Us Official Photographs

FREIGHTER HAMMERED: a 3,800-ton Freighter (12) Reels Under the Impact

FREIGHTER HAMMERED: A 3,800-ton freighter (12) reels under the impact of a thousand-pound bomb planted. Lower photograph details the damping of a 6,400-ton freighter-transport (8) of the Tokyo Maru class. The smaller of the two vessels was later reported to be sinking by the stern. "My airplane attacked a Fox Tare Able (actually a Fox Baker) from mast height dropping one one-thousand pound bomb. We scored a direct hit on the stern and my gunner reported debris filled the water and sky almost immediately. We strafed antiaircraft positions near Vulcan crater, a radar station, and three Zekes and four medium bombers which we found on Yumakanae airdrome." (From narrative report by Flight Officer K. R. Ladd, 90th Attack Squadron.) MAST-HEIGHT TACTICS: In these pictures, the destructive effect of low-level attack is graphically illustrated. These photographs show the blasting of more than 10,000 tons of Japanese shipping. Preceded by hundreds of rounds of machinegun fire, which has neutralized enemy anti-aircraft batteries aboard the vessels, the airmen are comparatively free to select their own point for attack. "Our flights were perfectly coordinated and while the harbor itself was so small precision runs were almost impossible, the attack was followed according to plan. "None of our echelons reported heavy return fire except from the maneuvering warships. The Nip seemed bewildered by our heavy concentrations of forward firepower. Some gunners saw Japs hiding behind their armor plating making no effort to return fire." (From report by Major John P. Henebry, Commander of the Simpson Harbor force.)