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Posted on 07/28/2004 10:52:03 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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Air Raid on Cavite The morning of December 10, 1941, would be to the Americans on Luzon what December 7 had been for those in Hawaii -- but without the element of surprise.  The Japanese aerial armada droned into view on December 10, 1941. In each bomber, seven-man crews tensed behind four 7.7mm machine guns and a single 20mm tail gun. Everyone scanned the skies for defending fighters. Americans in Manila shook their heads in disbelief. Despite the disasters of December 8, the defenders of the Philippines were still confident in their own strength and still amazed at the audacity of the Japanese. "We were Americans," Sergeant Sidney Stewart later wrote, "proud and sure and free. We had nothing but contempt for the stupid fools blackening the sky. The Japanese must be crazy to attack a city held by Americans."  Bombed Clark Field, south of Manilla, The Philippines"> Japanese destroyed half of the aircrafts of Clark Field Navy Base, south of Manila on the Philippines, 25 B17's-bombers and their fighters were destroyed. A substantial part of the defending American air force on the ground was destroyed. Monday, December 8, in the Philippines had been terrible. The main American bomber base at Clark Field had been bombed to rubble. Japanese attacks had reduced Lt. Gen. Douglas MacArthur's bomber fleet by 50 percent and his modern fighters by 37 percent. Japanese pilots flew triumphantly back to Formosa, having lost only seven fighters. Bad weather on Tuesday, December 9, had given the Americans a respite, but December 10 would be another very grim day. On Japanese-occupied Formosa, the weather threatened the morning's air operations. At 0300 hours a drizzling rain had begun, but the weather officer told his dubious colleagues that it would clear by 0830 and that flying conditions would be good.  Clark Field High winds and storms had scattered Japanese aircraft across Formosa that Tuesday night. This ill wind had done some good for Japanese pilots. They took advantage of local inns, soaked in hot tubs and got a good night's sleep. When they awoke on December 10, the weather remained bad but within tolerances if the Japanese were willing to accept some risk to pilots and planes. Because they had been so badly scattered, Japanese fighter aircraft spent early Wednesday morning reassembling at their proper bases, refueling and rearming. Pilots received new orders, new targets and briefings as to remaining American strength on Luzon.  G4M1 "Betty" Aircraft of the Tainan-based 1st and Tainan Kokutais (naval air groups) and the Takao-based Takao and 3rd Kokutais finally got airborne about 0900. Their targets for Wednesday were American airfields at Del Carmen in central Luzon (18 Mitsubishi A6M2 Zeros of the 3rd Kokutai), Nichols and Nielson adjacent to Manila (34 Zeros of the 3rd Kokutai and 27 twin-engine Mitsubishi G4M1 "Betty" bombers of the Takao Kokutai), shipping in Manila Bay (27 of the Takao Kokutai's G4M1s, switched from their original target of Del Carmen) and the Manila Bay naval base at Cavite (27 Mitsubishi G3M2 twin-engine "Nell" bombers of the 1st Kokutai, escorted by 22 Zeros of the Tainan Kokutai). Another 27 fighters of the Tainan Kokutai took off to cover minor amphibious landings against north Luzon. As the bombers and fighters assembled over Formosa, American radio-intercept personnel snatched Japanese ground-air radio calls from the air. These intercept specialists had identified possible bomber-fighter radio nets the day before. When the intercept people heard radio calls on the bomber net in the morning, they alerted the Air Warning Service that 100 bombers were headed for Luzon.  Aircraft in the Philippines, December 1941: Douglas B-18A "> "Very interesting," came the reply from an unimpressed Air Warning Service. Few people yet believed that important information could come from radio intercepts. Time passed. Then the Japanese fighter net came on the air. The radio intercept detachment called again. Based on the radio signal strength, Japanese planes were 15 minutes out, they warned. The Air Warning Service said that ground observers had not yet spotted anything, so no alert would be sounded. About 1115, roughly the same time as the American 20th Pursuit Squadron was returning to Clark Field from attacks against Japanese landings, ground observers told Interceptor Command headquarters at Nielson Field that a big formation of fighters and bombers was north of Clark, heading toward Manila and Nichols.  Cavite Naval Yard Clark's air-raid siren sounded when Japanese planes neared the field. Doctors, nurses and patients at the adjacent Fort Stotsenburg base hospital scrambled for the air raid shelter. Patients whom no one thought were ambulatory ripped the transfusion needles out of their arms and legs, jumped from their beds, and ran. Frightened litter bearers carried those who could not move. Pilots from different squadrons raced each other to claim the Curtiss P-40B Tomahawks and P-40E Kittyhawks remaining, then sortied without regard to each another's proximity. Lieutenant William E. Dyess was at lunch when he heard that Japanese bombers were due overhead in two minutes. He jumped into the luggage carrier of a passing motorcycle and hightailed it for his plane. In his haste, he forgot his goggles, helmet and parachute. He taxied his plane past bomb craters, took off blind through a dust storm raised by previous planes, and nearly collided with another P-40. Overhead, Clark's aircraft assembled above the field. Then the 17th Pursuit headed for Manila Bay, and the 21st Pursuit for Manila's port area. Not all the P-40s that got into the air necessarily threatened Japanese aircraft. When Dyess got to Manila, he found his guns were jammed and would not fire. Some Nichols Field pilots were already airborne, but they were about to come home from standing patrol shift. They were tired, and their fuel tanks were low, but they climbed after the bombers. The Americans from Nichols and Clark fought as best they could, but inoperable or jammed guns put plane after plane out of commission. Japanese bombers droned stolidly toward Nichols, Cavite and the shipping in Manila Bay.  Pearl Harbor wasn't the only place that was attacked on December 7th. Across the International Date Line - making it officially December 8th - lay Clark Field, which was pounded by Japanese "Betty" Bombers, then strafed by Zeroes. Some American pilots managed to counterattack, two such heroes, LT. General USAF (Ret.) Joseph Moore and Colonel USAF (Ret.) Sam Grashio,are pictured in "Too Little Too Late". A shortage of fuel forced the American pursuit planes to break away. One plane landed with only three gallons remaining. Three P-40s fell during the intercept attempt without inflicting any loss on the enemy. Japanese pilots reported that they were outnumbered two to one by the Americans, yet had shot down more than 43 P-40s and Seversky P-35s. The field hit hardest was Del Carmen, where five P-35s of the 34th Pursuit had just returned from their successful attacks against enemy landing forces. Another seven P-35s, scheduled for the anti-invasion mission, were on the ground because of mechanical failure. Blind luck was with the Japanese. The Americans had been on the ground about 10 minutes, and ground crews were refueling and rearming the planes. "Look," an airman called, "P-35s coming in for a landing." But the airman's aircraft identification expertise was poor. Ten Zeros arrived and caught the immobile P-35s. No revetments had yet been constructed to protect the planes, and the P-35s were lined up side by side. The field's only defense came from six Lewis .30-caliber machine guns. The men manning the guns were poorly trained, and all but one gun jammed after firing just a few rounds.  The Japanese destroyed or damaged 10 of the P-35s, yet failed to injure a single man. When strafing set a gasoline tank truck on fire, the driver disconnected his tractor from the flaming trailer and saved his vehicle. The Japanese also concentrated on two tanker trucks filled with molasses, used to dampen dust on the runway. Del Carmen radioed for help. A P-40 flown by Lieutenant Carl P. Gies jumped the last Zero as it pulled out of a strafing run, and shot it down. Gies' victim may have been Seaman 1st Class Masaharu Higa, the only member of the Tainan Kokutai killed that day. Farther south at Nichols, airmen scrambled for shelter. Ground crews dived for holes and ditches. More men were hurt piling atop one another than by enemy fire. The Americans had not been enthusiastic about digging shelters, but now they tried to get as deep as they could in the shallow holes they had dug. Enemy fire reversed the normal desire to strive for the top of the heap. Now the object was to get as low as possible.  Aircraft in the Philippines, December 1941: Curtiss P-40E Nichols Field had sent up all the P-40s that could fly and had scrambled everything else and sent them to hide. One old twin-engine Douglas B-18 that was being prepared for a bombing mission could not take off and remained in a revetment on the ground. The airmen at Nichols watched as 27 Japanese twin-engine bombers opened their bomb bay doors and released their loads. The bombs blew up a tent city and burned the field's main hangar and the Philippine Air Depot. Bombs hit the field's big fuel tanks and set them on fire. Men lying on open ground bounced into the air with each concussion. Explosions buried one airman in dirt and nearly smothered him before his friends could dig him out. Some men huddled in a bomb shelter reinforced by railroad irons. Bombs rocked the shelter and dropped concrete onto the irons but not onto the men.  As the P-40s engaged the incoming fighters, one American broke away and headed for Nichols. Lieutenant Forrest M. Hobrecht needed to land and have ground crewmen unjam his guns. A Zero followed him, fired at point-blank range and destroyed the P-40E. Hobrecht bailed out, hit the plane's stabilizer, and fell to the ground without his parachute opening. Another P-40 was on the tail of the Zero and shot it down.
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The Philippines showed just how unprepared for war we were.
I think we'd all be better off if we could just shut off the news for about a month or maybe forever!
Tuh-roo! Especially in Chicago. They didn't call it the Windy City for it's nice summer breezes, that's for sure. As kids, we used to wind surf on the icy sidewalks of Michigan Avenue. Just hold your coat out and away ya go. Heh.
(Sometimes I'm prone to exaggeration)
When ever I see anything about the USS Indianapolis I'm reminded of of Quint from Jaws.
"Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies / Farewell and adieu you ladies of Spain. / For we received orders for to sail back to Boston / And soon never more will we see you again."
Aircraft in the Philippines, December 1941: Douglas B-18A "
DOUGLAS B-18A "BOLO"
The Douglas Aircraft Co. developed the B-18 to replace the Martin B-10 as the Army Air Corps' standard bomber. The Bolo's design was based on the Douglas DC-2 commercial transport. During Air Corps bomber trials at Wright Field in 1935, the B-18 prototype competed with the Martin 146 (an improved B-10) and the four engine Boeing 299, forerunner of the B-17. Although many Air Corps officers believed the Boeing design was superior, only 13 YB-17s were initially ordered. Instead, the Army General Staff selected the less costly Bolo and, in January 1936, ordered 133 as B-18s. Later, 217 more were built as B-18As with a "shark" nose in which the bombardier's position was extended forward over the nose gunner's station.
By 1939, underpowered and with inadequate defensive armament, the Bolo was the Air Corps' primary bomber. Some B-18s were destroyed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. By early 1942, improved aircraft replaced the Bolo as a first-line bombardment aircraft. Many B-18's were then used as transports, or modified as B-18Bs for anti-submarine duty. The B-18A on display was stationed at Wright Field from 1939 to 1942. The Museum acquired it in 1971 and restored it as a B-18A serving in 1939 with the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron.
More B-18 images...
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/modern_flight/mf2.htm
SPECIFICATIONS
Span: 89 ft. 6 in.
Length: 57 ft. 10 in.
Height: 15 ft. 2 in.
Weight: 27,000 lbs. loaded
Armament: Three .30-cal. guns (in nose, ventral and dorsal positions), plus 4,500 lbs. of bombs carried internally
Engines: Two Wright R-1820-53s of 1,000 hp. ea.
Crew: Six
Cost: $80,000
Serial Number: 37-469
C/N: 2469
Other Registrations: N58674
PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 215 mph. at 15,000 ft.
Cruising speed: 167 mph.
Range: 2,100 miles
Service Ceiling: 23,900 ft.
I grew up in Chicago and the winters there were brutal, especially near the Lake when those winter winds come in. BBBBBBBBRRRR
Brody (Roy Scheider): What happened?
Quint: Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, chief. It was comin' back, from the island of Tinian Delady, just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb.
Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen footer. You know, you know that when you're in the water, chief? You tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. Well, we didn't know. `Cause our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. Huh huh.
They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, chief. The sharks come cruisin'. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know it's... kinda like `ol squares in battle like a, you see on a calendar, like the battle of Waterloo. And the idea was, the shark would go for nearest man and then he'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark would go away. Sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, he's got...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah then you hear that terrible high pitch screamin' and the ocean turns red and spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' they all come in and rip you to pieces.
Y'know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men! I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand! I don't know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday mornin' chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player, bosom's mate. I thought he was asleep, reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up and down in the water, just like a kinda top. Up ended. Well... he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. He'd a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper, anyway he saw us and come in low. And three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water, three hundred and sixteen men come out, the sharks ttook the rest, June the 29, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.
Or shut down the broadcasters for a couple of years. Imagine living in another galaxy and your tv starts picking up signals broadcasted from earth centuries ago.
'Hey, Mahkta! Come quick! You ain't gonna believe this. Something happened on Planet Earth!'
'Yoppers, Moohga. I knew the planet would self-destruct. Good thing we didn't have it on our vacation itinerary. Was it the 'BOMB?'
'Naw, just the usual. Auto-asphyxiation. The news transmitters finally burned all the oxygen out of the air.'
Strange looking plane, looks like it's pregnant. My memory of the B18 is from some Warner Brothers cartoon made in the late 40's. Where a "Mother" B18 and a "Father" B-18 have a baby but it turns out to be a jet. Just sticks in my mind for some reason.
A Great scene! It's a joy to watch good actors(politics aside) doing their craft.
Back tonight.
Happy Birthday Geddy! 
Rush -
IMHO, one of the best bands ever! 30 years and still kicking out good music.
Can you tell me where to find the Nooclear Wessels
Thank You Sam, nice to be anyplace every morning!! :-)
Thanks Sam. It's hard to read accounts like this. The ill-preparedness is hard to comprehend.
Detroyed by all the hot air from the newscasters! aaack.
You aren't the only one. Just another reason I'd like a flagpole at home. Watching Old Glory go up is thrilling, no matter how often I see it.
What my friends thought strange was I knew what he was talking about.
LOL! I loved that scene. :-)
Amen to that. :-)
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