1945 USAAF

the a20 highly successful veteran attack bomber is being replaced by the a26 a bigger and more versatile fighting plane here in England Obama group makes the changeover and prepares to return to home base in France with their new aircraft designed with an all-purpose nose for the rapid change of armament to meet any fighting requirement the new douglas a-26 is potentially the world's most versatile attack bomber depending on its firepower and mission the plane carries a crew of two or three it's great adaptability plus other features enables the plane to exceed the high performance of the a20 although the havoc was a fine horizontal glide and torpedo bomber as well as a ground straw for a nice fighter it could not be quickly adapted to the job at hand each change was a special modification all such deficiency has been overcome in the a26 with instruments checked and set the planes lineup for take off barring only a family resemblance to the a20 recognition keynote of the 826 is its squareness cabin roof and forward belly a flat giving the plane of boxy look wings said almost at right angles to the fuselage tail plane and huge fin are all square tip largeness cells extend well forward and aft of the wake wing span is 70 feet length 49 feet 11 inches height eighteen feet six inches to 2,000 horsepower Pratt & Whitney engines drive the invader to well over 300 miles an hour at 20,000 feet cruising speeds depend on the mission and the range varies greatly with the load and equipment at their base in France the invaders come in hot land at 120 miles an hour on the heart stand the planes are given a thorough servicing the invaders top and bottom turrets give ample side and rear feels a 50 caliber fire for sure as much strength defensively as offensively eight removable 50 caliber package guns which may be mounted on wing racks in place of bombs and various armament including a 75-millimeter cannon that can be mounted in the nose make this play one of the most heavily armed in the world types of the interchangeable nose vary from a lightly armed plexiglass model for bombing missions to the attack nose which has 1 75 millimeter and 137 millimeter cannon or as traffic nose with 650 caliber machine guns as a bomber the invader carries a load is great as that of a medium maximum 6,000 pounds for one thousand pounders or to 2,000 pound torpedoes may be carried internally and for 500 pounders externally other loadings include 125 gallons self-sealing Bombay tank and bombs for long-range missions the few weeks before these takeoffs the invaders made their first missions battle-tested only a dozen times seldom as a full group the planes had already shown great effect in attacking the Germans along the Mets Nancy salient now at December's end their ability proved they were taking off to carry on the fine work of the eight parties and raised more havoc over Germany where it was needed most to flatten the Belgian bone on December 24 1944 the invaders struck at sill fake German headquarters communications center near Szabo of Germany moderate but very accurate flag down one plane in this operation but the bombing which included an important bridge was successful 250 and thousand pounders were dropped the bridge a congested highway link across the Tsar River vital in a supply system of the German first army was completely destroyed here air participation directly affected the action of Patton's Third Army this was the first good weather since the German offensive began 10 days before an air power work to tremendous advantage this was due in part to the great prowess of the new invaders another a 26 target the same day was our lawn belgium near the south side of the boat arlon is on the main road from luxembourg to bostonia and bombings like this helped ground forces clear that road by the following week when counter-attacks drove the nazis backed along the whole bus tony ecology from this point on air ground effort steadily reduced the bow and the a26 proved to be a fast hard-hitting highly competent bomber when germany is defeated the invaders will help speed victory in the pacific as the better Italian witness swept through the apennine mountains heavy snows isolated the little town of castell de San grow fungus threatened the snowbound communities as Italian Flyers prepared to execute a plan to provision the inhabitants by air for Italian bombers were to airdrop 10 tons of flour provided by the Allies at the briefing the pilots listened intently beside their planes obsolete savoia michetti 82 this was more than an airdrop mission this was an act performed in cooperation with the allies and cooperation with realized was the road back to democracy for concord italy it was not always easy to some allied soldiers the Italian seemed to miserable people sometimes they forgot how thoroughly the Nazis had ravaged Italy smashing its factories laying waste its fields and they forgot that hunger will sometimes drive men to steal children debate this is the target snowbound cast lb sangro overlooking the bloody sangro River Valley this was a key town in the Rome are no campaign bloody battles had been fought over this cold almost impassable terrain as the Allies advanced against 28 enemy divisions badly needed by the Nazis for use on other fronts as the planes make their run over the dropping area the falling flower becomes a symbol of Allied willingness to help desolee help itself the Italian people are paying now for the years when Mussolini stamped and shouted about the glories of war for Italian serving with the Allied armies partisans behind Nazi lines the Italian people all point to the time when Italy may take its place in a peaceful and democratic world a world in which fascism cannot exist what india-based b-29s pounded enemy repair facilities at singapore naval base on the melee peninsula to keep battle smashed [ __ ] ships permanently out of action primary target for the 20th Bomber Command super forts was the Admiralty dock in the North Wharf district of the former very strong home this great floating drydock Singapore's most important single installation was 855 beat law and 172 feet wide the largest unit of its kind in operation throughout the entire South Seas area could accommodate the biggest battle ship afloat it's lost coming at a time when the enemy desperately needed repair facilities of every kind would strike the [ __ ] of vital flow to knock it out of commission 67 b-29s dropped 234 tons of thousand pound bombs from an altitude of 18,000 500 feet the results testified to American material American workmanship and American fliers in action recon photos showed more than two-thirds of the floating drydock submerged a 460 foot vessel in the dry dock was hit and left burning furiously construction blocks powerhouses workshops and boat houses were damaged and destroyed fighter opposition was weak black trains from weak to moderate none of our planes was lost to enemy action ah November 24th to liberators on a routine shipping search of a Borneo's coastal waters attacked a [ __ ] lager at masthead level 4 months 13th Air Force heavies operating singly or in small numbers ranged wide over all possible routes to seek out and destroy enemy shipping these attacks of Faust jab ships to follow roundabout costly water routes this great pressure on the enemies already strange seaborne communications is virtually cut off the flow of raw materials to the JAF homeland and it's kept supplies from reaching the enemy in the field on December 16th another more atty based 13th Air Force search plane approached Laveau an island in Brunei bay while throbbing through Borneo's north coastal areas the waist gunner spotted a medium-sized Jeff cargo vessel beginning with a broadside attack the Liberator made two runs over the target dropping a total of nine 250 pound demolition bomb on January 26 the 13th struck near balikpapan continuing its campaign to Harris Jeff exploitation of Borneo cycle raw materials alone b-24 flew low of a dong dang River to drop delayed-action bombs at the pipeline bridge between the Louise and balikpapan oil fields the bridge had been severely damaged the previous race to the Jets these Borneo strikes foreshadows the day when all their stolen stockpiles would be denied them as the invasion of luzon ended his night de boracay based medium bombers flew against cotabato town on Mindanao second largest of the Philippine Islands skimming in a treetop level 12 b-25 scattered over 823 pound para frags through enemy dispersal areas each plane also swept the vicinity with fire from 13 50 caliber machine guns the jab installations were badly battered this was one of a widespread series of attacks by the Far Eastern Air Force and the effort to neutralized by past enemy bases on january twenty fourth Moret I based mediums flew a similar mission against CRC island in the Sulu group south of Mindanao in a minimum altitude attack eight b-25s bombed and Sprott [ __ ] installations at COC town plastering the area with more than five hundred twenty three pound chiropractor time of this attack the lied airpower had already minimized the threat of nearby chat bases and allied ground troops had driven more than halfway across losers lingayen plane on the road to Manila on January 27 a Catalina the second emergency rescue squadron flew into the volcanic enemy-held Sulu region to rescue the sole survivor of a b-25 that had crashed during the CRC island rage three days before guns were carefully charged ready for any job plane that might a flight surgeon specially carried for this mission made advanced preparations to receive the wounded man who had been badly burned in the crash rendezvous had been prearranged dat tie which I we philippine guerilla headquarters 70 miles southwest of SI hace whence the wounded man had been removed and as the rescue plane prepared to land two boats bearing guerrillas and the surviving crew member put out to meet it among this group was a Filipino lieutenant colonel who commands guerrilla forces in the entire Sulu area about town veteran he had been in the Philippine Army at war's outset so I'd the gorilla medical officer who had given the injured crewman treatment after a hurried check the burned flyer was put aboard also returning for treatment was a blind spanish-american war veteran in his half-caste young son medical supplies and personal necessities brought for the guerrillas and the natives were unloaded gifts were quickly distributed on the spot while in escorting b25 protectively buzzed overhead belated Christmas presents for native children had also been brought many of these natives are called sea gypsies for they live on the water traveling from island to island in their small boats all are of invaluable aid in fighting the Japs and officers conferred about equipment to be sent them on the return trip two bottles of blood plasma priceless gift from the homefront were administered to the wounded sergeant Pat Moore atty teammates were waiting for Dumbo to slide into home base and chalk up another run for the team's high rescue score daily performance like this is not only bringing men back to be renewed by the high skill of our Medical Corps it's winning the added respective Filipino guerrillas who inspired by this assistance are themselves assisting the Allies to the utmost working in fighting for the freedom we are already proving will be theirs on februari first 24 liberators took off from angora their target corregidor tunneled into this Ted bowl-shaped fortress three years earlier under fed in under weapon two men and women had held the [ __ ] for four crucial months while an unready America prepared for total war now we were coming back with planes with ships with tanks with thousand pound bombs with all the gathered strength of Allied mines and mills and workers and soldiers now Jeff barracks a store houses were being blasted and burned now was the jab who was fighting for time hoping we might become disunited and saw what Corregidor had been the very flame that had forged are unbreakable unity and our determination to achieve lasting victory now the Jeff was spending lives to stave off inevitable disintegration and defeat but time for the jab was running out the following day the b20 Falls will back over the island thousand pounders battered into enemy supply dumps the campaign to soften Corregidor for invasion was shifting into high for the next two weeks the attack mounted in intensity as the guns of the 7th fleet joined in to help smash the island fortress the end came swiftly and subtly at dawn on the 16th the bombers struck paratroops landed rocket boats blasted a path across the beaches for infantry to come ashore in 24 hours Manila Bay was open to Allied ships what had taken the Japs for months to do we had accomplished in three weeks this was combined operations grunts I'm aiming point cameras record China sorties a 14th Air Force fighter these are fairly good deflection shot but an expert gonna would really clobber planes in a pass like this typical air combat shop no time for a full burst goods dropping on radar station target should be knocked off one by one instead of stropping all damaging none these are good stopping vessels accurate shooting and not much waste of ammunition more to ward off than hidden attacker this diversionary pass returns to the main business of goods dropping this kind keeps them grounded you you