Free My Carrier War by Norman E. Berg

paint mark. I remember to this day—my color was blue, and I found only two hits. Only one of us had more than five hits.
    The instructor had us all sit there along side the tow target. “I was watching your gunnery runs. You were all making two major mistakes. First, it appeared to me that you were using too much rudder trying to get in position. The result was that your plane was in a skid rather than in a smooth easy turn toward the target. If your gun platform is skidding, your bullets will end up off the target. Then there was your approach to the target. Too many of you ended up either 90 degrees to the target forcing you to dive under it, or you were being sucked behind so you could not fire. The ideal position is 45 degrees to the target with your aiming point ahead of the target. Then you fly a smooth approach, firing until you can break off your run flying under the target.” He closed his remarks saying, “Don’t worry about it. As you get used to flying that big old dive-bomber, you’ll start getting hits. Besides, it’s not a fighter plane. It’s a divebomber—that’s what you want to be good at.”
    I’m not so sure. What about shooting down an enemy plane? Or worse
yet, what if one makes a gunnery run on me? Learn how to hit that target, Norm. Don’t be dead meat out there fighting a determined enemy. Besides, Jean has announced our engagement. I’ve got to be sure to come home to her. Can’t be scared of combat. Be the best-trained naval aviator possible. Come on, Norm, you’ll come back alive.
    It was March 14, 1942 when I flew my last gunnery training flight. Man, was I good that day. The green-tipped bullets I was firing had a hit rate of 35 percent on the target. Pretty damn good compared to most of my colleagues. I had mastered the concept of gunnery. I was flying the aircraft smoothly and most importantly, I was getting hits.
    The next morning, there were six of us, all advanced students in the dive-bombing program, sitting in a classroom in the operations building. We now had only to complete the dive-bombing phase of the training, and we would get our Navy wings. Our training would be over. We would be ready.
    I’ve got to be careful now. This dive-bombing could be dangerous. Going straight down and then pulling out. Danger of blacking out due to the “G” pressures. Wonder if we’re going to use real bombs? Probably not. One of the guys told me that we would use little smoke bombs so we could see our hits on the target.
    “Morning, Cadets, I’m Ensign Brester and I’m going to make each of you dive-bomber pilots. Just a little history first. The Navy was the first service to use dive-bombing as a weapon. For example, when the aircraft carrier, USS Lexington, joined the fleet in 1927, there were dive-bombers aboard her. This plane you’re flying now—the SBC-4—joined the fleet as a dive-bomber in 1935. So, this delivery method of a bomb has been around a long time.” He paused, looking at us. “As I explain how we do dive-bombing, I’m sure you’ll quickly see the advantages of the technique.”
    Ensign Brester continued, “Here’s what you’re going to do on your bombing dives. After takeoff, I’ll climb to 500 feet and make an easy turn to the right. Each of you, after takeoff, join up with me. I will lead this first flight. Our bombing target is a 50-foot circle outlined in white on a small island just off the coast. Each plane will be loaded with six smoke bombs. These are small, metal-shaped objects with an explosive charge in the nose. When they hit the ground, a puff of white smoke marks the place where they hit. We’ll climb to 10,000 feet on the way, then circle the target on arrival. Each of you will acknowledge, by radio, that you see the target.”
    He picked up a small wooden aircraft model and held it up as high as he could reach.
    “Now, listen up. After you each acknowledge that you see the target, I’ll signal for each of you to form a single column