The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-05-16

nearSalS aC Avon ParK Army AT Field. a Third Air Force training base for B-17 Flying Fortress com- bat crews. The field covers 323 square miles of central Florida and includes one of the most unusual bombing ranges in the world.
 Col. Clint T. Johnson, Command ing Officer of Avon Park Army Air Field S1-s a flyer in World War I, is a rea4ist. That's why he looks with favor on the way the buildings and installations, serving the range, are built and arranged as if situ- ated in a war theater. And the bombing range, 220,000 acres pock- marked with thousands of bomb craters, Is a masterpiece of simu- lated enemy terrain with its fixed and moveable targets for the bombardiers and gunners of the To- man Flying Fortress crews.
 Each practice mission is briefed carefully and definite targets are assigned. Spotters and plotters, in high towers overlooking the target areas, score the hits and maintain a record of each bomber crew. Three towers overlook each target, at each corner of a huge imaginary triangle. The pre- else location of the hit can be de- termined by the triangulation as the target is within the triangle formed by the towers. A crew of range men is kept busy inspecting and repairing the bombed tar- gets.
 SPICE AND VARIETY
 These 323 square miles of homb- ing range offer spice and variety to the airmen. Among their most popular targets is the NO Place to Nowhere Railroad" an Smile circular track with a figure eight at one extreme. The railroad, remotely controlled, cuts all sorts of directional capers-an effective prelude to the task of blasting Axis lines of supply.
 Among the newer targets at Avon Park Army Air Field is an ineendiary bomb target, Incendi- aries flash like silver dollars in the sunlight and burst into fires of intense heat upon contact Yith their targets. Plotters promptly score the hits, Thousands of ln- eendiaTles are dropped daily, thousands more will soon be drop- ped by these same aiFmen on the ba|ions of Fortress Europe,
 FAV0RITE TARGETS
 FaYorite "bulls-eyes" for the B-l7 gunners are the full size stlhouettes Of German ME-l09s and Jap Zeros placed in positions that simulate attack angles of en- emy planes, As the bombeFs roar past the target area the silhou- ettes are so placed that every gunner on the plane gets an ops portunlly 70 fire at one Of them,
 Another of the more popular targets Is g simulated enemy city covering bb ReFas bordering on Lake ATbpekle, It Is laid out to represent streets, buildings and even dock with . ship at anchor Then there Is . full,slao deprodue- tion Of Jap submarine on one Of the lakes, Direct hits on the sub keep the repalrmen hustliDg,
 Pln,j0int bombing Is aD Amer. lean specially, and combat crew. men at Avon Park Army AIT Field are given special training in this sklll, As the Ports fly over the targets, all that Is visible Is a white dot surrounded by other points which serve as sights, In reality the dots are el0thFo0VeFed frames, 2S feet spare, The bullsp eye Is surrounded by white circles constructed Of wooden rings and placed at intervals Of 100 feet from the center, The dots are illuminated for night attacks,
 While aerial lTalDlng Is the main phase 0f tTalning at the field ground work takes an appreelable share Of the eFewmeDs time,