Air Force the Official Service Journal - Air Force Historical Studies ...

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-
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