On the Nose

"There she is, right on the nose!" Lieut.

Colonel Joseph B. Wells had to shout to TIME Correspondent Theodore H. White; thunderous twin engines were driving their B-25 bomber over the turbulent waters of the South China Sea. Wells pointed a finger at Shinchiku airdrome on Formosa, one of Japan's great nests of air power and transshipment centers. The only newspaperman to accompany "the most dangerous mission ever attempted by fighters and bombers of the Fourteenth Air Force" White cabled: "Surprise and good navigation were vital to success. The mission was to be at almost suicidal level--even five minutes warning would give the Zeros enough time to take off, climb and turn to the attack. We had to come in from the sea precisely at the coastal airdrome--an error of two degrees, a miss by ten miles or more, would warn the entire coast.

"We swept out to sea echeloned in a single long line to the right, then dropped down until the ocean surface almost touched the bellies of our planes and the props lifted spray into the air, filling our mouths with a salty taste. . . . The first sign of action was a Jap multi-motored plane staining the sky with smoke as it fell into the sea. A P-38 had dropped on it from above. Almost within spitting distance a green Zero with red balls on its wings came up bravely beneath our tail, climbing and wheeling at the same time as bombers following us blazed away for a second before turning him over to the pursuits. On the horizon two more were coming in.

"The P-38s had preceded us over the airport by a matter of seconds, diving to strafe the field. I peered out the side blister as we made our run and counted 14 Jap planes burning, bursting outward like brilliant red buds and then flowering into orange and black coronas.

"We came in on a busy Thanksgiving afternoon. Zero pilots were getting in flying time at low altitudes while green-painted bombers, on the way to the great battles of the southwest Pacific, were parked wing tip to wing tip. It was a peaceful scene.

"When we left eight minutes later, the coast was shrouded with black smoke. We had literally devastated the great airdrome, shattered ground installations, strafed startled and fleeing Jap ground troops. We destroyed or damaged in the air or on the ground an estimated 50 Japanese bombers and fighters. Every American plane returned safely and not a single American or Chinese on the raid was injured."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.