Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-11-27

brig. zen. EIlliilelI " LOU
force" said the attack was h
I'VE caught them unaw
afternoon" he said.
While the weather over the tar
get was spotty. some OF the planes
were able to bomb usually. Others
had to drop their bombs through
the overcast.
CITY HIDDEN BY CLOUDS
The plane in which I was riding
didn't see abe worlds third largest
city at all because OF the cloud
layers.
Gen. O'Donnell himself flew the
lead ship all the way 10 and from
Tokyo, turning over the controls
on the bombing run 10 Maj.
Robert X. Morgan Of Asheville,
N. c.. of Memphis Belle" fame.
ODonnell found the target
clouded over on the first approach.
went back, circled MI. Fujiyama
and made another run, planning to
bomb the Tokyo waterfront, but
found by that time that the clouds
had blown away from the Naka-
lima plant and his other planes
dropped bombs there with excel
lent results"
The Nakajima factory is one of
the most important plants in
Japan's aviation industry.
START OF BOMB PROGRAM
Arriving an hour and a half
later over the target we were I'M
able to see the ground in the vi
cinity of Tokyo and could not even
see any flax.
There were 81 Jap fighter planes
in the air, but their pilots did not
exhibit any do or die spirit. and
seldom came within range of our
guns.
/ saw one Jap fighter spin down
thousands of feet after attacking
the formation ahead of us.
Today's raid is just the start of
a stretgic bombing program aimed
at making Japan bleed inter-
nally," and while not on a large
scale compared with aerial opera
tons against Germany, it was the
first heavy attack on Tokyo itself
and the people of the Jap capital
know that they are in for a war.
LOOK DOWN ON EMPEROR
In 1871. when I was last in
Japan, it was forbidden for any
one to look down upon their en-
peror, but the japanese know now
how American eyes can and will
look down through American
bonbsights on their sacred cap
ital.
For me today was an unlucky
day. I apparently put the jinx
on two of the big planes, one Of
which failed to take off. The
other reached Japan okay. but it
was unable TO keep up with the
remainder Of the formation almost
at the exact moment it hit the
coast.
Part OF our equipment failed
and we spent more than an hour
trying unsuccessfully 10 locate
Tokyo through the heavy over
cast.
We finally ended up by dumping
our bombs in the sea when a
shortage of gasoline forced us TO
head homeward. Our tanks were
nearly dry when we got there.
LANDS ON WRONG FIELD
We had only one landing light
in operation and we also landed on
the wrong field!
1t was a 3,300-mile dry run"
whose sole consolation TO the II
men aboard the plane was that
we did get a chance 10 shoot at
"a few Jap fighters. some OF which
we're painted black, and others
were flashing silver in the clear
sunlight above the overcast.
] was in one of the first ships
to take off, and we were speeding
down the runway close 10 100
miles an hour when the warning
horn shrilled through the cabin.
The pilot cut the throttles,
applied his brakes and swung off
the runway from which the 29s
were taking off at one minute
intervals. The flight engineer said
there was nothing wrong with the
plane. Apparently short circuit
caused the horn to blow.
MAKES NEW START
The pilot swung back onto the
runway and started cunning his
motors again.
Again the engineer shouted:
Hey, we can't 20 unless we
get more gasoline"
So We pulled off the runway
again and the pilot cut the
switches.
AS l jumped out of the plane a
public relations officers jeep was
passing by and gave me a lift
down the long line of planes wait
ing 10 take off.
The hatless figure gesturing at
me from one of the planes was
Capt. Samuel tBulD Durham of