Evening star. [volume], February 08, 1942, Page B-6, Image 31

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Nazi Plans for Air Raids on U. S.
A possible German design for bombing
attacks on America's highly industri
alized Atlantic seaboard begins to
emerge from the information available
on Nazi warship construction.
Raids might be attempted by swift
aircraft carriers. Less plausible, but
still possible, would be raids by huge
Zeppelin airships flying at great alti
tude.
Needless to say, any attempts at such
forays would be met with the steel of
America's protective cordon of surface
ships and warplanes.
In 1936 Germany laid down the aircraft
carrier Graf Zeppelin, a speedy surface
vessel having nothing in common with
the veteran peacetime, world-girdling
airship but the name. It was followed
later by the aircraft carrier Deutschland,
presumably of identical specifications.
With its complement of at least 40
warplanes and a speed of 32 to 35 knots,
the Graf Zeppelin must be regarded as
less a participant in fleet action than as
a fierce, hard-hitting raider.
What, if any, additional carriers the
Germans have to launch air attacks
against the United States is not generally
known. Italy's carriers are of limited
capacity. Prance had commenced con
struction of the large carriers Joffre and
By Logan Reavis,
Wid* world Novi.
Plalnleve, but a recent Issue of the United
States Naval Institute proceedings ad
vances the belief that they were wrecked
before the German advance on Bt./
Nazaire.
For the present, at least, we can dis
count the chance of the Nazis sending
over suicide air raiders, capable of reach
ing America and discharging their bombs,
but of insufficient range to return home.
That would be costly In planes and per
sonnel and rather uncertain of results.
In that connection 1t seems significant
and thus far Halifax, highly important
Canadian port of departure for eastbound
convoys, has not been bombed.
Notwithstanding the intensive study
devoted to aircraft carrier design by
England, Japan and the United States,
Germany has adhered In this field of
construction to a pattern related to her
capital ship and cruiser silhouettes.
The United States has abandoned
placing heavy guns on the crowded flight
decks of its carriers. Neither England
nor Japan feels that turrets on that deck
should usurp the limited space allotted
to control stations, smoke stacks and
planes.
But the Germans have assembled there
half of the ship’s main armament of 5.fl
inch guns. The Graf Zeppelin Is armed
with 16 of such guns plus 10 4.1-lnch
anti-aircraft guns and from 22 to 37 anti
aircraft guns of minor caliber.
It Is plausible that until such time as
the German naval command believes the
number of enemy ships in the Atlantic
had been lessened by transfers to the
Pacific, no trans-ocean raid would be
attempted.
Submarines from Naz. ports have es
tablished a periscope watch off the
American coast. Further east intensive
reconnaissance activity by Nazi planes is
evident.
How might a carrier-borne bombing
attack on the United States be launched?
Here is one way:
Heavy German- ships, possibly headed
by the Tirpitz, could attempt a diversion
In the Atlantic or even serve as a shield
for the dash of the carriers across the
ocean.
Using fog and the night hours for oper
ation in maximum secrecy, the carriers
would try to reach the vicinity of our
coasts in less than four days. Planes
might be launched at some point 250
miles away. Working to the Germans’
disadvantage is the intelligence network
in the Atlantic.
Only under extraordinary conditions
could a hostile fleet westbound to the
attack escape detection. Robbed of the
element of surprise, the Germans would
be up against a tough job.
Speculation of the nature of a German
attack must not totally disregard the
airship. While the British attacked the
airship works at Frledrichshafen early in
the war, it is not generally known
whether the old Graf Zeppelin was dam
aged.
Moreover, it is not generally known
whether other airships are In production.
The airship can fly long distances un
observed. If its commander could attain
altitude and use clouds to screen his
movements, he might be able to launch
a spectacular attack.
An airship attack, however, would be
most venturesome for the Germans. They
have no supply of non-inflammable
helium, and an incendiary shell would
make a pyre of a hydrogen-filled airship.
Ignited hydrogen destroyed the German
Zeppelin Hindenburg at Lakehurst, N. J.,
at the termination of a commercial flight
in 1937.
Based on the most available information, the above drawing b y Logan Reavis depicts the German idea of aircraft carrier design.
While most other nations have long regarded the placing of main battery guns on the flight deck as outmoded, it will be seen that the
Reich has mounted half the entire number of 5.9-inch guns on the “island” superstructure. (1) The catapults; (2) forward “case
matedguns on hangar deck; (3) rear mount of guns of same caliber.
Army Specifies New Lights for Blackouts
By Stephen J. McDonough,
Will* World New*.
PORT BELVOIR, Va„ Feb. 7.—Army
engineers contradicted an old naval tra
dition in recommending red, orange or
low intensity white lights in blackouts.
For more than 300 years the British
navy has held that blue markers and
signal lights were less visible than red
and therefore safer. Even today air raid
wardens in England use blue flashlights.
Yet the United States Army has found
that blue under most circumstances is
much easier to see from a distance than
red.
The Army engineering board proved it
the hard way. beginning with the struc
ture of the human eye. Capt. Warren S.
Everett and co-workers went to the sci
entists six months ago and did a long
research job.
Two kinds of nerves, at the back of the
eye, do the seeing. Both kinds see most
of the colors, but one set sees red better
and the other sees blue better.
When lights are dimmed, this differ
ence becomes striking. For the pedes
trian or motorist who is looking at things
nearby, the nerves that see red are most
useful.
But an aviator, who is at a distance
and not looking at little details, sees the
blue light better. He sees it farther;
hence, the blue is dangerous.
The engineering board built miniature
highways at the General Electric Co. s
Nela Park Laboratories at Cleveland.
There the light seen best by those on the
ground, without being detected at all at
simulated altitude of 5,000 feet, was red
or orange-red.
Next, at Lakehurst, N. J., during black
out, observers with superior eyesight flew
around in a blimp. Men on the ground
struck matches, lighted cigarettes, flashed
signals, turned on street lights, all care
fully controlled.
Results: At 5,000 feet the blimp spot
ters saw blue flashlights where red ones,
almost alongside, were completely invis
ible. The red lights, furthermore, could
have many times more candlepower than
the blue before being detectable.
The observers could spot a man light
ing a cigarette miles away. But they
could not see the reddish-glowing end of
hia cigarette after he extinguished the
match.
(Scientists measuring light radiation
have detected the flare of a match 20
miles away in the stygian darkness of the
Grand Canyon and even measured the
fcfeat of the match flare, but could not de
tect the light from the glowing embers
®r a dying campfire even a mile away.
Although red light does not give quit*
as useful Illumination as white, tt is
much superior to blue, with the added
advantage of being much less visible from
the air. Your air raid warden’s flash
light wiU be luminous enough to keep
him from stumbling over a barrel 6 feet
away and will be visible as a signal sev
eral hundred feet away on the ground.
But, when properly shielded, it would be
invisible from a housetop. However, no
flashlight should be turned upward un
der any circumstances during a blackout.
Here are further blackout suggestions
developed in Army research:
During blackouts no one should drive
or walk on the street or highway unless
they are on urgent business.
If you must drive, have your car
equipped with a blackout slit lamp
headlight, independent of your regular
headlights, and mounted on the radiator
or left fender as near your line of vision
as possible.
Keep your windshield clean, your car
in perfect mechanical condition, know
where you are going and how to get
there even over devious detours. Adapt
your eyes to darkness before starting
and drive steadily in your own lane.
Don't try to speed or pass the car in
front—some one else might be trying the
same stunt from the opposite direction.
Also be sure your diet contains plenty
of vitamin A, the essential one to pre
vent night blindness.
If you are walking on a highway take
the reflectors off junior’s bicycle and
tie them around your ankles, or tie white
handkerchiefs just above your shoe tops.
The new blackout headlights shoot
directly toward the road under a hood
and show nothing more than 200 feet
ahead, Just about the distance necessary
for a driver to stop his car.
Even at that distance your feet axe
the only thing visible in time to give the
driver warning and the reflectors may
save your life. The engineers, who
bought their test reflectors at a 10-cent
store, added that light-colored spats or
spats fitted with reflectors would be
essential garb on a darkened highway.
Capt. Everett declared that motorists
should not attempt to design their own
blackout headlights. He has a roomful
of such headlights already, none of which
has proved that regular headlights can
be adapted to provide illumination of
the road and protection from the air at
the same time. The lamp must be the
special hooded one with a toothlike slit
near the top of the lens to throw the
light downwu’d.
Miss Marion Winsborough of Fort Belvoir, Va., adjusting
anklet reflectors designed to make a pedestrian’s feet visible in
a blackout, as approved by members of an Army engineer board.
Wife World Photo.
These girls are receiving instructions on how to clean down a trans-Atlantic Clipper’s wing for
installation of fabric tape.
Girls Replace Men at Airports
By Ira Wolfert,
WUJ« World Km
Kathryn Rownes, a farm girl who was
teaching school In Grant Center, Iowa,
when the war broke out in Europe, put
down a socket wrench big enough to
persuade the most stubborn nut and
wiped the palms of her hands on her
overalls In the traditional gesture of
American grease-monkeys before starting
to tell about her new job.
Kathryn is one of the 40 girls who have
Just begun to supply the woman's touch
to the Innards of the vast trans-Atlantic
Clippers that have been so long without it.
The girls were hired recently by Pan
American Airways to replace men in the
repair and maintenance department In
the hangars at La Guardia Field. The
men were needed elsewhere.
The girls do equipment work—meaning
service, repair and overhaul on such de
tails as life-saving equipment.
They look after the upholstery and
paneling on the seaplanes—meaning
everything from making and counter
sinking carpets to patching plastics.
They do dope and fabric work on the
wings and control surfaces. And, finally,
they look after miscellaneous repairs,
helping even on engines In overhaul.
They are classed as mechanic’s helpers
and get the same pay as the men they
have replaced—55 cents an hour. And,
since January 16, the New York State
Labor Board has relaxed Its ruling which
prevented women from working In fac
tories after 10 pm. and before 6 am. so
that now the girls will be shaped up Into
shifts working around the clock.
When Miss Rownes put down her
socket wrench to tell about her new Job,
she was up there among the wings of a
Clipper fresh in from Africa and was
three stories above the floor. She went
along the wing like a gazelle with a
hotfoot until she reached the head of
the stairs. Then, balancing on one
hand, she swung her shapeliness across
a small platform and on to the metal
bannister—known as the escape rail be
cause that is what it is supposed to be
used for exclusively—and went streaking
down It, her overalls fluttering in the
wind of her passing. It did not seem
like the right way for a school ma'am to
get anywhere.
“Well, the fact is,” Miss Rownes said,
"I have found out I am not cut out to
be a schoolteacher. I grew up in
Onawa, Iowa, and went to Momingside
College in Sioux City for two years train
ing to be a teacher and taught in Grant
Center in 1938 and 1939. But the war
shook me out of there and now I’ve found
what I want to do, which is to work with
tools. That's the thing I like, and that's
the thing I intend to stick to, war or no
war."
Miss Rownes’ married sister, Mrs.
Grace Wilson, is also adding the woman's
touch to the trans-Atlantic Clippers.
Both girls resemble the kind who drive
around in roadsters with the top down
and who, when a flat tire happens, stand
around looking helpless until a strong
man comes along.
"If that ever happened before,” Miss
Rownes said, “it isn't going to happen
again. As a matter of fact, I go home
on the subway, not in a roadster, and I
find myself for the first time looking at
all the loose nuts and bolts in the subway
and wondering why nobody ever tightens
them and wanting to tighten them my
self." No such thing as a loose nut or
bolt is ever allowed in an airplane.
According to R. H. Natwick, superin
tendent of the department, the glrla
have reacted exactly as boys might to
their new jobs. Their imaginations have
been caught up by working on airplanes
and the majority of them—some of them
young, but some of them gray-haired
and plump—seem Intent on making a
career out of the air. More than 30
of the 40 girls are attending company
classes during off hours to improve
themselves In their Job and learn the
Job ahead—which is to be regular
licensed grease monkeys.
One of the girls attending classes is
21-year-old Dorothy Murray, a pretty
blond, who, up to a few weeks ago, earned
her living as a "curb hop,” rushing ham
burgers and beer to customers in parked
automobiles. “A lot of the fellows I
know,” Miss Murray said, ‘‘tell me—as a
gag, no doubt, I mean I hope—that tha
minute they learned I (was in the air
plane business they ran out and can
celed all the airplane trips they were
ever going to take.
‘‘My father, too—he tells mother he's
not going to fix anything around the
house, the vacuum cleaner or the auto
mobile or window shades, but will leave
it to me instead. All the same I like
this job.” (Miss Murray was doping
the fabric of a wing covering and the
dope was chewing big holes in her nail
polish.)
Mr. Natwick, the boss, says the girls
are proving most satisfactory. He hasn't
had to fire any of them yet and sees
no reason to. In the first two weeks,
he says, they have proved to be as good
or better as untrained male apprentice
mechanics.
(Ooprrlaht. 194C. North American Newipaper
Alliance.)
Uncle Sam’s Toughest General
By Jerry T. Baulch,
Wide World Newi.
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Peb. 7—It doesn’t
matter whether a soldier wears the silver
eagle of a colonel or the bare sleeve of
a buck private, Lt. Gen. Ben Lear ex
pects him to know his Job thoroughly
and perform it with unerring efficiency.
This Inborn passion for perfection is
the driving force in the life of the tall,
62-year-old Second Army commander
whose stem demeanor and disciplinary
edicts have earned him a public repu
tation as one of the Army's toughest
leaders.
Military men consider Gen. Lear sec
ond only to Gen. Douglas MacArthur
as a stickler for exacting discipline, and
In 45 years of soldiering he has risen
from obscurity as a private in the Colo
rado National Guard to the three
starred glory of a lieutenant general
(four atars Is the most a soldier can
get).
In whatever he does, the big-shoul
dered fellow tries to excel. When he
went out for marksmanship he was one
of the Army’s best rifle shots. When
he took up horsemanship he became
good enough to represent the United
States in the 1912 Olympic games at
Stockholm where the American team
placed third.
His guide-rule is:
••No mistake should ever go uncor
rected.”
Gen. Lear will reprimand a two-star
general as quickly and severely as he
will a rear-rank private, but he’s Just as
quick to apologize if he finds his Judg
ment wrong.
During the summer war games it was
not unusual to see Gen. Lear stop his
limousine, step out and dress down a
soldier doing something the wrong way.
‘‘There are too many officers in the
Army who are afraid they’ll hurt some
body’s feelings,” Gen. Lear contends.
Oftentimes, however, soldiers who
don’t know him take Gen. Lear’s ordi
nary conversation for a reprimand. The
general appears austere even when he is
In the best of humor, but he Is fond of
company, especially young people.
Bridge and gin-rummy with his wife
or fellow officers are his main s&irces
of entertainment, although he gets in
a round of golf occasionally and man
ages to keep his 6core in the low 80s.
For a time last summer Gen. Lear was
uncomfortably in the national limelight
because of the highly publicized “yoo
hoo” incident, in which he disciplined
troops who yelled at a group of shorts
clad girls on a golf course.
It was easily explainable by the gen
eral’s code of considering a soldier on
duty whether he is in uniform or not
and the fact he thought the soldiers
disrespectful. But Gen. Lear did not
defend himself.
Although not a brilliant public speak
er—he ie a bit aelf-oooaetoua in crowds
Gen'. Lear's public addresses have gained
national attention for striking directly
at the heart of Army problems under
public discussion.
When several writers assailed soldier
morale as bad last fall, shortly after
the draft extension bill was passed by
Congress, Gen. Lear retorted:
"If morale is poor it is only because
the morale of the people is poor.’’
Gen. Lear stirred up another furore
with the announcement late in the
fall that he planned to clear his Army
of unqualified officers, urging promotions
on merit rather than seniority. Heads
began to fall, amid protesting cries of
“political discrimination.”
But that didn’t deter the general.
Next he instituted a 13-week educational
program so that all his troops could
learn what they are fighting for.
It was the Army's first application of
the Von Steuben principle of discipline
—"First explain; then give the order.”
In this course, the soldiers are study
ing history, geography, sociology and
propaganda psychology to get a clear
understanding of what lies behind the
current headlines.
After the presidential announcement
of a vast armament program for 1942-3,
Gen. Lear cautioned his soldiers against
becoming too dependent on the tools of
battle, warning they must expect to fight
frequently against an enemy superior
in numbers and equipment.
“That,” he said, “is where spirit, char
acter, training and the will to win come
into play.” He wants his men to have an
“irresistible will to victory."
Canadian-born, Lear came to the
United States at the age of four. His
father was shop foreman of the Pueblo,
(Colo.) Evening Press, and after gradua
tion from high school, Ben Lear, jr., be
came a printer's devil. At 16 he was
secretary-treasurer of the paper which
came under employe ownership. Father
and son worked side by side.
Young Ben, induced to Join the Colo
rado National Guard, became first ser
geant of Company B when the outfit, the
1st Colorado Infantry Volunteers, waa
called to duty in the Spanish American
War. He was 19 when he sailed for the
Philippines in June, 1898.
He was aboard the transport which
stopped so officers could plant the
American Flag over Guam and Wake
Islands. He fought in the siege of
Manila.
The first batch of recruits sent to First
Sergt. Lear included Pvt. Ben Lear, sr.
Things went smoothly except once when
Ben. senior, rebelled at having to handle
all the potatoes while on K. P. but mili
tary duty won over paternal rebellion.
After four and a half year* on the
islands, Lear returned to the United
States and in 1906 received a Cuban as
signment. The day before he sailed, ha
married Miss Grace Russel of Bracken
ridge, Mo., and together they braved a
yellow fever epidemic. Their only child,
a daughter, was born In a tent. She died
a few yean ago.
Lear saw service along the Mexican
border against Pancho Villa’s raiders and
during the first World War rose from
captain to major and finally to the tem
porary rank of lieutenant general. The
rank was made permanent In 1930.
Lt. Gen. Ben Lear in hit Second Army fieadquartere.
Wife World Photo.