State

The Flying Minute Men It is now permissible» to tell of the effective and patriotic work done by the Civil Air Patrol off the North Carolina coast and elsewhere in helping' defeat the submarine menace. By GERTRUDE CARRAWAY I TILIN' a month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Har¬ bor on December 7, 1941. Ger¬ mans unleashed packs of submarines along America’s eastern frontier and concentrated deadly attacks on Allied ships off the Carolina coast, with the evident expectation of winning the war quickly by disrupting vital sup- ply ■ anes and cracking American inorule. Twelve Allied vessels were reported sunk during January, 1942. In March the number climbed to 42. The sink¬ ings grew so terrible in May, with tankermen considering it a miracle to get by Cape Hatteras alive, that all shipping was halted until convoys could be formed. Seaboard towns had not then elimi¬ nated electric glows which silhouetted merchantmen within easy sight of the enemy raiders. Spies and saboteurs were active. Secret radios were known to be sending out shipping informa¬ tion. Coastal residents watched help¬ lessly as vessels went down with their precious cargoes. Resort beaches were often covered with oil from large tank¬ ers torpedoed at point-blank range by U-boats which surfaced in a bold and brazen manner. Lack of Equipment The Nazis knew that the United States Navy was spread thin in the Pacific and deepwater Atlantic. In those early war days there were avail¬ able for the use of the Eastern Sea Frontier only a handful of sub¬ chasers from World War I, five old Eagle l*onts, three ocean-going yachts, less than a dozen good Coast Guard vessels and four blimps, to cover a territory stretching 1,200 miles from Halifax to the Florida keys. Mindful of the accomplishments of Britishers at Dunkirk during World War II and the Minute Men of 1776 during the Revolutionary War for national freedom, American civilians clamored to aid against the sub-sea fighters, who appeared to be dealing a knockout blow to this country in the first round of the conflict for world freedom. From Florida, Jersey and the Caro¬ lina coasts civilian volunteers wont out in motor bonis and pulled from the sea numerous survivors from tor¬ pedoed boats. But it required well- trained crews and specialized, heavily- armed war vessels to sink submarines, some of which were 245 feet long and mounted with 4.1-inch guns. The Work of Volunteers Volunteer airmen and observers of the Civil Air Patrol then liegan their epochal contribution to the national defense and war effort by going out in their own private land planes far over the rough ocean waters to help locate the enemy subs for the hard- pressed Navy. In tiny single-engine aircraft they organized regular coast¬ al patrols, which immediately be¬ came effective in helping rid inshore waters of the disastrous submarine invasions. Flying their own planes, using their own brains, equipment and money, together with gradually enlarged Fed¬ eral grants, the CAP built coastal bases from Canada to Tampico, Mex¬ ico, to assist in guarding the entire Atlantic and Gulf seashores. Although originally intended to render only an experimental service for 90 days, the Civil Air Patrol achieved such notable results that their coastal missions lasted for more than a year, and today they arc officially credited with playing major roles in driving enemy submarines from American waterways. Such an essential part did they take in combatting the submarine menace that on April 29, 1943, they were token over from the Office of Civilian Defense and converted by the War Department into an auxiliary arm of the Army Air Forces. In praise of the only civil organization allowed to wear the D. S. insignia on its uni¬ form, Secretary of War for Air Rob¬ ert A. Lovett termed this transfer as “recognition of a job well done.” When finally the enemy submarines seemed practically eliminated from America’s eastern frontier, where they had come so near driving all Allied shipping off or under the wa¬ ter, the CAP coastal patrol was dis¬ continued as a part of the Army's withdrawal from anti-submarine work, since the Navy by that time had been built up sufficiently to take over the entire function. A Splendid Record In their coastal patrols for more than a year CAP pilots and observers flew more than 24,000,000 airplane- miles over tlio ocean. They spotted 173 submarines, dropped bombs or depth charges against 57, located 303 sur¬ vivors of ship or aircraft sinkings, found 36 l**dies, reported 17 floating mines and called aid for numerous ships or airplanes in distress. Two CAP bases wore established in North Carolina, at places still un¬ disclosed for reasons of national secur¬ ity. One was under the command of Maj. Allen II. Watkins of Greens- 1юго; the other was commanded by Maj. Frank E. Dawson of Charlotte, also the commanding officer of the North Carolina CAP Wing. Their capable and patriotic assistants came from many parts of this state. Both bases had practically the same reports and records. The coastal patrol task force of one of them flew on 3,194 missions from 70 to 100 miles out over the ocean. Based on an av¬ erage of 100 miles per hour, the total number of miles flown came to S44,- 700. Eleven vessels in distress were aid¬ ed by the personnel of this one base, and 45 survivors were rescued. Seven objects were reported as menaces to navigation, and three floating mines were discovered. Nine life rafts and ( Conlinued on p<‘<jc sixteen) 7