Evening star., 1943-09-20
BY CAPT. EDWARD CHUDOBA
As Told to
GEORGE KENNEDY,
G,,r ctae yUr;tar

at Port MoreSby, New Guinea, came
with high overcast over the over
Stanley Mountains north of us.
went down to the operations hut o.
the Kila Kila strip from which oul
kip-bombing squadron flew to see
what was in the wind. Our squad
ror commander, Capt. G. w. Clark
was in somewhat of a uuandary. He
mad a teletype slip in his hand with
word that the convoy we had al
been waiting to hear about had
been sighted north of New Britain
at Talasea, and that it consisted OF
IA ships. several of them cruisers OF
destroyerS.
We discovered later that the naval
component of the invasion feet was
10 destroyers, several of them hot
ships" Japan's new f1otilla- leader
type of destroyer, excellently armed
with antiaircraft batteries.
He was in a quandary because
there are a lot of things that are
involved in attacking warship
and we hadn't attempted it before
Glenn Clark had been with us
from the first, going up to G. o.
AS others were transferred or pro-
moted. He had calm integrity
that promotes confidence. Occa-
sionally a cherubic smile would
illuminate his broad face. First we
called him by his initials, &c. W."
and then we shortened that. We
called him .Geedub."
Used Old Planes First
The bombardment group of which
our squadron was an element had
been the first to reach Australia,
arriving by ship in February, l942
We had had it pretty rough. The
group leader wangled flock OF
R-25s (Mitchells) consigned to the
Dutch. They were all right. But
our squadron was stuck with A-24
hive bompers Douglas that cruised
at $50 miles an hour. If the Zeros
came along our planes didn't have
a chance. The pilot had two So
callber machine guns fixed in the
nose, as in a fighter. The trouble
was she wasn't fast enough to get
after a Zero with those guns. 1t
was like giving man a gun and
then chaining it so that he couldn't
point it at his enemy. One day in
1912 seven A-24s went out on a
mission to Buna. They encoun-
tered Zeros and two came back.
We had a much better plane now,
a two-motored Douglas with a tail
and tunnel gun as well as the pilots
nose gun. That helped with Zeros
but would make no difference in
getting up against the fax thrown
by a warship. 1t looked as though
we might be in for one of those
terrible days of the year before
or worse.
Glenn Clark had married an
American nurse in Australia and l
suppose he was stronger for living
than any of US. But no matter how
the luck on off duty fell among the
men, as squadron leader he would
lead the mission.
Two Crews for Each Plane.
Because equipment requirements
had not kept UP with equipment
Casualties we had two crews for each
plane. Sunday night IL pilots and
their crews went off alert. IL more
came on. I suppose that those who
were not openly relieved that they
were not going to fly against a Jap
fleet were secretly so. There was
pne exception. He was the baby of
bur group. Charles Mayo, just
turned 81. a tall, blond. nice kid
who was as eager as substitute on
a football team He argued with
Clark about going off alert and sue
ceeded in getting himself named as
q standby pilot. We had IS planes.
We were going to fly II. If one
couldn't take off he would go.
/ Things were getting pretty tense.
Every one walked around with his
eye on the weather. The overcast
was getting heavier Weather re-
ports on the teletype sent in by our
reconnaissance planes showed the
Jap feet was operating behind an
advancing weather front. A front
like that would move down from
the northwest with hundreds OF
miles tive days of thick weather
behind it.
TT will be just like Milne Bay"
everybody said.
In September during heavy
weather the Jap had conveyed
transports with destroyers to un-
load their troops at Milne Bay at
the very tip of our end of New
Guinea. No one had seen him. He
had been unable TO reinforce his
beachhead and the Aussie ground
forces cleaned the Japs out in short
order. But it was bloody business.
We all credited the Japs with
studying the weather since 1926 and
knowing what was coming.
Remember Midway.
Monday night we sat up until 3
am. at operations, drinking black
coffee, talking and thinking this
thing out We had all seen the pic
ture in Life of the Is pilots of the
Nays Torpedo Squadron 8 taken on
the deck of their carrier with an *
marking Ensign Gay--the only one
who came back.
Skip bombing would appear to
be more dangerous than torpedo
launching. In torpedo work the pilot
releases his torpedo at mile to
1000 feet from warship His hopes
of success and his hopes of survival
vary inversely as he gets in nearer.
That is, the nearer he gets the more
chance he has of hitting the ship
with his torpedo and the less chance
he has of escaping If he is going
fast his torpedo will trip when it hits
the water He has to make a
straight run of it-Stay right on the
beads of the opposing gunners-
when he is releasing his torpedo.
And If they haven't knocked him
out by that time, he has to give
them a beautiful target as he turns,
belly to them, at the end of his
run.
The skip-bomber can come in
from any angle and from any height
with all the speed his plane is good
for, weaving and diving, using all
kinds of deception tactics. Bismarck
Sea and the experience of the Nayys