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Almost directly over the ships before sighting them visually and was unable to attack on this run. The result was the same on the second attempt. They appeared to be two medium freighters of Sugar Baker size and appearance with an escort vessel about two miles distant. A third run was made on one of the freighters after an interval of ten minutes with bomb racks set up for a string of two 100 lb. and one 500 lb. bomb. The 500 pounder, which was in the middle of the string, failed to release electrically and the other two bombs were short. The next bombing run was over the escort ship from starboard quarter to port bow at 200 feet. A string of two 100's and one 500 was dropped. As the plane passed over the ship, medium AA guns opened up from bow and stern and both waist gunners in the plane returned the fire. AA from the ship was accurate and criss-crossed just below and to the left of the plane. As the plane retired at 130 knots and 100 feet altitude, observers in the after station reported three flashes of light which coincided with the time at which the bombs should have exploded taking into consideration time of fall and fuze setting. Since bombs with 4-5 second delay fuzing landing in deep water do not produce a flash visible above the surface, the three bright flashes seen by the plane crew in this instance are considered a definite indication that hits were scored on the target. Approximately a half minute after the attack, Lieutenant COX, who had climbed to 500 feet, encountered frontal conditions with extreme turbulence. Twenty minutes were spent getting clear of the area of violent weather after which the pilot felt it inadvisable to return to the scene of the attack for further observation.
February 10-11 - Lieutenant Glen I. PALMER, USNR also found a target in the Pescadores area. At 0428 Item he picked up a strong radar indication at 10 miles range s6uth of this group of islands. Starting from an altitude of 1,000 feet, Lieutenant PALMER homed in prepared for a bombing run. Not until he was approximately one-half mile away from the target could he make visual contact and then nothing but a phosphorescent wake could be seen. He was only one-quarter mile away when the ship itself was first seen but oven then it was only as vague object with details indistinguishable because of the extreme darkness of the night. Pushing over into a steep glide from 500 feet altitude at that point, Lieutenant PALMER dropped two 100 lb. and two 500 lb. G.P. bombs in train with the two 500's in the middle of the string. Altitude at the release point was approximately 300 feet. The plane passed over the target amidships from starboard to port across the beam. Observers in the after station saw two stacks amidships and reported a mast forward of
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