are told 1t is a typical combat
theater setup, that all theaters of
operations have or will have all the
apparatus we have seen.
/ am sure II the American people
had even the vaguest idea of what
the Air Force is doing here at this
great school, they would have
comfortable feeling regarding our
future in the air There isn't any
doubt we are ready to drop a lot of
| woe on Hitler and H1rohito