T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
from below on vulnerable bomb bay tanks.fi8Such lessons of experi-
ence would prove of great value to the AAF in later days of the war,
but there was little comfort for those who provided the experience.
T h e weather continued bad, the fields were muddy, and mechanics
worked for twenty-four hours at a time to keep the big planes in re-
pair. From 9 February to the I 8th, not counting reconnaissance, ferry,
or courier flights, the bombers attempted a total of sixteen missions
involving seventy-two B-17 and fifteen LB-30 sorties. O n fifty-one of
these sorties, the planes turned back, a few of them for mechanical
reasons but most of them because of impenetrable weather. Of those
which got through to the target areas, only a few could claim success.
All too typical was the report of a flight of three bombers on 1 2 Feb-
ruary that they “believed they hit a boat.” Perhaps the best day came
on I 5 February, when five B- I 7’s claimed one hit on an auxiliary vessel
and another on a cruiser. T h e following day claims also were made for
hits on two transport^.^' T h e weather was bad for the Japanese, too,
but the enemy had the advantage of numbers and somehow the
weather seemed to break clear over his targets more frequently than
over those selected by the Americans. Lacking any advantage of
numbers or of fighter escort, the bombers usually made their runs at
high altitude, as standard procedure directed. T h e inadequate air de-
fenses of the fields in Java frequently made it necessary between
missions and during daylight hours to put the bombers into the air to
prevent their destruction on the ground, a necessity which added
greatly to the mounting strain on all personnel.
For low-level attack on the lucrative targets provided by the Japa-
nese as they closed in on Java, the A-24’~of the 27th Bombardment
Group (L) had started a movement up from Australia on 9 February
when three of the dive bombers took off in company with a flight of
the 3d Pursuit Squadron. As already recorded, only one of these three,
that flown by Capt. Edward N. Backus who commanded the 91st
Squadron, reached Java, but eleven others headed out over the Timor
Sea from Darwin on I I February in what was destined to be the last
ferry flight by short-range planes from Australia to Java. T h e flight,
having lost one plane by crack-up at Waingapoe on Soemba, arrived
late in the afternoon of 1 2 February at Modjokerto in Java where,
approximately I O O miles west of Malang, a new airfield was under con-
s t r u ~ t i o n . ~ ~On land formerly given over to rice fields, some 1,200
natives had laid a base of bamboo matting which then was covered
390