Show lying Fortresses Fi Finally na lIy Prove Battle Worth CLAYTON K KNIGHT the Associated Press Tress When LONDON When the first of Flying Fortresses arin ar- ar 1 ed in Iii England from America the British airmen i took one look at i d them and said They look very I I I e pretty but they'll p iee never get et back S. S erles from bombing runs ruM merican airmen disagreed Ad dit it wasn't until some of the thet in the raid t torts torts' ts p participated ithe Ih German battleships Gnei- Gnei nau au and Scharnhorst at Brest and ind were virtually shot to tot J t ees that es-that that they decided the British were right at least inart in inart art at about these huge fourn four- four ji n battleships of the air 1 Se The e Americans didn't give up h hey ney y believed in the Flying Fores For- For esses es and set out to prove their forth north They added guns plenty guns f until the new forts death-dealing death snouts ticking out in every direction And nd then the Flying For- For went out again to do Battle attle I was interested in howey how h hey ey y were performing after the iv ew ew guns had been added and tour of British Canadian nd Id d American merican air stations in the British isles found that they r now doing right well for perhaps the b best st illustration just I how good the forts are wever was brought home to after I arrived back in Lonon Lon- Lon on n. n It was in the form of a atter atter from a friend of mine lonel Frank Armstrong a nav nave nave na na- na- na ve ve v of North Carolina and for- for ly of Richmond Va comI com com- I landing anding din an n. n American bomber roup that has lies seen pl plenty nty of ot tion dion over nazi-held nazi territory h had d spent several days at his hise e The letter brought good news ells eUs of Attack No doubt you have read of ot ofir ir attack last Sunday Sunday Sunday-it it Linly was a doozie We fought proximately 40 enemy aircraft lithe way in and to the target heir attacks were on head I nose to when nose when the bombing as as being made Once I was f reed ed to pull straight up to event a on head-on collision with I 1 am ant de- de to say that not one of was denied My Iy No 3 an was hit in three motors it It- the Ithe he managed to stay in long ough ugh to unload unload and and only then nt down It is estimated that accounted for 15 Huns One my ny nose gunners set a Hun fire ire and he fell just beyond S leading element as it moved er to give him room He was beautiful sight Now ow the significance of thel the l lonel's neIs letter as regards the of the new Flying stresses was this That That raid was one of the early earlys es s which the American forts ide alone protected alone protected by fight- fight of course but aided by noh no h her r bombers Where the colo- colo 1 isaid said one of the forts carried tits mission on only one motor fore crashing he gave a good of the way these big tubers can account for them- them Ives kd And nd where the airman ed d that the Germans were tacking Backing the forts on head brazenly try- try 10 to crash into the colonels colonel's ine that toe that meant the German ers ars rs had been ordered to bring alof of these winged battleships wn at any cost so they could what made it tick The Phe Hun did bring two forts sn in this particular raid but hough he probably got a good k Ii at the gun set the chances he found out nothing about bombsight which has hasEde de Ide the forts the champion ision bombers There are to take care of their traction other Raid RaM Cited jets ets take another raid raid raid-an an li her r one than Armstrong de- de in in his letter but made the he same forts lorts under his omand i his Tiis is was one that proved the its ts were ere revolutionizing day the cover of darks dark- dark s 5 S without even friendly p pur- pur r- r protection Armstrongs Armstrong's big bers set out for a daylight d lon on occupied France hey hadn't much more than ed the channel when they r re attacked by 25 enemy r low w did the forts perform 7 The he Hun paid for that at- at k Ic Armstrong told me later th three enemy aircraft con- con coned Ted ed and a total of 12 probable raft shot down That makes tab tal l of f one entire enemy f fight fight- And they never had satisfaction of seeing even of our aircraft shot down f t f course even the Flying tresses wouldn't be much i without a highly trained v. v I stood around a bomber ion on one day while the men mene e getting ready to go on a aI I If I and to look at some of Crewmen crewmen y you'd ud never sus- sus what deadly fighters they here bare was Lennie a a. small J kid dd id r if New York City who Iwas a clerk in some Mann Manan Man- Man an n department store before warie war h ie e spot he fights from is in tail tall tall-a a tiny compartment f-a f would give the jitters jitter to to 7 1 f r ri U U rt i. i H l t i q w anyone suffering from phobia But Lennie wasn't worrying about the coming bombing run someone had helped himself to Lennies Lennie's goggles and Lennie was a bit hot Who swiped my goggles 1 he shrieked Gives GI Him Goggles The top gunner Gus a a. big set heavy-set chap who looked as though he might have been a bootlegger at one time minced up to Lennie with the goggles in his handI handI hand I swear it Lennie I never A flight of the new Boeing Flying Fortresses fight their way to fo the target through swarms of Germans desperately bent on shooting them down to find the secret of their invincibility and their amazing fire power This is how the air battle baffle looked to Clayton Clay Clay- ton Knight famed aviation artist took them Somebody put them in my helmet Well damn it dont don't let it happen again was was little Lennies Lennie's Lennies Lennie's Lennie's Lennies Len Len- nies nie's retort as he fastened on his goggles Size doesn't doesn t mean anything when youre you're fighting from a Fortress The prospect of facing death doesn't mean anything to a For- For t tress crewman either They never believe it can happen to them and when someone is wounded during a battle battie he usually manages to joke about it One day a squadron returned from a raid and the lead plane had asked for the ambulance to meet him at his dispersal station sta sta- sta- sta tion As the crew tumbled out the thet t ambulance said Which one Is g gMe hurt Me grinned the copilot holding up his left hand About an inch of the index finger was missing A shot from a Focke- Focke cannon had passed right through the cabin and taken off tle tip of the copilots copilot's finger inger as asit asit asit it gripped the wheel Just my luck the wounded airman smiled If If Id I'd have been scratching my roy ear at the atthe the time this wouldn't have happened The job the crews and their new forts are doing has has justified justified justi justi- fied fled American belief in in the bombers and has won the whole-hearted whole admiration of the British |