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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Flaming debris (If njllI, ])1]]1:lleI ) \1. I\I:I/.l']('(', l'''IIIIII.llleleT "f till' IIIC;II- '"\-:11\ till' pl.rn "f vour :JI!:w/.'. if pm'ihk. )"1111Cliid II'l l\t \ll,rllle; \111'!:IIIe; c;rlllip ill Brit:111l - tlu \;lllll' phil !I\llC'. l.» Llrc;l'h'lll'll :1\ lllll\I'\" or t r.un-. '"\\ IllII 11l\ e;rl'llp i, :I"ie;lll'ci tIl ,tLlfe.:1 p.nt icul.u ]:Irc;l] I :I'/. f"f :ill tllc p!Jlltlle;Llpll' .rv.ul.ibk, I \\:lllt 111\int cll i ~'lll(,(' IdliceT Itl e;d tln Ill'\t illfmlll:JlIIIII Ill' ClIII' I'll till I 11\11:1111 iLt elm\11I" :iI)IIIJI !I\" Ilr t lucc: tllllll':llld kl'l. , e;lt dlll~th meT it :Illd "" dC1\\11ill :1 ::(i t" oil ck"r('(' dl\c I kll ]lli~ lll:ILk\ IIIC tIl l"IIl'l'IIILlk 111\ firc'. 'I d" nut cldlll'C, t lic pillpC'lIllt ]1",itl"l1\ 1,(:fl.ik ]111\t" .m.] Ilm\ 111:111\ c"Il'llln hlrc;n :1 \\'llrtll\\llik Llrc;l'l lillie-" .IIItell ic;C'llCTiu.!i- ;:IIlT:lft .u« rlpmtul I" lx "II t l.; lillc]' I \\:lllt t" lllll\\ .vh.rt l:ltl\ 11ll'\ .m npl"'I\l' t:lr:;d' \!:ICllilll' '
Here are the do's and don'ts of ground strafing from combat reports of fighter pilots of the 8th Air Force. There is some variation in the advice they offer, but all of it is battle-tested "But on trains ami eOlI\oys where you eneonnter no return fire, vou must make cvcrv bullet count. \\e lost sonic ~IE-l O')s (:ne day because not a d.unu soul in the group had any bullets left." Col. Avclin 1'. Taeon, Jr., also a ""lustang group coinmaudcr, permits his pilots to work out their own tactics in strafing ground tngets. "On the mechanics of strafing there arc as m~ll1Y 0Pll1ions as there arc pilots," according to 'lucou. "Some helicvc in surprise at the sacrifice of speed. This is accomplished hy getting down to d.uxv-top lC\cl several miles from the target aud follO\\ing a road or other luudm.rrk into the target. These boys like to avoid all \illages and pop over the trees, shoot up the target and get the hell ,I\\'a)' on the deck, reforming and regailllng altitude some five or ten miles a\\'ay. "The other school of though t hkes to come around the target at about -+.(JOO feet, look it mer, and then clive in with around -+:;0 011 the clock, shoot up the target, stay low, .md get ~I\\ay, reforming ~l\\"l:' from the target. Both systems have their a(hantages .md disa(hantages. Inasmuch as it's his own neck we let the pilots clo it the \\a:' they prefer. "But one thing that cvcrvboclv agrees on is the absolute nccc-sitv of .nmcd fire as opposed to 'hosing the area'." Ccrta in hpes of grolmd targets should he avoided particularlv if the objective isn't worth the risk, according to Co!. !\o:' \\', Osborn, conuna ndcr of a Lightning group. "TIllS in my opinion, is the most important lesson we ca n lc.un about ground attack," he says. "A qucstiouablc target that otters only a small chance for success should be avoided. It is a hard lesson to learn but our group learned it the hurd \\'ay. One clay, one of our flights went clown to strafe an airfield in France. 1\:0 aircraft were visible, but the attack \\'as made anvliow. Ont of the four aircraft attacking. three were lost' including the flight couunaudcr, and the foiuth \\as hacll:' shot np and c.uuc home on one engine. There were no claims; there had been no target to warrant the attack. There muvt alwuvs been a 'clown to earth' sense of value in rcg.rrd to targ~ts to be attacked and losses to be risked." ~Lrj. Kenneth \V. Gallup, member of a Th undcrho] t group, believes that in areas where there IS little flak or DECEMBER,1944 •.,s: :".,~~ "A good steep approach gin's '1I1 ,-",trcillch hc.rvv COIICClItLltioll of bullct« ill one spot." Lncur, vehicle wrecked by lIghter stratlllg. .::....L_. -."""~ __ "Airfields arc the most difficult .md elaugcrOlls of groulld Lllgcts. Pick out a target as \OU go dO\\'lI-a plane. a hallgar or a gllu." 1 9
Page 1 and 2:
~J 1 AIR FOftCES * OCTOBER 1944
Page 3 and 4:
Rendezvous Who Is He? Dear Editor:
Page 5 and 6:
[us: ,dlat is tIle AAI'I'DC~ It is
Page 7 and 8:
oads and bridges and military imtal
Page 9 and 10:
Here's how controllers direct the p
Page 11 and 12:
sengcr and courier service in areas
Page 13 and 14:
GET WISE Here are a few of the easi
Page 15 and 16:
Airborne soldiers. shown here durin
Page 17 and 18:
Smoke in background is fruin [up.ui
Page 19 and 20:
It has pronounced step characterist
Page 21 and 22:
TIIC{"II""IIIi; ;lItidc j, till' I/
Page 23 and 24:
OCTOBER,1944 The first thing the a\
Page 25 and 26:
YOUR ENEMY All ;Iirer;!ft fllillg o
Page 27 and 28:
->",i" .""tJnil'et hj/'- By Col. Do
Page 29 and 30:
28 011 BOll~aiIldk is quicklv unloa
Page 31 and 32:
the plane landed, a jccp would driv
Page 33:
THE PHiliPPINES DISTANCES SHOWN IN
Page 36 and 37:
The economic system of the Philippi
Page 38 and 39:
The AAF's homing pigeons are recogn
Page 40 and 41:
Our aviation engineers had to fight
Page 42 and 43:
---- technique • -- - --- . RUNWA
Page 44 and 45:
High Intensity Controlled Lighting
Page 46 and 47:
Attached to a flyer's ear, the Oxim
Page 48 and 49:
Automatic Pilot Trainer-A new train
Page 50 and 51:
3 5 7 Surprised by the friendliness
Page 52 and 53:
TIM ELY A D V ICE FRO M THE A I R I
Page 54 and 55:
R.6 I:>:CJ: the AAF S helicopter, t
Page 56 and 57:
SS I. You on the left, Buddy, appea
Page 58 and 59:
ever .nrivc at a fir',t ~Iid stut i
Page 60 and 61:
p:rinted on the outvi.lc wrt l: ,ih
Page 62 and 63:
tanks and truck-borne infantry and
Page 64 and 65:
FIGHTER CONTROL (Colltilltled from
Page 68 and 69:
Property of tDe Library ARMY INDtJS
Page 70 and 71:
For the Record I)e:lr h!Jtlll Rende
Page 72 and 73:
he Allie's into German-held of the
Page 74 and 75:
H Combat may make you Lazy By Maj.
Page 76 and 77:
..... -; ... The results of two yea
Page 78 and 79:
Production charts show the disaster
Page 80 and 81:
all key points of the factory's 3-+
Page 82 and 83:
HE Fortresses T wings to the took o
Page 84 and 85:
';:'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 136 and 137: .. ' Back to the Philippines PART I
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 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
Page 174 and 175: :::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::
Page 176 and 177: :::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::
Page 178 and 179: 46 V4ba\'s vnong V4itbtbis pictUfe1
Page 180 and 181: :::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::
Page 182 and 183: j ._3 Thirteen days after the 13th
Page 184 and 185: THE ABC OF D-DAY When an invasion i
Page 186 and 187: By all AIR F( )RCl-: ()\"t'rsc;/s S
Page 188 and 189: The fighters called for help and th
Page 190 and 191: A jeep, laden with leftover explosi
Page 192 and 193: THE ABC OF D-DAY t Cont inu.xl [r o
Page 194 and 195: By Capt. E. E. Churchill co, isu. A
Page 196 and 197: - ~ --'fftJMlGa ~II.I - , • - '--
Page 198: We're more than 2,300,000 individua
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?