The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1944-12-14

A~
with everything from Colt ASS up
to Tommy guns.
It happens that my best flying
friends in this war have been bomb
er men, but I wish somebody would
sing a song, and a glorious one. for
our fighter pilots. They are the for
gotten men Of u aerial war.
Not until I came up close to the
African front did I realize what
our fighter pilots have been through
and what they are doing. Somehow
or other you don't hear much about
them. but they are the sponge that
is absorbing the fury Of the Luft-
waite over here. They are taking
it and taking it and taking it. An
everlasting credit should be theirs.
In England, the fighters Of the
Raj got the glory because Of
the great Battle Of Britain in
1910. But in America our atten-
ton has been centered on the
bombers. The spectacular sue
cess Of the Flying Fortresses
when they went into action made
the public more bomber-con-
scious.
There is still rivalry between the
fighters and the bombers, as there
always has been. That in itself Is
probably a good thing. But Of late
it has sort Of slipped out Of the
category Of ~rivalry-it has devel-
oped into a feeling on the part Of
the fighter pilots that they are neg
lected and unappreciated and TAX
ing a little more than their share
on the nose. Their ratio Of losses
is higher than that Of the bombers,
and their ratio Of credit is lower.
Bombers Need Fighters.
There have been exaggerations in
the claims that the Fortresses can
take care of themselves without
fighter escort. Almost any bomber
pilot will tell you that he is deeply
grateful for the fighter cover he has
in Africa. and that If he had to 60
without 1t he would feel like a very
naked man on his way to work.
Our heavy bombers now are al
ways escorted by Lockheed Light
nings (P-38s). It is their job to
keep off German fighters and to alb.
sorb whatever deadliness the Nazis
deal out.
1t means longer trips than fighters
ever made before. Sometimes they
have to carry extra gas tanks, which
they drop when the fight starts.
They mix it with the enemy when
they are already tired from long
flying at high attitudes. And then
if they get crippled they have tc
navigate alone all the way home.
The P-38 is a marvellous airplane,
and every pilot who flies it loves it.
But the very thing that makes the
Lightning capable of these long trips
its size-unfits it for the type o.
combat it faces when it gets there.
If two Lightnings and two Messer.
schmitt 109s get in a fight the Amer.
leans are almost bound to come out
the little end Of the horn. because
the Lightnings are heavier and less
maneuverable.
The ideal work Of the P-38 is as
an interceptor, ground strafer. OF
light hit-and-run bomber. It would
be a perfect weapon in the hands
Of the Germans to knock down ouI
daylight bombers. Thank goodness
they haven't got it.
Conveying bombers is monoto-
nous work for the fighter pilot
who lives On dash and vim.
These boys sometimes have to
sit cramped in their little seat
for six hours. In a bomber you
al move around, but not in .
fighter.
The bomber has a big crew to dc
different things. but the fighter pilot
is everything in one. He is his
own navigator. his own radio opera
tor. his W gunner. When you
hear the pilots tell all the things
they have to do during a fight it is
amazing that they ever have time
to keep a danger eye out for Ger
mans.
Although our fighters in North Al.
RIGA have accounted for many more
German planes than we have lost
still our fighter losses are high.
have been cumming with a room
full of five fighter pilots for the past
week. Tonight two of those five are
gone.