The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-07
U. S.FLYERS IN CHINA RIDDLE
 JAP ENGINES
By ALFRED RAVENHOLT United Press War Correspondent

Un1ted freSS war correspondent
 A Northernmost Air Base, 14th Air Force, China-CUP)-Locomo- tive-bustirg on the Japanese-oper- ated network of north China rail- ways is a science which U. s. fight CT pilots of the 14th Air Force have developed to a point where it threat ems the enemy's entire Asiatic de- fense plan.
 With sweeps ranging from the Yangtze river to Peiping and from the Ordos desert to the Yellow Sea, fighter planes, cooperating with Mitchell BPS medium bombers, virtually have denied the Japanese effective daytime use of their key railways.
 On the Pngham, Tsinpu, Lung hai and Tsungpu railways, the only link between Manchuria, Ko- req and Japan's southern empire since the American landing on Okinawa blocked coastwise ship ping, American planes have main- tained a constant patrol from dawn to dusk.
 North of the Yellow river, the Plying Dragon" squadron based here strikes at rail bridges, repair yards and trains venturing out during the day
 Aim for the Boilers
 Maj. Robert A. Clendennin of (613 Vale St. Bloomington, H., squadron commander, said:
 We always strike for a locomo- tive, aiming the burst at the boiler with our 50-caliber incendiary ex- plosive and armor-piercing bullets If the locomotive has the pressure up, steam usually sprouts from all sides and we see the Japanese en- gineers and firemen tumbling from | the cab"
 The Japanese have begun ar- moring their locomotives. Pilots say the real engines now often are | hidden in the center of the train with ttempted camouflage and a fake locomotive is showed along ir 1 front of the train.
 When an enemy train is caught rushing urgently needed troops to the front in daylight, all other trains on the network are alerteo and rush for shelter
 First It. Wyman D. (Porky) An derson (436 Abbot Rd), East Lan- sing, Mich, told of such an incident
 T was flying my regular morn ing beat up the railroad with oul flight when spotted a Japanese train which had been alerted roll ing hell bent for leather for the nearest town to get under cover o1 railway revetments and ack-ack guns. The engineers were trying tc race me, pushing on all steam" asked Anderson what happened
 Well, he didn't make it." he re. piled with a grin.
 Other pilots of Flying Dragon 1 squadron, who were given theil name for their close-in ground SUD- port of Merrill's Marauders in Bur- ma last year, described in their alert shack what they termed the split. | oSCOllu ldI SGU StleCUlOIl.
 First It. Gene s. Schooner, Roo la. Mo, and 1st It. MBeyer o. New. ell (133 w. 33rd St), Bayonne, N. J. said they had to try to kill as man, Japanese as possible and yet savt as many Chinese as they could.
 If we find a passenger train, Vt only strafe the locomotive unles! we are positive the cars are loaded with Japanese. Japanese soldier! usually scramble for ditches along the tracks as soon as the train i! attacked, while civilians usually re. main in their coaches" they said.
 Speed Across Plains
 Capt. Malcolm I. Roundtree, Jop lin, Co.,, said the Japanese not only built covered reinforced revetment! at all stations where the trains hid, when in danger of attack, but tha engineers forced to move trains dur ing the daytime try to sneak SloWl, through tunnels ralong mountain sides and then make a speedy dasl across the open plains.
 SecOnd It. E. $. snow C422 LeWl Ave), Evansville, Ind; FIG Edwar' H. Miller COOS Broadway, Sprint field, O., and 1st It. Harold s. Snow Ausable Forks, N Y, were all of tn opinion that it is vireually impos sible to destroy locomotive com pletely.
 As 1st It, David O. Wilson 127 N. 18th St), Birmingham, Ala, veteran of over 25 of these nor than 1-2-hour missions, said:
 We riddle those locomotives lik they were a bridge We usually fig ure on putting one out of action fo two or three weeks. We're keep ing enough of them out and thel with the help of heavy bombers scal ing the repair crews working in tn railway reDair wards :"