News Letter 1941 Jul-Dec - Air Force Historical Studies Office

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HEADQUARTERS ARMY AIR FORCES WASHINGTON, D. C. THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER VOL. 24 SEPTEMBER, 1941 NO. 15 THE COVER The first colors of the Regiment of Aviation Cadets, at Randolph Field, are presented to Aviation Cadet Robert E. Crowley, Cadet Regimental Captain, by Col. I. H. Edwards, commanding officer of the Texas flight center. CONTENTS MATA HARI WITH A GLASS EYE . . . . • . . • • . . • . . . . . . . . • • • • . 1 Work of the Photo Interpretors ASSICNdENT TO NEWFaJNDLAND •• Our New Bases: First of a Series 0VERS1UFFED AERIAL WAron.£N ••••••••••••••••••••••••. 9 Development of the Barrage Balloon WARRICRS FRCN THE SKY • • • • • • • Parachute Troops and the Air Forces RElATIVE RANKS IN THE wcmJ)'S AIR FCRCES A Comparison Table THEY ncr THEMSELVES AWAY . • • • . • Retractable Landing Gear Development MANEUVERS IN THE S
Photo Interpretation MATA HARI WITH A GLASS EYE 8y Lieut. Derryfield N. Smith '.. The aerial camera is causing a widespread technological unemployment among spies these days, for this one-eyed Mata Hari of the blitzkrieg era supplies an estimated 80 per cent of the military information by which modern strategy is decided. Of times the report of this high-flying mechanical spy is the sole basis for a GHQ decision on major tactical or strategic moves. Often official conmuniques conment: "Enemy planes flew over but no damage was done." The damage is coming later. That was an aerial camera attack. A human secret agent can direct his attention to only one objective at a time, while an aerial camera with a single wink of its eye can observe everything within a given number of square miles, and area varying with its particular equipment and altitude. Not only better than the human eye in daylight, it can also work the night shift without lessening its effectiveness, and can see through eye-baffling haze. Without passport, false whiskers or invisible ink, the aerial camera, penetrating enemy territory at an altitude of two and one-half miles, can make an instantaneous record of all that goes on over an area of more than six square miles, on a single seven by nine inch photographic plate. Blinking the shutter eye as rapidly as once every six seconds, the camera super-spy may be able to turn in 500 or more accurate, complete, concentrated photographic reports from a single reconnaissance flight. Each report is an unposed, candid-camera portrait of a six square mile patch of the enemy, with its bony structure of hills, it~ river arteries, its clothing of verdure and farm crops, its nervous system of transmission and communications lines, its prominent features of factories, cities, mines and airports. But while the aerial camera sees all, it is the photo interpreter who must know all and tell all. To the untrained eye, the aerial photograph is a confused patchwork of the landscape's major features reduced smaller than the Lord's Prayer on a pinhead, The photo interpreter must decode the camera's compact report and expand it into: 1) a photographic map, with vital spots marked more clearly than with x's, and 2) a verbal report, commenting on any unusual activity shown, and con. jecturing on its possible military significance. Working behind the scenes of this modern war of multiple fronts and shifting objectives, the interpreter knows it may be less important to blow up a steel and concrete pillbox fort than to destroy the plants supplying the steel and the concrete. By comparing photographs taken at intervals of 24 hours or several days, he can deduce that damaged armaments plants are in production again, or that railroad cars are being assembled to move supplies to ~he front, After sending the flying camera on a quick reconnaissance tour of railroad yards in certain key areas, he can discover that munitions and supplies are being moved toward the enemy's western frontier. On successive photographs of a compact area he can also spot where new batteries are being set up, oil depots established or tanks assembled. By piecing together over lapping aer ial photographs in a stereogram, he obtains a three-dimensional view, and can tell whether a certain dark line is a hedge, a path or a ravine. If it proves to be a ravine, he can tell how deep it is. The precision which work on aerial photographs can achieve is exemplified by a computation based on the ..highes t" photograph ever made, the vert ical photo made by Lieut. Col. A. W. Stevens at an altitude of 13.1 miles above the earth from the stratosphere balloon of the United States Army- National Geographic Stratosphere Expedition in 1935. Capt, B. B. Talley of the United States Engineers computed that the photograph was taken at an altitude of 72,290 feet, only 0.11 per cent less than official barograph readings. The use of the lens as a secret agent, if not a secret weapon, has forced belligerents to develop camouflage to new heights of concealment and deception. What the aerial photo records as a hillside may be a hidden hangar. That innocent country crossroads may be merely whitewashed lines across the surface of a disguised airport. So the first duty of a photo interpreter is to suspect, as a counter-camouflage precaution. Even color photography has been enlisted to bring before his careful scrutiny, for instance, the slight difference in color between living foliage and wilted branches cut for camouflage. The natural protection of darkness and blackout strategy h~~ ~~e it almost axiomatic for military leaders to make their important secret moves at night. ,ThB.{l!ts'\,to, the experiments of the Materiel Division, great strides have been made in the field of night photography. It is now possible to penetrate the darkness with specially controlled flash
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Pag"! Reorganizat
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THE BIG BABY SOLOED B,19 Test Fligh
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ENLISTED PILOTS BEGIN TRAINING Gulf
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CABBAGE AND X-C DON'T MIX World War
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___ --' ...J '- _ .. ,._-J "' --l..
Page 13 and 14:
SIXTEEN NEW FIELDS "CHRISTENED" A D
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MAXWELL MANEUVERS TEACH FIELD DUTIE
Page 17 and 18: FLEDGLING SON OF FAtvf.OUS FATHER C
Page 19 and 20: FRESNO BASE FIRST SINCE CIVIL WAR T
Page 21 and 22: ......J .... _ ...... A rest camp f
Page 23 and 24: ------- ----- -----.. ---- --- -- -
Page 25 and 26: THE JOB OF AIR CORPS TEST PILOTS Mu
Page 27 and 28: A ... .&. ... "'.....J.....J -.,.,.
Page 29 and 30: .All tb1'ee f01'lll8 of converted i
Page 31 and 32: KEEP ,EM FLYING! Blood and hunger,
Page 34 and 35: GENERAL ANDREWS COMMANDS THE CARIlm
Page 36 and 37: The Army Air Forces' first glider,
Page 38 and 39: GUDERS ••• (Ooncluded) spect
Page 40 and 41: WE LEARNED... llpee!. So8riDg 18 a0
Page 42 and 43: 'The dive bomber is used to support
Page 44 and 45: THEN THIS... and we were still ing
Page 46 and 47: increased it. al t1tude of flight 4
Page 48 and 49: ALASK.A Lalld 1l.Btd: Hcmgar und e:
Page 50 and 51: LANDING various materials under con
Page 52 and 53: 8pecialized training for their part
Page 54 and 55: SOVIET .•. low al ti tude or llhe
Page 56 and 57: "VIET ." (Ooncluded) Junker-87 bomb
Page 58 and 59: WE LEAIlJWED... (Concluded) nights.
Page 60 and 61: FACILITIES. •• (Concluded) twee
Page 62 and 63: Whenever a birth occurs. all physic
Page 64 and 65: SUPPORT ••• (Concluded) deliv
Page 66: C friend? ) ( foe?) < •
Page 71 and 72: , .! J, I t .':';'1 ~ ~ It':::. , .
Page 73 and 74: Our New Bases AsslgDlDent to Newfou
Page 75 and 76: THE JIR FORCES NEWS LETTER .. of th
Page 77 and 78: OVERSTUFFEDAERIAL WATCHMEN Barrage
Page 79 and 80: Warriors By Oliver Townsend from th
Page 81: RELATIVE RANK IN WORLD'S AIR FORCES
Page 84 and 85: could outdo Rube Goldberg. Be has t
Page 86 and 87: THE dIR FORCES Nr:WS U:TTr:R and ap
Page 88 and 89: Wanted: More Pilots RESERVE OFFICER
Page 90 and 91: THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER would be
Page 92 and 93: THE AIR FORCE8 NEW'S LETTER The que
Page 94 and 95: THE ,1IR FORCES NEIPS LETTER believ
Page 96 and 97: THE .IlIR FORCES NEWS LETTER The of
Page 98 and 99: THE AIR FORCES NEil'S LETTER CARlAD
Page 100 and 101: THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER fer the
Page 102: SUPPLY DIVISION KNOW YOUR AIR~RAFT
Page 105 and 106: Loulsl ••• Maneuvers End Supp
Page 107 and 108: IN THE FIELD WITH THE ARMY AIR FORC
Page 109 and 110: ---0 - - - 0- ---- THE WINGED By Ol
Page 111 and 112: Air OperadoDs In Alaska By Lieut. J
Page 113 and 114: THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER is about
Page 115 and 116: furways .1 rarnc \.JUIIUUI AERIAL T
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the danger from aircraft falling or
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.. An Equipment Review GERMAN AIRCR
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Graham CA-ackersfor Grounded Flyers
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A Veteran Retires FRANK P. LAHM APP
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New Marine Air Units MORE FEATHERS
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Wholesale Mess nail Feeding Them by
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The Bristol LIght Bom.ber Night Fig
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THE MONTH IN REVIEW hy FALK HARMEL
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Your Lite insurance SELF PROTECTION
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en eng ing the application. It is h
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LAHM .•• (Continued From Page 1
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"I I., K.NOW YOUR AIR~RAFT
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HEADQUARTERS ARMY AIR FORCES WASHIN
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THE .tIIR FORCES NEWS LETTER . ;:..
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THF ATR FORCES NEWS LETTER ,I I whe
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THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER chanical
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C I ~ . fjQ III ....
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he reports direction and distance f
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DEFENSE 0 00 (Continued From P.~. 1
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e shown repeatedly if necessar,. Fi
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THE AIR FORCES NliWS LETTER has in
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Air Forees Seareh Oeean Flight Ende
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"E" Awards at Langley Engineering M
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accessory emergency unit (emergency
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NOVEMBER F941 Further Expansion Und
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THE AIR FORCES NEWS LETTER Decorati
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would have been consumed in filling
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£AMEIlA ••• \Continued 'r_ P
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News Letter 1941 Jul-Dec - Air Force Historical Studies Office

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