Evening star., 1944-06-02
Air Commando oLeader
Tells Of Flying Troops
Behind Jap Lines
Bv NELSON NJ. SHEPARD

Nv vi. SHEI ARD.
/ Back here to report on the sue
ceSsful conclusion of aerial COM
mando operations in Burma, Col.
Philip c. Cochran of Erie, Pa, de-
clared today that we have only
scratched the surface of the posi-
bllity Of moving armies by air"
He is commander of the lst Air
Commando Force, a hard hitting
special unit, which played so i'm
portant role in bringing in and
supplying British Chindit Forces.
led by the late Maj. Gen. Orde C,
Wingate, operating behind the Jap
anese lines in Burma Those oper-
ations were the first conspicuous
example of the mass movement of
troops by air over Japanese held
territory.
Col. Cochran, who is to make his
report to Gen. H. H. Arnold, AAF
chief, merely hinteG at the magni-
tude of forthcoming airborne troop
movements in Europe, but he assert
ed that the Burma campaign had
demonstrated that ground forces
can be dropped successfully by
gliders at the places where needed
most.
In Strategic Places.
They will be placed in strategic
places by airplanes," he added sig
nificantly.
"One thing we did was to prove
that. There were, of course. some
things we didn't get done that we
wanted to, but I guess that's the
way it is in any operation"
Col. Cochran did not elaborate on
this phase of the operations in
which he participated from Febru-
ary to May 20, in India and
Burma. He told, in War Depart
ment release, something about the
punching power of the Air Com
manoos.
Operating in support of the
ground forces, his Psi Mustang
fighters and BIS Mitchell medium
bombers dropped ,589, ,637 pounds of
bombs on enemy installations. Of
this number, the bomb equipped
fighters accounted for 1,158,53O
pounds.
I'VE made the Jap pay dearly for
his presence in the theater by de-
Stroying 102 of his planes on the
ground and in the air." he said.
His fighters took toll of 90 of the
Jap planes and the bombers ac-
counted for the other IL.
Tho 1occoc ,,,oro o1&,,
paratively light, nine fighters and
four bombers being destroyed in op-
erations and on the ground.
He gave generous credit to the
commander of the fighter pilots, 1t.
Col Grant Mahony of Vallejo,
Calf, and to 1t. Col. Robert T.
Smith of Beverly Hills, Calf, lead
er of the bombers.
One Day of Operations.
High light of one day of opera
tions was when the boys caught the
Japs on the ground and polished off
43 of their planes. I'VE learned
them not to come into our district"
he said. THE Japs finally backed
up to Meho with their planes"
The 1st Air Commando Force, as
a result OF the nature of operations,
had to operate in large part like a
tactical air force, he explained, by
sending fighters to the Japs' fields or
fighting them any time they had
the chance.
They served also as artillery for
the British Chindits in blasting
paths for ground troops to follow.
Continuous strafing and bombing
of air fields preceded the aerial troop
movements.
I'VE worked for a month and a
half on this sort of thing before the
glider invasion ever started" Col.
Cochran said. And when we got
them there, our work really started.
Most people haven't realized that in
an air commando outfit you don't
only move and supply the ground
troops, but also support them with
air Weapons-fighters and medium
bombers."
Accompanying the air commando
leader on his return visit to Wash
lngton was his operations officer,
1t. Col. Arvid E. Olson of Chicago,
and Col. Mahony, who was pro-
NOTED recently