Page Two CLOUDBUSTER Friday, December 15, 1944 CLOUDBUSTER Vol. 3—No. 14 Friday, December 15, 1944 Published weekly under the supervision of the Public Relations Office at the U. S. Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill, N. C., a unit of the Naval Air Primary Training Command. Contributions are welcome from all hands. The Cloudbuster receives Camp Newspaper Service ma terial. Republication of credited matter prohibited without permission of CNS, War Department, 205 E. 42nd St., N. Y. C. Lieut. Comdr. James P. Raugh, USNR Commanding Officer Lieut. Comdr. Howard L. Hamilton, USNR Executive Officer Lieut. Leonard Eiserer, USNR Public Relations Officer Lieut, (jg) Francis Stann, USNR Editor Orville Campbell, Ylc Associate Editor Harold Hanson, Sp(P) 2c Alfred Wadner, Sp(P) Ic Photographers The Lighter Side... Captain’s inspection is where you stand and hope the guy next to you has dirtier stripes than yours. ^ ❖ “Which sort of men do you think women prefer—those who give in to them or the other kind?” “What other kind?” Jp * Gal; “I went out riding with a private the other night and he wanted to know whether I was a Camel girl or a Chesterfield girl. I wonder what he meant?” GI: He wanted to know whether you’d walk a mile or satisfy. H: * Recruit: “What time do we go to work in the morning?” MAA: “Listen, matey, on this base you don’t ever go to work—you wake up sur rounded by it.” ^ ^ Letter from a sailor overseas: “If I sound blue, it isn’t that I got up on the wrong side of the bed. It’s just that I got up on the wrong side of the world.” * * Some think they have made a success of life when all they have made is money. * * * “Well, young man,” said the lawyer to his client, “I’ve found that I can get you a divorce. Your father-in-law didn’t have a license to carry a shotgun.” “Are you troubled by improper thoughts?” “Naw, I enjoy them.” ^ * ❖ Gob—“How are you this evening, honey?” Girl—“All right, but lonely.” Gob—“Good and lonely?” Girl—“No, just lonely.” Gob—“I’ll be right over!” The Plight Of China By Lt. (j.g.) W. A. Shanahan Academic Department The attention that has been focused on Europe and the Philippines, and the average American’s ignorance of Chinese geography, have obscured the military crisis in China. There is a very real danger that China may be knocked out of the war. When enemy columns moving from the north and south joined last week in the vital Kwangsi province, free China was cut in half. This Japanese victory came after seven months of bitter warfare that called forth Japan’s greatest military effort on the continent since 1942. China has not only been dealt a mortal blow, but the efforts of the U. S. to blockade the Asiatic coast have been partially offset by Japan’s seizure of China’s north and south belt of railways. Some appreciation of the danger for the U. S. may be gained from the fact that the Japanese have overrun not less than seven airfields of the Fourteenth U. S. Air Force. Two airfields have been by-passed and two others are now being threatened. These fields had been built at a great cost in mate rial and labor; all the aviation installations, the fuel and ammunition, and repair facili ties had been flown into China from India. Billions of dollars worth of equipment and years of work, not to mention the advantage of strategically located air bases, have had to be sacrificed since the Japanese drive began in August. Japs Seize Relocated Industries China has not only lost some of her richest agricultural areas to the invader but has been forced to witness the seizure of re located industries. Many factories that had been removed to the interior on the backs of coolies had to be dynamited. It is no longer possible to “retreat into the interior” because China has run out of space. Japan ese columns have advanced within 60 miles of the Chinese end of the Burma road. Be fore the Indian sections of the new road can be completed the Japanese may be in con trol. Only 300 miles separate the enemy and Chungking, the city built out of rock which has been the symbol of free China’s resistance. China’s leaders have not been inactive during this crisis. Troops formerly used on the “northwest front” to watch communist activities have been rushed to the threat ened Kyeiyang sector. This is a develop ment of very great importance because critics of China’s war effort have long charged that more energy has been shown by the Chungking government in fighting the communists than in fighting Japan. China’s cabinet ministers have also been shaken up and Dr. T. V. Soong who is wide ly respected in the U. S. has emerged in a key position. Warm praise for the “astonishing” job youthful military transport pilots are doing in the Pacific conquest is found in an edi torial by Wayne W. Parrish, editor of American Aviation and aviation columnist for Liberty magazine. Just returned from a 25,000-mile flying trip around the Pacific war theatre, Editoi Parrish in the current issue of America'i^ Aviation observes that, “probably the most astonishing feature of Pacific military flying is the average age of the flight crews, and the casual and routine way in which they handle huge, 4-engined transports from island speck to island speck day and night. “Young men in the 19-26 age bracket have proved that they can do the job effi' ciently and safely. . . . The safety record testified that they have been well trained and that they do a careful job. Ironically enough, most of the few Pacific accidents have involved pilots of long experience. “Capt. D. W. Tomlinson, Commanding! Officer of the Naval Air Transport Service, Pacific Wing, summarized the pilot situa tion by saying that nine out of ten flights by NATS are being flown by men whose age and experience would prevent their being hired by domestic airlines as co-pilots be fore the war.” Congress Receives Airport Plan While perhaps no two aviation prognosti- cators will agree on how fast civil aviation may be expected to grow after the wafi there is general concurrence that thousands of additional landing fields will be needed throughout the U. S. The problem of providing additional air ports for the nation has been presented by the Civil Aeronautics Administration to Congress for action. The CAA national airport plan would provide 3,050 new airports and improve 1,625 of the 3,000 existing fields. In its report to Congress, the CAA esti mates a total pool of 6,000,000 prospective pilots available after the war. “There will be at the end of the war ap' proximately 350,000 Army and Navy pilots and 150,000 civilian pilots and students,” CAA states. “Also interested in flying wilj be 2,500,000 men trained by the armed forces in other aviation skills, and an al' most equal number employed in our avia tion factories. Add to these the 250,000 students who are taking aeronautical courses in the high schools each year and there is 2 total of 6,000,000 potential fliers.” Male Call by Milton Caniff, creator of "Terry and the Pirates" Kipling Didn't Know American Soldiers 60LPAr/ SURE )T l$i -BUT BEFORE I HAN6 V' TCETH ONI y' VOITIBKAY/LeMME HAVE A QUIiSK OOliBlE O AT THAT NA2ZV RA6.. PAIL SACK AND (5K0UP UP WITH VER MAM-2EL6, mup-eater'there wasn't mo DAME^ OM MY ATOLL A-TALL ANO I T'PZB^EUT TH1$ JAP OFFICER'^ 5WORD TO THE DREAM SCHEME THAT KBPTMB OUTA SECTION B16UT! 6EEZ$T-THE