World War II Chronicle: October 13, 1943
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Italy has declared war on Nazi Germany… George Fielding Eliot column on page seven… On page 11 we read about Col. Neel E. Kearby and the P-47 Thunderbolt pilots of the 348th Fighter Group. Here’s this from the National Museum of the Air Force:
Before it became a proven weapon, many considered the heavy Thunderbolt unsuitable for use against nimble Japanese aircraft. Since the P-47 could not maneuver with the enemy at low altitude, Kearby would lead his group into hostile territory at high altitude where the Thunderbolt’s turbosupercharged engine gave it an advantage. Upon sighting the enemy below, Kearby and his pilots made high-speed attacks exploiting the P-47s remarkable diving ability. The energy built up in the dive allowed them to quickly climb back up to altitude for another diving pass. Japanese pilots came to fear attacks from the 348th Fighter Group because they came with little warning, and the Thunderbolt’s eight .50-cal. machine guns literally blew their lightly built aircraft out of the sky.
Sports begin on page 14… Former Notre Dame back Jack Chevigny, now a Marine officer and coaching Camp Lejeune’s football team, has several Fighting Irish players on his roster including last year’s captain George E. Murphy.11st Lt. Murphy will sail for Okinawa with the 2nd Battalion, 29th Marines and is killed in action. Former consensus All-American Gene Goodreault is mentioned also in Hugh Fullerton Jr.’s column. Goodreault was on the national champion Boston College squad that went undefeated in 1940 and beat Tennessee (also undefeated) in the Sugar Bowl. On the losing side of that game was Tennessee’s three-time All-American Bob Suffridge, now serving alongside Goodreault. Both were drafted in 1941, Goodrealt going in the second round and Suffridge in the sixth. Suffridge gets a season in with Pittsburgh before joining the Navy and returns in 1945. Both will be elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Also ineligible to play for the NAS Jacksonville Air Raiders is Jim Brutz, Notre Dame’s Most Valuable Player in 1941. As is Forest Evashevski, who shared the Michigan backfield with Tom Harmon from 1938-1940. Last season he was playing for Iowa Pre-Flight, and after the war returns to Iowa City, where he turns a struggling Hawkeyes team into a Big Ten powerhouse and earns himself a spot in the Hall of Fame.
So far Jacksonville beat Fort Benning’s 124th Infantry squad, but were shut out by the North Carolina Tar Heels and Miami Hurricanes. They face Chevigny and Camp Lejeune on Oct. 23, who lost to the Duke Blue Devils and Bainbridge Naval Training Station, but beat North Carolina’s “B” team…
And on page 31, Alexander P. De Seversky says that we could soon be striking enemy targets with bombers based in the United States.
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 13 October 1943. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1943-10-13/ed-1/