Screens for Airborne Operations

Airborne operations in the Pacific differed considerably from those in the war against Germany. The difference was largely a matter of 

Comdr V Amphib Force, CTF i, Rpt of Capture of Okinawa Gunto, Phases I and II (17 May-ai Jun 

The smoke phase of the operation, while generally successful, revealed the expected inadequacies in procedure which accompany any such pioneering effort. Each of the seven A-ao s carried four Mio smoke tanks, a versatile munition which served also as a spray tank for toxic agents. Slung under the wings of aircraft, the Mio tank 

On the morning of the Nadzab operation weather conditions were almost ideal for putting down a curtain of smoke. The wind was blowing from northwest to southeast at an estimated five miles an hour. Although the sky was clear there was a high overcast. The 80 temperature was accompanied by a humidity of 8j percent, a favorable condition for a good curtain, dependent as FS is on the moisture in the atmosphere.  

How effective would these smoke curtains have been if the paratroopers had landed in the face of enemy opposition Maj. Tristram J. Cummins, Jr., Chemical Officer, Fifth Air Force, felt that two of the screens were too close to the wooded areas to have screened the observation of Japanese had they been located in the outer fringes of the woods. If the screen had been placed 2,000 feet from the woods, the troopers could have landed and organized with a potential enemy still cloaked by the drifting smoke. The operation also disclosed shortcomings in filling equipment and difficulty with the attachment of tanks to the aircraft. 

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