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

Here's how controllers direct the planes that are blasting a path into Germany
Fifteen minutes later 1\ lark had taken his look and rcported
enough enemy trucks and horso-druwn equipment
for an army.
"lIc says he went clown and looked, and that the stuff
has cross~s on it," the controller said.
Squadrons hung OITr the ground procession at :\!ons
nntil new squadrons came in and briefed them. E,ery
few minutes, word went out from fighter control that
idcntifieation must he poxit ivc. Later the Army liaison officer
reported that the stnff Il'as enemy, :dthough in a fell"
places it was only a fell" hundreds of yards from our own
armor which Iyas on the move.
Lt. Jack Russell, one of the chief controllers, looked ut
the status board of the groups and squadrons .md casually
diverted some of their missions, The schedule on which
they were flying had been made in the office of i\laj, Cen.
E. R. Ques:lcla, eOllllnanding the 9th Tactical Air Commaud.
"\\'hile on dub' :IS controllers, a lot of captains .md
[icutcn.mts here," Lt. Rnssell said, "have more rCII nuthoritv
than m.mv colonels." '
Over t(le VI II,' phone one could hear :1 f.iiut voice, that
of a squadron leader, "Cct your can up here," it Il'as saying.
"For once damn it, get your can up here whcr« you bclona!"
llc didn't repeat the message so it II':\S assumed that
a pilot had brought his plane np to its proper place in the
forma t ion ,
As the duv went on, xmnc of the controllers told me
about the ae'ti,'ities of the I,'ing and the squadron which
runs figh tcr con trol.
"It was like workins; in a store with sales slips," CI]Jt.
Vance Il. Taylor said of the big brc.rk-th rough days.
"We were handling from 1,300 to ] .son sorties ada\'.
.\ fellow would mention a target and I would hand a sl~]J
of paper to another man and then in :1 fell" minutes back
would come the slip of paper reading 'target destroyed'."
After the breakthrough at St. 1,0 and the mnking over
of the luluisc pocket. the American, Cunadi.m and British
.mnics swarmed OITr Europe, ovcrruuniug Ccrm.mv's nell
empire as the J'\azis had run over Europe four ye:Jrs before
-and fighter-bombers of the 9th were leading the way,
The operation of fighter control appears relatively simple
when you sec it. Planes arc in the air and their pilots call
back by radio to tell what they arc doing, what they sce
and where thcv arc. Or if thcv arc not certain exactly
where they :Jre: controllers can c;sih' find out bv means (if
a radio ':fix" through Direction f,'incling sL,t!ons, Men
rcccivins; this information think it OI'lT and if things seem
to be doing all right they say "Roger" and get off the air.
In case there is something nell' for the pl.mcs to do the
pilots arc told about it, like this Sund.iv xtul] .rt Mons for
example. Bnt actually, fighter control represents one of
the most complex air \":Jrning and connuunic.u ions nets
in wurf.irc, and its men arc among the most .rblc and best
trained in the Armv.
'Lhut's whv, lyitlJ(~ut batting an eye, a captain will depart
from the orders set clown by a major gener:d and send airpLlnes
far from the places they were origin:dh' assigned to
go, In case the decision calls for a definite change of policy,
the captain naturally consults higher authorities, but 9th
Air Force leaders have considerable confidence in their
controllers, Moreover, the LItter have utmost confidence in
tlu-msclvc« and in the pilots with whom they work.
Capt. Lucius C. Tirey, who came in on the LIte shift,
began talking of rccoun.uss.mcc. "You've got to remember
one group, a t.rctical rcconnaixsa ncc outfit," he said, "You've
seen them flling around, twopl.rnc teams, one maybe flying
]ell'! while the other goes up on one Il'ing and then
on the other to look things OITr. Those hoys arc beautiful
pilots and beautiful soldiers, and the fll'ing thcv do would
knock you out, Irom daylight to d.irk, they arc the best
there is on recognition, and when they tell you something
is cncmv. it's cucmv If they don't know it's cucurv thcv
II00d t~'ll yOU it is: And "i,en the weather is b.ul. the~'
go out on' weather reconnaissance flights jnst to find on't
how bad things really are,"
]\ raj. Joseph J. Cody, senior controller, came OI'lT ;llld
leaned agaimt a wall. They say he is u-uullv le:lning ag:limt
something or sitting on something, "The hoys get so
(Cout inucd Oil )':I£;C () ') )
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