secre
Gabeea te
advanced to crew training.e
There was a shortage of "beeper" pilots in
the Air Force to accomplish the mission; and as a result some were called
back to active duty while others were ‘trained on the job for this work.
In this training program it was discovered that an excellent airplane
pilot did not necessarily make a proficient “beeper" pilot.
As a result,
8 much larger number of personnel had to be selected .for the training
because of the relatively lew number who would finally qualify.
In addition to the problem of training “beeper™ pilots, there was
also the serious problem of training cammunications and electronics main-~
tenance personnel.
Lack of proper-equipment, space, and power supply
limited the capabilities of the organization in its training work.
In
some cases, individuals were not assigned to the organization until it was
almost ready to move to the operating area, and as a result some of the
problems of training were carried over to Kwajalein.
The. initial phases of unit training at Kwajalein consisted of testing
the equipment, femiliarizing the crews with the target area, and the
preparation of navigational data for the impending operations.
Continued
operations of aircraft from about the 20th ef March until "P" Day gave the
operating personne] sufficient crew training to enable then to become very
proficient, and operations on “P™ Day confirmed the fact that Task Group
704 was ready for their operation on "X" Day.
The persorinel selected to assist in the performance of the mission
were generally of an extremely high calibre, and as a result the operational
and maintenance problens were solved with little more than norsal difficulty.
4.
Movement to Forward Area.
There were several complicating factors involved in the assembly and
Section”VIII
54