JAP. "WARSHIP"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 251, 23 October 1944, Page 3

JAP. "WARSHIP"

ATTACKED IN DESERT

USED FOR BOMB PRACTICE

(0.C.) SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 7. Information has been released in which it is stated myopic Jap flyers will haye a goggle-eyed haemorrhage if they ever see a unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy out at Muroc Dry Lake in the middle of the Mojave Desert in Southern California, one of the hottest regions in the world. It is a 650-foot heavy cruiser of the Mogami type. It is a phony, of course; but it is life size. Prom a distance the illusion is perfect—an ugly, blue-grey warship steaming at 33 knots on a hard desert floor which looks like a glassy smooth sea.

Sandy revetments simulate the wake churned by the 8500-ton sea devil's propellers. Menacing gun turrets sweep the seas and any mortars which might.be hidden on adjacent tropical islands coloured with Joshua trees and sage. To American warplanes this camouflaged naval ghost is a juicy bait. Two Los Angeles newsmen—the first civilians ever to fly over her—learned what a thrill "Bombs away!" must be. In a B-25 Mitchell bomber flew a reporter in a series of five strafing and minimum altitude attacks. In a Curtiss Helldiver flying beside was a photographer, making pictures of the Mitchell's deadly assaults. Just as Doolittle's men were briefed on the Hornet before they flew in Mitchells to Tokyo, these crews first get orders at the Muroc army airfield operations office. Second-Lieutenant Donald Stine, of Alhambra, and FirstLieutenant Robert Smith, of Portland, Oregon, who will pilot the Mitchell, agree to. bring their sleek new plane in at only a few feet. above the water to avoid ack-ack. Smith knows the score. He wears a cluster on his D.F.C. and has just returned from 50 combat missions in a B-25 this year in the Central Pacific—the Gilberts, Marshalls and Carolines.

Climb for Attack Second-Lieutenant W. J. Hatford, of Minneapolis, anticipates little trouble with his Helldiver. In a few seconds the engines are roaring. The B-25 trembles as she "revs." for the take-off. Down the apron can be seen' long lines of more Mitchells and Liberators, all eager for the kill. The Mitchell and the Helldiver are up, and climbing swiftly. Many miles down the lake is the Japanese terror, serene in her solitude, but not for long.

First-Lieutenant Kenneth Plumlee, navigator, from Tracy, California, clenches his fist. It is the signal to the Helldiver, and the planes swoop low for the approach. They race ehead, and suddenly, for a split second, the Mitchell is practically grazing the main truck of the Nip. warship. The camera catches her as she flees the imaginary flak and zooms away. There has been no rain of explosives. In these practice runs the bomb bays and the cartri&ge belts on the B-25's bristling machineguns are empty. The planes are sparing their prey, just as thousands of other pilots have saved her for further 4th Air Force gunnery and bombing practice. Four more times the Mitchell and the Helldiver return in a 50-minute foray. Despite their faith in their guns and the cross-hairs in their bomb-sights, the flyers admit it is reassuring to know they are not ploughing through a curtain of deadly flak or playing tag desperately with Zeros.

This nightmare at Muroc has had a hectic career. Built of timber and chicken wire, in 1942, she was used by torpedo squadrons which subsequently proved their worth in big league engagements in the Pacific. Photo Joes used the cruiser for reconnaissance picture making. P-38's, gull-winged Corsairs from the Marines' Mojave Air Station and fighter planes from Van Nuys to Ontario, in Southern California, have found the cruiser not a mirage but an ideal target. They have used her for identification, strafing, skipbombing, and even high-altitude egg dropping with dummy bombs of sand.