Show Troop Carrier Command Specializes In Getting There with J Most est Army's Aerial Carriers Provide Surprise Element in Actions At North Africa Sicily Salerno New Guinea and Burma STOUT FIELD INDIANAPOLIS IND The The Troop Carrier Command youngest branch of the Army Air Forces has already played an important part in Allied advances in every theatre of war The Commands Command's prime function is to get troops and supplies in a hurry to where they are needed most Its Latin motto translated means He conquers who gets there first Its planes fly paratroops and glider troops into battle They bring in supplies to outfits cut off from outside communications They bring their own engineers into abandoned enemy air fields with specially designed midget equipment equipment bulldozers bulldozers tractors rollers fn to r to nut the fields back into ervice service for our own r and ln nI bombers On their n return trips they carry out the wounded They are the aerial carriers which shuttle back and forth within the theatres of opera opera- The airborne troops are ground troops which ride into battle on Troop Carrier Command Command Com Coin mand planes Short History Crammed With Action The Troop Carrier Command was created on April 30 1942 Its thrill hardened youngsters youngsters youngsters young young- have crammed the two ensuing years with action They spearheaded the invasion of North Africa with a mile 1500 flight of paratroopers paratroopers paratroopers para para- troopers from English bases They bored through flak and storm to toland land paratroops and glider troops in Sicily They plunked paratroopers paratroopers para para- troopers in just the right spot to save the day at Salerno in those first anxious 48 hours They struck with the mass parachute attack in Markham Valley Talley which paved the way for wiping out Jap bases at and Lae and dropped glider troops behind Jap lines in inthe inthe inthe the recent invasion of Burma Interspersed are little stories Youve never lived until l you have flown contour in a C 47 ten feet off the ground or ox just above the tree tops you OU are told Tree Top Flying Is Routine Its It's routine for them to fi fly hugging the ground Enemy fighter planes cant can't get them from underneath or attack from above for fear of mush ng into the ground on the pull- pull out Contour flying neutralizes ground fire because the plane comes and goes before guns can swing into action It HIt isn't true that a propeller will shatter if it churns into wa wave ye tops in flight ht We Ve were flying at wave height over oyer the Mediterranean The plane in front of me dipped too low Propeller blades smacked into the water It didn't bother the propeller but the water made the tile engine sputter one pilot told Another pilot told of the habitual beating engines take There swell but they overheat overheat over over- heat when they get choked up tip with leaves while flying through tree tops I had a Twin Wasp cut out on me that way once In battle area operations overloads arc are normal An airplane isn't overloaded until no more can be stowed aboard airplanes include the Douglas C 47 and C 53 Curtiss Commando C 46 and Douglas Doug Doug- las has C 54 all powered by Pratt Whitney en en- en gines The Commands Command's gliders are the and the big new which can carry 30 men and their equipment into battle |