Evening star., 1943-06-14
By THOMAS r. HENRY.

meQlum OOrnDeTS OF MAJ. 1ell.
James H. Doolittle's Strategic Air
Force-the Martin Marauders and
North American Mitchells which
almost daily are demolishing the
ports, industries and air fields of
Sicily and Sardinia.
Based among wheat fields in level
valleys among the barren North
African hills, at almost any hour of
the day. seven days a week, planes
roar as they start out towards the
Mediterranean and the nearer Axis
held lands beyond. They give the
defenders of the Mediterranean
islands no rest They start out at
sunrise, at dusk, in the blisterlng
heat of MONDAY. They are coming
close to the ideal of round-the-
clock bombing to break the defenses
of the enemy.
They lack, to some extent, the pic
turesaueness of the heavy bombers,
the Fortresses and the Liberators
which, flying high with half-ton
and ton packages of devastation In
thier bomb pits. achieve headlines
by the sheer extent of the destruc-
ton they carry They lack much
of the color of the fast. looming,
flash-charging cavalry of the clouds
the fighters which accompany
them as escorts on most of their
missions. They are. in a sense, the
middlemen between the two.
Are Precise Weapons.
But perhaps no other element of
the American forces IN Africa has
contributed, and is continuing to
contribute, more to the disruption Of
the Axis than these flak-defying
precision shooting bombers with
their business like demolition of
specifically defined targets within
relatively long range in broad day
light.
First on the field were the Ma
rauders, the tough. hard-fighting
B-26s, the production of which
started at the Martin plant outside
Baltimore The statistics Of their
accomplishments during the late
winter months over Tunisia have
been carefully compiled and when
finally released by the War Depart
ment they will be the basis for one
of the thrilling stories of the war
They represent a period when the
going admittedly was rough when
the American forces had not vet
achieved the air superiority which
eventually was major factor in
turning the tide Of the African cam
palgn. This was a time when the
squadronS had to fight it out with
what they had, when requirements
were infreQuent and crews had little
rest.
Have Strong Firepower.
The B-26 is equipped to do its own
fighting. A notable feature of the
plane is the tremendous amount of
firepoWer it packs. These craft
have shot down nearly as many
German and Italian planes in the
early days Of the campaign as the
fighters which escort them over
enemy territory. In fact, consider
ing hours flown. they have a per-
centage record which is better than
that Of some Of the fighters The
statistics are sllbsIantiated by state
ment. Of pilots who have flown from
the ships, Of operations officers who
have sent them into battle and
watched them return victorious. and
OF wing and group commanders who
have directed the strategy Of battle
and flown the ships against the Axis
The air campaign over Tunisia
was relatively brief but it contains
names of places which will stand
out in American history and legend
-GabeS, which the Marauder pilots
called the meat run because it was
so dangerous: TuniS and Bizerte
called the daisy chain" because over
them the fields of the sky were COW
cred so thickly with the fire flowers
OF exploding fax: Kairouan. the
holy Moslem city. which the pilots
were careful to avoid on bombing
runs while they concentrated on the
airports on its outskirts The rec
ord was continued until it surren-
dered, over Pantelleria. the wooded
hills of Sardinia and the ports and
industrial towns of fthicklv-populated
Sicily. now powerfully defended But
two winters ago. the former Brit
ish commander at Malta remarked
on a visit to Washington, Il could
have taken the damn place with a
rOWbOat'
Losses Were Few.
Through all this fighting. due
largely to the skill of the pilots,
there have been relatively few losses.
The MarauderS can take a lot of
punishment. They have flown into
the worst Of the flax They have
def1ed the exploding bullets from
Messerschmitt cannot They have
had engines shot out and hydraulic
landings systems wrecked. They
E,c
wounded and scores of holes in
fuselageS. They make phenomenal
belly landings in clouds of dust and
with crashing, ear-splitting noises.
Two groups here are flying the Ma
rauders exclusively.
Their wing commander is, bv
happy coincidence, the one man
In the world who knows most about
this type of craft-its capacities. it's
most complicated mechanisms. it's
eccentricities, it's capabilities in the
air. He is Col Carlyle H Ridenour
OF Pasadena. Calf, who was Air
Corps representative at the Martin
plant in Baltimore for six months
before he was assigned to foreign
service.
The armCr and flrepower of this
bomber are the two features which
make it most effective" Col Riden-
our said, Next to the heavy types,
1t has been found to be the most
effective fighting weapon we have
IN the air. both Extensively and de-
fenslvely, 1t will occupy an impor-
tant niche in our entire program,
not only because of its armor and
flreroWer, but also because it is
capable OF being produced in larger
numbers than the four-engined
types"
MeSSerschmitts Dodge Fights.