The tunnel thru the air

by William D. Gann

April, 1930

Japan declared war on the United States and Spain joined forces with her. They secured the aid of Mexico and established an air base there. The United States was unprepared for war as they had not kept up the programme of building a sufficient air fleet to protect the country against invasion by such a large fleet as commanded by Japan and Spain. There was a hasty call by the Government for volunteers to the Aviation Corps. Robert Gordon and Walter Kennelworth hastened to Washington, tendered their services to the Government and joined the Aviation Corps. They were made Lieutenants and ordered immediately to San Antonio, Texas, where the Southern Aviation Division had its headquarters. Robert offered the benefit of his experience to the officials, but older and wiser heads refused to listen to his advice because they thought he was too young. At that time they knew nothing about his long years of secret work and his great inventions, but they soon learned the value of his discovery and patent which he had sold to Japan,—the muffler which made the airplane silent.

The United States Government fearing that Japan would make the first attack on the Pacific Coast either around Los Angeles or San Francisco, rushed the battle fleet to the Pacific. This proved to be one of the greatest mistakes of the war. As soon as the battleships cruised into the Pacific, Japan attacked from the air with their noiseless airplanes and began dropping deadly bombs from great heights. The anti-aircraft guns from the decks of the battleships were powerless to reach the bombing planes at such great heights. Defeat was swift and severe and only a few of the battleships escaped complete destruction from the first attack. The United States Officers had found that the Japanese planes could rise more than twice the altitude of the United States planes. They knew that Japan had some invention that was superior to ours which enabled them to reach such great heights that their airships were practically immune from attack. This placed the United States at a great disadvantage as they were unable to protect the coast cities from being destroyed by bombs from the Japanese planes.

A council of war was held. The commanding officers were called together. The President hastily summoned the Cabinet. There was no minimizing the danger for everyone knew that the ingenuity of Japan had designed a superior fighting plane; that this was to be a war in the air and that all old methods and weapons of war were obsolete; that the United States must move quick and fast to prevent destruction of the Pacific Coast cities. They decided to confiscate the large manufacturing plants and start them on making new inventions and the manufacture of airplanes. Central Steel was confiscated; also Major Motors and Major Electric Co. The war council decided that they should scatter their air forces from Brownsville, Texas, up to El Paso to protect the Rio Grande from attack thru Mexico; that the battle line should extend up the Colorado River on across to Portland and Seattle. The land forces were all rushed to the Coast, forming a battle line from Brownsville, Texas, across to the Northwest to Seattle. It was decided that this line should be held with reserve forces to be sent to support a second line of defense running from San Diego up the Coast to Portland, to protect inland invasion by the foe in case they were successful in capturing any of the coast cities. People in Los Angeles and San Francisco were in a state of turmoil. Thousands were leaving every day by train and airplane, going to the Grand Canyon where there were no cities and they hoped they would be safe from attacks. Others went to the central and eastern parts of the United States because they feared attacks any day.

Japan was quick to follow up her victory gained on the water by attacking Los Angeles from the air in the middle of May. Here again the great value of the silent motor was proved and the height to which the Japanese plane could rise. As the enemy stole over the city in the silence of the night, not a sound could be heard from their motors at the great heights which they were sailing. Bombs began to fall in the business section and the skyscrapers crumbled to pieces. Every street light was ordered out, leaving the city in total darkness. The people were aroused at the first noise of exploding bombs and rushed out to find the city in darkness. This caused a panic. Army officers tried to quiet the people and keep them in their homes because they realized the danger if they rushed out into the streets where the bombs were falling. Powerful searchlights were sweeping the sky in an effort to locate the invading planes. Then the giant aircraft guns were trained on the enemy, but the distance was so great and the planes moving so swiftly, that they were unable to do much damage. They only succeeded in bringing down three of the bombing planes. The United States scouting planes were sent out immediately, followed by the fighting planes carrying 6-inch guns. They found that the Japanese planes were dropping bombs from a height of 60,000 to 80,000 feet and the United States planes were unable to rise high enough to attack them.

The battle waged thruout the night and when the sun rose the next morning, the beautiful city of Los Angeles was in ruins. Thousands of people had been killed and the most of the important buildings had been destroyed. The people of Los Angeles were more excited than they had ever been during earthquakes. The destruction and loss of life were so great that everyone forgot all about their property and money and only thought of saving their lives and protecting their loved ones. The commanding officers held a hasty conference, realizing the great damage the enemy had done and the small damage they had been able to inflict upon them and knowing that the enemy would follow this attack by more attacks it was decided that to force the people to remain meant certain death and a destruction of the balance of the valuable property, so the only thing to do was to move the people out as fast as possible and surrender the city. After the commanders had held this council, news of their decision was conveyed to the subordinate officers.

Lieutenant Gordon's heart was broken when he realized that the beautiful city of Los Angeles must be either surrendered or destroyed, yet he knew that unless the Government quickly made some new and wonderful inventions, many more defeats were in store. When Captain George Cooper who was in command of Lieutenant Gordon's company, received orders that no move was to be made and no scouts to be sent out until further instructions, he called Lieutenants Gordon and Kennelworth and conveyed to them the orders. Lieutenant Gordon was desperate. He wanted to do something to help save the situation, but to offer his advice to his superior officers was futile. Finally, he decided to disobey orders and go out on a scouting expedition alone and see what he could find out. He thought he might locate a Japanese base, as he believed they had a mother ship somewhere near from which they were sending out the bombing planes. He was flying very low as he crossed the line below San Diego. All at once a Japanese plane was coming straight toward him. He immediately turned his plane and rushed back across the line followed closely by the enemy who was gaining on him rapidly. Lieutenant Gordon whirled his plane around quickly and charged the Japanese plane. The fight lasted for several minutes.

After Lieutenant Gordon had been gone some time and failed to return Lieutenant Kennelworth knowing that he had disobeyed orders and gone out with his plane decided that some harm might have come to him and that he too must disobey orders and go to his rescue. He jumped into a fast plane and sailed out, going direct toward San Diego. He soon sighted the two planes in combat and just before he reached the scene, they went down together. His heart sank within him. He knew it was his old friend Robert and feared for the worst. Landing along the side of the wreck he found that the Japanese aviator had been killed. Robert's leg had been broken; otherwise he was uninjured. He quickly hauled him aboard his own plane and started back for headquarters and was just in time as other Japanese planes were approaching and followed him close into Los Angeles. Lieutenant Gordon was confined to the hospital three or four weeks before his leg healed and he fully recovered. He was given a severe reprimand for disobeying orders but because he had brought down an enemy plane the Government made him a Captain for this bravery and also promoted Lieutenant Kennelworth, his chum, to the same rank.

In the meantime, the people had been moved away from Los Angeles as fast as possible. There had been several minor attacks by the enemy and more buildings had been destroyed and only a few of the enemy's planes had been brought down. The situation was desperate. People were frantic. The United States was hopelessly outnumbered by the Spanish and Japanese air forces. England was threatening to join forces with Japan and Spain. An attack on San Francisco was expected at any hour. People wanted to get away and move east into the mountains for protection, but the Government had notified everyone to remain. The fact that the foreign planes were noiseless put the United States at a great disadvantage. Robert and Walter were using their secret radio to communicate with each other. They had offered this invention to the Government and it had been accepted. This was a great help as the Japanese were unable to intercept their code messages or take any message from the air because there were none.

The United States Army officers knew that they must fight for time to get some new inventions ready to combat the enemy. On June 14th, Los Angeles was surrendered. White flags were run up all over the city as a signal for the enemy planes to stop attacking. The plan was to send no message to the enemy headquarters in Mexico but to wait and see what action they would take or what terms they would offer to make. General Pearson of the Aviation Corps, General Johnson of the Cavalry, Admiral Dawson of the Navy and General Marshall of the Infantry held a council to decide the next and wisest move to make. A plan was discussed for crossing the Rio Grande into Mexico with land troops and making an attempt to capture the supply base of the enemy. General Pearson said that the days of old tactics and war had changed, that the enemy evidently intended to make this a war in the air and that they would attack troops from the air. To send an army into the mountains of Mexico would not only mean the loss of thousands of lives, which would prove useless, but that part of the air force would have to be sent into Mexico to protect the army and this would weaken the coast patrol and give the enemy a chance to make an air attack on other coast cities. Admiral Dawson said that in the weakened condition of the Navy, since the disaster from the first attack by the Japanese planes, it would be foolhardy to attempt any aggressive campaign by the Navy, that what ships they had were now scattered along the Southern, Eastern and Western shores for protection and to concentrate them at one point would only weaken other joints from which they would have to be withdrawn. General Marshall was of the opinion that the best plan was not to attack, but let the enemy make the first move every time and try to find some way to protect the coast cities, that what we needed was time to get better equipped with sufficient airplanes to cope with the enemy's superior air force. So it was finally decided that the wisest course to pursue was a waiting attitude.