Shown in the cockpit of his B-26 Marauder is Colonel Glenn C. Nyc, of
Raleigh, commander of a medium bomber group in England. Col. Nye is
pointing to the bombs painted on the fuselage — one for each mission. Since
the photograph was taken, he has added several more "bombs” to the
score. (Editor’s note: What we want to know is what are them there two
ducks doing on the fuselage?)
Bombing Chief
Colonel Kye lias pjirlicipaled in
silionl a score* of bombing' mis¬
sions over various stations of
Europe, lie Is one of I lu* men
who has proved ilie w orlli of I he
Marauder type of plant*.
By T Sgt (iCOIIGE BUTLER*
AU. S. NINTH AIR FORCE
Marauder Station, England. —
к
One of thf youngest eommand-
ing officers of an American Air Force
base in England i- genial. 32-year-old,
Colonel Glenn O. Nye. of Raleigh,
X. C.. whose stellar leadership of his
Group’s 15-20 Marauders on attacks
again*! Nazi objectives has won him
the Silver Star and the Distinguished
Flying Cross.
Colonel Nye commands the Ma¬
rauder Group which was first to oper¬
ate from Engli-h bases and his lead¬
ership has «lone much to account for
the Marauders’ excellent record of
• (Sul. Butlir U nti M-roi«)tl«r, 1-ioV -ivvlpw
nlklor lor lhc Gncmlioro. X. C., Dully Xr*s.)
bombing accuracy and the extremely
low percentage of plane losses. (Its
rate of lo*« on mission- runs around
0.3 per rent, lowest in the European
Theater of Operations.)
The *ueee»sful young Tar Heel re¬
turned to the State- recently for
a few weeks to acquaint high-ranking
Air Force personnel with the meth¬
ods and results of Marauder attacks
on enemy-occupied countries of west¬
ern Europe. The selection of Colonel
Nye for thi- responsible mission was
regarded as a wise and logienl one, for
he possesses a frank, engaging per¬
sonality and n thorough knowledge of
his subject.
Colonel Nye carried with him to
the Stale® numerous "strike attack"
photographs which showed the devas¬
tation caused by Marauders on enemy
shipyards, airdromes, power plants,
marshalling yard* and targets on the
"rocket-gun" or "secret weajion" coast
of France.
He carried with him conclusive
proof that the much-maligned Mu-
rauder had lived down its unjust but
bad reputation. The Martin Maraud¬
er had gotten off to a bad start in this
theater. The first low-level missions
against heavily-defended targets in
Holland proved very costly and many
Air Force officials were doubting if
the fast, hard-to-handle, cigar-shaped
Marauder could find its proper niche
on this side of the Atlantic. "It’s a
good invention hut it’ll never take the
place of an aeroplane,” some wags
were saving. It had been called "The
Flying Prostitute" because some air¬
men thought the «.'. fool wiugspread.
for a plane so heavy, constituted "no
visible means of support.”
Change in Operations
But then came the dawn, as the
novelists say. Another Tar Heel, Brig¬
adier General Samuel E. Anderson,
30. of Greensboro, commander of the
Marauder Groups' in Britain, decided
that too much had lieen expected of the
plane. A miracle had been expected
from the plane with fighter-plane
speed and hoavy-bomber load. General
Anderson scrapped previous notions
and treated the B-20 as a medium
bomber for medium altitudes. Rigid
daily training schedules for the com¬
bat crew taught them to fly ami fight
the so-called "hot" bomber like it was
a baby carriage, being pushed on a
Sunday stroll in the park.
The new phase of Marauder attacks
was successful from the start. Pro¬
tected by escorting fighter-planes, tak¬
ing evasive action against flak, the
Marauders chalked up one successful
attack after another while suffering
astonishingly low losses. In n few
months, General Anderson was able
to report that the Marauder attacks
on enemy airfields had pushed Nazi
squadrons inland 10 miles.
Marauder bombardiers had been
taught to drop their bonds with nee¬
dle-point precision and among "strike
a tin eke” carried to the States by Colo¬
nel Nye was one of the damage
caused to Lc Trait shipyards. The
Marauders plastered the target with
such effect that it leaped to the front
as one of the outstanding precision¬
bombing jobs to date. Many other pro-
( Continued on page sixteen)
