“Nevers”44 pages
- p. 43 …cavalry mounted on gas driven flying horses” never arrived to
“sweep the Germans from the sky…
- p. 46 …Mitchell never received an American air force commensurate with
the ambitious idens of air power which…
- p. 49 …This project, like so many others, had lagged, and the Air Service was
never equipped during…
- p. 50 …the Army or the Air Corps?” but never, “Are
you in the Army or the Corps…
- p. 55 …any Air Service officers, and I have never heard
anybody yet-any Air Service officer-against…
- p. 69 …But one axiom,
with its corollaries, never varied. T o him the airplane was first and…
- p. 75 …Powerful air attacks resolutely pressed home could never be
completely stopped, but their effects could best…
- p. 94 …rate for the time being, the decision never-
theless left an open question as to how…
- p. 121 …large-scale warfare; production of combat types never exceeded 300
aircraft a month. The pattern of…
- p. 122 …the German Air Force, the
Regia Aeronautica never exhibited sufficient power to be decisive in
the…
- p. 133 …Except for a few raids against French
factories, the force had never been employed in a…
- p. 140 …into
a complete war economy production was never equal to the demands
of our own forces…
- p. 150 …Long-term needs
of the Air Corps and the sudden availability of funds in quantities
never…
- p. 181 …Actually, the Air Staff had
never approved of the method followed in RAINBOW No. 5 . l…
- p. 217 …Members of the Hawaiian Air Force, who had never flown
heavy bombers, began to receive intensive…
- p. 219 …were not then satisfactory for permanent garrisons. Never-
theless, the commander of the Hawaiian Department, Lt…
- p. 227 …T h e planes never reached their destination. Other
bombardment units were being prepared for transfer…
- p. 241 …responsible officers, a few crucial points
have never been satisfactorily explained.
T h e general pattern…
- p. 277 …motors, sole-
noids, and gun mounts-were never found. After many hours of fruit-
less search…
- p. 288 …planners and
from which AAF Headquarters was never to deviate.
The translation of the accepted grand…
- p. 303 …the principal features of the plan
were never challenged, it was subsequently revised in a draft…
- p. 309 …W a r Plans Division was
never incorporated into GHQ and remained a potential rival to…
- p. 336 …the shooting and wrote that they were never
able to make out an airplane.g6It is…
- p. 412 …As it happened, the B-24's never
returned to India, but, instead, remained in the…
- p. 457 …Meanwhile the Edsall with the remaining
pilots had headed for Java, never to be heard from…
- p. 492 …Squadron was assigned, but which it would never reach, going from
Australia to Tongatabu; ( 3 ) Christmas…
- p. 500 …deck of a carrier presented a problem never
before challenged by Army planes. Hence an accelerated…
- p. 502 …the bows and wetting the flight deck. Never before had this been
accomplished, yet now it…
- p. 509 …Island, in the
Louisiade Archipelago.” They were never needed, for on 7-8 May
the two…
- p. 513 …exist, it was at a point which never reached the
aircrews, for on the operational level…
- p. 524 …handicaps under which
AAF planes had operated. Never were more than fourteen B- I 7’s…
- p. 527 …AAF planners clung firmly to their belief that
proper observance of economy of force would never…
- p. 531 …Crews which had
previously never loaded torpedoes now for the first time fitted these
weapons into…
- p. 544 …But the Japanese never at
any time based their bombers in appreciable numbers a t either…
- p. 548 …26's in torpedo-dropping, but they never would be put into
All told, the record…
- p. 556 …until it had been thoroughly trained and never to com-
mit it piecemeal. General Magruder had…
- p. 560 …pressed into service against the Germans," and never reached the
CBI." Colonel Haynes had reached India…
- p. 606 …reason that the Antilles Air Task Force
never evolved, as did I Bomber Command, into an…
- p. 614 …that reason deserving a high
priority, could never dispose of the U-boat menace but must…
- p. 635 …In Washington the Munitions Assign-
ments Board t had never considered this schedule as more than…
- p. 670 …they bombed from 39,200 feet, and never
below 30,000. By AAF standards they had…
- p. 672 …Goering had never put enough bombers over England,
nor had he concentrated his forces on the…
- p. 690 …of co-operation and combined action probably never
before equaled by the military forces of two…
- p. 729 …shoot at aerial targets, and several
had never operated a turret in the air. This deficiency…
P E A R L H A R B O R A N D C L A R K F I E L D
night of 9/ I o December, Lt. Grant Mahoney, flying a P-40 on recon-
naissance, brought definite warning of approaching convoys.6o
Units of the Japanese Third Fleet sortied from Formosa early on the
morning of 10 December. Their missions were to effect a landing at
Aparri in the extreme north of Luzon and another at Vigan on the
northwest coast in operations preliminary to the main landing on Lin-
gayen Gulf. For the accomplishment of these objectives, the convoy
had been divided into three task forces: one for each landing and a
third, which included cruisers, to provide general support as required.
Alerted by the approach of these forces, the Far East Air Force deter-
mined to oppose the enemy landings as best it could with heavy
bombers supported by a strong pursuit escort. Accordingly, five
B-17’s and the P-4oE’s of the I 7 t h Pursuit Squadron and the P-35’~of
the 34th were prepared for an early mission. At 0600 the B - I ~ ’ s ,led
by Major Combs, took off from Clark Field and, before reaching the
target area in the neighborhood of Vigan, were joined by planes of the
17th Squadron. T h e B-17’s, each loaded with 2 0 x roo-lb. demolition
bombs, chose a number of transports already engaged in unloading
troops and supplies. T w o bomb runs were carried out by four bomb-
ers from an altitude of 1 2 , 0 0 0 and 1 2 , 5 0 0 feet, respectively. T h e fifth
B-17, piloted by Lt. Elliott Vandevanter, Jr., swept in first at 10,000
and then at 7,000 feet. Though antiaircraft fire remained fierce at the
completion of the bombing, the P-40’s came down for a strafing attack
on the ships and on the Japanese who had already reached shore.
Meanwhile, the slower P-35’s of the 34th Squadron had arrived on
the scene of action. These almost obsolete planes had neither armor
protection nor leak-proof tanks, but they too “strafed and restrafed
the invaders.” As Lt. Samuel H. Marrett, squadron commander, led
his flight in “one final and successful strafing dive,” one of the trans-
ports exploded, destroying both Marrett and his plane. Another P-3 5
was lost, but the pilot escaped.‘l Though the B-17’s had succeeded in
scoring a number of hits, this one vessel apparently represented
the only major loss by the enemy.62
Another mission scheduled for Maj. Emmett O’Donnell’s 14th
Squadron had been delayed by the necessity of flying from San Mar-
celino to Clark for refueling and bomb-loading, and then had been
further delayed by a warning of approaching Japanese planes. Finally,
five B-17’~’having been made ready, took off individually. Three of
them, piloted by Major O’Donnell, Capt. E.L. Parsel, and Lt. G.R.
* ‘ 5