Salt Lake Telegram | 1943-04-29 | Page 1 | Razzle-Dazzle Yanks in P-40's Take Nip Bridges Apart like Toys with 1000-Pound Bombs

Razzle Razzle- Razzle azz i in P T Take al e Nip Bridges Apart LI c Like J Pound 1000 Bombs By Walter L. L Briggs Brigga U. U S. S FIGHTER BASE EASE Northeastern Northeastern Northeastern North North- eastern India April 23 U UP j- j Delayed Young American fighter pilots h have ve rigged up their P 40 to carry pound 1000 bombs an andare taking tale tak ing apart Japanese bridges like a year two kid tears up his toys y Turning these powered high-powered fighter-bombers fighter into devastators able to carry twice their usual weight of bombs was the idea of Colonel John E. E Barr 31 I. a foot 5 inch 6 Texan from San Antonio Along with increasing the ex explosive plosive load Barr manned five live of the P with with a man five team of with a razzle- razzle dazzle approach technique that has caused heavy damage to Japanese supply routes and towns Since the Barr plan started I working reconnaissance planes have been coming back from surveys over northwestern Burma Burma Burma Bur Bur- ma with pictures showing steel bridges airfields and towns blasted by these bombers The small group of pilots based here arrived last fall asa as asa asa a protective force for transports to China but they later branched out Into other jobs supporting operations through the hills and jungles jung of Burma Bombing is their latest pastime They were pretty skeptical about the possibilities of big bombs around here Barr said They t thought ought the fuselage wouldn't hold together with that load and a bigger bomb wouldn't make much difference on the target But we staged a test Two flights of P carrying lighter bombs such as the went over over a steel bridge Pictures showed even direct hits didn't put it out of i S The next day w wr tried with the big babies Barr said The Japanese are still trying to patch it up so they can put a train across it