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Show SUICIDE PLANES ARE PROBLEM While no report of our naval losss as a result of the Japanese kamikaze, or suicide plane operations, opera-tions, has been made, sufficient information in-formation has been released to emphasize em-phasize Admiral Kincaid's statement state-ment that they are persistent and troublesome. The Admiral, who commanded the Seventh Fleet operating in the Philippines, says that the Japs be-began be-began the mass suicide attacks dining din-ing the Leyte operation. Previously Previous-ly navymen recall seeing many Jap anese planes plunge close to their ships but it was asumed that the pilots had been killed or had lost control of their planes. Now, it is believed that the earlier incidents might have been forerunners of the "kamikaze." Secretary of the Navy James Forestall says that the Japanese aparently counted on 'one plane, one ship" but their score has been"'' nothing like this ratio. However, it is reasonably certain that the suicide sui-cide planes which formerly attacked attack-ed convoys and then concentrated on lone ships, scored heavily against us in the Mindoro operation opera-tion and also at Luzon. Aparently, the suicide pilots have scored additional addi-tional successes in the current Okinawa Ok-inawa operation. "The most effective measure against them," declares Admiral Kincaid, "is to catch them on the ground and destroy them before they get off." Reports from Fleet headquarters at Guam and from the Twentieth Air Force, provide evidence that our bomber planes are atempting to folow Admiral iKncaid's advice. As rapidly as our bomber force can be built up, the intensity of the attack on enemy airfields will be increased. In adition, patrol planes and anti-aircraft guns of the Fleet manage to knock down many of the suicide planes. |