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AAF Brief

BRIEF, official publication of the Army Air Forces in the Pacific Ocean Areas, produced under the supervision of the Information and Education Division of AAFPOA, is published every Tuesday by and for the personnel of AAFPOA. BRIEF, in addition to serving as a news and information publication, strives to acquaint the men with the accomplishments of the personnel of AAFPOA. Opinions so expressed are those of the individual writer and are not to be construed as representing the policy of either the Army Air Forces or the War Department. Stories, features, pictures and other material may be reproduced providing credit line reads: AAFPOA BRIEF.

Brief 1944 11 28
Vol. 1 No. 52 ....... This week's cover picture was made right after D-Day on a recently won Pacific Island. The grimy, ragged, battle-weary "ground air force" soldiers are members of a 7th AAF Aviation Engineer battalion which went ashore behind the assault forces and rebuilt a Japanese airstrip while subject to artillery fire and sniper infiltration. It is only lately that the Aviation Engineers have come in for their share of the credit in the forward march of American forces from Hawaii to the Marianas. A recent issue of Air Force magazine told the story of the Aviation Engineers in the Marianas.

Brief 1944 12 05
Vol. 2 No. 1 ....... The life raft being attached to the bomb release of the seven-ton P-47 on the cover is a safety measure for pilots downed at sea. Thunderbolts in the Marianas stand ready for emergency flights to locate downed airmen and drop the rafts to them. The crewmen attaching the raft to the P-47's bomb release on a 7th AAF fighter strip are, left, Sgt Frank Williams and Sgt Raymond Murphy. Pfc Fred Shelton made the cover picture. Last year, his photograph of a bomber standing in the rain at night on a Texas airfield, won first award in an Air Forces contest.

Brief 1944 12 12
Vol. 2 No. 2 ....... This week's cover picture was made by BRIEF photographer Cpl "Moose" Strain on Saipan shortly before the first B-29 strike from that island to Tokyo. The picture shows B-29 pilot Capt Phil Greens giving his crew a final briefing and inspection before one of the Superfort shakedown missions that preceded the Tokyo bombings. These last-minute inspections of equipment before a mission are S.O.P. with B-29 crews, and serve to reveal any flaws or omissions of vital Mae Wests, parachutes or flak suits. Notice the bomb already painted on the nose of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," the remotely controlled, multiple-gun top turret.

Brief 1944 12 19
Vol. 2 No. 3 ....... This spectacular photograph shows aviation engineers ramming a bulldozer into the remains of a B-29, which burned after a low-level Japanese attack against Superforts on Saipan. The man at the left is training a foam spray on the inferno, while the bulldozer driver heaps dirt on the flames. The intense heat scorched and singed all the engineers fighting the fire, as well as Pfc Donald Claypool, who took this picture. The feat was witnessed by Brig Gen Heywood S. Hansell Jr. He called it one of the bravest actions he had ever seen.

Brief 1944 12 26
Vol. 2 No. 4 ....... The photograph on this week's BRIEF cover shows gunner Sgt L. C. Nash of Phoenix, Ariz., at his station in the tail of his B-25. Photographer Paul Friend got this picture at a Hawaiian airfield, where Nash's Mitchell bomber group is now stationed after a year of action Down Under. For a story about this group, read "It's the Sergeant's Plane," on the next page. Sgt Nash's tail machinegun mount is a special adaptation devised by the crewchiefs of his squadron. It gives the gunner more mobility and a greater range of fire than the original mount, is especially useful on low-level strafing sorties.

Brief 1945 01 02
Vol. 2 No. 5 ....... This week's cover picture was taken by Staff Photographer Pvt Diego deArteaga on Angaur. The Japanese refugee with the cup of water is the former post office clerk on Angaur. He is a survivor of 20 years of the Japanese "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.'' He and his wife were the first Japanese civilians to come out of the caves where they had been hiding after the island was secured by American troops. Starved and emaciated, he received good medical care at the Army hospital on Angaur. The story on the opposite page tells how the natives of Palau, formerly Jap-ruled, were treated by American Military Government on Angaur.

Brief 1945 01 09
Vol. 2 No. 6 ....... Capt John H. Allen, 25-year-old chief of the Flight Test section at Hawaiian Air Depot, is an Army test pilot. His story, and the story of the men who fly the kinks out of combat planes, is told on the opposite page. Allen, like most AAF test pilots, is the product of cadet training and his job has all the danger but none of the glamour of prewar test piloting featured in the cigarette ads. Cpl Paul Friend, BRIEF photographer, made the cover shot of Capt Allen just before a test flight.

Brief 1945 01 16
Vol. 2 No. 7 ....... Crewchiefs atop port wings help guide blunt-nosed Thunderbolts to new positions at this fighter-base in Marianas. Cockpit position and fat bellies of these ships necessitate extra help for pilots in steering fighters while on ground. Empty bomb racks and covered guns indicate that these P-47s, now the most common fighters in the forward areas of the Pacific, are heading for parking areas. Mechanics ride mid-way out on wings to avoid wash of spinning props. Pfc Fred Shelton caught this striking picture as the line of deadly Thunderbolts trundled along in single file over coral taxiway of their Marianas base.

Brief 1945 01 23
Vol. 2 No. 8 ....... This week's cover picture shows Sgt R. L. Copeland, a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, 7th AAF, just after he received his pay on shipboard while the squadron was traveling to its new base Down Under. That expectant grin shows what hell Copeland intends to raise at a forthcoming poker game. This photograph was taken by 7th AAF Combat Camera Photog Sgt G. W. Holmes, who accompanied the outfit and recorded all phases of the move. For more pictures by Sgt Holmes about the Headquarters men's journey and the fate of Sgt Copeland's long green, see pages 10 and 11 of this issue

Brief 1945 01 30
Vol. 2 No. 9 ....... When the moon is standing straight up over the Marianas, it's almost a sure bet that the Japs will stage a raid. They come in over the islands aided by a moon that is bright enough to read by and their prime targets are the Superforts. Knowing that there may be little sleep ahead for them on bright nights, B-29 crewmembers stand guard over their own planes. Staff Photographer Lyle D. Strain made this cover shot of crewmember S.Sgt Chester R. Nicholson of Danville, Ind., on guard duty. The moon is high and the Sergeant actually is reading his book.

Brief 1945 02 06
Vol. 2 No. 10 ....... Ever since July 7, 1944, when Jap shells lobbed onto Saipan from Tinian, foxholes have been in fashion in the Marianas. Since the Superforts moved in, Jap desperation raids have been frequent, alt h o u gh they mean almost certain suicide for enemy fighter pilots. This week's cover, photographed by Pfc Fred Shelton, shows Cpl J. L. Taylor, Nokomis, I11., a 7th AAF fighter squadron truck driver, caught by the momentary flash of a searchlight as he watches a night raid from the shelter of his sandbagged foxhole. His helmet protects him against bits of falling flak as well as against enemy strafing. For more pictures by Pfc Shelton on the latest in foxholes, see pages 10 and 11 of this issue.

Brief 1945 02 13
Vol. 2 No. 11 ....... Cover: The 90 mm gun reaching out into the night sky in this week's cover picture is one part of the elaborate defense system on a Marianas island. Since marauding B-29's began their devastating strikes against the Japanese homeland, the Marianas have become prime targets for desperate enemy raids. Sharpshooting defenders of the islands have made these raids very costly for the Japs. Deadly fire from big guns like this one (which has two Jap Bettys to its credit) rakes the entire sky during a raid. The complete story of the island's defense begins on the next page. The picture is the work of BRIEF Photographer Cpl Lyle D. Strain. ....... Articles Inside: Flash Red Alert - Island defense in the Marianas is a highly organized and split-second affair. Its guns and searchlights have made Jap raids a costly maneuver. By PFC Bud Nelson ..... Criminal Investigation - Hawaii's Criminal Investigation Section is manned by detectives in khaki. protect the soldier against Army and civilian offenders. By S/Sgt. Joe Whitley ..... One damned island after another. By PFC Bud Nelson ..... Neckties will be worn - Once there was little rank and no formality in the Marianas, but the Army today is slowly falling into all the old garrison customs. Photos by Sgt. Henry B. Crush and Sgt. Ray Turnbull ..... Editorial ..... Forward Echelon - Gen Harmon's Fighting Facts - Jap Fighters Turn Heat on B-29's - Singed Heroes - Aching-Back Division - Timber! - Booby Trap ..... The Road Back From Iwo - Bombers and fighters coming back from the Pacific's most bombed target have found this over-water flight a long and tragic one. By Sgt. Robert O. Frederick and Cpl. Zander Hollander ..... Sports Edited by Zander Hollander ..... File 13 By Sgt. Roger Angell ..... Male Call by Milton Caniff ..... Better than Spam - Marianas Fruits Photos by Lt. Stewart Fern and Pfc Fred Shelton ..... Making like a Mata Hari with the black cape and lace in the middle of all the architectural scrollery is Metro - Goldwyn -Mayer actress Kay Williams. To the obvious question that many easterners will ask about a dish of Miss Williams' type - "Why don't we have girls like that back home?" - the only answer is: "Because it's too cold in the East." When Kay was younger she used to live in the East. In the winter she had to wear long woolen underwear to keep warm. Then one day somebody found how she looked in a couple of yards of thin chiffon, and she had to go West, where the weather fits her clothes. Now, like everyone in Hollywood, she is fair and warmer.

Brief 1945 02 20
Vol. 2 No. 12 ....... Here is one more step on the long road to Tokyo. This one, however, is more than just a symbol, it is literally helping to build a road. The picture shows a conveyor belt in an asphalt plant somewhere in the Marianas. Product of the plant is used to surface the long runways from which our big Superforts take off to go hurtling on a straight air road to the heart of Japan. The belching smoke from the chimneys of this plant is a necessary prelude to the pall of smoke that hangs over Honshu after the B-29's have made a strike. At the throttle is T.5 Arthur Cook, Glenwood, N. Y. The picture was taken by Cpl Fred Shelton.

Brief 1945 02 27
Vol. 2 No. 13 ....... You might think this week's cover is an advertisement for another Hollywood epic about the brave airman who bails out and paddles his way to a South Seas paradise. What it really advertises is the desirability of being a B-24 pilot with 40 combat missions behind you, half of them snooper missions. When you've turned that little trick, you can go back to the Oahu rest camp, as Capt Thomas O. Wear has done. The wahine is 19-year-old Jane Lundquist, who hails from Wisconsin and has been on the rock four months. In spite of the idyllic set-up the Captain has paddled into, he's going home to marry someone else. Photo by Lt Loomis Dean.

Brief 1945 03 06
Vol. 2 No. 14 ....... The pilot brought this B-29 into an emergency landing with one engine a blazing mass of flames. The engine extinguisher had failed to check the fire in flight, and the big ship was in a desperate condition when fire crews reached it on the ground. Directed by Sgt John O. Phillips and Sgt Crosby Akree, the fire fighters attacked the blaze with foam and chemicals. But quick thinking on the part of the smoke eaters really saved the aircraft. They threw a cable around the flaming engine, and dragged it off with a tractor. Once clear of the plane, the flames yielded to treatment. Pilot of the B-29 was 1st Lt Alfred Stendahl

Brief 1945 03 13
Vol. 2 No. 15 ....... This week's cover shows an off-duty moment in the Marianas. S.Sgt John Abraham, 25, of Pontiac, Ill., is taking time out to GI his GI's. His wash water is in his helmet and he has hung out his wet wash to dry on the cane stalks behind him. Laundry is still a problem in the forward areas, but most men have been able to do their work in bigger containers than a helmet. And if that barracks bag beside Sgt Abraham is full of dirty laundry, he has his work cut out for him. When he isn't doing his laundry, Sgt Abraham works as a secretary to Brig Gen Ernest M. ("Mickey") Moore, CG of the 7th AAF Fighter Command. The photograph was taken by Sgt Fred Shelton.

Brief 1945 03 20
Vol. 2 No. 16 ....... The cover photograph shows a scene that is becoming increasingly common in the Marianas. Two mechanics look up from the scrap pile, where they are working to salvage useable parts from junked combat planes, as three Thunderbolts roar overhead. One of the three planes is the 7th AAF's famous Scraps, which was built entirely from such reclaimed equipment and set some kind of a record when it dove at better than 700 m.p h. during an attack on Jap raiders. The two mechanics are (left, with drill) S.Sgt Richard Holmes, an instrument specialist, and T.Sgt Earl K. Wisner, a mobile repair and maintenance unit chief. Lt Stewart Fern shot the picture.

Brief 1945 03 27
Vol. 2 No. 17 ....... A tentative period was placed at the end of an Army officer's distinguished career this month when AAFPOA Headquarters announced that Lt Gen Millard F. Harmon, Commanding General, was missing. The General and nine other men were on a routine flight and were returning to Hawaii. Pilot and crew were among the most expert and seasoned in the Pacific. The last heard of the plane was a garbled radio message which could not be deciphered. The most intensive sea-air search ever conducted was thrown into action. Days crawled into weeks and the searchers brought back the same report: not a trace. (Photo by Lt Stewart E. Fern.)

Brief 1945 04 03
Vol. 2 No. 18 ....... The face of the combat soldier on this week's cover photograph tells a story that no reporter could write. Bearded, staring and exhausted, it is the face of a man who has just been taken out of the front lines during the height of the bloody battle for Iwo Jima. This man and thousands like him made a landing, clawed their way through black volcanic sand to capture Mount Suribachi. Then they turned north and fought a 26-day campaign that will rank among the bloodiest ever fought. Complete destruction of the Jap force came only at the price of 45 percent casualties in dead and wounded among the attackers. These men won a key airbase which will bring the destruction of Japan months closer. Cpl Lyle D. Strain took the photo.

Brief 1945 04 10
Vol. 2 No. 19 ....... The fighter planes streaking across this week's cover photograph are P-51's, the latest addition to the roster of aerial weapons in operation against the Japs. From Iwo's airstrips the 51's are within easy range of Japan and can fly either as escorts to bombers or as attack planes. The rugged Mustangs have seen long service in the European theater, where they were employed as jacks-of-all-missions, flying at all altitudes, lugging bombs, strafing and intercepting. The new models now with AAF-POA are tougher and have a vastly increased range. "Newest Jap Killer'' on page 10 tells more about these planes. Sgt Fred Shelton took the photo.

Brief 1945 04 17
Vol. 2 No. 20 ....... The photograph on this week's cover was taken on Iwo Jima on March 6 D-plus-13. The plane flying away from the camera is a Transport Air Group C-46, which has just dropped a cluster of parapacks onto the runway at Iwo. These parachute runs by TAG planes were a regular feature during the second half of the Iwo battle. The big transports brought in such battle necessities as howitzer barrels, mortar shells, radio equipment, and small arms; plasma and whole blood for the aid stations; and mail for the troops. At first these supplies were parachuted in on the beaches and runways, often during Jap barrages. "Aerial R.F.D." in this issue tells the story of these runs. This photo was taken by a 7th AAF Combat Cameraman.

Brief 1945 04 24
Vol. 2 No. 21 ....... This week's cover drawing by Cpl Henry S. Gillette illustrates some of the staggering flying conditions that Superfort men encountered on their low-level fire bomb raids over four Japanese cities. Smoke from the fiercely burning targets billowed up thousands of feet, thermal drafts tossed planes around like dead leaves and lightning from built-up thunderheads struck several planes. Jap defenses were erratic, but searchlights were accurate. The five violent raids burned the heart out of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe and Nagoya, with over 15 square miles of Tokyo alone gutted. "Hell For Honshu" on the opposite page tells what crewmen saw and felt on these missions.

Brief 1945 05 01
Vol. 2 No. 22 ....... The B-29 on this week's cover is in trouble. Its number four engine feathered, the big bomber is making an emergency landing on an Iwo Jima airstrip after a mission over the Japanese mainland. AAF ground men at the sides of the runway are watching a scene that has become almost commonplace on the northern most AAF base in the Western Pacific. Superfort crews are becoming increasingly thankful for the capture of Iwo, at which they have made dozens of emergency landings after running into opposition or engine trouble over Japan, The number of ditchings has decreased sharply since Iwo was taken. Cpl. Nolan Patterson took the photo.

Brief 1945 05 08
Vol. 2 No. 23 ....... The Air Force's battles don't all take place in the air and neither do its losses. Here fire fighters of a service group on Iwo are battling a fire that followed the crack-up of one of their own Mustangs. The airplane was almost completely destroyed in a takeoff, but the pilot escaped serious injury. Even while the wrecked plane blazed furiously on the ground, other P-51's were taking off to make history over Japan. This was the first fighter sweep against the Jap mainland the beginning of a new and deadly pattern of destruction. The photograph was taken by combat photographer Sgt Julius Kupersmith.

Brief 1945 05 15
Vol. 2 No. 24 ....... "There sits unquestionably the world's unhappiest KP," said a long-standing buddy of Pfc Philip Sompolsky when he saw this cover shot taken by Staff Photographer Diego deArteaga, somewhere in the Marianas. At 36, and with a full life as a Bronx linotype operator behind him, Sompolsky feels no burning yen to complete his education by learning the ins and outs of cleaning garbage cans. He was an AAFPOA headquarters guard for a long stretch on Oahu, where he amazed his friends as a smooth dancer despite his 200-plus pounds. He's also a handball and gin rummy expert and is regarded by his cronies as stronger than an ox. None of these accomplishments is much help, however, in the matter of KP.

Brief 1945 05 22
Vol. 2 No. 25 ....... The forward base soldier on this week's cover, Pfc Lee Roy Bowman, typifies the reaction of GI's in the Pacific to V-E Day news. The anticipated excitement over Germany's unconditional surrender never came off. For most Pacific soldiers, the news was tempered by their close proximity with the still undefeated, still powerful Asiatic enemy. Even while President Truman's victory proclamation was being relayed to the forward bases by shortwave, Mustangs and Superfortresses were taking to the air. But the news predicted the arrival of new armies and new Air Forces from Europe and anticipated the destruction of Japan. The photograph was taken by Sgt Julius Kupersmith.

Brief 1945 05 29
Vol. 2 No. 26 ....... The radio operator has one of the most vital jobs on a B-29. Loaded with responsibilities, and often called upon to make decisions usually faced only by the gentlemen with brass on their collars, still the brass pounders are frozen at a Staff Sergeant's rating. Typical of the old-timers in Superfort crews is S.Sgt Homer C. Braziel, who once flew in B-17's and Liberators. Men like Sgt Braziel are largely credited with working out the radio operating procedure that has helped make the big bomber strikes against Japan so successful. See story on Page 7. Photo by Brief Staff Photographer Cpl Harold Klee.

Brief 1945 06 05
Vol. 2 No. 27 ....... This week's cover photograph was taken on the small Ryukyu island of le Shima by Sgt Fred Shelton. Pfc Paul Kerwern of an aviation engineer outfit looks up from an impromptu bath in his helmet as a small caravan of native women goes by. The women are carrying their bundles traditionally, on their heads, seemingly unbothered by the thick mud that nearly drove the engineers crazy. AA1 troops on and around Okinawa found that the natives, a branch of the Japanese people were small, hardworking and friendly. Many women did laundry for the GI s and the men worked hard on roads and ground clearing, just as they once had for the Japs.

Brief 1945 07 03
Vol. 2 No. 31 ....... This week's dramatic cover shot shows one aspect of a recent accident and narrow escape on one of Iwo Jima's airstrips. A Superfort, damaged on a mission over Japan, crashed and exploded during an emergency landing on Iwo, Miraculously, all the crew members escaped with their lives. The photo shows a tug hauling a P-51 to safety as the B-29 burns in the background. Iwo, whose airstrips have saved some 300 B-29's, is proving its worth daily. Recently one Superfort was given the 4th Marine Division insigne as a tribute to the men who took the island. Photo by Cpl Nolan Patterson.

Brief 1945 07 10
Vol. 2 No. 32 ....... This week's cover shows the AAF's five-star boss, General of the Army Henry H. Arnold. The photograph was taken at Hickam Field by Lt A. 0. Bombard. Gen Arnold, who recently completed a Pacific tour which included inspections of AAFPOA and 20th AAF installations, told reporters that there was no limit to the B-29 program short of the total destruction of Japan's cities and industries, He said that he was going to use as many of America's 12,000 front-line planes against Japan as he could find fields for. Read the story starting on page 3 for the full details of his trip.

Brief 1945 07 17
Vol. 2 No. 33 ....... This is not a cavalryman patrolling the Mexican border, but a fighter group wireman at work on Okinawa. Sgt Clifford Klienhans, like many another soldier on Oki, added something new to the Pacific warhorses. Some soldiers were interested only in the sporting aspects of the horse, hut others found them ideal transportation over the island's tough terrain. Sgt Klienhans, with a tommy-gun in the crook of his arm and a field telephone slung over his shoulder, rides communication lines looking for breaks. Oki horses, like their owners, cooperated docily with the invading American troops. Photo bt Sgt. Fred Shelton

Brief 1945 07 24
Vol. 2 No. 34 ....... The bearded airman on this week's cover is not a veteran AAF Colonel Group Commander. It is an enlisted pilot, S.Sgt Ed Zellar. He is standing in front of his L-5 Flying Jeep on Okinawa. Zellar is a charter member of the "Okinawa Rapid Transit Company" the L-5 squadron that flew over enemy lines on recon, evacuation and messenger hops all through the tough Okinawa campaign. Zellar is considered something of a character by his outfit, and not just because of the beard. He is the squadron's chief writer and bard. Photo by Sgt Louis Zacharias.

Brief 1945 07 31
Vol. 2 No. 35 ....... No precise navigator would set his compass headings by these signposts being run up on a busy corner of an Ie Shima Air Service Group area. But roughly speaking if you follow one of them long enough in the indicated direction, you are almost sure to wind up within a few thousand miles of your objective whether it's Japan or that Hobe something-or-other in Florida. Low man on this totem pole is Sgt James N. Farry, who serves in lieu of a stepladder for his pal with the hammer, S.Sgt Robert B. Shields. Sgt Shields found the ball peen drives a mighty crooked nail. Photo by Sgt Fred Shelton.

Brief 1945 08 07
Vol. 2 No. 36 ....... Bad weather sometimes descends on tiny Ie Shima while her skies are full of planes returning from Japan; and communications officers have a man-sized job on their hands, directing the sky traffic in to safe landings. This week's cover shows Lt Harold Talbot of Melrose. Mass.. communications officer of a P-61 group, perched on the hood of a radio jeep, "talking in" one of his night fighters during a Ryukyus rain squall. Beside him is the biscuit gun sometimes used for signaling when radio communications go haywire. Photo by BRIEF staff photographer Cpl Harold Klee.

Brief 1945 08 14
Vol. 2 No. 37 ....... This week's cover photo was shot from the deck of the S. S. Herbert S. Dargue, one of a fleet of sea-going Aircraft Repair Units now on duty in the Pacific. (See story of Dargue's skipper, Page 13). ARU's, completely equipped for third and fourth echelon repairs, drop anchor in combat areas almost immediately after first U. S. planes land there. Shuttling between ship and shore is a busy small boat, which transports damaged plane parts from airstrips to the ARU's repair shops before service groups ashore are set up. Photo by Capt Loomis Dean.

Brief 1945 08 21
Vol. 2 No. 38 ....... The aviation engineers' biggest project - construction of a labyrinth of paved runways to handle history's greatest concentration of military aircraft has just begun in the Ryukyus. (Story Page 3). BRIEF'S cover this week shows engineers blasting coral on Ie Shima. On Okinawa alone, the smallest of the airstrips will handle twice as much traffic as LaGuardia Airport. Before their job is done, the engineers will have moved enough coral and earth to build a mountain one mile high, 2000 feet at the base. Photo by Sgt Fred Shelton.

Brief 1945 08 28
Vol. 2 No. 39 ....... With the Superforts there was never an easy mission. When the Jap fighters shied off, there was always flak (see pictures pages 14-15), and when they found their way through the flak bursts, they still had landings to sweat out on crowded airstrips. Some of them, like the B-29 in this week's cover, didn't make it. This one cracked up during an emergency landing on the Combat Staging Center strip. Its big prop (in foreground) was sheared off yards down the runway from where the plane came to its last rest. Photo by 20th BomCom Combat Staging Center photographer.

Brief 1945 09 04
Vol. 2 No. 40 ....... VJ Issue ....... This week's cover shows the Japanese reaction to the surrender news that sent GI's all over the world into transports of joy. This Jap prisoner of war has just heard the Emperor's announcement of the end of the war. The Nip soldier, the samp type of soldier that swaggered through ruined Nanking, that laughed at Corregidor, that swore to die ten million times before surrendering, is weeping like a Chinese peasant before his burned-out home. Japan has lost face forever. The cover is a montage made from an official U. S. Navy photo of a Guam prisoner of war.

Brief 1945 09 11
Vol. 2 No. 41 ....... AIRBORNE VICTORY ....... On Wednesday, August 8, 1945, before assembled newsmen at headquarters of the United States Army Strategic Air Forces on Guam, the crew of the B-29 Enola Gay told the story of the most important few minutes of the war, the few awesome minutes that followed the release of the first atomic bomb on Japan. The time was 9:30 A.M., August 6, and the city against which the harnessed power of the universe was turned was Hiroshima, with its population of 343,000. Quietly, the men of the Enola Gay described what they observed when the bomb was dropped. Brief artist Charles Overman on this week's cover interprets the moments when "a great bubble of flame, miles across, formed above the city and catapulted itself into the stratosphere at terrific speed."

Brief 1945 09 18
Vol. 2 No. 42 ....... This week's cover shows AAF men at work in their last advanced base of the war, Tokyo's Atsugi Airdrome. These AACS men and other specialists were among the first Americans to land in Japan, where they established communications and made preparations for the arrival of American planes and troops. Gen MacArthur landed at this field for his first entry to conquered Nippon. With this initial group landed BRIEF'S S.Sgt Bob Price: his "End of the Line - Atsugi" in this issue tells the story of the AAF's first days in Japan. Photo by Cpl Harold Klee.

Brief 1945 09 25
Vol. 2 No. 43 ....... FINAL ISSUE ....... The cover to this, the final issue of BRIEF, was photographed on Isezaki Street, once the Broadway or the Fifth Avenue of the Japanese city of Yokohama. Today it is shabby and rubble strewn and the big shops, badly damaged by bombs, are either closed or operating part time. Marching down the middle of the road are two Americans and four Japanese. In his story on the next page, "Quaint Little People," T.Sgt Bob Speer reports that the Japanese are just incomprehensible to their conquerors. They are friendly, curious and humble and they'd go to war again at the drop of the Emperor's brocade handkerchief. Quaint, perhaps, but not cute. Photo by Cpl Harold Klee.

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