Naval Aviation News - Mar 1943

8/6/2019 Naval Aviation News - Mar 1943

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Save a Pilot . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Save a Plane . . 3

Flight Statistics . .. .. .. .. I IIo jt

Dl d You Eno 'II'? 10

Fleet Airoraft '. . . . . .. 17

Training . . . . . . 19

Shore St at ions . . . . 28

Overheard . . . . . . . . . 39

Technicall}' Spea.king ,.. . 47

Air Warfare Diary . .... . ~ 54

BUREAU OF AERONAUTICS NAVY DEPARTMENT


4/61

SAVE A PILOTT n I n kLng 01' bail:lng out o'v e r a

swamp? Probably not, at th e moment--but In c a se that time should comealong, it m:lght be well to rememberwhat happened here.

Forced to bllil out o'ver the Flol"ldaEverglades, this U.S. N~vy studentpilot follows instructions by standingon bis spread 'chute in a clearing.This practlce facilitates search asthe light colored 'chutes are eas11yseen f'rom the sky. The sprea(i chutealso temporarily prevents the pilotfrom bogging down in the swamp. Teamwork goes into action when the pilot(if a Navy plane spots the stranded"flyer and guides an amphibian t.rac to r'(or maybe you call it a "swamp buggy")

; to th~ scene.And in the absence of a "swamp

buggy- the Navy can still s ave a pilot.One ingenious fllgbt surgeon has de-vis ed a swamp rna t connee ted by long


5/61

.strips of doubled canvas. Other help-ful reseue 117emS" inola-de 511' amp sno es,swamp skJs, and a swamp sled. Thestio es are pa.tterned if'ter snow shoesIUld ad.m1.rably serve the purpose. 'Thewamp sled takes the place of'a swampwagon, with facilJt ies for tbe nec-

Assary equipment.- . -Both engines de ad , an SNR-l from thea-ke City, Florida, Naval >Air Stationecen t 1 Y made a :for oed J and in g in aree-fringed~ alligator-infested lakehat 1s 1 OClL ted in the TIl idst of a largeut1le.n tine t.Imbe r t r-ae t .

A good J andf ng was made under diffl-u I tcircumstances, but the ai rplaneo r-po tsed (me8 1 then cl i 'ved in to themurky ~hter and as jt sank,- water-o op ed aIm o s t 180 0 So rap Ldl y d,j dle p Larre go unde r that th e crew e s-ape d with difficulty, making shore in

a rubber 1 i 1'e r a r t,The aircraft Was practically new and

much ne~de4 for training. The extentof the darnag~ could not be seen dueto the darkness of the wate~ and thep0E;sibi1i ty of salvaging the plane wass omewhat in d oub t.j also, t.he manner of1 anding and the a. t ti tude of the Pl aneseemed to dim the pros-pect of intactsalvage '.

Neve~theless, it wa s decided toraise the pl ane and t'Toa t- r t intactto a sloping beach 8 mile from whereit Jay.

The answer was a r ig based on home-made -pontoons using th~rty-two 54-gaJloH steel 011 drums for flotationand chain hoists to ~aise the planefrom the Jake'~ bottom, so it could betowed.

These drums have apprOXimatelyll'i,OOa pounds of' buoyanqy. 1'/1th somewater in the wingsa the ai rplane w~s

SAV A PLAN

3


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as timated to weigh 9,000 pounds, while'the Lumber , d r ums and oth~r flotationge 6 . 1 " " added an o the r 3,000 pounds.. Th i sg~ve a net buoyancy of 3,000 poundswhich p r o've d more than adequa. te toraise the ai rcraf t .

Four floats were censtructed on

the spot, each consist~ng of e ightdrums, whi ch were bor rowed from a gas 0-l ine dealer. They were held togetherin a wooden framework of' 2-inch roughlumber.

On top of each f loa t an 8XB columnWB.S countersunk and furtil.er held inplace by angle-lranw.Two of t he rIC! a t s were made in to aset by mounting an 8x8 beau on toy ofthe columns of' t.wo :floats.

The set was constructed to straddle

comfortably a Wing of the SNB-l. Twnsets , one on ei ther Ride of the ai r-craft , ""ere beld together by a pa I r of8x8 cross-pieces joined to the hori -zonta l beams which were also used tosupport two chain hoists. The fallswere in turn attached to the a i rplaneby the regular hoist~ng eyes in theWings.

Each set was towed to the a lr pla ne~p.u t l.n p Lac e , and then the cr0SS-pieces mounted. This made a Simple,bu f strong, support for t.ne plane tobe hoisted upon.

With the chain falls, the a~rcraftwas hoisted until the wings were awash.The whole rig and airplane were thentdwed a mile to the , b e a c h by a dt,nghymounting a 10-borse power outboardmotor,

On reaching the beach the wheelswere cranked down, the w~ngs removedand the aircraft pulled ashore by 8.4-wheel dr ive truck, af ter the Toadto tbe beaoh Was readied by cutt inga wide enough path through tbe treesthat ~rew up to ,the water ' s edge .

T he ai rcraft was hoisted on to af la t-body open-bed truck and takensix ty miles to the Naval Air Stationat Jackso~v l1Ie , F lor idR, where allIDRjOr overhaul work is done for thelakeCi ty Station.

Preliminary e~am~n8tion before

t ranspor t ing showed, surpr isinglyenough, sl ight structural damage tothe. aircraft and tha t i t was c ompLe t eo1ysal vag able.

After initial assembly of the f lota-t io n g ea r- -w hi ch is now b e L ng k ep t incase of another lake f or ce d la ndi ng--

sa lvage operations took only three days.Unti] r-etnova I of ' the wings, the crew

at var ious times was only five to eightmen, working a. tota l of abOut IOO-manhours for less than $100.00 to bringback an aircraf t t .ha . t soon again willbe giv ing students ope r a t Iona l tr aini ngbefore they legve for the far cornersof the world.

Army Bas Version Of SB2C-l

Described as having "greater speed,range and str~king power.than any.dive bomber now In action, It the fi rstgf a~ undisclosed nu~ber of a newtype of dive-bomber. deSi gna te d Cur ti ssA-25'S, already has been deliveredfrom its Missour i plant to the AAF.The warplane Is an Army version ofthe Navy Curtiss (SB2C-l) He l1di ver .In fact , i t 1s said that wi th minorchanges 1 t can be used by e t fh e r theArmy or Navy. It is a two-plac~,

mid-Wing monoplane powered with a1700 hpJ ~r ight Cyclone engine ~ndequipped with electr ic propeller an~retractable landing gear. T he f i rstA-25 was test-f lown some t ime agoand presented formally to the AAF onChristmas Eve. The factory f l ighttests, obse~vers sa id, were ~~erys a t i s r a c t o r y e , A major e x p a ns Lo nprogram at the Missour i plant hasbeen carr ied out. with a shi f t inemphasis from t he ~ ro du ct io n of other

Army and Navy ai rplanes to that ofthe A-25. Quanti ty production nowis underway.


7/61

FormatiOn. Take-Off Ac-cident;- it

diVision of F4F-4 'S , in over load con-di t.f on , was ma.king a formatl0n take-ot'_fwith a. wind approximate ly 6 knots broadon the- port bow. One a.t rpla.ne swervedapprox~&ately 60 degrees to the leftduring tbe take-off run. The ~ilotmaintained full power and attempted tocontinue his take-ofL He became a:H-borne near the edge of the field, butcrashed Into obs truct~onswhich res u'l t-ed in falal injuries.

BUREAU CO JJNE-NT: -Current ins tTUC-t i ons rul ly expla inthe Margina l ruddercontrol o r this airplane for take-offswith wind on the port bow. Formation

take-offs with fu ll ove r load underthese adverse condi t ions appear un-warranted. Rudder mOdirications toeliminate this condition are now undertest.

The pilot in tbis case made a seri-ous error in judgment in attempting tocontinue take-off after encounteringdif f icult ie~ which made a successfultake-off doublful. Thi.s type of p i Lo terrol ' was r e c e n.tLy repor te .d on underthe heading ~The Lesser of Two Evi lsf t ,

Forced Landi~ t5 At iea:- Duringr ecant 18-month per iod 4 i j forced

ndings at sea, (Bpi tish, "d l t .eh Lng")ave bae~ reported for oarrier basedrcraft. Landings reported in thisategory include only pllot -conlrollBdndings ~ade at sea, due to engineai lure , ga s shortage. etc.

There are severa l p01nts of interesthich appear i n connection with theseorced land i ngs ,:.

(a) Fa tal;i . ties Dec ur red i n onlyWO of these: 45 landlngs; one an F4F-4nd the other an SBD-2. Tile F4F hit awell ; , head-on and the SBn was reported

haVing made an exceptionally hard.nding. Personnel were believed toave been knocked unconscious uponmpact, in each case.

(b) Very few seriOUS injuries we~ee p 0 r ted. Man .} I rep,o r t s _1 n.d, I c. ate uno injuries". lIIost of the injuries

With Comments byGRAMPAW PETTIBONE ,

tj~or~ed were mInor head and faceinJurias. These should be la rgelyeliminated by the use of the lap andshoulder type safety belt. The useof thi s sa fe ty be lt might even haveprevented the two ~ata l accidentsrefe,rred to above.

(c) The t-tme aircraft remainedafloat varied oonsiderablr, but withthe except fon of th_e t.wo fatal accidentspreviously noted, 1 twas sulTlcient ineach case for pilots to get e lea-randinto the i r life raf ts .

__ ._ . . .Unders tand Your Fue l Consumpt tbn

Ct.!rves:- A student pilot undergoingapera.tlonal training recently m'a.deac l"o.:sh landing in an SB2A-4when hisengine suddenl, failed approximatelyone hour arter take-off. The pilotescaped wi~hout injury but the &11"-plana r e_cej_v sd maj or damaKe.

It was- the o'nLn Lon of the T rouble


8/61

Board that the e ngi ne f ai lur e result-ed from depletion of fuel frolll theI eft m aLn tan" whicb was found d r y ,and that the pilot had railed to shiftto either of the other tanks, both ofwhich were full. It was furthar be-lieved that the underlying cause of the

pilotls failure to take proper actionWas due to his lack of understanding ofengineering undamentals. as illus-trated by the following:

Shortly after the recelpt of the882A-4 airplanes at this station aninstructor flew Ii student pilot on Ii.flight for area check-out. After thefl~gbt he instructed the student toascertain the fUel eonstlmption for theflight. The student r-epor t.ed later thatit was 56 gallons per hour, then told

the remaining students of his findings.When subject pilot returned from

this crash, the fitst question .skedhim was relative to shifting fuelsuction, to ~hich he replied, "No, sirI didnit shift because I had 81 gallonsin the left main tank te start with andthe plane onLy U5tS 56 (alLons perhour. Since I kne~ I had plenty offuel le:rt~ I didn't shift." It wasdetermined that this pilot was averag-ing cons iderably more power than theinstructor previously ~entloned.

Tbere w~re no fuel consumptioncurves on the SB2A-4 airplanes ava t lab Leat this station at the time this studen tcommenced his familiarization; however,it was assumed that all stUdents hadenougb of' an engineering background torealize that fuel consumption varieswith the power used. Fuel consumptioncurves have now been rece Lve d at, thisstation and are bp,ing fully explainedto stude~ts berore flight.

Grampaw Pettibone says: - Thisaccident g~ves me a chance to soundofr on a point I've been wanting tom.ention for a long time; the questionof hangar and bunk flying. There isprobably ~ore misinformation passed outduring an average bull session of par-tially trained pilots than in any other~roup discussion in the world. Markyou, I'm not against these sessions, in

rae lIth 1nk t.hey are one of the finestthings in aviation; they indicate aninterest and nthusiasm for flying and

much valuable information is picked upin this manner -- BUT . .

Much of this good is offset by theincorrect and inc.omplete dope which isso freely given. It's a case of alittle knowledge (about airplanes)being a dangerous thing. The g00dth~ng8 you learn w111 help you, butacting on one wrong bit of advice may befatal.- Look at the above example: oneguy says, "These SB2!'s burn 56 gallonsan hour; my instructor and 1 checked It

this, morning. ~ This happens to betrue, but is very incomplete. Somestudent takes tbis as the whole truth,flies accordingly and, as a result.almost k~ll$ himself.

Do you get the point? Sure, con-tinue these bu.Ll,fests, but be careful;careful in wha t y011 say -- Y,ouJ'room-mate may tryout your theory and bumphimself off - and careful in wha t youbelieve -- don't put your roommate'shal f-baked ideas into practice withoutfirst checking them with your instruc-tor. Your roommate will be sad andlonely when you are gone.

B UR EA U C OKN EN T:- See article in lastNews Letter, "Let's Get Fuel Con-sc1.ou5.

Collision Danger Dur1ne Nigh t LandIngPra.ctice :- Case I. T.he student pilotof an N28-3. during night landing pr-e.c-.


9/61

tice, saw that he was overtaking theairplane ahead of him in the landingcircle. He thereupon changed courseto increase ttle interval, but failedto keep his eye on the ajrplane aheadof him. ~hjle on his landing approach,

at approXimately 30 feet altitude, hesuddenly saw the same ajrplane aheadof hiw again and on a convergingcourse. In his attempt to avoid thisairpla.ne, he inadvertently snap-rolledhis own airplane and struck the matwjth -power on, in an Lnv er te d po si ti on.Rem~rkably enough, this pilot was notk f Ll e d ,

C a s e 2 . During primary night flyingthere were eight solo students in thelanding cjrele around a well-lighted

field. The traffio pattern graduallybeca~e elongated at the down-windside of the runway, until the studentswere makin~ long J flat, transport-likeapproaches. One student temporarilylost sight of t~e plane aheud o himand after commencing what he oon-sidered & normal approaph, collidedwith the plane preceding him, whichin following the other traffic~ hadbeen forced to ~ake a long approach.As a result of tbiS collision, onepilot was killed when his airplanecrashed, out of control.JJJJUEAU COMMENT ; -Pre-fl igh t I e c t.u r e s

to students should emphasize, streESand acc.en t.u e.t.e the absolute necessityfor ma Ln t.utnt n g sight contact, atleast on the ajrplane next ahead inthe landing circle.

A poor traffic pattern rs alsoconsidered to have been contributoryto the collision 1n case #2. Planes

bnould no~ get bunched at the landingend of the circle' this results inthe traffic pattern here noted. PlanesshQuld'be fairly evenly spaced and ifmore distance is needed, it shouldbe taken on th~ up~ind side of thecircle. -.-

The following letter was recentlyreceived from Fleet lir Wing Five:

~Dear Grampaw Pettibone;WIn the days of onp hour endurance

flights, with~n sight of the pasturean~ salv~ge ~actlities, Chapter 60of' the Civil Atr Regulations, PX'"sJetc. , must have been unknown. How-ever, such things must have gppearedon th~ visionary screen of those

far-seeing pioneers.wRecent ly the p110t of a flyingmachine took of'f after a respectablelunch, for a destinatton In excessof' three hund.redmile .s . Expertnavigation enabled him to arr ivetwenty-six minutes ahead of thepredicted ETA. Th~ pilot "walkedaway and filed a PX. No arrivalreport came in and ~he operatorcould not go to d1.nner u n t I.I hisboard was cleared. Things then

starterl happening. ATG r~leased aZZZ message, all communication per-sdonel were aroused from their nor-mal cOlllplacenc"y. Ensigns were recal ledfrom cocktail rooms, Ld eu t ena n t sjunior grade were taken frmn t11e1.1"courtshtpsJ 11eutenants~rom theircard games, lieutenant D9mmanders

from their after-dinner na~s, andcommanders f rom their stuy of thewbroader aspects". The s ta te pol1ceI) f three s ta tas .and C oas t i l l a. i rc-r. f tspotters were notified, the lattere.sse re Ing that n e such aircraft hadllenetrated. The telephone l ines werebuzzing; the destlna~ton was calledby long distartce only to deOlarethat the pla~e b~ d not arrived aodto infor~ the caller that a physicalcheck up had been made.


10/61


11/61

A ver, lucky pilot survives thisac Lde r:I t.Oct. 20, 1942 - Pilot attempted tobr ea k al l r ec ords for s-peed in a d.Lveafter altitude flight. He exceededthe restr icted speed (315 kts. in lightcond I tion) and. the wing disinteg,rated

in the d Lv a , resulting in fatal dive-8 . Tid spin Lnt o the B,r


12/61

British Air Magazine Evaluates U,S,' Combat Planes ..

The British ail" weekly, The Aero-p l a n e , inserts its own opinions, a.seditor's notes, in reprinting the textof OWl1s report on specific combatplanes built In the U.S. Frequent useor the word nmagnificent~ is inter-spersed with some criticisms not seenin the ppess in this country. ~he com-ments a;1Jpe,ar -in the Nov.. 13 issue of'the m~gazine, which has just been re-ceived. Opirlions are 4_lloti::'.d elow:

C'1Jrt'tss P-40: Wha.t is also ns ede din the p-4uis more speed. Evec{1 the\1,e rl in mo to r carino t make this des ignthe e.!,l_ual in perform!lnc~ to other bet-'tel" s t r eam l Lned fighters anrl an a rma-.ment of six b . 5 maohine-guns hardlyseems adequate.

Be L t. P-39 (A l "' le o b ra J : r.r !{e theP-40, the Airacobra suf'"ers rrom thelow ~uperch~rge of its Alli~on motD~.Thw view rorward is poor because orthe steep1i sloping windscreen. The

tricycle nose wheel h a.s given t.r oub Leon muddy airdrones. Cockpit size Isl1mited. Good, low down.

N (J r t. hAm e rt c cHI p- 5 1 r / .f:us tan lId,The Must.ang looks like the best A lI E ' r a-can f'igh te r ye.t 'p r-oduce d. Wi tli the.Allison, it has a top speerl of 370 mphand is excellent low down. It wasdesigned to a spBcifioa~ion 10.10. downby the British and so has much activeexperience buil t into 1 t.

Lockheed ' -38 f L 1 g h t n t " f J : Single-seaters aren't suitable for long-rangeescort work. Top sp8ed 360 mph. Re-puted to be rather a handful for oneman to 1'l y.

Republic '-47 (Thu.nderbolt): Thegreat weight of the Thunderbolt -~a round 14,000 Lb s , -- make sit ex- Ioeedingly heavy ror a single~seatf'ighter.

G rumma n F 4,r-4 (WddcatJ: The wild-cat -- term:ed the Mart. let by the RoyalN&vy -- Is an exc~llent machine andhas done very well., I t.s top speed 0 f

315 mph is good for a naval rlgnter butwill be far exceeded by the mngnifieentAmerican Vougl :1 t- Si lWfSky Cor sa ir 366mph figh tf3 r noW comi ng in to se r-v 1 ce ,

Boeinr 8-17 ( FlY lnf Fo rtres s) : Ex-cellent for the work done over oceanSfor whi ch it was de-Signed,. the Fortre!,;shaS done we~l in esco~ted raids atshort ran~ over France and sHouldpr-ove valuable. European weather setsa serious limit on its constant use inhigh-l~vel day]i~ht ra-ids. This (inthe O.W. L report) American comparisonbetween the Fortress and the Lancaster1s har~ly accurate. The Lancaster isfaster , carries several times the bombload and has a longe-I" r-ang;e than theFOrtress. !loth wIll be surpassed bythe new Hoeing B-29 and CnnseliftubedA-32 bombers.

Con~Qlidated B-21 (Liberator): Theremarks on the Fortress apply also t.othe Liberator.

NOrth Ame'rlciln 8-25 (NdcheL,t): Atine aIrplane, e~eelled only by theGerman Do rnLer DQ 217, Which is f'a.s t erand carries & bigger load.

MartH! 8-26 (Marauder); Anotherex ceLl ent airplane but app.ar-e nt.Ly de-ficient in wing area. This makes opera-t.Lon fpom any but the la;rgest aLr dr-omesdi rrioul t w.i th full Lo ad,

Doug lQl A-20 (Bbs ton Dr Havoc) : A

first class machine wb~ch has givenmagnificent service OYer Franue and Inthe Mi ddl e East.

DDUffla.s 5BD (Daufltless); An ex-cellent dive bomber ,hich has donegreat work with the. U.S. Navy. ~owe}Ccell ed by the Our t ts s Hell diver mono-pl.ane.

Grumman rE F {Avenee rJ ~ At the topor its clAss--the b es t 1.n the worldtoday.

P a t r b L a n d N J s c e l l a n e o u s ; TheCat:ld ill a. is a nlainsta,y o:f Coas tal Com-mand. The neWer Con s o'l Lda t.e d ,CoronaCln


13/61

A Fairy Fu}mo.r has

"h o. ol re d"d own th e f ir st'Arrester wire, and Is

just about, to t.oue h

down 01"1the 1'] tghtdeck.

T t O YA LNAVY ) SC A R R I E Rf i G H T E R S

o Se8fjr~J the RoyaJ

Nayy's ver s-l en of the

famous Spitfire, oper-a tes from a irc.ral't ca r-

r ters , The are rumored

to have a speed of over

400 Il'lpb; hitting a ce.11-

iJig of more than 40,000

feet.

Ranging a Sea Hurricaneon the flight deck of aHI' it ish a.iroraft carr leI'.This plane is alsocata-

pUlted from merchantships to pro,t'}ct convoys.,

."


14/61

is p rob abLy the best all-round p a t.r-oboat in the world at present.

Summary: In this brief survey theU.S.A. 1s shown to be deficient inrighter development and ahead of the11'01'1 a in Naval aircraft and transports.The present American heavy bombe.rs hav eseveral important tactical drawbackswhich out weigh their many good fea~tures when o-perating in European con-ditions. T~e new American bornb.rsshould 1 ead the wo r Ld and be c apabLeof meeting and exceeding every possiblecall upon them. On the basis of thissurvey, British fighte,'r production,the present production of British heavybombers and the future product~on of

American heavy bombers should give theUnited States unrivalled -performance ineve ry cate~ory.

Civil Air Patrol

The Navy is indebted to a group atcivi l~an ~lyers who are making a val-iant contribution in patrol and rescuework. When the full story of theCivil Air Patrol can be revealed,pro b a b 1Y not u n til a f' t e r t.h e w &1 ,there will be a special roll of honorf'or America's "Flying Minute ~en."~even days a week, volunteers oncoastal patrol are ~ighting a little-known war against Hitl~r's U-boats.Ahd over inland areas. tens of thou-sands of other civilian pilots areguarding; against sabotage, patrollingp ow e r and pipe lines, ,and doing ~score of other important jobs thatrelease Army and Navy flyers for

combat duty.This is no cozy home~guard detail.Coastal--patrollPilots fly 40 mliesof'fshore, in ,single-engined land-planes. If an engine cuts ovt i tmeins a crash-landing at sea. Fiveflyers have been lost on -patrol mis-sions. but against this figure aremillions of m~les f lown ~n searoh ofU--boat5. Whether at' not C' . . . . .LP. planescarry ~ombs and machine guns. Hitler'sundersea crews would pay a grea t deal

to Irn,ow.

"Some U-boat crews hu~e learnen the,secret of the patrol ' s rizht againstsubs," says Major Earle Johnson,national uo mm and.e r - of thE' G.A.P.,"but the)' won't tell, because theyare at the bottom of the sea, intheir iron tombs."

Pilots on these coastal beats areselected from patrol squanrons in 44states. There are men who never be-fore had flown any water wider than ac~eek. NOW, in the hours they spendflyirf!; o u t, of sight of land, thesemen could cross the Atlantic a dozent'mes. Only actual expenses are paid. . .--there are no salaries in the CivilAir- Patrol squadrons. Ma.ny of the

pilots have ~iven up ~ood jobs; allof them p r ovLd e t .heir own uniformsand equi pman t . Ih pel's o.n a l s ae rL fl e e

--even to the point of giving theirlives--this fighting home front is astrikino- example of democracy iIot war.

Coastal patrol squadrons are madeup of the more experienced "Minute~Men." P;ilots must know navigation.radio, c.r as h procedure. instrument

~lylngJ basic mil~t'ry o~erations.Hundreds of survivors from torpedoedvessels owe their quick rescue to,Patrol pilots. One of these shipswas sunk in, such a heavy sea that thelifeboats were in .danger of beingswamped. Low visibi l i ty bid. themfrom Shore, but a C.A.P. flyer~ skim-ming the wavs at 200 fBet, s~otte~them just as he was nearing the endof h Ls .run. After radioing fol' help,he circled the boats--in spite Of an

almost empty fUel tank--untl1 Coast


15/61

Gua~d cutteT~ arrived to rescue themen. He was barely abl e to reach thEnE:arest beach f'or- a forced 1and Ing ,

Civil Air Patrol duties mean longhours, hard work, of ten real sacr i -f ice . Many membe~s take time off from

their regular Jobs, besjdes puttingin every spare-minute. A ground manin an Eastern urtlt r ides a bicycle20 ~i les every night) rain, snow orclear, to put. Ln four h o u r s r work onengines--Ilf ter a fi l l] daytime Job.Oile woman, 11 z r andmc thar-, drives anairport bus ~nr Ptltrol members.

The coastal patrol i s only a partof C.A.P. war s e r vLc e , In a hundredways the Patrol 1s releasjng Army,Navy, and Marjne airmen and planesfor ur~ent military duty. Just beforethe African camrai~n several ArmytechnjcJans were delay~d in the mjd-west by lack of transpor ta tion, whilean Army bom~er waited for them atMiami, PatFol pi lots f lew them toFlorjda jn relays--a Pony Express onWings. Now, severa l cour ier routeshave boen established, with C.A:P.planes operating on regular schedules.Pi lots cover thousands of mf Las daily,

ferrying officers and key meN.C,A.P. pilots have made aerja lsurveys t (I see that no roo f!Jl a r Ii i n g sexis t to gujde anemy-bombers. Others~ave spotterl dozens of forest f i resjn time to ch@e~ disastrous losses.The Patrol flies anti -sabotage guard,around reservoirs, power plants, mu-ni ti ons f ac to ri es, and other im-portantpo1nts. Flying power and pipe lines,to spot breaks or leaks, and observingice jn the Great Lakes so tha t ore-

boats can move at the ear l iest possi -ble da te --the se ar typical tasks theCjvil Air Patrol has already tawenov er ,

Along our coasts, and well inland,Patroi squadrons haVH become skilledin blocki~g ai rports against ~os$ibleenemy use. Sn me C.A.P. units aretraining with parachutes, others withcarrier pigeons, aerial pick-up ofme s s a g es, r.amouf'lagjng o:f planes andbases. In RussiE, civil ian f lyeTs j

armed wj th ma.cb f n e=g uns, l ight bomb s ,and han~ grenades. have strafed Nazicolumns and helped annjhllate enemyp~ratroojlers. Others have rerried'replacements, t'o o d , and ammunitionto guer i l la f igbters behind the German1 I n e s,

hi e a P. h .0 f the sew a V S' , and man ymore, the C.A.P. is ready to springinto action. But 1n the light of itspresent and continuous accomplish-ments, should such a test never come,the Patrol wi ll have performed a tre-ruepdolls war service.

Champagne Bath

"The cooties were biting, champagneWaf; 17 cents a quart, so a b a t h in thebubbly stuff seemBd l ike Ii pretty smartthing to do." And that was exactlywhat Lieut. O.V I August did in Ca.-sa-blanca . the Associated Press said.

T~e Navy lieutenant said he wastaken pr isoner af ter his plane wasdowned during landing operations. Hewas lodged for one night in an oldhorse stable where he caught a "beau-t i fu] case" of cooties. Upon his rf'-lease lie went to a Casablanca hotel,a n dun ab Jet 0 s 1 e e p, be c au s e 0 f th ecoo t t es chewlng on h i m o rd er ed , s ev er albottles of cha~pagne. He figured thealcolo1 would be a good disinfectant .

"I stood in the bathtub,~ be said,nAnd wi th one hand I pour-ed it over me.arid wi tll the other, in to me. It


16/61

DIYE (BRAKE OREN) .

_ __ '-----AT tHIS POI~T S SOON AS 80M8V.opS1,500f". TAI AUTOMATICALLY MOVES J'lEVATO R

COHTROLS TO RECQV~Y POSITIQt4

)! r


17/61

Robot stukaBorrowing from tactics originated

Md developed in this country, tbeNazis have Ln eo r-por at ed a number of'cle~er devices into their Stukas.Their ideology seems to have po Ln t edthe way, 1'01' the human element isbeing eliminated as much as possiblefiom their dive~bombing techniqueby the use of automatic bomb drop-ping and pull-out mechanism, accordingto Ai r Pr og r e s s ,

Approaching his target at aboutm~ooo feet, the pilot decides onthe angle of dive and recovery al-titude. Be swi_tcbe.s on the bomb-tim-ing distributor which arms and r 8-leases the bomb at the proper pull-out altitude. The contacting al-timeter is set to a determined re-covery height; it works on the generalprinciple of an electric alarm clock.When the altimeter is set to a pre-~termined ~ltitude, an electric con-t.aot;closes at the pUll-out he.ight,~using the current to actuate thebomb-release and tab mechanisms. The~ev~tor tabs are then trimmed fordiving altitude, usually fifty degFeesfor automatio recovery, and the" divebrakes are opened to limit the div-ing speed. On the Junkers 87 and 88iliabrakes are on the underside o~ thewings in the fOfm of slated plateswhicb, in level flight, are flat.ainst the wing surface. For divingattacks, they are turned through an~ety-degree angle to preseht aflat surface to the air stream. Thetwin~eng1ned new DQrnier 217E, bow-ever, has the dive brake fitted inthe tail acting as a drogue, as shownaoov e . Lowering the dive brakes auto-matically locks the elevator trim-ming tabs, ~aklng the aircraft noseheavy.

Maneuvering down to between 5,000and 4,000 feet, the pilot readies fortbe dive. The airplane is pointedinto the wind and the angle o hissight is adjusted to corupensate forestimated wind force; ~ table relat.ingthis angle to w.ind speed is mounted

on the instrument board. The cockpitcowling of the dive bomber is markedwith reference lines for dives oftwenty, fifty and seventy degrees.Lin ad up again s t the h o r- i z on j th e s emarks help the pilot's adjustment o~the angle of dive.

When the set recovery altitude hasbeen reached, the Qontactlng altim-eter's circuit closes, automaticallystarting the bomb distributor. Thetab, working on a strong spring,trims the elevators to tail hea-vycond.ition to effect the dlve recovery;at the same time, the bomb mechanismsends the missile plunging downward.

, The pilot then takes over the controls,closing the d t ve br-akes J returning the -t8bs to normal position, le-vels out

the bomber and attempts to get away.

Growth of RCAF

Members or the Royal Canadian AirForce are figl'lting in nearly everymajor battle area of the world, saysCanada's War Information Board. Thesize of the RCAF has jumped from apre-war 4000 to more than 150,000today) with Canadian airmen over thehigh seas, at home, l;Lndabroad.

One of the ti lg functions of theRCAF includes operation of the BritishCOl1Illlonwealth ir Training Plan, whichturns out ai r crews for the RAFJ theRoyal Australi-an Air Force, and theRoyal New Zealand Air Force, as wellas the RCA F E ve.r y s 1 ng 1 day 1 nCanada men under training fly morethan 2,000,000 miles in this one-and-a-half billion dollar progrRm.

Most of the aCAF personnel ~ver-seas is serving with RAF squadrons.

There are 25 ReAP squadrons now servingallover the world with the RAF, work-ing under Canadian command. An RC,\FCatalina flying boat squadron isstationed in Ceylon. Canadian airmenare serving in such places aa Ioeland,Iraq, RUSSia, Madagascar, with theFleet Air Arm, and on convoy protec-tion.

The enrollnl~nt of 20,000 in Canada's!ir Cadets will be expanded to ~5.000ooys in the next few months.


18/61

Henderson Field Box Score

The highly st r a teg t c va l u e of ~!eJl-derson Fie ld on Ou a d a L c a n a j Islandcaptured last August by Un r t ed StatesMatines, is sho~n in Ii cnmp11~Ljon ofJapanese losses made by Sergeapt Er lMar dJ. Bu r man ~ a Mar j nee 0 I'1l s Comb a t. Cor-responden t .

This is Burmanis box-score on Japa-nese losses inflicted by D~u~lassDauntless dive-bombers operating ~romHenderson Fie ld between AUglist 25 ,1942 and January 1, 1943:

Destroyers -- Two sunk, f ive ,osstblysun~J 20 da~aged.

~eavy cruisers -- One sunk, one pos-sibly sunk, three dBnaged

Battleships -- One RONGO closs sb1ppossibly sunk by four hits.

Troop-CBrrytrlg de s t.r oye r s -- Two SUlik.argo ships -- Eight sunk, one pas-

s 1bIy SUI1l!.

~r8r~~?rUs -- Six sun~J tbree leftDurl11ng and possibly SUlik.

Zero f1ghter~ -- Elg~t sb~t down~ 12destroyed on tn e ~rouDd.

From pecember 12 to Deoe~ber 27,1942, attack missions were carried outinvolving a total of 108 plane5~ WithGrumman ~ildcats and Army P3S's and

P39's p r ovt-d t ng fighter protecUon,the dive-bombers dropped 106 fjve-hundred-pound bombs and 212 hundred~pounders.

199,000 Women Building Planes

Some id .ea of'America's war industrpe rs o nrre L reguirements is r-e vea Ie d byauthor i ta t ive estimates tha t the ai r-fr a me , .engine and propeller manu-

facturers o. re bi r ing :10,OUO pers or i s amonth , of ' whom fully two thi rds, or20.000 are women. Of a total of690,000 product ive w6 rker s in thesepl.nts on Feb. 1, some 199,000 wereWOll!en, be!'t eve 1 t, 0 r no t.

I1y the end of 1943 the se same man u -facturer s probably will have 1,000,000~roductive workers on the i r l i st s andWa.shington forecasts a re t .ha t 400,000

to 450,000 of them (almost 5010) willbe of ' t he weB.ker sex .

Experts are saying that the 1943v a lua t t nn of a Lr-c r-aF t, produced willbe around eleven billion do l J a . r , ,ag~inst approximatel) fJve billion In1942. This means 85,000 to 00,000

n Iane s ,Tile AAF recently released indus tn

figures, t oo s Present b a ckLc g , 20billion dollars; nrortu~L1ve floorspace, 75 million square feet towardan ult imate 100 million. Pres~ntBr LtLs h output was estimated a t 48,000planes and Japanese production about10,000 a year.

Human Bayonet Target Receives Medal

A nat ive of the Solomon Islands whomade a daring rescue of a U.S. navalaviator shot down in Japanese te r-ritory dur ing ae r ia l combat, bas beenawarded the Silver Star Medal for"conspicuous gallantry and intre-pi d it Y ".

This one-time member of a savagetribe, called VOUZlt., is B. six-footerwho s p e a k s pidgin English and is asergeant-major in the British con-

stabulary in the S010fons. Shortlyafter delivering the American ai rmaninto friendly hands~ Vouza was sentout on a mission by the Marines tolocate a Jap lookout sta t ion. He wascaptured by the Japanese who questionedhim about the location of Amer icanfo r c e s.,

Vouza refused to talk. His c apt .cr-slashed him to a tree and jabbed himab out the face, throat and ches t wi thbayonets. When he lapsed into un-

consciousness they left him f o r dead.Several hours later he came to, brokehis bonds and craWled back to theMar ines Vl'ithva1uab Le informa t ion about,the d ap s . ' l ' he Army surgeon who t rea t -ed him was amazed that any man eQuIdundergo such tortures and still live.

nashington, D.C. Negro taxi-driver:"Ah've n~vah seen so many uniformsa~ are heah now~ and so few 801-d-t e r s , "

",


19/61

u.s.Atlantic FleetFleet Air Wing 11 .

Scouting Squadro~ 4-D 10

After get t ing organized and thenopera ting to the maximum on threefronts (adva.nced bases), this sguadronf inal ly h~s some ti~e to re l~y bi ts ofinformation and cha t wi th all outFi tswho like to lisLen,

The squadron waS commissioned onSeptember 1, 1942~ in a ceremony pel ' -formed with the Commanding Off icer ofthe Naval Air Station off icia t ing. The

nff icer s and men aboard were mostly"green" hands with only a few oldtimers. All hands did doubl& dutyperforming because less than balf ofthe squad. r on compl ement was on board.All necessa ry mater ia l was ordered andas soon as i ts t a r t ed to arr ive mon thsla ter , "Hedron" tooK over all themaintenance and mater ia l problems.

The ad'vance bases have given t.n e-"green pl10tsff excellent oppor tuni tyto learn what to do when "on the i r QwnH

and also lots of pract ice in crosscountry r ly lng (mostly over water) .Every one o~ ths pi lots has opera tedat these bases and each understands thevar ied problems f rom pick~ng up asmall group of islands off shore tofollowing the coastl ine of tbe swampand Jungle country south.

Although there is a good deal ofsubmarine a~tiv i ty . the restr ictedaction of the OS type ai rplane makesthe squadron sti l l f ee l a bi t on the"outside H of a ll the fun. The biggerplanes in this area acnieve the "pro-ducti ve " r esul ts.

The most su cce ssf ul pla ne for A/S ISdef ini te ly a land-based and twin-engined craf t as proven by the recordof the Brit ish.

With a ll this "high morale pro-ducing" ta lk, a l l pi lots have beeneager for a ll sorts of training- Thepassword ~ ~Keep '~m Flying"! Hoping

for the twin-engine training in thenear future , tbe effor ts a t pr~senta~e direc ted toward what wi l l be ex-

pected. All pi lots are being indoctr i -nated i n a ll -night f l ights in the IIbigboats" to give them a taste of whatthey ' l l nave to do. Hence the reasonfol" the cal l for lots of instrument andnight f ly ing. A lecture by a radioexper t a lso is being eagerly awai ted .

The skipper , being an old t ime"torpedo mann, i s put t ing the boysthrough the torpedo a ttack tacticsstrea~llnSd to the la test accountsf rom the f ighting fronts.

Carrier Aircraft Service 'Unit 22U. S. Atlantic Fleet

A healthy struggling embryo, CASU22 has had occasion to test the effecttha t wheels up 01' down might h .ave oncompasses, Thi s came about as theNaval Air Station (Quonset Porn t ) wa.sabout to construct new compassf 'oses.1 twas :fe lt that they should be o f a

type necessary for quick and accura tecalibra tion. No one seemed to know"hether cal ibra t ing Wi th wheels downwould produce a dev Lat n on es a pr imaryr esul t 0 f vel' hi cal sor t iron, .0 r wheth-er no noticeable disturbance would beevident , hence planes TBF-l~ SBD-4, andF4F-~ were f lown and the wheels were ex-tended and retrac ted in f l ight whIle ona constant heading. An ini t i a l devia-t ion to the r igbt was apparent on east-ern hemisphere H~ad; 1ngs, whereas an ini-

t ia l dev ia tion to the ler t was a~parenton weeStern hemisphere beadings, A.fter abr~ef per iod of time the compass re-turned to the ini t ia l heading. Onre traction of the wheels the ini t ia ldevia tion was the reve-r se of the aboveWi th tbe compa. ssr_eturning to its head-i ng wi thin 15 sec on d s , "1 t has beenassumed that ca . l ibra tion with thewheels down Is ent irely satlafactory.BUREA(J COllllENT: As the only v a rLa-tloo found occurs 15 seconds before and


20/61

' ~----- ---- .~--~-, ----

Stowing TPF'~. The p] an e s are heing taken from f1 ight deck to hangar deck.

arter retraction and the readingreturns to normal a r t e r that, t her eappears to be no difference when thefigures, for calibrati on are secured as

long as i t is not within that initialdeviation time of 15 seconds. The5 winging of compasses wi th wheel s downhas been the usual practice on thoseinstrument squadrons using SNJ'S.When the whe~ls are up the accuracyap~arently has not been impairednoticeably t.o disrupt student trainingon Range and RDF work. To standardize,continuance of this practice issuggested.

Training Devices

Combat service has increased the

interest in numerous training devices.Gunners returning from the batt le arAamake a dive for the Dual Pr o j e c t . o -Trainer to improve their ma.r ksma.nsh t p ,Befare gojng into their f irst combat,the tendency of most gunners was toreg ar d this device as a toy with whichone could pass t ime pleasantly. Butonce they get into a Shooting fight,they quickly realize the value of thesynthetic aiming devices.


21/61

Super Training Of Todaystarts At FUght Preps

Time was when a naval aViRtOI" wentdirectly and Duly to Pensacola and withsix months of training wa s turned out 8finished product ready f'o r flying dut.yAt sea. Today the story is difTerent.It now te.kes 16 months to train a navalavLa t or , He is the best tTA.1ned com-batant the world has ever knownw

A.spiring 1'1110 t s get their firsttaste of Navy t r a i na ng io Flight Pre-paratory Schools, twenty of whlch wentinto operation in January on colle~ecampu s e s across the co un try. Now beingfed into these prep schools are em-bryonic airmen who form the backlog ofmen enlisted as aviation cadets but whohave not been called to active duty.

The peak; Lo ad for the Flight Pre-paratory Schools wi ll be built up to12 000 in .March--600 Ln each of the 20schools. During the 12 weeks of in-

structionstudents are given 8 brie~

but t.ho r-ou ah education 1n a v ar Ie ty of'sUbJ e c t.s , designed to equip t.hem l"ellfor ruture av t a t i on duties. For in-s t an ce , they beg.tn studying naviga t.Lo n ,The course starts with a study of basicrr.incillles, progresses Lhrough simpl em at hem a ti e aI II I" o cedu r-es a nd fin all ycovers a few c omp l e x problems. Thestudy of navigation is continuedthrough his entire schooling.

But this is o n l.y one of ' the many

subjects the student covers. Hisother o La s s e s include physi cs rna th-ema tics J physi cal ge ogr ap hy , ae co Lo g),pia n ere c 0 gn i t ion, c emmu n i cat ion 5operation of aircraft engines, llrin-ca p Les of f'Ly Ln g and physi. cal tralfling.

Students are classified 8S n avs I a-viation c a d e t s when they en te r theseschools and f ir e un de r naval dr sc .Lp ine.Their academic instruction is providedmainly by members of the co lLe ge fac-ulty. For some of the more highlysp e c t al t ved c Lss se s !'IIIV' j'lpr"onn 1 isuseu ,

Completing thjs tra ining, theis tnnent:::; TlrogreS$ LO the C iv i I AerQ-

na i ltics Anministl ' a tion's War T ra iningSprvjcp Schools (fQT'merl,Y known as CPT)whf'T'P they have thei r f i rst OTJllortunityto -put some of thE' grounci school train-i n l ! , t o l i s e . TIl""y I '~ceive apr'roxtmately50 hoqrs of f'lighL instruction durin'a n e ill. ht we eks l'erion, in ad r t t t r on t6mo r s classroom tns tr-uc t t.on .

Then, s uc c e as t ve Ly , ttlPY rpceive 12weeks of tra ining ~t pre-FlightSchools--physical tmlghening up, mili-tary rtrills, an~ arlvanced acarlemicinstruction; TJrimary flight instructionfpr another 12 w~~ks; intermediatef'ligl-.t training for l::! to 14 weeksj andapproximately eight WAf'ks of D'Para-tional f light t. ra In i ng In c omb a t craft ,llI'f'pnratory to joining the F'La e t ,

Pilots tra ined on this scherlul~wi] 1 log between 300 and 400 hours offlying: t im!--and b e e ome some of thetoughest pi lots the enemy Bver willmeet.

Synthetic Night Flight Training

A piano-wIre sta1l1e devised as aninstallatiDII for the green f ' i lte r on atraining plane windshield has f'u.r t h e r rlthe syn.thetic nt gh t night t raining ininstrument flying. Corpus ChristiN.A.S. perfected the staple.

The same sta tion a lso repor ts a"200 pprcent iID'Provement i n i nstr ume ntf light tra ining since the Red-Green-

Nt~ht-Training method superseded the-practice of flying under the hood".'I'll R.Ii.N.T. system involves the

usp by the stud nt of a pair nf redlemH'rl E;ogJ!:le,


22/61

Try This Some Tilne

Not ~very N~val ~viat1Dn Cadet hasthe bene~it of a police escort When en-listing in the serv~ce but th~s wasthe experience of a trouble-dodgingyoungster who dashed into the ~avalAviation Cadet Selection Hoard in Chi-cago to be s,orn in a few days ago,1eKving behind h.f.m a trail of fire, awrecked car and a burning gaso] rne sta-tion.

The youth's adventures started whenhe was about to be signed up and it wasdiscovered be needed his father's sig-nature on a document. He had to hurryhome -- 175 miles away -- and back tomeet the following day'S deadline forenlisting. When he started back toChicago there were no train connec t i onsavailable, so he start_d to drive.A~ter a night of drlvin~, when he waastill fifty miles away from enlisting,his ~ar slid on an icy cu r've , plowedin to a gasoline station, knocked downthree pumps and set the station onf 'Lr-e ,

State police arrived and held theboy until they could locate the ownersof the station. After getting in touchwith the Selection Bo ar d, they becamej nte res teo. tn, the bo)' r s p Itgh t and in-t s r -oe d e d on hi! '; be h a I f -W i th the gascompany officials.

With the afternoon deadline fast ap-proaching, it was finally decided thatthe smashup was entirely accidental,and no charges were preferted. Theyouth hopped Jn t.o t.he THillce car wh Lch!';pedinto town. He was sworn in as a

happy -- 'b u t shaky -- cadet, wi tlt twopolicemen to witness his entry into the~rvi.ce .

Free Gunnery Instructors'

Training Manual

A new edition o~ the Free GunneryInstructor~' Training Manual has Justbeen issued by the Training Division ofthe Buteau. I t Is a revjsion of themanu a L compiled and used :for the firstfour classes of Free Gunnery Instructorsat Naval Air Station, pensacola, Fla.

The new manual 1s profusely illus-trated with simpli~ied drawings anddiagrams which graphically pre~entproblems encountered by air gunners.Also there are numerous actual photo-graphs of tra~ning eqUipment and train~ing scenes.

While ehB manua.l is simplif_ied inform, it is a technical treatise andembraces all the newest knowledge o:frree gunnery acquired to date frombattle conditions. It is divided intotwenty-~ight chapters J leading off with"Ma tbematics Essential to Free Gunnery J "and closi~g with "SynthetiC TrainingDevices'}" and includes all the essen-tials necessary for successful trainingof free gunners.

Sense Pamphlets

Three neW" p anrph Le t s of the TrainingLiterature Section of the Bureau ofAeronautics are now on th'e presses andwi ll be ready for Mstribution on March15. Seventy-five thousand co~ies ofeach pamphlet'" are being printed and a.certain number will be available afterregular distribution for training pur-poses. Direct your requests to BuAer,Training Division. The new titlesinclude:

PAR AC HU TE S EN SE :A general pictureof when and how to go over the side,


23/61

wlta t ha ppe l! s when you du, and Why ith.a p pe n s : it will also ).!_jve you thecc r-r ec t t ve procedures Cor pr o b em.sarising durin,!.!; the .iIUlrLJ'ing p r o c e s s .

DU NKIN G SHIiSf: \Ilia\' to do and In)wto do it wll,eN your p Lu n.e is i 'urcedidown over wa te r ; 110", Lo live. -- 811-


24/61

'- -AlB. GUNNERS' TRAI NING SYLLADUSThe Bureau has received requestsfrom several sources for -a standard andapp~oved Naval Air Gunners' TrainingSyllabus. To, insure standardization,all activities will, in so far asf' R_C iIi tie s per mit, c on f 0 rm tot heminimum requirements given herein.

No certificate of' satisfactorycourse completion should be is~uedun t Lk men have demonstrated their know-ledge and proficiency in these ~ub-J ects. The Fr'ee Gunnery Inst ruetorsTr'aining .Manual, now b etng di.stributedby the Bureau, will serve as a guideand reference book on all matterscont ai.ned there in.

I

PRIMt\RY GUNNERY

Str8i_gll't Trap s

Skeet (or a Variation of)

Machine run Mounted SlJotgun

100 Rounds

]00 Rounds.

150 Rounds.

* All shooting will be conducted witha ring (or electric training) sight,after student has completed 50 roundsof straight traps, or earlier at thediscretiOn of the lnstructo~, if heshows satisfactory familiarity withgun. It 15 not desirable, however, tohave differ-ent type Sights used by menin the same i'il'ing gr oup ,

II

BASI C THEORY

Construction of' Sights

Types of SIghts81gb ting.Theo ry

Ronge Est1ma:t1on

Speed Est1mahoD

Apparent Speed

Exterior Ballistics

2 flours

,2 f.[ou.rs

1 Hour2, Hours

2 Hours2 Hours

1 Hour

IIIOROUN;D SeHGOL PRACTICAL WORK

11 1Wh ine Ounl' l

(NOIIIencl awre, . :J) Cal.)

{Stripping" Care) m Cal.)(_and Cl e8.lli s- )fillanUnlUon .Bel t1ng, Ca11b r at i on

& Marking

10 H.ourlS

6 Hours

:3 Rours

thm Install atiol) 1 9

Boreslgh tlng

O,;ygen

Turrets-Types and Operations

Aecogn1 tion (AI lied & EnemyAi rcraft) mInimum number of

hou 1 " 1 9 necessary to I:Jl tcld yIdeo tlfy lOprtneipal types~

Amy. Na... y, Hr1 Ush, German

and J f I J I Atr cr aft.

fI HOllrs

4 Hours

1 Hour

25 !lours

IVSYNTliEI'I C DEVl CES

ITo FollQW Op the Appropriate Theor,Subje~t)

......A (2) Tra.tner {On Gun)

Range Estimation Device

Spo;!ed Estlm-&t1onDevlce

10 Hours'"ri Hour~

5 Hours

to Note, The fi1m -att.acks supplied withthis 3- A (2) tr aine r s h ou l d be us ed toillustrate the problems faced by a gun-ner in Recognition, Range Estimation,and Speed Es t Lma t Lon, afte'r those sub-j e et.s have been co ve r e d on their owntraining dev Lee , Following this "In-troductiOn", the 3-A(2) should be usedin 1 s con ven t Lona'l manner as a t r ain-er to develop instinctive 1ead.

VPRACTIC_AL WORK ON MACHINE GUN RANGES

II81J'u net Ion- Range - (Troub Leshoo ting; 10 Ilou r a

Pi 5 tol Range (Serv ice Or Subcol Ibe r)

49 rds. 2 llours

.30 C!lllber Battl e-JlB:nge (Fhed and

Moving Targest As Avail IibIe) lIDO ROllllas.

M C.al tber Battle-Range (Fixed and

Vov ing_ Targets 8S Available) :lHl R,ol;lnds'

~Both hand hold and turret mountsshoal d be requi red for bat t1 e-r angefiring.

VIFamiliarity with tbe subjects

cov er ed above shall be considered asminimum requirements. The order inwlJlch they are presented will v ary withlocal conditions, but a -sound uuder-st anding of the tra.ining problem Willdj.ctate- a proper sequence. Prel1mi nar-yindoctrination should precede any

training, in order that the student's


25/61

training progra~, some devices havebeen ~anufact~red and distributed be-fore they could be thoroughly testedin service. All aot iv i t ies are invitedto make comment or cr i t ic ism of suchequipment. Quick jUdgment should bea .voI de d in condemning any device,as 1 t has been fauna that certain unitsand schools attain very satisfactoryresults from some equipm~nt that 1s atotal loss at others.

The Gunnery T'rairHng Sec.tion of theBureau Is s ke pt Lc a .L about the use of BBair machine guns ex c ept ass. stimulantfor turre t manipulation practice. NAS,Alruneda, ca r r i e s out thi s idea by usin.ga model ta rge t t-hat revolves a t Vai"ia-b I e s pee ds at II' hi e h a b a t te ry 0 t:

Moeller turre ts , equipped with BB ,guns,are fired. A microphonic pick-up on-the target is used to Lnd .L c. ae h i ts butno scor ing i s recommended for thi sPI" I.U~ t iC,B.

mind shall be prepared Tor what is tofollow. No instructor is doing his job iif he does not insure that he is beingthor oughly unde r s to od and. tha t his pac eis geared to the pa.ce o r the class.

InstructioQ films should be usedwhenever they have bear ing on the sub-ject being taught. However, theyshould be, carefully placed in thee I} 1I I' s Ii ! t 0 c 0 mJlI e tel y f u 1 f 11 I th e i l"missions.

Synthetic Training Devices

For Gwmers

According to SOIDe observers, thenovelty appeal of synthetic t ra in ingdevices has diver ted attention from

ac tual shooting wi th machine guns. Nodevice is y"et fLV ail able th,at .will re-produce the condi tions met when asingle J or twin machine gun, is t i redfrom a hand-held or turret mount.Tra.ining i s not complete wi t .hout, plentyof actual firing._,I Many synthetic t.ra.In.mg devices haveDeen developed during the past yea r andmany more will be forthcoming. Due tothe crying need for e qut pn eu t of thisna ture in the hurr i edly expanding Navy

War Training Service

Wi th a minimum -0 f f'a.nf'a r-e , the CAA' sWar Training Service i s tra ining menfor naval aviation, both as future pi-lots and flight instructors. W.T.S,


26/61

formerly known as S.P.T., now is t,T(lin-tng approximately 7,000 naval aviationcadets in e lempntu.ry nr sf 'colldaryfl i gl! t courses, And abou t 750 men asf li gh t i nst ru cto rs .

The chief difficulty in u t Ll Lz.i nathe priva te ly-owned ai rf ie lds an~planes has been l~ck of standardiza-t ion. Hdwever, Buaer and CAA ure nowcoordinating the pro~ram. T ex ts iSsuedby the Bureau, such as F li~ht ~aneuverSheets and the Patler bonk, have im-proved instruction procedure. FrOlllnow on every man who I arns to f ly forthe Navy will go throu~h W.T.S.

Four courses for fli~ht t rainingare provided as follows:

1) The elementary course which is

given to all aviation c ad e t s after U1E' ,Vhave completed their work in Fll~htPreparatory Schools. It consists ofa minimum of 240 hours o t ~round schoolinstruction and ~5 hours of dual andsolo f ' ly-ing. Upon comple tion the top-ranking s tudent s, go immediately t o Opre-f1 i g;ht s ehoo l s,

2) The secondary course , which pro-vides an additional 40 hours of flyingfo r the TIrim a 1"y stud en t who ne eds mot'-etime before going to pre-flight.

3) Cross-country which provides 35to 40 hours ot' flight time, an ada'pta-t ion of the ai rl ines ' co-pi lot courses.This course is a part of C.P.T.'s oldt raining program and may be discon-tinued exce~t as part of the W.T.S.f l ight instructor's training.

4) The flight instructors' course,a concentrated 24-week course incor-~orat1ng the secondary and cross-country t raining, as well as flightinstruction.

The first three courses cover e i~ht,weeks each. In elementary trainingl ight planes are used, such as Taylor-crafts, Cubs, Aeroncas~ and Lrtscombs.For secondary t ra t m ng , p lan es of' about200 h.~. are used, including Wacos~Fairchilds and Ryans. Each shill iscarefully checked Yor ai rwor thiness,and only cer ta in types are used foracrobatic fligbt trainin~. In certainphases of cross-country f ly ing the

minimum re4uirem nts f ' or equipment in-c l urte flaps, cn n t r o Ll c b l e p t r.c b ore e n s t ont, Slleerl propelJors, two-wayradio and 11 c omp l e t . e r n s t .r-umn t p an e L,

The student in elementary tra iningis tnu~ht turns. climbs, ci rcle shots,lly]ons, glides and E'merl!;ency landing.

Seaondary training; c o n s I s t s (If acro-batics, small field n r o ce d ur e a n dp r e c i s t o n flying. The maneuvers arenot z r e et.t y differel lt from those inearl ier W.T.S. t raining. T'he t r t. an-gular method for precision Ian~ing isnot used, having been superseded bythe circular pattern with an -sn tUrnfor simulated carrier Lan d i ng s ,

W.T.S. not only is he Lp t n s; makebetter ~lyers, but sav in~ precious

time. This trainln~ weE'ds nut most oftil e men n(1 t. YU a l i 1'i e d r (1 r fly i n g'.Sta ti sti s show that there were threetimes more "wash Quts n among untra ine dstu~ents in mili ta ry r li~ht schools,than among C.P.T. graduates. Whileone-third of t.he "p;reen" students wereeliminated, only Il.Bi of the men whohad C.P.T. t ra ining were weeded out.

The six-month course for f l ightinstructors will release about 1500Navy f lyers a year for combat duty .

W.T.S. will shor tly Increase i ts en-rollment in the Fli~ht Instructors 'Se no oI to 900. The pr e s e n t require-ments for this course, which leads toan A-V(T) designatlon are 50 solohours, or completion of the W.T.S,elementary training. The reqUirementsSOOIl will be changed to a minimum of100 solo hou r-s, :

Chapel Hill Pre-Flight

A group of 12Q off icers who w111become instructors in the various pre-flight schools, have Just completedindoctrination at Char 1 Hill (s.c.)NavalPTe-Fl tgnt, SchooL 1'wenty of thegraduates will be re tained at Chap 1Ili ll for assignment there .

In addition to physica l condit ion-ing, the one-month course includedins true tion in naval customs and tradi -tions, mili ta ry dr i l l, and generalt ra.tn t nz.


27/61

DAY AT A WAR TRAINING SERVICE SCHOOL


28/61

Traiining Films

Jam Handy Trainers

Pr o p e.r- use o f the 3A-2 trainerswill greatly increase th e resultsattained. It appears that some activi-ties cDnsider this useful device a

complete treining vehicle in itself Iand t urn the students 10"5e o n it~it~ nD planned Fatte rn Dr logicals e9uence of 5 teps

It is recDmwended that this trainerbe l,I!,!ed t.o augment the several st.agesof basic tr a ining before the studentis actually put on the gun tD fire atthe Lma g.e .s of a.t t a ok I ng planes. Clas-ses that are undergDing trajQ1ng i nr e C 0i'll t ion , ,rD .lIil!e s t 1 rna t lOt! ,andsp eed e .s ttma t:ton " should be gj_venabrier period at the end .of each classi n w hI c h th e y c an 0 b s e r v e v a. r j 011 Sa.t t acks on the screens. For instance,upon comple tion of 45 ~inutes 01 rec-ognition drIll it weuld be desirableto htl-ve the stu-den t s see 'an ac t.uaI

3A-2 film attack In order to tie intheirex:tremely ar t.Lf'a cLa.I cla.ss roomr~cognltlon training ~lth the actuRlrecogbl tion pr-obI em that fa ees a gunne r.The same for rAnge and speed estima-tion. The training devices now usedfa r the se sUbJ eo t s ar e a :far cry fr omthe reRI thing. So are film attackS.but they are more realistic than 8ny-~blhg else we have to of fe r in groundtraining at the present time. Fol Lc w-ing these steps, which consist ofi

observation only" the student is betterprep ared fa r ac tU1l1 fi ring run s in the'3.A-:2 room. and a normal procedure shouldb e followed.

Why We Fight, . Part II"The Naz1s Strike" is the second ir

the -Why We Fight" seriesl :produced byMa.jor Frank Capra, for the !.rmy SignalCorps, wi th the coop:eratl.onof the Re-search Councll of the A.cademy of MotionPictureArtsan.d Sciences.

Making use of newsreel shots andcom b 8. t f'i Lm fro T n the .sp 1\ n ish W tl",'through the attack on Pol!'lnd, the pro-ducer has turned out an effect iVe andinspiring, document through expert edit-ing and convinc".ing p r e s en t. a tt on ,

"The Nazis Str ike" MA 1719-b, is H, .s t.t r r-Lng reminder o f' the Ntlzi methods

of four years ago, a.ndaf"fords an ex-cellent way to r~fresh our memories.

160 Cameramen, One Day

Tl-Jls 1. s the most pbo togY' aph ed war .1nhlstorY. Film 1s being shot on everyfront. Newsreels give the public,l!;l1.mpses of action. Secret and confi-4eot18.1 f'oo t ag e is studied by mili taryand naval exner t s , and new me the ds ands tra t,egy developed.

One day 160 Russian came r-amen setout to re,cord one day of war in Russia.Notall c) f them came back, bu t the filmthey shot has been put together in tworeels of actual war p t c tur e s that showand. teU something of Russia's battlesagainst the NaziS. The camera's eyege t s bf urr y s omeUtn e s when r1 f1 e s andartillery .and planes get in theirli.oKS, so ac t.u aI combat photography

doesn't a I wa.ys give usa c1os e enoughv iew of the violent destruction of atlrenemies. However, "Ohe Day of War InRussia" does reveal the l iqUidat ion ofa Few Nazis close enough to the camerar;o make you feel pretty good about 1-tal1..

Sorge 0 f th e ina sc ,E.,.o; sur in g mayhem

1s pnc togr-aph ed in and around Russ:1a.ntanks, and gi ves an indication of whythinJs are going the way they are onthe Eas tel' n Fron t, ReI eased. t11rough

the March of Time, Me-22m;, "One Uayof War in Russia" is a gOJ)d film toinclude on a mor a.l e program and may beordered through Tra.1nlng 'Films .. _

Addl.t1on-al ae t1 on pi e tu res from theRUSiSlM front ede combined wi th combatscenes o r aircraft oarrier operationsto make up a One reel short that Isa.l so recommended as an op t1 onal su bj ectfor Ii morale program. It is M,C-2205II A Carri er Fights ro I' Ll fa and Russia

Flghts Back."


29/61

Approv-ed Gunner-s Training Activiti.es

The Ilur e.au has re c e n t j y drawn up'a list of approved Schools and unitswhQ~e cer ti f jca te of successful course.ccmpl e t.I nn wi 11 be acceptable in q1JlllJ-fyjng for the gunners sleeve hqdgeswh:lch are expected to be announcedat an early date. ~o crjticism ofthose actjv i t les which are not l i stedis jntended. The tra1rrjng of NavalAir GtinberS mus~ ~e standardi~ed ~ndcourses must con forD tB this standardberbre they are approved. Attent ioni s invi ted to the recuirement tha to n f y men who have successfully COl1'-

plated the course, or IIhn have passed

an examina tiQn and practica ltest

which cal ls for a degree of kno~ledgeeqUiva lent to tha t received in a com-plete course, shall be consjdered asfill] Y QuaIl fieri. t n the gronnd t.rainj n Frecrllirem8nts. The a u t .ho r tz a t.f o n for

vesring gunners s Le-eve badges should bejea lously guarded to insure tha t itrepresents a real s tandard .

.As an exa'mple of unbalanced train-

ing, a rated enlisted man ~ecentlyouestioned by a Bureau off~cer an-noun ce d he had campI eted gunners trai:n-i ng at one of our ai r sta t ions. Ques-tioning reveal~d tha t practicallyall of the titme devo ted to such traihing

had been spent on the shotgun range,with the result tha t little else hadbeen learned about the gunner' sprotl-1 e m The Bur e au 11 Il~S a] wa y s r-e C Q g_

nized the va lue of ~hotgun shootingin the basjc stages but i t must beunderstood that the re js a great deal

more to gunners tr a ining than brea~ing~lay pigeOns. The man Questioned hadonly a hazy idea Df how to est imatelead on an a ir~ lane ta rge t and ~eryl i t t le knOWledge concerning a gunnerlsreal duties.


30/61

Bermuda

This station has been watching thework o-f its communications department.Recognizing that much of ' its personnelis made up from reserves who are in theservice only for the dura tion, thatdapa r trnen t ha.s C on due ted a school inradio which 1~ aimed at two goals: thegreenest str iker Is to know as muchabout r a dl 0 a nd a r r c r -a rt ,c ommuni ca ti on sas a f irst-class radioman; each man isto gain practical exper ience which willpe of aid to him in civ il ian l i fe . Thef i rst goa l Is ~elng achieved throughlectures and ope ra ting; the second goalthrough the establishment o.f a workshopIn the shop, men have learn~d to teardown and rebuild all kinds of se ts.They have learned to t rouble-shoot Inprivately owned sets; have built theirown. and have learned ho" to installthem ana l ' ig an tennae. Almos t the en-t1re communications pe rso nn~ l c lamb er edover the roof of the BOQ,lnstallingradins when that bUilding was placedinto commission. The exper1encegained 1n the workshop has been in-valuable to them and the slogan ~Jointhe Navy and lea rn a t rade" 15 takingon new meaning.

For many a mOOIl, Naval Air Sta tioT lBermuda has beRn waiting the arr ivalof' a pl'om1sed b an. d, but, when i t f ,a j] adto mater i a l ize , the stat~on formed oneof its own by culling it from talentalready aboard. After many nights ofPI' a e tic e I the orc bes t ra , known I nc a l1 J 'as U e Naval Aires, fe l t it was readyto go and its debut was to be at asmoker for the enlisted personnel.Then suddenly a nd une xpe cte dly t h elong-awaited b!l.-nd, 25 p Le c es st r o.ng,arr ived. ~ow the Sta tion has i tschoice of'musiC and the cry is goingu:p for a battle of music between thetWG.

FOE" the. p as t mnn t.h , a . drive for thes e t e of .."ar bond linn s t amp s 1,nS beenc o n.duc t.ed here. In that SlI 01 t t ime,t n" "'rr. ()f 'RI. ,'wn II ~ b ,.,u 'Ill etigB.rI

by orficers and men to be paid byallotments. ~ef'ore the dr ive is over ,~aval AiT s t e.t i ou Bermuda may hit the$100,000 mark, a sUm that would behard to match anywhere~

So successfol has b en our own drjvefor the sale of war bonds that th isst a t.t cu lent the 1Jri t i sh a hand r e c en t=-1y in the dr ive for the sale bf Bri t i shWar Bonds. Bluejackets, Mar ines andSoldiers marched through the stree ts of 'Hamilton past the rev ieWing stand.These spectators who might have hea rdtha.t American sai lors did not excel at

marchingreceived a pleasant

surp.r1seat the exn i n i t Lon givel) by the enlistedmen j'rom thi s s La t i 00. Th e per So.rHIf~1showed the results of the two or threeart~rnoons a week that are spent i~dril l ing by officers and men alike, Tvcomplete the parade, a squadron orDS2U's swept ov e r-heao , flyin.g in tJg;l t,f'o rm at t on ,

There have been othe r instances ofthe co-opera tion that exists betweenthe Ori t i sh and American armed i 'orces

in Bermuda. T his isla.nti i s unJque intha t i t is one of the few places In theworld wh e r e the llritish and Amer Lc an sbum pill toe a c h () the r .1 nth e i r 11a i l yroutines and ha ve ove rLapp tng control.!


31/61

t'

Paramsr-ines at New River, N. C.


32/61

-

Ready for Action


33/61

Boston

A recent sta t i st i ca l investigat~onby tbe Cade t Advisory Officer to studythe at t r i t ion rate of recent classescompared tg ,arlier ones shows that8.ll'Ilngcauses of failure. the percentageremains almost constant. In the periodfrom which t.has t e t t s t t cs were compiled,half' of the fllR;hts were Chapel Hillgraduat_es and the other half ' were not.Generally speaking, any rtiffe.enceb~tween the two groups or any mnrkedtrends have not been indica ted. Itdoe s s eem , however. to 1n d i cat.e thatHigh School graduates with Pre In IghtTraining are on a par wi th the col legemen who made IIp tbe ea.r Lte r- group andentered f'light training direct fromcivil life.

In tbe inter~st of the rationed oilco a s er v a b Lo n llro,Q;ram we h av e c om

pleted the conversion o r six b0iler~to c.oa l , fed by stokers. By thts,it Is estimated that there will be an.nnual saving of 350)000 gallons offu e 1 0 i 1

st.. LOUiS, Mo.

Ground School for cadets has accel-eroted its entire progrsm under th enew syllabus "D", whic]l calls fOIr com-pressing the COurse: to eight weeks.In order to acquire IlS much f'lexibil-1Lj as ne.s sIb Le ill the school and to beraNdy to meet any emergencieti j eaCRmen~er of the GrDund SChODI Staff isqualifying himSe1r for at least oneaJditional subject.

At tbe Kansas Clty Conference hel~last ~ugust I t Was uoderstood thateaLh t ra i~ lng sta tion soan would re-ceive revised tex ts and the coursesLQgether wlib Visual aids and othersynthetic devices designed to assistin instruction. To date these haven It baen I"e'C at vad and it is hoped thatthey Will be forthcoming.

BUREAU CON N EN T :Lieut . Catmody hasb~~n assigned to the staff of thePrimary Training Command and ts dei:.er-minto,! ! the dE'vicas which t i le Command

desires to have used at each base.Devices Will be sent when a l"eQnestFor them ;t l:: rece i Ved.

The NP-l planes bave aga~n b~enpressed into servic~ here, ~fter beingla id up because of lack of propelle~s.They are used for syllabus formatlonflying.

We have divided each flight winginto two groups with flights for Group2 star t Ln g 45 mLnut es af te r Group 1.This has been found to give a markedf nc r e as e l.n efficiency: - (1) outlyingfields have a more u~lform number ofplanes instead of be ing crowded for45 minutes and then idle for 45 min-utes; (2) a line crew can opera te wi thabout half the number of men whichfac i l i ta tes messing, liberty, etc.;(3) drawing of parachutes and ~light_gear ha_s been sp-eeded up; (4) gassingtime has been cut down so that 15minutes is ample time for transfersbetween f'lights; (5) py Lon s and stunta.reas are used more evenly a ll day,instead of being alternately crdwdedand idle; and (6) solo s t ude.n ts haVenot been lost so frequ~ntly due to thefaot that planes are nearly always invt-ew.

Elizabeth City, N.C.

Bpcaus~ of dim-out and black-outrp.,l:!;Llll:l.tion.s p r e v a t Lf ng throughout th isarea , Ul"! Comman- da nt o f the Fif th NavalDist r ic t has ordered tha t white hats hesubstituter! foT' blue ca.ps for allenl i~ted per snnne l ashore .

Primary r e a s on is tha t the whit~hats a r mu ch more e a si ly s e e n a n d

p o s s Ib Ll I t y of a c c f d e n f is thereuyrr-ducerj. In clls~swh~re per s orrrre I isgoing nut of Lhe distriot on leave , thebLue cap may be worn.


34/61

Corpus Christi

This sta t ion recently received. seve ra l se~s of the new equipment forsynthetic night f ly ing and instrumenttra ining. While it has aided the

tra ining program a great deal , so~eimprov ements se em desi rable .

Us e a 1 ight .er c 01 or green :fa I' thesheets to cover the windshie ld_, i fpossible , as it i s now possible on dulldays to fly into clouds which cannotbe seen by the safe ty pi lot who is notwear ing goggles. A lighter green alsowould allow t h Ls e qu f pmen t [;0 be used'on patrol flights with the safe typi lo t st i l l havjng enough vision tospot ships and surfaced submarines.

Provide an even lighter coloredgoggle for simulated night f ly ing.The present type whi le suitable onbr ight days, permits no vision at allfor the pi lo t under instruction ondark days.

BUREAU COMMENT. Sp ei aI Devices isdoing fur ther research on red anagreen f t l te rs for night f ly ing in daytime. Lighter green f i l ters are beingprepa red and two shades of red gogglesare contemplated.

At the r isk of repeti t ion, thissquadron wishes again to mention theusefulness of a la rge char t of opera t-ing areas painted on hangar decks, as ameans of instructing pi lots and .s~u-dents in the course-rules and the useof the various training areas. .Tllesec.harts are permanent and s-eem to arousemore interest among pi lDts than theusual course-rule plates hung on the-wall .

Ana CO stia

Due to the sh o r t ag e of gasoline andmoney. Jt Is necessary to exer t eVeryeffor t to conserve both. T~le p i-e sen taverage c ouaump t Lon for SNJ -planes 1sabout 37 gallons per hour . Tbis 1sconsidered to be arproximate ly 70 per-cent in excess of the amount required,especia lly consider ing that opera tionsconsi st largely of pOint to ~oint

cruising. A savings of 25~OUO gallonso f 9 lac t a .n e f u e I " or $ 2 .1 7 5 0 pe rmonth, is bel ieved possible in opera-t ions 01'" 81M's at this sta ti on .

It is reques ted that the f ollowi ngsuggestions for e conomi ca .l cr ui si ngof SNJ's be followed: (referenceBureau of Aerona.utics Technical Note14-40, CrUising Performance of Air-planes) .

(a) A cruising power e oJliblnatt on of 24.8-hg and 1600 rpm' 8 be used, Th 1s 8 hould

~iv~ 8. cruising spe., true of ~bout149.5 mph at 5 1 000 feet; 21.2 ga.llons

per hour.

eb) Where manua l mixture control governs,

caution should be taken to avot.d toolean a mixture. Since the fuel atr

ratio indicators have been removedfrom most SNJ-3's IUld4's, it Is desi , . . -able to lean out- the mj_xture unti l II.smootll runntng of the engine without.a n iocrease of c::yItnder head temper-II.tllre 1t; ob t.a Ln ed , Detonation and

rough running should be avoided.

The following i s a recommended crUisingpower schedule:

AI tl'tude ~ Man.Pressure Speed MPH1000 1600 27. ft 14~

2000

30004000

50006000

7000

The above schedule is f igured lh acarbure tor air mi xtu re tempe ra tu re of0 to laoe., 45% power, ~1.2 gallonsconsumption crulsing 180C., Cylinderhead temperature.

1600 26 5- 146

1600 25.8" 14 71600 .25.3" 1481600 24.S- 149.51600 2 4 . 4 " ~511600 23.8 1 152.a

USMCAS, Eagle. Mt. Lake, TexasMarine Glider Group 7l

Fleet Marine Force

Representa tives . f rom this Group re-cently had the oppo r tun! ty 0 t' wi t ne s s-ingand par tic ipating in f l ight f e-st sof a Bri stol seaplane gl ider , the f i r stanimal of ' i ts kind. Subsequent pro-du et Lo n models wi ll be e .quI pp e d wi thlanding gear to make them amphibious.


35/61

T he &lider WA5 f lown from a hef ty) seaby uslng a pnY~-A tug.

Flying gliders in tow under Instru-men t ' eoudl t ion bas been c o n c ede d bymany to be a near Imuosslbility. Ma-rina and naval officers who are con-ducting glider e~periments fortunatelydid not know this, and have done itBnjbow, wi th success. Til;!:. s t'ac t great-ly increases the potentia l sCOpe of th~-o t' the glUier as a weapon. A me'thoflJ1' snatching a glider rrom the groundby a tow plane in r l lght has been usedWrth success, but refinements of thesystem are sti ll to be made.

nanga~ doors to hit the back o r thehangar, thereby cracking the concreteand denting the doors. A device in-corporating six reet of eight inch~I~ beam per door-bay and one Cbevroletfront wheel c,011 spring has been dfl:~

signed by C. II!.M. EdWard M. Means andA.E. Hackbarth SF 3/e at this station.This door stop has been in use for twomonths and has proven very satisfac-to ry. I t has preven ted fur ther d.a:mageto the hangar and has been ins t rumen ta 1in causing the personnel to open thedoors in the proper manner. A doorthat is opened faster than a normalwalk will spring back ten or twelveree~ ~nd have to be reopened.BUREAU CONNENT : The door stop de-

scribed is b~lieved to have ,ornemeri t. Recommend that the descriptionbe forwarded to BuDoeks" ror study.

Key W~st, Fla.

Consider-able trouble Was experiencedwith the or1g1nal hangar door stopsb"reaklng loose and a lLow t ng, the heavy

3


36/61

. .~, , _ - - . .- :

VER IS S DER LUI=TWAfFE ?

Where's The Luftwaffe?

Here i s an t nt. eres t ang t t.em r-ecen t l y

broadcast by News Commenta tor DukeShoop. He sald his information came"from AmeT'icli1-i1 mil i tary o'b.s e r-ver s r:e-c en t Ly return ed f rom the Russ ian ft ant.

One of the big myster ies of the wari s the whereabmzts of the once ~owerrulGerman air force. The Russians andour own mil i tary observerS are inclinedto the opinion tha t Hi tler i& not send-ing large numbp.rs uf planes against thp.enemy because he does not have them.But Hit ler may possibly be holding apowerful ail' force in re-serve for springoffensives. I t i s pos s fb Le tha t Hi t . l rrea l izes tha t he ~as lost the war andis saving every pOSSible plane for thedefense of his homeland.

Another possible reason is thatHitLer is saving his a i r force for anall-out attempt to take the oil fieldso( the Caucasus i n t he .s pr ing . In l inewith the opinion now held by some mili-ta ry men tha t t .he s ize GT the Luftwaffe

was exag~erafed from the beginning isthe t . es t Imony of ' captured German pi lotsThey have told Russian and Britishintell i~Ptlce of'f'LcLal s in recerrt wefd(stha t Hitler fa i led to ca rry throughwith hjs aer ia l blitz of London inSeptembf!!' 1940 because he did not hav ethe ne c e s s a r y reserves of' bomber 's ""TIdcrews.

Pensacola

"It's rlonp with mirrors" is moretban a c a t.ch nhr-as a when a"ppUerl to theaer i a l mapping trainer in use at the.Nav a l School of Photop:raphy. Act.ua i l y .mirror s are used in the labnra torytraining unit where student photo-

g r apber-s ~fly" their first "f l ight Itnf'::O;before actually going a l of'L witl1 ae r i a IIDappi ng c ame ra and view findf'l".

The student's initial mapping "!iun!!i s made in an ingeniouS tra t n e r wh i c hincludes an airplane ' fuse lage , - a maFping_eame r-a , a view f ' inder~ ann t n t.e r va l o-meter, and tbe regular pi lot -photo-grapher communication syst~m. Andbeneath thE' "rnapp f.ng plane" is a ]nn.!!run of Flor ida landscape wb~ch slidesby the view f inder just as if the plane

were followIng a flight l ine at r egularmapping elevation.

And her~ 's where tbe mir ror s comeinto the picture -- mirrors and a movieprojector showing film made on anactual mapping f lip; ht . As the studentin the cockpit pBers into hi_s viewfinder, the instructor is able to sh.owhim hoW to make the corrections requiredby adjusting camera a~d v iew f inder ~y"crabbing" the plane , and by correct ingthe nourse. Once the student haslearned the technique he canJ throu.hhis I!Gosportn sy stem, gi ve flight direc-t ions to the "pilot"-instruttoI'; andthe instructor , by IDeans of his can-t r oLs , can handle the "plane" In r e l a -tion to thee mnving te r ra in in just sucha wa y as to simulate eKa~tly the realf li gh t c ond it io ns_ .

T he mapping t ra I ne r , as,a preliminaryc hee k -ou t, has :proven inv-qluable., UteI'a group lea ture and a b~ lef per iod of


37/61

j n d i v L d uali n s L r1J c t jon the s t mh' 11 tnhotographer can conrirlen ly RO aloftanrt, in the ai r , master the tec hn iqu!nf carrying, out his duties on a mapp rng'miss ion.

,

Los Alamitos

On January 19 flying was secure~nearly all morning for a reason per-haps unknown on Midwest and EasternStations. Nea rby c1 t r-us f'r-u I t grpwerburned smudg e pots during the nightto protect their crops from frost, andcreated a low-lying smoke screen tha~obscured tile field and landmarks as~frecllvely as ~he heaviest ground fog.

Tw 0 addi t t cna 1 ou tlJ'ing fie Ids ha v ebeen completed, giving the station a

total of f'ive now 1n us e ,Sufficient e Le c t.r t ea I transmission

facilitj_es have been completed to per-mit use of the course-indicating beac onon the tower . The use of this equip-ment has eliminated considerable con-fusion in the local flight pattern.

Glenview, Ill.

An aUXiliary field to handle in-creased training wjll be establishedat Arlington Heights, Ill. Construc-tion work has be~un on the former out-lying rield, which is one of severalused.

This station has b e e.u n e sLgn a t edas a major parachute repair ~ase,with authority to maKe all neces-sary repairs and replacements of ~art5on parachutes. This work includes re-placing panels in can~ples, installingshroud lines, replacing harnesses,etc.

Fullequ i.pment and material forthe operation of such a base is being

installed r.n the modern parachute Lo f't,Believed to be of real interest are

heater pla.te devices the engineeringdepartment developed for more efficientoperation of the N3N planes. They wereinstalled Ln an effort to obtain greaterheat rise 1n the carburetor with thepreheater control turned on to prevenformation of carburetor ice. It was

found that the addition of tne heaterplate to the collector ring nearlydoubled the temperature rise obtainedby use o f' a carburetor preheater. 'l'h eplates are app roxIma t e Ly 14- inches inctiameter and are made of 18 gauge gal-vanized metal.

B {JR E .A U C ON M E tvT

The heater plate i~ assumed to befitted to the nose of the engine toblank off the entrance or cold air be-tween the collector and nose, thusincreasing the heat inducted throu~hthe preheater air entrance. It ap-pears similar to a nose plate devisedby NAS, Minneallolis.

Banana River, Florida

OIl .l anu a r y 25th this station wasvisitpd by ti le MQst Rev ,rend Francis J.Sppllman D. D., military delegate o tthe Apostolic Sea to the armed forcesof ~he nited States and Archbishop orthe Rom a n Cat h 0 1 i c ! c 11d to c e s e 0 fNew York. Accompanying bim o n hisinspection of the station was theSenior Catholic Chaplain of the SeventhNaval District~ Com~~nder Maurice J.She eb y

A Marine detachment arrived hererecently and has taken over many of theposts formerly held by the CiviljartGuard. Already many changes have beenmade for better security of the station.

Whidbey Island, Wash.

One of our operations officers,Ensign Donald M. Anderson, recently was

awarded the Distinguished Flying Crossfor his outstanding service as thecaptain of a patrol plane in theAleutian LsLarids last June. 'I'hepres-entation was made ou the seaplane~arking apron at the Oak Harbor base.A parade of all hands followed.

The Naval Air Gunners Training Unitnow is conducting a class on Sundaysfor officers attached to the station.

,


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Martin Row Turret Unr t, The men inside the turret are over six feet tal].A Mark IX reflector sight is used.

the roller bolts with longer boits anda weather stripping screw with a longerscrew. The wedge shRped patches onplexiglass shown 111 the pbotogra:ph areheavy cardboard glued Ln sLde to p r-o t ec tthe plexil!;lass from scratches when usingcaliber .30 magazines

the contacts lire closed. He may t henresume the elect,l'ical oTleratlon of' tiletur r et , 'I'he photogrllph gives a view ofthis Lns t.aLl a t t o'n , The 11m~ting switchis mounted by m e.a.n s of' the hoistingbolt on the face o t' the turret. Itstrack is secured by the replacem nt of


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Air 'Intermediate Trainmg CommandOrganization of the Naval Air IntpT-

m dlate Training Command is rapidlybeing jie r f'ec ted to h and l e the -prosT1pc-t Lve full load of flight an d grolliHitraining. Standardiza tt on of ,f!rollnrl

and' flight syllabi togeth'f'r with allprocp.sses of t h e actual oTlerationsconnected the?ewith has recpiverl maj0rconsideration as a most importantf'unct.Ion 01' this training comman d AnAir Intermediate Training Rtandard-ization Board eoy rjn~ all -phases oft h e activities of both Training C e r ' l t . p . f swas organized shortly aftRr the pstab-1Lshme.n t of this Command and the t h irdand most beneficial meeting was held atPensacola on January 1, 1943.

Atlanta, Ga.

There is deflnltel~ ~sorrething ne~under t~e SUn"-- or~ li terally speak-Lrig, "in th~ soup". In this instance,it's the ITe !n tal a pp r 0 a c 1 'J to" f 1 ;y i ngth e gaupes" BS expounded b) the Instru-trent Flight Instructor's' School inAtlanta. Ua.

Full panel instruITent fly1ng is nolnndvatlon to gV3atlon~ as the pilots

on corrrrercial airlines and sorre rr ll-l tar} pllots hve been thoroughlyfarriliar ~ith the systett for sorre tiIJe.They hdve been qUick to recognize andput into practice any ajd to thishighly speciaJized science ~hich Kightinsure increased safety of personnel,~assenger8, and equiprrent.

1 h e "needle, ball, a i r s p e e d " systerrof :nitrurrent. f lying as for~erlJ taulhttoIl:' iIi ta r y 'p 11 0 t s , is a s y s t e IT t h a tui~ht be said to be "out of step" ~ith

tte ~dvancerrents rrade in the construc-tioo and perforrrBflce of service typea i r cr af t . The theory no v being taughtan& uti l1zed ~ith narkedly successfulresults i s to take adventage of anyinforrration contributed by eBch ~vall-able ~nstrurrent, tb resultant being ananalysis and co-ordina tion of the CCQ-pOT'entparts . Sin-ply stated, it rreanstha t the rren1;al picture of the air-craft in relation to the earth i s a

ccn p cs t t e of all the IndjcaUons pr-sen t e d 1,Y th e r u II p ar. s l. ron t ran t Qp o p u La r b e l f e r, t h Ls does [Jot meanthfit the pllot In any ~ay reserrbles eSparrc~ h.wlng lunch en 8 busy thor-oughfAre l o r tbat hi s h e a d h a s takenon sa rr e of th e notions ~opularized bySt. 'V r t u s , )\ith t I e proper amo uri t oft n s t r u ct r on and practice, t h e , ' PI lotcan "get the p1cture" r ns t.e r t Ly ~jth-ovt focusJn~ hlS attentJon to ~nysinf!le r nd Lc a t i on ,

Instrunent flying ]5 fundarrentallythe SlIITe 85 contact f Ly I ng , the dIffer-

entIat ing factor beinp ttat instead ofuBing natural references a pilot taBo n l y an s t r urr en t s ~ltJ-1 '!'illell to ac h r ev ethlS en6. A pilot ~u~t CGnce tra te ,hOllever. on f Ly rn z the airplane and rio tthe Ln s tr-unen t s 111tt!n it. To do fhis.the f n s t r urre n t pane] s r o u.ld reflect a~icture of the attItude of the planer a t h e r than r r e r e indlcat10ns of ' ! ' i h e nto operate certa1n controls to ~ tde si re d i nslr une nt readings, This P1(,-ture can be o b t a i n e d r r o r e e a s i l y a n daccurately in instrurrent coodltlons byconstantly crecking the full panel in8 sJsterrat ic ~anner. Care Should bee~eTcised not to concentrate on an~ o~ep a r t j c u l a r ihstruuent for sny preat

length of tjrre J as this ~ rely jnv~testhe "prerrllns" to conduct a fe. experi-ments of their o~n ~ith the rest of t~ epanel.

In teachlnp pl16ts to fly the fullpanel, 1t is found that t~ose ~ho hdvebeen accustd~ed to the "]~2-3- Systerr Hoften experience dif i lculty in rraklngtherrserves use the lnstru~ents "l t t.hiCh tbey are unfani]~ar. In thiseSse the 1nstr ur re nt ree fving dvercon-centration can eIther be turned oJf or

the face covered dver ~jth ITBskingtape. For e x a n p Le , i f a pilot con-stantly watches the turn Indlcator andallows the other instrurrents to gowi t ho ut c h e c k in t b err , n a s k . . off theface .

It then becanas neC~SS8ry to keept~e plane in the desired atti uda byuse of the 1nstrurrents rrlnus the turnIndJcetQT. This can be ea&]l~ actorr-plished J since by uS1ng the gyro hori-


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'Zan a l o I : l g w i t h the other fnstrulI'ents, 8aore accurate tt lr~ caD ~e ~8de thaDliith the turn indicator; s Lm rLa r Ly ,the pla~e can be kept l~~el to maintaina stra ight course. 'ben the pi lot has.astered control of -the plane without

t hi s i ns tr umen t, i t can again be addedto the panel. A n y ot~er instruuent orco~mbinatj_on 01 instrurrents can likevdsebe deleted ei the r separa te ly or to-p:ether,s"nd i t will be found that theplane can be safel) flo~n ~ith B nuu-te r of different co~binations. ihisknoil 'led~e is e xt r en e Ly itrportant J sincein tbeaters of action where se rviceaircraft are eorring into daily contactiii th the enemy" hi t s which cause rela-trvely little d~rr8ge to our "el1-

a r rrQTed cra f t, uay destroy soe InstTu-trent necessary for the safe re turn tocarrier or base. Ihe pilot who husbeen well schoole-d in s t rumen t inter-pretation 8pd weII taulht to visualizeattitude by use of all or anJ cefi-bins tieD of i~dic8tions, has an ace inthe b Q 1 e th ate (l'n v e rye Cl"U e e i v a b 1 Y

e n a .bLe h I n to "ste; y in the ga1te".We hdve not uentioned the huttan fac-

tor, which, in t~e esti~ation of IFIS~is the crowning 8chi~vettent of thenqttitude tbeor ,~ . Pi lot fatigue, assta t i st ics wi ll substantiate, ha s been

a lar~e contributing factor ,in a greatpercentage of the accident cases coaingto the attention of the Eureau ofAeron8ut~cs. Forrrer1) , an hour or twoof "blind f lyinf!" sapped up the re serv ee~ergy of a pilot, ledving him in th e.... r s t p o s s i bl e p h;Y,s'ic.a 1 and men tal con-dition upon reachlnp hi s d esti na ti on3just when he needed to be "on the ball"for his let-doy;,n procedure and Lns tr-u-~ent approach. the attitude systerr,85 pioneered b , the Eajor airlines andadapted to rrl1i tary dviation by IF1S,can be said to eT I~ble a pilot to ex-per.ience conp l. e te reI e x at Lo n whe.n bepl.cks up his "trike" and reports:

"OVER THE STATION AT 2,ODO ~EET --REQUEST CLEARANCE FOR A STANDARDINSTRUMENT APPROACH."

-- - -


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__Dilbert's military bearing wouldn't frighten even the Italians


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Better Sight and Hearing

Changws in ai rplane design to a id

hear lng and vision of combat fl t e rs wererecommended by the lnst i tute of Aero-n au t ic aL Sciences at i ts recent meetingin New York. The recommendations weremade large ly as a r esult of a paper"Vlsion~ ! lear ing and .Aeronaut] cal De-sign", which was read to the Inst . it uteby Commander Leon D. Carson, head ofMe~ica l Research Section of the Bureauo r Aeronautics.

Thi l lgs tha t impede tl Je v ision of the~unner, i t was pointed out, include the

di~ tance . f rom the gunner ' s sightingpane l , which cuts h is a

Documents

Naval Aviation News - Mar 1943