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

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H Combat may make you Lazy By Maj. Walker M. Mahurin F. was a good guy. I'd known him in England and I'd f1O\\"I1 with him. I knew he was a fine pilot, a good flight leader and a reasonably eager lieutenant. But here he was in the States, assigned to the kind of job he used to gripe about not ha\'ing~~l11d he was miserable. :\ lost of the time he was sore, sore inside, and the rest of the time he did a lousy job as assistant base operations officer. Somehow his reports, schedules, forms "ere ahl'ays davs behind; he never could be found when he was needed. A{ter three months in this job he still didn't know all the personnel ,,'orking directly under him. \\'hat's more, the people he worked and lived with didn't like him. They resented his arrogance, his sloppiness, his I'\T- been -wi nni ng -th c-war-and-risking-m y-nec k-wh ilc-you' \Tbeen-taking-it-easy-in-the-States attitude. Overseas, he had been a popular member of his group, ~J!\I'aysthe center of a happy gang in the local pub. Bnt in the States he ,,'as playing a lone-wolf role, acting as though nobody around was worth his time. I'd see him in the PX or the canteen, talking to no one and looking as though he'd snap off your head if vou so much as said "hello" to him. I wish I could say he was the only onc of his kind, but after I had visited ~; few more bases' I noticed quite a few like him. And I heard hints in couvcrsations. A base CO once remarked in my prcscncc, "One thing I don't want ~my more of is gun just back from combat. \\'c have too much work to do to take time off to pampcr them." Well, I resented wh.it he said, uuturallv. But I kncw this CO \I'as an honcst hard worker \VIIO meant nothing spite- firl. Not that I hold any brief for those in the States who arc obviously in no hurry to fight, although thcy were trained for combat duty. There arc guys like that and there are people who arc just plain reluctant to gi\e a combat man a chance to adapt h irusclf-s-Ctrs who don't want to disrupt their nice, neat little outfits for anvbodv. However, most of the men who haven't been overseas arc kept here because they have particular specialties that make them more valuable behind the lines than in thcm ; ; The CO who made that remark was this kind of man-one of the best~and I thought about wh.it he said. Then, when I got my new assignmcnt and tried to settle down in a job, I found there were certain tendencies in me that I had to fight. I can't honestly swear that !'IT bcatcu them all yet, but at least I can tell you men still o\TrSC1S"hat to be careful of, and I can gi\e you my ideas on why we get that way. First, in combat jobs, no matter how many hours they gi\'e us on the ground gadgets and no matter how many lectures S-2 arranges, most of us don't have enongh to do when we're not fh'ing. Particularly in theaters like the ETO where weather can keep you on the ground sometimes for davs and days, a guy gets in the habit of lying flat on his hack a good deal of the time. \Ve become students of the horizontal. But we know it's all right. We rationalize it to ourselves by sa:'ing we risk our necks and deserve plcnty of leisure when we're not operational. Well, in a com but zone that attitude is all right. Fighting is what we're there for and if we do our fighting OK that attitude makes sense. Bnt back in the States, where there isn't mnch dying tomorrow or even the next d.iv, it gets a little silk The habit of thinking of yourself as a kind of supcrman who deserves the best the world has to offer [Continued on Pagc 50) Men back from combat frequently have trouble adapting themselves to jobs in the States. Here a fighter pilot with 17 months in the ETO and 21 Nazi planes to his credit gives some reasons why TLT.rS1'I:,\T!O:s" HI' 1'/S(;l', D. BUOt'KEI.T. 5
German aircraft engines. desperately needed by LllfhLlffe, were abandoned after all attack on Nazi hangars outside Paris, 6 In April. 1943, Renault faeton wu-, producing -to trucks daily for Nazis. Allicd bombers stopped all production for a month, four attacks by 8th Air Force heavies levelled the German rail shops at Rheims. Tracks, turnabouts, warehouses, shop buildings, and locomotives were smashed into rubble. AIR FORCE
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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/
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 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
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"WE arc not going to bubble over wi
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A wood block support; injured legs
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Burma. A Japanese light antiaircraf
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~ ~,C"= =~=.~7~~ ---,- .... _._. __
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HOW ,SHARP ARE YOU? A 'hoto Test of
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.. ' Back to the Philippines PART I
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Tacloban strip \\";IS not sC'ITicca
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All Tile Illftl, \\ ,(("d If iii, ,
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:lIe fbttle of Hrit.un. IC\i" intru
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Underground. ,'~ group of worried m
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volunteers between the agcs of II .
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I f By Capt. Greer Williams Air SlI
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Flaming debris (If njllI, ])1]]1:ll
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ground fire the pilot should look f
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two weeks: Cincinnati. one week: Pi
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At 5.000 fed. the pilot opened the
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cardboard bombs on their choice of
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turn to Traffic Scction, Crcnicr Fi
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Oil refineries arc gooel targets, T
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Tile air campaign to choke off fuel
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fallen into Allied hands, thus maki
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Hamburg i lPolilz IMagdeburg 1 I r
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He's the guy who holds the life of
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46 V4ba\'s vnong V4itbtbis pictUfe1
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j ._3 Thirteen days after the 13th
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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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