SJ435N

Navigators Story by J Steinbinder

[05-__-42 ? month unk] Reconnaissance by aircraft consists of obtaining a complete picture of all possible enemy positions and movements; and as much information of personnel and strength as can be determined by means of' photographs and individual aerial observations.

It also embraces patrol of many shipping lanes, enemy submarine waters, and any other regions where enemy activity could effect any allied movement.

As is readily seen, the work of a reconnaissance squadron is broad in scope, highly coordinated in nature and long and exhausting in observation. Its importance is of the utmost value to each and every task force concerned in the particular theater, for aerial reconnaissance is the largest single source of information upon which depend the future movements of all forces. Below is a typical combat reconnaissance mission in the southwest Pacific as reported by a navigator:

"Having been informed my Air Force Bomber Command headquarters that a reconnaissance mission was to be flown tomorrow, and that our crew would fly the mission, we held a brief meeting and then retired for the night at an early hour. Two hours before the take off which was scheduled for day break, we were awakened by the guard. We gathered our necessary equipment and after a hasty breakfast we left the camp area and proceeded to the line.

The pilot and I were then briefed in the grass hut which we complimented by referring to as operations headquarters. Here, we were informed of all the latest enemy and friendly activities in our theater of operations. We received the weather forecast and other necessary forms; and then we returned to the plane which had been warmed up and was ready to fly. We studied the weather forecast and discussed various approaches and alternate courses to and from our objective. We finally agreed on an approach and took off at the designated time. Soon after the take off, I gave the pilot my initial course.

En-route to the target, I made half-hourly position reports in my log-book thus keeping myself informed as to my position at all time. I also maintained an hourly weather report, special reconnaissance forms.

As we left land and started to fly over water, the pilot notified all gunners to test their guns. I checked my guns along, with the others. Approximately thirty minutes before we reached our first objective, I called the pilot informing him as to our estimated time of arrival. He immediately put the crew on the alert for enemy aircraft and told them to watch out for anti-aircraft fire.

Immediately prior to passing over the target the photographer was notified to stand by the camera. I directed the pilot exactly over the target. At the moment the photographs were snapped, I noted the time and altitude and also made out a weather report over the objective and recorded on the reconnaissance form everything I cold see through the binoculars. I noted the disposition of planes on the airdrome and the boats in the harbor and made positive report as to types and number of all surface vessels and planes as I was quite sure how much all these aided in the interpretation of the photographs. As soon as the photographs were taken and I had completed my notes, I gave the pilot our course to our next objective.

On our way to the second target, we ran into a severe tropical storm necessitating a change in course. The pilot climbed several thousand feet, flying in and about the clouds during this time, I tracked the pilot. He broke out into the clear after fifteen minutes of instrument flying. The bombardier suddenly called the pilot and told him that he saw a convoy of three surface vessels below us and dead ahead at an approximate distance of ten miles. The fact that no allied forces were listed in this position our intelligence report assured us that the convoy was non-friendly. I immediately made out a radio message containing the number of ships, the course, speed, latitude and longitude position, description and the time of sighting. I submitted the radio message to the pilot for approval; he in turn sent it to the radio operator who immediately transmitted the message to the home base. The effect of this knowledge determines whether or not an immediate striking force is to be sent out to attack.

Since that second objective was known to be a strongly fortified enemy base, the pilot climbed up to thirty thousand feet necessitating the use of oxygen. Again the pilot put the crew on the alert. As we approached the target, several pursuit ships were spotted circling below us. We knew it would be a matter of only a few minutes before the pursuit ships were aware of our presence in which case they would attack. So we made our run on the target as quickly as possible. The side gunner and the tail gunner reported anti-aircraft bursts breaking off to the right of the plane and some to the rear. We varied our course and altitude in attempts to dodge the ack-ack and took some photographs before we headed out to sea. By this time the pursuit ships made a head-on attack in an attempt to turn us back into the concentrated pursuit behind us. In doing so he came head on into the full blast of the twin fifties in the nose and when the pilot dropped the nose of our ship slightly the upper turret caught him in deadly burst which set him afire and put him into a dive from which he never recovered. Two others made a frontal attack and I got in a few good bursts. I managed to take a look at the compass and make notes as to our heading while we were engaged in the combat. We all had

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