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.. ' Back to the Philippines PART I: THE GI'S COME THROUGH BY MAL HERBERT O. JOHANSEN -By R.. \DlO fRO:'! THr: PHILlI'I'!:".ES' The rc-cstnblivlnucnt of the AAF in ullheralded Ill' the "roar of might\' .md ,trafing, "A-da:' (ml"a'lOn clav) the Philippine, I\'a, plane" of homhing \I'a, October 20, On ;\ plu- 2, a Coast Cuard LST 11O,ed shorcw.ud and dcpovitcd on \\hite BCleh, Lcvtc. pcrxonucl .md equipment of the 30:-'th Bomh \\'ing (1/), wh ich coust itutccl the First Air 'I ask hnee of Lt. Ccu. C, C, Kcnucvs lur I':a,t ,\ir ':oree
The gallant part played by the ground echelon of our First Air Task Force to L11ld and those still on the carriers were taking off immediately to escape dcxtruct iou. They would shortly be out of gas, lxnu hs and .nn m mnt iou unless they could come in at 'I'nclob.m strip. The other nltcmativc was to crash land at sea. The first dcmonxtrnt ion had come that the Jap was going to put up a desperate fight for Lcvtc and the Philippines. Due to the night's work on the strip, it was in no shape to take planes of an:' sort, but the best had to be made of a cri t icu I si t u.: tion. The engineers did wh.: t they could to work over the rough spots. A service squadron of the 5th Air Forcx: \\~IS c.nupcd along the beach \\"aiting orders to move forwnrd to another strip the moment it was taken from the J~IPS, Its personnel were alerted, Refueling units, crash trneks and .uu hul.mccs were mack ready. Intelligence, supplv and operations officers scattered O\Tr the area to unearth bombs and .numunition. A radio chief of a 5th Air Force hghter Control Sector and another of the Army Air- \\"a\s Connnnnieations Svvtcm ruvhcc! to the beach and set np'their portable com ruu n icn t ionx oquipnicnt to guide the planes. In 15 minntes after the \\'~nning had been flashed to the strip, the first plane-a torpedo bomber--circ1cd O\Trhead. The elnergeney couuu uuicut inu setup did not 11;1\'ehis frcq ucucv. The pilot c.nuc in unassisted for a nerve \\Tacking but mir.rc-ulouvlv s.ifc landing, l Ic related how he had imt DECEMBER,1944 on the strip at Leyte is one of the most dramatic stories of the war return cd to his carrier when the shclling had begun, taking off again without refuelmg or bombmg np. As he announced that the other planes would be arri\'ing any minute, a roar came out of the north. Ten, twcutv. thirty :\avy planes appeared. The sky \\'as full of circlins; fighters and bombers. The first pilots had gi\en their radio frequency, but before conuuuuicat ious conld be established several planes, their gas exhausted, came in one on top of the other. Soft spots on the strip took their toll of planes. '.Iost of the pilots and crew walked ;1\\"a1' from their wrecks. Crash trucks raced up and clown the f1lll\\"ay while crews hauled \\Teeh.S ont of the wav under the wheels of other incoming planes, Flares \\'('IT sent up to m.u k the end of the strip, r-.!en fr.inticnllv waved wh itc flags to indicate bad spots and to w.un incoming planes of the dehris m their path. Cr.iduallv some sort of order came ant of chaos. Planes \\'(TC being' brollght in at the rate of about one cvcrv two minutes. Then all hell broke loose as the Japs st:Iged the first of several sneak air attacks. The planes aloft were helpless-their guns empty, their gas tanks almost drv. Still, amid [up strafing and solid curt.uns of ack .ick. thcv cnntiunrd to l.md. Crews on the ground refused to be turned from thc t:tsk, A plane would h.irdlv m.mcuvcr into place ;l]ong tile ccli;e of the strip be- 5
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~J 1 AIR FOftCES * OCTOBER 1944
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Rendezvous Who Is He? Dear Editor:
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[us: ,dlat is tIle AAI'I'DC~ It is
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oads and bridges and military imtal
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Here's how controllers direct the p
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sengcr and courier service in areas
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GET WISE Here are a few of the easi
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Airborne soldiers. shown here durin
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Smoke in background is fruin [up.ui
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It has pronounced step characterist
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TIIC{"II""IIIi; ;lItidc j, till' I/
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OCTOBER,1944 The first thing the a\
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YOUR ENEMY All ;Iirer;!ft fllillg o
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->",i" .""tJnil'et hj/'- By Col. Do
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28 011 BOll~aiIldk is quicklv unloa
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the plane landed, a jccp would driv
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THE PHiliPPINES DISTANCES SHOWN IN
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The economic system of the Philippi
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The AAF's homing pigeons are recogn
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Our aviation engineers had to fight
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---- technique • -- - --- . RUNWA
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High Intensity Controlled Lighting
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Attached to a flyer's ear, the Oxim
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Automatic Pilot Trainer-A new train
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3 5 7 Surprised by the friendliness
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TIM ELY A D V ICE FRO M THE A I R I
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R.6 I:>:CJ: the AAF S helicopter, t
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SS I. You on the left, Buddy, appea
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ever .nrivc at a fir',t ~Iid stut i
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p:rinted on the outvi.lc wrt l: ,ih
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tanks and truck-borne infantry and
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FIGHTER CONTROL (Colltilltled from
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Property of tDe Library ARMY INDtJS
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For the Record I)e:lr h!Jtlll Rende
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he Allie's into German-held of the
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H Combat may make you Lazy By Maj.
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..... -; ... The results of two yea
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Production charts show the disaster
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all key points of the factory's 3-+
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HE Fortresses T wings to the took o
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';:'4"'~' .~~~c ~)'~ ~J ~~~ ~" . "
Page 86 and 87: 'l'h is was a YClr ago, but these a
Page 88 and 89: Pulling in His Ne-:I:. Reeelit de,c
Page 90 and 91: When a radio operator makes a mista
Page 92 and 93: Lifeline to the US,S R BY HERBERT R
Page 94 and 95: Ten o'clock of a December morning a
Page 96 and 97: THE MAN WITH THE PRIVATE BREEZE By
Page 98 and 99: THE AIR WAR IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFI
Page 100 and 101: STANDARD FLIGHT INSTRUMENT PANEL E
Page 102 and 103: It 11c:l!,illg l.ot h sidc
Page 104 and 105: , , ,CO:-iTI:-iUI:D ]'\o\\', pacbgi
Page 106 and 107: technique ••• CO]\;Tl:"UED Ne
Page 108 and 109: INSTRUMENT PANEL (Continued from Pa
Page 110 and 111: LIFELINE TO THE US S R ( Cout iuucc
Page 112 and 113: F\lr:RCF'\~CY FOUrp\lr:,\'T luvpcct
Page 114 and 115: 50 COMBAT MAY MAKE YOU LAZY (Contin
Page 116 and 117: EN of the AAF-including the hundred
Page 118 and 119: .I In. ]~rhO:S-':cl the'mll-it:IIT
Page 120 and 121: August 7. Patton kept moving his he
Page 122 and 123: l'Iiavigation Training En Masse. Th
Page 124 and 125: "WE arc not going to bubble over wi
Page 126 and 127: A wood block support; injured legs
Page 128 and 129: Burma. A Japanese light antiaircraf
Page 130: ~ ~,C"= =~=.~7~~ ---,- .... _._. __
Page 134 and 135: HOW ,SHARP ARE YOU? A 'hoto Test of
Page 138 and 139: Tacloban strip \\";IS not sC'ITicca
Page 140 and 141: All Tile Illftl, \\ ,(("d If iii, ,
Page 142 and 143: :lIe fbttle of Hrit.un. IC\i" intru
Page 144 and 145: Underground. ,'~ group of worried m
Page 146 and 147: volunteers between the agcs of II .
Page 148 and 149: I f By Capt. Greer Williams Air SlI
Page 150 and 151: Flaming debris (If njllI, ])1]]1:ll
Page 152: ground fire the pilot should look f
Page 155 and 156: two weeks: Cincinnati. one week: Pi
Page 157 and 158: At 5.000 fed. the pilot opened the
Page 159 and 160: cardboard bombs on their choice of
Page 161 and 162: turn to Traffic Scction, Crcnicr Fi
Page 163 and 164: Oil refineries arc gooel targets, T
Page 165 and 166: Tile air campaign to choke off fuel
Page 167 and 168: fallen into Allied hands, thus maki
Page 169 and 170: Hamburg i lPolilz IMagdeburg 1 I r
Page 171 and 172: He's the guy who holds the life of
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Page 178 and 179: 46 V4ba\'s vnong V4itbtbis pictUfe1
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Page 182 and 183: j ._3 Thirteen days after the 13th
Page 184 and 185: THE ABC OF D-DAY When an invasion i
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By all AIR F( )RCl-: ()\"t'rsc;/s S
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The fighters called for help and th
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A jeep, laden with leftover explosi
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THE ABC OF D-DAY t Cont inu.xl [r o
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By Capt. E. E. Churchill co, isu. A
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- ~ --'fftJMlGa ~II.I - , • - '--
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We're more than 2,300,000 individua
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