Evening star., 1944-02-18
Truk's 3O-Yeor Secrets Barred
BY Two Marine Photo Planes
Huge Concentration
Of Worships Spotted
At jap Fortress

(The tollo1Uing story 1Uas urit-
ten by First 1t. Penn T. KimbaH,
NeW Britain, Conn. and Second
1t. William X. Holt, Clarksburg,
w. Va. both OF the Marine
Corps)
A SOUTH PACIFIC AIR BASE,
Feb. Delayed [P)-Two marine
photo planes pried the lid off one of
Japans most precious secrets today
when they became the first foreign
aircraft ever to fly over Truk, prin-
cipal enemy sea and air fortress in
the South Pacific.
Catching the Japs by surprise, the
pair of Liberators spent 20 minutes
apiece over the formidable concen-
tration Of airfields. forts, drydocks
and warship anchorages that took
80 years to build.
The marine planes successfully
completed the daring reconnaissance
mission from the Solomons to the
heart Of the Japanese-held Caroline
Islands after flying nearly 1000 miles
over enemy waters, battling tropical
storms and freak weather conditions
which put ice on their wings as they
crossed the Equator
Only II bursts Of erratic anti
aircraft fire greeted the first plane
as it passed over the target at high
altitude. but the second ran into
tremendous ack-ack thrown up by
the alerted Japs on the ground and
aboard the mighty armada of ships
in the harbor. Neither Liberator
was damaged.
Jap Fighters Unable to Attack.
AS the pair retired from Truk.
through'a protective cover of clouds,
not one of the Jap fighters which
had scrambled into the air had
gained sufficient altitude to attack.
Although neither American plane
carried bomb load, the crew of
each tossed out three-pound frag-
mentation bomb as their ship flew
over the enemy bastion.
The % crew members brought
back tales of huge ship concentra-
tions, one island covered with air.
fields, heavy coastal guns, mingled
with palatial expanses of living
quarters.
Marine Maj. James R. Christensen,
Salt Lake City, flight leader and
pilot of the first plane, said Truk
Harbor was damned with ships of
all types and description"
Capt James @. Yawn, Bogue
Chitto. Miss, counted Is warships
through one small gap in the cloud
TT looked like the whole Jap fleet
was down there, and 1 saw only a
part of only one of the many
anchorages.
Island Maze Of Landing Fields.
His co-pilot. Capt. Edward j..
Sanders, Sioux City, Iowa, spotted
an island which was the maze Of
landing fields and revetments.
THE strips, taxiways and shops
covered the entire layout. There did
not seem to be room for anything
else, even living quarters"
Second 1t. w. Paul Dean, Altoona,
Pa, navigator. told of seeing a resi-
dental section that looked like
vast country club.
There were winding gravel roads
lined with shrubbery, acres of green
turf and scores of beautiful homes
set among palm trees"
The mission was the assignment
of lifetime" for Tech. Sergt. Max
l.. Winters, Martinsville. Ind, former
photographer for the Grand Rapids
(MichD Press and the Danville ull.)
News.
1T was a photographers field
day." he said. I'VE were like a
bunch of shutterbugs with Dorothy
Lamour standing around"
Maj. Christensen described how
the two marine planes became sep
arated in a storm on the way to
Truk and each proceeded on it's
mission alone, arriving only a few
minutes apart.
I'VE had to fly on instruments
for the last two and a half hours
before reaching Truk. 1t was pretty
tough to pick the right group of