Coulee City Dispatch

Birth of a Bombardier

Would you personally like to bomb Berlin and Tokyo? From towns, cities, farms, factories and colleges thousands of American youths are answering "yes" and swarming into the world's largest bombardier college at Midland, Texas, to learn the technique.

Scientifically selected to operate the secret, deadly U.S. bombsight, bombardier cadets are trained in 12 weeks to be the "most dangerous men in the world."

Where they are going is a military secret, but a thousand bombardiers destroyed Cologne in a single night! And Uncle Sam's air force is training at least 25,000 bombardiers!

The tyro bombardier becomes familiar with his thrilling job with the bi-motored AT-11 training bomber. He watches mechanics who 'keep 'em flying

At the bomb-loading dump, brawny ordnance men carry the kind of bright blue 100-pounders used for practice.

Each cadet drops as many as two hundred bombs during training--the equivalent of forty real raids. A scale model of Tokyo's waterfront industrial section provides a realistic target for bombardment, and really gives the boys something to shoot at.

These pictures tell how cadets from all corners of the U. S. become "lords of the bombsight."

Physical fitness is the prime requisite for cadets. Here they use practice bombs for "bombardier build-ups."

In ground school, a group watches an instructor using a model U. S bomber and models of Japanese warships to illustrate a point.

Skimming low over a 30-foot target shack, a cadet at Midland army flying school sends missiles skimming into the ground whence they ricochet, rocket-like, into the pyramid-shaped structure.