The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, February 4, 1941, Page 1

e e e THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRIK “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LVIL, NO. 8638. JUNEAU, ALASKA, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1941. MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS BRITISH FORCES MAKE TWO BIG DRIVE NEW AIR SERVICE T0 NORTH Northwest ;AAifI’ines Makes? Application fo Fly Pas- | sengers and Mail | WASHINGTON, Feb. 4. — The! Northwest Airlines has applied to| the Civil Aeronautics Board for per- | mission to fly passengers and mail from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to‘ Fairbanks, Alaska, via Fargo, North Dakota, If application is approved for the serv a twice a week service will be given with stops made at Regina, | Edmonton, Fort St. John and White- | horse. | U.S.PLANES 10 PROTECT | | BRIT. SHIPS Patrol Crafi?Atquired for| Convoying of Merchant Vessels Over Sea LONDON, Feb. 4.—British Ship- ping Minister Ronald Cross disclesed today that Great Britain will get patrol planes from the United States for convoying her merchant fleet. Cross, addressing the British Em- | pire, spoke of “a very valuable ac- quisition” of the 50 United States | destroyers and then added: “Long distance aircraft which we are to receive from the United States will also play an important part in pro- tecting our ships.” BRICE Brice Howard, Fairbanks Agent | for the Alaska Steamship Co., passed | through Juneau today on the Alaska | enroute to Fairbanks after attend- ing the agents meeting in Seattle. e Clhe WASHINGTON — Behind the scenes in the U. S. Navy there are two schools of thought regarding the danger of war with Japan. Both agree, however, regarding its out- come. One school, made up of younger officers who have served recently in the Far East, has developed a scorn for Japanese sea power, declares that Japan never has met a first class navy, that annihilation of her fleet would be a matter of two or three months. They cite especially the Japanese effort to reduce the Woosung forts protecting Shanghai in 1932, when the aim of Japan's big naval guns was so poor that for a while Am- erican photographers stood on top of the fortifications taking pictures of the bombardment. The other school of thought is composed of older officers who are specialists in naval tactics. ~They have figured out the time necessary HOWARD THROUGH || British Use Radio Beams In New Answer to Night Bombing;Listening Posis, - Fighter Planes Coordinate GUIDING BEAMS BETRAY BOMBERS MAPPING AND RADIO HEADQUARTERS 4 BOMBERS' VE | . boat center at Brest. Willkie said he planned to ask de Valera many questions and “talk with him across the table” regard- | ing neutral Eire's bases. After talk- ing with de Valera, Willkie said he would not reveal the result of the conversations unless authorized by the Irish Free State leader. So far, Eire has refused to grant | the British planes and warships the use of Irish territory for operations against Germany's sea attacks which | recently turned to the waters west of Ireland in the so-called “Grave Yard of the Atlantic.” o 'WHEELER ~ SHOWS UP_ U.S. ARMY Says that Nafine Plane Is Suitable for Combat Serv- ENEMY RAIDERS ride beam drop bombs they cross beam from ‘A’ FIGHTER PLANES at 25,000 feet wait for directions to inter- cept oncoming enemy raiders. OBSERVATION PLANES equipped with listening devices check on enemy motors and speeds, report to headquarters. | MAPPING AND RADIO HEAD- QUARTERS plots direction, | ed of enemy; notifies own hters of possi contact sends out guiding beam. ANTI- AIRCRAFT hold fire when own ighters are in range. GROUND STATIONS regis- ter enemy beams and sounds of motors; report to headquarters. By MORGAN M. BEATTY AP Feature Service Writer of beams are broadcast, each set a little different. | ! - Sounds Are Plotted i The little portable stations are WASHINGTON, Feb, 4.--An air- | not have a single plane plane motor that broadeasts radio signals and a new super-sensitive radio ear capable of lislening to plane motors many miles away are instruments the British army has worked out to swat Nazi bombers in the dark. But so many thousanas of the rew gadgets are required and so many thousands of crews must be | also equipped with the new super- sensitive radio ear, that can hear | enemy motors 25 or more miles | away. As soon as the ground stations begin to pick up the German beams and the German motors, |they report back to a central mapping and radio headquarters, where all these sounds and their traived in mathematics, rddio and complex teamwork, that if may be months before sure-fire results are obtained. Even so, two or three German bombers are often| bagzed by the new radio system on vy big night raid, territory. That's the girst of confidenqial} By the time both the target and 1eports coming back td Amerita| the progress of the planes are! from the scene of night air war|piottaple, the mapping and radio| intensities are plotted on a map of the British Isles. In a very few minutes, the German beams show up on the map, and so does the approximate spot where the enemy planes are going to reach English| over the British Isles. 0ddly neagquarters notifies radio obser- enough, the system is a modein|yation squadrons near the target. | counterpart of a crude method| ppe planes are equipped with the! developed by British-born Ameri-| o me listeniny g devices the can Ace Harold Hartney at the| gyounq stations and serve to fag end of the World War. Hurtneyi check principally on the German actually downed a German bomb-| plane motors, and speeds er with his system in 1918. | One the headquarters people as WILLKIE 15 OFFONTRIP 10 IRELAND Infends fo Confer with de| Valera About Bases for Brjtish (By Associated Press) Wendell L. Willkie, American gaining first-hand information of war conditions in Great Britain, flew to Dublin to confer with Eamon de Valera on the subject of Irish ports and air bases repeatedly sought by the British to combat the Ger- | man counter blockade. At the same time, Royal Air Force | bombers twice attacked the Nazi U- | ice, Modern Warfare WASHINGTON, Feb. 4.— United K. Wheeler bsolutely re- e" information the Army “does itable for combat service in modern warfare.” Senator Wheeler declined to dis- close the source of his information but declared he is convinced to its reliability. During 1940, Senator Wheeler de- clared, the total war plane deliveries were 2884 of which he said 2308 went to Great Britain and other foreign countries, and 576 went to the Army or Navy. On January 1, Wheeler said, the Army had 639 planes, divided as fol- lows: 91 heavy bombers, 38 medium bombers, 6 light bombers, 1 pursuit fighter, 212 interceptors, 231 obser- vation planes, 14 reconnaissance and 46 transport planes. In an interview, Wheeler said that of the 639 planes, not one was suit- able for combat in modern warfare because all lacked either self-sealing gas tanks or sufficient fireproof ar- mor plate. CLSNA I 258, LEASE-LEND BILL STILL IN DEBATE Charles Beard Urges De- feat-George Fielding . On Convoy " ByFascsts Torpedo Bd;t'sVReporled fo Have Made. Night At- fack in Red Sea (By ASSOCIATED PRESS) Mussolini’s High Command reports a spectacular raid was made last night by Italian torpedo boats against an “enemy convoy strongly escorted by cruisers and destroy- ers” in the Red Sea. The Communique further said “our vessels launched a total of nine torpedoes and seven made direct hits.” ————— MANHATTAN PULLED OFF FLORIDABAR Finally Freed After Three Weeks WEST PALM BEACH, Fla, Feb. 4—Five straining tugs aided by a tide at the crest, have finally set free the $10,000,000 liner Manhattan. Shortly after midnight the big craft was pulled from the sandbar where it grounded three weeks ago while on a tourist trip. At the time of the grounding, all passengers were removed safely. Ni-n;—Si{iis of Ten Million Dollar Liner Is Uncle Sam’s Aerial Blitzmen Go Into Action Taking a tip from methods used ir Europe, the United States Army is rigorously training parachute trsops of iis own, and here they are in action during maneuvers at Fort Benning, Ga. The troops have just land- ed “behind enemy lines.” While a machine gun (lower left) set up by first airman to land protects the othiers, three more blitzmen prepare for action. CAPITAL UNITY HAS 'EM MUMBLING; QUESTION IS, NAZI CAMPS AIR RAIDED ALONG COAST Mechanized Unifs Occupy (irene — Advance on All African Fronts (By Associated Press) Bri forces have made two suc- cessful dttacks or drives during the past 24 hours, Nazi U-boat bases in Occupled France and concentration camps along the coast were air raided early this morning by the Royal Air Force and returning fliers report disastrous explosions and fires following. The British mechanized units, ac- cording to advices from Cairo, have entered Cirene, Marshal Graziani’s former general headquarters, some 60 miles west of Derna. Graziani escaped from Cirene several days ago when “air spotters” reported the British were nearing. The Army of the Nile is moving hard on the heels of the retreating Ttalian armies. British advances are reported on all African fronts: 'WRECKAGE OF LOST BOMBER LOCATEDNOW WHH IS " (OMmG Tog’(rafl M‘i-ssiminte J;nu- FOUR PLANES | 'DAMAGED AS GALE BLOWS Hangar and Three Training Ships Demolished-PAA . Aicliner Hit Slightly 56-mile-an-hour wind ! whirled up Gastineau Channel last 11113“0. cwelling t gale at the Pan American Airways airport to demecl- |ish the hangar and three training |planes belonging to the Alaska |Bchool of Aeronautics and to snap the port wing cable -anchoring the PAA Douglas airliner during an 80- mile gust that tipped the giant plane jon its left wing, moved it eight feet land damaged one wing. The miniature hurricane ripped the roof from the training school hangar adjacent to the PAA airport jand dropped its rafters on the three | single motored ships hangared there. This morning only one wall of the | hangar was left standing and the. | three training planes were buried and | mashed together under heavy beams and rafters. ! Loss of $7500 Pilot Instructor Clarence Walters of. the aviation school estimated damage done to planes and hangar iat $7,500, and said all destruction | {was completely covered by insur-| ance. He said that it was pessible to |salvage all of the planes but that tremendous damage had been done. The hangar was of the open front| type which caught and pocketed the | wind. Two PAA Electras which were at| | | A vicious ary 16, Found in Wood- By JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON, Feb. 4. — This| . o ed Section-7 MenKilled unity business seems to be spread- i ing. When “Big Bill” Knudsen is| MORTON, Wash., Feb. 4. — Two out on ofticial business, he rides in hours before daybreak ‘oday, & par- a big, fine-looking black sedan, ty of 70 Army officers, Air Corps with one of those low-number tags enlisted men, State Patrolmen and that give visual evidence of a man's CCC youths, who headed out all importance around here. But is this night into the “Little Rockle” wild- one of the General Motors chief's erness, west of here, reached the own makes of cars? It is not. It's scene of the Wreckage of the Army a Packard. | bomber lost three weeks ago, Janu- That sort of thing apparently is ary 16, on a flight from McChord going on all over Washington. If Field to California. you go into a store and they don't' Major Charles Overacker, Com- have what you want, they'll send manding the 73rd Bombardment you to their closest competitor. If Squadron, said two woodsmen re- you can’t get a room at one hotel, ported sighting the wreckage late the clerk invariably will tell you yesterday afternoon and telephoned where you can get one, | their information from here. The President dips into the Re-| The region where the wreckage publican fold to get his Secretaries was sighted by the woodsmen is of War and Navy and a good many |almost inaccessible. other officials in the defense set-| Searchers immediately organized up. Wendell L. Willkie, titular head at McChord Field and came to this of the G.OP., throws his weight section and set up a base camp while (with some reservations) behind the Democratic administration bill that has promised to give rise to more controversy than any issue before Congress in recent years. And he carried a personal note from F.D.R. to Winston Churchill, Even in Congress, battles rage plenty of disunity, the situation is causing strange unitings, In any anti-administration 'huddle on for- eign * policy, huddlers are bound to be Sen. Bur- ton K. Wheeler and Sen. Bennett Champ Clark, both Democrats. Then there are Republicans who have added their nods t6 Mr. Will- kie's in favor of administration plans. Capital oldsters are mumbling in where the their beards. They want to know| what the world in general and politics in particular are coming to when you can't tell who a man works for by the kind of car he's riding in? fiercest and there's ‘ two of -the principal| others pushed on to the wreck scene. Red flares lighted the scene which is about 10 miles west of here, The plane wreckage is scattered over a large area, densely wooded, at the base of a cliff described as some- where near Huckleberry Mountain at |an elevation of. about 3,000 feet, Horses have been taken te the scene to bring out the bodies of the victims, who have been checked, as follows: First Lieutenant R. M. Kummes, Second Lieutenant C. T. Nielsen, Second Lieutenant J. F. Geis, Second Lieutenant L. E. Macaky, Sergeants H. A. Davis, L. H. Nietling and P. L. . Mass. | Srocx Quorarions NEW YORK, Fgb, 4. — Closing quotation of Alaska Juneau mine |stock today is 4%, American Can |87%, ' Anaconda 23%, Bethlehera ! Steel 82, Commonwealth and South- | ern 11/16, Curtiss Wright 8%, Gen- | Eliot Is in Favor to move the fleet from Hawaii, to The modern idea, not to give| $ " { establist® s largs Maoust. gxsiteon 16 | are satisfied they will be able to away ~any secrets, works | the airport during the 80 mile an UNWELCOME OFFER protect the Philippines, and to pre- pare for meeting the Japanese fleet in its own waters. To do all this they want at least a year. Both groups agree that the United States would come out on top, but they - disagree widely on the time required for victory. DEPEND ON BRITISH It is extremely important to note that both groups are assuming the British fleet would remain on guard | in the Atlantic and the United States would not face the job of protect- ing Latin America from Hitler— simultaneously with the Japanese attack. This is one reason why many younger naval officers definitely (Continued on Page Four) out, i A »| spot the - approximate position of | , like this: | | land, cially along the Channel| ' | :;st %fie peipemdg with small,| Fghias. SURdrOs, OF 8 BUSADI: con- % pe b} ey tact ‘point and send out their own| z?::a gl:dger; l:fl p:b?e O';Sm::x ngppe"“p‘ t;ean:1 for ;hnt point for the fighter | squadron to ride. the radio beams the German bomb} i so,m,ncfm Misses crews ride to their targets overi Sometimes the fighters miss the Br’;};;n-cermans S o Lwo: enemy in the dark. Ground listeners | s often know the figh beams to the target. Say the tar- py 5 few feet. sim‘::m:usn':m: get is Coventry. One beam IS\ mile or more. It's still a problem, gorie';:ed “s;tn cov:::?r,n : ff;:m,b 2 :dy"as one British flier put it the other cast .frnm lc;:‘vus.sels T;le lGerman‘ :yih:r dr,ryl)(ngAw s,:,:z memw . ark, n) md bomber rides one or the other of ;¢ g mile, 4 e these, then, when he picks up the 15, this work the radio broad- ':tet"ser Z:"xeo Bl'- mnxim\ém 1I’;‘”‘5“’5}"casung motor is extremely essen- thrP': mouriyth‘:,:ron:vetgr;};l = tial. All the night flying British| One night, then more than’ one aft‘ «Canun uedm WASHINGTON, Feb. 4—Charles | Beard, well-known historian, told Congress today that the British Aid Bill “will involve the U. 8. officiaily in war,” and urged its defeat. George Fielding Eliot, writer of military affairs, however, argued that it should be enacted “with cer- tain proper limitations,” because of the world. military situation. The two men testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Also received was an announce- ment for the support of the bill by eight Southern governors. While the House started its second day of de- bate on the measure the governors 33,604 Tons, Senf Down 'British Admiralty Makes Report of Sea Warfare Up fo January 26 Admiralty announces that nine Brit- ish and allied merchant ships, total- advised the committee that they be- | lieved “the passage of this bill at | this time was essential to the safety of the nation.” ing 33,604 tons, were lost by “enemy” action during the week ending Jam- uary 26. This is a decided decrease from previous weeks, {hour gusts were unharmed in. the| gale because of smaller wing spread and less attack area presented to| | the wind. Debris Scattered Sections of the corrugated iron roof of the training school hangar jwere scattered for blocks around, and one section of the roof, beams ,and bracing ingact, was carried over| 300 feet away. | Pan American officials in Juneau| were waiting this afternoon for a |wire from their Seattle office send- !ing instructions. | Mail By Boat 1 | Airmail scheduled to fly south to Seattle on the DC-3 will be trans-| ferred to the next southbound boat and will be sent via boat until the| ' 7 (Continued on Page Eight) The Nazi propagandists are shoot- ing wild—so wild that they are dropping billets on the doorstep of the President’s son-in-law. John Boettiger of the Seattle (Wash.) Post-Intelligéencer recent- ly got a long billet doux from Ham- | burg, Germany. It was signed Oscar C. Pfaus, of the Deutsche Fichte-| Bunde, 30 Jungfernsteig, Hamburg. After Herr Pfaus points out that he’s a graduate of “a Chicago col- lege,” he wants to know if Mr. Boettiger wouldn't be happy to have the Fichte-Bunde's reports coming along regularly. ing that also your paper is inter- | | | | eral Motors 4244, International Har-~ vester 48, Kennecott 31%, New York Central 12%, Northern Pacific 6%, | United States Steel 61%, Pound $4.08%. DOW, JONES AVERAGES The following are today’s Dow, Jones averages: Industrials, 12263; rails, 28.09; utilities, 19.68. PAA RADIO OPERATOR IS ENROUTE TO SEATTLE Jack Stewart, PAA radio operator stationed at Nome for several years, ested in unbiased reports con- cerning the political as well as the R e (Continued on Page Seven) flew in yesterday after a few weeks tay in Fairbanks. Stewart is to be -miioiled to the Seattle office.