Evening star., 1946-03-03
Writer Has Shakedown Thrill Aboard New u. S. S. Tarawa

sure all five head-high wire barriers.
near the Tarawa,s island, were up.
Get water in those hoses, fire fight
ers!" the voice roared.
When the pilot came in for second
try, all alone in his speeding plane,
every heart and soul of the 5000 human
'eings on the fiattop strained and
prayed that the plane wouldn't burst
nto fame.
Skilfully the young flyer dropped his
hip onto the deck in a three-point
landing while the Tarawa churned full
speed ahead to give him his maximum
chance of safety. At what seemed to be
tremendous velocity, the fighter drove
through one barrier and crashed into
he second.
There was loud crash as the plane
losed up on end and stuck there. one
)ropellor blade bent double, a second
tuck deep in the wooden flight deck.
The man in the asbestos suit posed
there with his foam-spray and the fire
fighters raised their hoses. For three
seconds the only sound was the splash
OF waves on the Tarawas steel sides.
Then 5000 mouths sighed mighty sighs
OF relief and the khaki-clad pilot leaped
lightly from the cockpit.
mighty cheer arose. one voice
seeming to come over the loud speaker
louder than all the rest Then the air
officer harrumphed and roared:
"All right! All right! Clear that
aircraft away, you plane handlers! Sc
cure the flight deck!'
And the test was over.
Putting the Overcoats
Away for Fair Weather
At the END of the fifth day, all over
coats and gloves were put away. The
crew blossomed out in whites and the
officers in khaki. At m. the Tarawa
sailed into Guantanamo Bay, at the
island of Cuba, and dropped the hook
beside the battleship Missouri of Tokyo
Bay fame and the dreadnaught Wis
conSin
Cuba was revelation, warm, sunny
land where nylons, silken hose, French
perfumes and alligator-leather purses are
as common a sight as uniforms at the
Pentagon. No gasoline rationing plagued
the Cubans during the war. No short
age of liquors, or sugar, or tobacco, or
meat ever sent practical senoras to the
nearest black market. In a starving
world, Cuba is a land of plenty.
One group of the newspaper party
bummed ride to Havana in a BIG
Operation Innocents Abroad, the pilot
called his mission
Not yet has Cubas capital regained
its prewar quota of tourists, but when
the ships resume their regular runs,
the Cubans are ready to cater to your
every wish in Difference to Pan American
amity and the Yankee dollar.
Climate Puts Garden
Of Eden to Shame
Most Cubans have a working, if Leo
Carillo-ish, knowledge of English. They
tell you how Cuban bartenders make
the best Daiquiris in the world, that you
can't beat Cuban cigar, that the Cuban
climate would make the Garden of Eden
look like Southern Antarctica. They
make small mention of the be-cock-
reached hotels, the cab drivers who
ought to be jailed for extortionary prac-
tices, or the murderous driving of Cuban
motorists. 1t is always open season on
pedestrians in Havana.
If you 60 to Cuba, worry not about
changing your greenbacks into the di-
nero of the island. They'll be glad to
accept your American money. But when
you 60 back to Miami with wallet
full of Cuban pesos, you will have to take
it to the bank, because the merchant will
have none of it.
I don't blame them. 1t seems to be
printed on something very like Kleenex.