Word: pilots
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...General Jimmy Doolittle's Tokyo raid. To retaliate, the Japanese hatched a plan to set the Oregon forests afire; they expected that the flames would spread to the cities and panic the entire West Coast. To carry out the dangerous mission, the planners picked Fujita, a seasoned Geta pilot with ten years' naval service and more than 3,000 flying hours behind...
Fujita pored over charts captured at Wake Island, spent the Pacific crossing reviewing plans, writing a will, cleaning his service pistol in case the mission failed and he had to kill himself. Off Oregon, the pilot had to wait a week for suitable catapulting weather. When it came, he made one 2½-hr. bombing run by daylight, a second 20 days later in the dark. Three of his bombs were duds; the fourth started a small blaze that was quickly spotted and doused by forest rangers. The raid made headlines in Japan, but Fujita got no promotion, no bonus...
...Saigon toward forested Binh Duong province, largely controlled by the Communist Viet Cong guerrillas, gunners in the escorting H21 helicopters stood at open ports, scanning the terrain below over the barrels of .30-caliber machine guns. McNamara landed inside the defenses of a "strategic hamlet" called Ben Tuong, the pilot project of the U.S.-backed Operation Sunrise that was set up two months ago to isolate the population and to deny the Communists shelter and supplies...
...Swiss scientist who examined the wreckage decided that the cause was probably "human failure" by the pilot. But the U.N. panel refused to accept or reject this possibility, remained similarly noncommittal toward any other theory, including sabotage by Katanga forces, who were battling U.N. troops at the time...
...years ahead of U.S. rivals. It is built around the Bristol Siddeley BS-53 Pegasus, a remarkable jet engine that discharges large volumes of comparatively slow-speed air through four swiveling nozzles that can point either front, back or down. When the VTOL is ready for vertical takeoff, the pilot points all the nozzles down, revs the engine, and the plane rises straight up on an even keel. When sufficiently clear of the ground, the pilot turns the nozzles gradually rearward and accelerates smoothly into normal forward flight. The P-1127, which made its full flight test last fall...