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Show Washington, D. C. FLYING MINUTE MEN" (The brass ring, good for one fret ride on the Washington Mcrry-C.o Round, is awarded this week to tin Civil Air Patrol.) This brass ring goes not to one man but to 68,000 men and women They are members of the Civil Aii patrol who have been fighting thf war in little single-motor planes fly ing within the boundaries of thf United States, and who carry th torch for the future of civil aviatior in this country. How long they will be allowed tc carry that torch is the importaiv question. At present they are or phans of the storm carrying mili tary responsibilities without mili tary standing. They fight submarines, subma-rines, but they had to fight for weapons weap-ons first. The army and WPB are slowly throttling them by refusing new equipment or repair parts. Thus in order to keep their gradually deteriorating de-teriorating machines going, the Civi! Air patrol is almost certain to b swallowed by the army. The army has been wanting tc take over because civilian fliers in wartime are considered a nuisance by the military with justification in some cases. Youths and Fathers. But the owners of 25;000 private planes thought they had something to offer. The younger ones went into military service. Others, many being married men with families, organized the Civil Air patrol, which for more than a year has been flying the coastal waters and maintaining a courier service throughout the United States. These are the "Flying Minute Men." At first their submarine patrol pa-trol was merely a spotting job. H they spotted a submarine, they were supposed to radio a shore base and then hover around waiting for a bomber to come to the scene ol action. But they had so many heartrending heart-rending experiences, that they clamored clam-ored for bombs of their own. They would dart low over the water, discover dis-cover a submarine location, radio to a shore base, hold the contact, hover and pursue and then sometimes some-times lose the prey because the army never came along. For months they called in vain for bombing equipment. War department depart-ment insisted that no civilians are allowed to carry weapons, and thus the Civil Air patrol should not be armed. The army would not even release life rafts, and as a result several CAP pilots have lost their lives on submarine patrol. Finally the restriction was waived, and today these little single-engine planes carry small bomb racks, bombs, and bomb sights. But they have not been allowed to reveal the success of their submarine subma-rine patrol. War department calls It "military information," and insists in-sists that CAP shall say no more than that they have "attacked" submarines sub-marines without indicating the result. re-sult. Subs Sunk. But we can reveal that submarines spotted by CAP observers have actually actu-ally been sunk. The authority for this statement is Maj. Gen. Follett Bradley of the army air corps, who also emphasizes that these "Flying Minute Men" have provided their own planes, tools, radios, and other equipment. A year ago German submarines were sinking merchant ships within Bight of the Atlantic coast. This brazen activity ceased after establishment estab-lishment of the Civil Air patrol. The submarines were driven into deep waters, for the small planes, flying low and flying slowly, were able to do a better job of spotting than big patrol bombers which whizzed past the scene too rapidly for close observation. ob-servation. WHY THE JAPS KNOW Here is an excerpt from the interior in-terior department's annual 1941 report, re-port, which indicates why the Japs know so much about the Aleutian Islands: "The floating plant Kosei Maru, with auxiliary craft consisting of 9 trawlers, was engaged from May to August, 1940, in taking halibut and cod in Bering Sea about 100 miles northeast of the Pribilof Islands, with one additional trawler during the last week or two of the season. The vessel was reported to have left tor Japan toward the end of August. "This is the eleventh consecutive year that Japanese floating plants have operated in these waters, the number of vessels having varied from one to four, with the usual complement of tenders." Note: Under international law it is impossible to prevent foreign fishermen fish-ermen from fishing in foreign waters. ... MERRY-GO-ROUND C War Transport Czar Joe Eastman says he gets a bushel of letters and postcards every week suggesting that he bar Mrs. Roosevelt from traveling ... Old Washington observers ob-servers who have seen previous Presidents suffer from getting out of touch with the nation, wish FDR had two Mrs. Roosevelts to keep him posted about U. S. sentiment Any President who loses contact with the people is finished, and every President, especially in wartime has to keep close to his desk. |