Ernie Pyle Py I t- t Carrier Pilots Best hest in World They Must Be to Stay Alive IN THE WESTERN P PACIFIC Delayed The Delayed Tho first time you see a plane land on a carrier you almost die At the end of the first day my muscles were sore just from being all tensed up while watching the planes come in It Is all so fast timing Is so split second second t-second sp space ce Is so 50 small small small- well somebody said that carrier pilots were the best in the world and they m must u s t be or there wouldn't be any of them left alive Planes dont don't approach a carrier carrier carrier car car- rier as they would on land land land- from way back and In a long glide Instead they almost seem to be sneaking up as If to surprise surprise surprise sur sur- prise it They're In such an awkward awkward awkward awk awk- ward position and flying at such sucha a crazy angle you dont don't ow they can ever land on anything But its it's been worked out by years of experience and its it's the best way Eve Everything r y t h i n g is straightened out In the last few seconds of flying That is Is it If it works An Anything Can Happen Anything can happen in those last few fey seconds Once in a great while the plane loses losea its speed and spins into the water just behind the ship And planes have been known to ram right in into o o othe the stern of the ship The air currents are always bad The ships ship's island distorts the currents and makes the air rough Even the wake of the ship the the waters churned up by the propellers propellers have have an effect on the theair theair theair air through which the plane must pass If half halt a dozen planes come comein comein comein in successively without one getting getting getting get get- ting a wave off from the signalman signalman signalman sig sig- sig- sig youre you're doing pretty well For landing on the deck of a small carrier In a rough sea Is just about like landing on half halt halfa a block of Main street while a combined hurricane and earth earthquake earthquake earthquake earth earth- quake is going on Perfect Landing You would call It a perfect landing if a plane came in and hit on both wheels at the same time in the cen center ter of or the dc deck k headed straight forward and caught about the third one of off ot the cables stretched across the deck But very few of them are per per- They come in a thousand different ways If their approach approach approach ap ap- ap- ap is too bad the signalman signal signal- man waves them around again They'll sometimes come In too fast and hit the deck so hard a tire blows s. They'll come in half sideways and the cable will jerk them around in a tire- tire screeching circle They'll come in too close to the edge of the deck and sometimes sometimes sometimes some some- times go right on over the cat cat- walk They'll come in so 50 high they'll miss all the arresting gear and slam into the high cables stretched across mid- mid decks called the barrier Some Catch Fire Sometimes they do a a somersault somersault somersault somer somer- sault over the barrier and land landon on their backs Sometimes they bounce all around and hit the Island Sometimes they bounce 50 feet in the air and still sun down all right Sometimes g t th catch fire During the Tokyo strike o 0 of the big carriers running ne us lost three planes in 10 T m mi utes One was shot up and and h to ditch In the water ale alon side the ship The next one slammed it Ir the island and was so 80 wreck they just heaved the wrecks over the side The next one om come In crashed the ban barrIl and burned up And on the other hand y land planes for weeks bad crackup We Ve wrecked t th planes our first three days I c in crashes crashes and and not a single 6 c cafter after that