REPORTING ENEMY SIGHTINGS

[Music] so [Music] [Music] ned what's our position so bill 80 miles east of cape point eta 1715 just got it fixed you want to drop down and get a drift and dr in fine the sea's too calm for a drift from this altitude [Music] leveling off at 2500 how's that hey isn't that a sub down there oh yeah there i don't see anything well it it was there yeah sure we won't be reporting another whale i suppose it could have been a school of fish well make up your mind fish whale or submarine well uh come on i'm not too sure now what do you think i'm asking you you saw it who saw what i said i thought i saw it well now what do i report uh oh nothing i'm damn well fed up being called moby dick boy there's a couple ships way off the beam and they ain't any figment of my imagination [Music] [Music] amber tower this is eight w p six over eight w p six this is amber tower over amber tower this is eight w p six five miles southeast of field request landing instructions over scattered clouds base about six thousand tops nine wind about 20 from 240. that's giving it to we're ology now right how's the scout for the aquarium doing these days he's getting worse now he's imagining things the day he was doping off just east of cape point point 75 torpedoed well looks like you saw the real thing this time got a match hey this is for us gentlemen as you probably heard a merchantman was just torpedoed by an enemy sub about 75 miles east of cape point i also learned a few minutes ago that one of our planes may have cited that submarine no report was made because of questionable identification this failure cost us a ship we can and we must prevent such needless losses transport crews have more of a job than flying cargo you are one of the vital fighting forces in this war and one of your most important tasks is helping to protect our shipping all transport crews that fly over water routes are required to report all enemy sightings this applies to every crew of the naval air transport service including contract carriers commercial airlines and all the branches of the army air transport command including contract crews the ferry crews and tactical crews flying to combat areas a standard procedure called series has been established for reporting enemy sightings series is now in effect throughout the army and navy air transport services for this special briefing commander richards who has had a lot to do with the development of series procedure will take over and tell you more about it commander richards thank you major series is the short title for communication instructions for reporting enemy sightings everything that you have to know about it is in this little book every plane carries one if yours doesn't ask your briefing officer for a copy study it carefully it's clear it's concise and takes only a few minutes to read but the information it contains may help save a ship series procedure may be modified from time to time to meet operational requirements for example the system for reporting weather which i'll discuss shortly is subject to change so be sure and check with your briefing officer on the latest series information the first principle to bear in mind is that all enemy sightings enemy naval ships enemy aircraft enemy raiders suspicious merchant ships and all submarines are reported unless you are specifically directed to the contrary by your briefing officer prior to takeoff under no circumstances will report be made of the sighting of united states or united nations men of war or convoys no sighting report is ever made without the permission of the flight captain reports are made in plain language or in code according to the circumstances however a message should always be coded when doubt exists as to the enemy character of the object cited when the security of the information reported is more important than the immediate transmission of the report and when the safety of the reporting aircraft is endangered by revealing the position in the pacific where subs and surface ships encountered will probably be friendly sighting reports should always be coded to prevent revealing their position to the enemy the series communication form includes seven essential points of information this report must be sent to the nearest ground station by radio telegraph or radio telephone when transmitting in plain language the appropriate four-letter indicator is given first this indicator identifies the type of sighting an enemy submarine tells the ground station that the message is urgent and gives the ultimate address of the message in radio telephone communication the standard phonetic alphabet is used enemy naval vessels are identified by the letter r enemy aircraft by the letter a enemy surface raiders by the letter q and miscellaneous sightings at sea such as burning vessels lifeboats life rafts wreckage mines any suspicious activity such as strange lights or signals or groups of people on normally deserted beaches are identified by the letter x after the break sign bt overscored the second item is the reporting of the aircraft's name number or flight designation third the position of the city without this the report may be completely useless all digits comprising the position report must be spelled out to assure maximum accuracy position may also be given by true bearing and nautical miles from a well-known geographical point such as ports capes lights and lighthouses the fourth point of information describes briefly the nature of the object cited for example enemy sub on surface 0.5 includes supporting details number of guns markings unusual maneuvers diving changing course your altitude a number of crew verified this means you have to study your identification particularly the pictures which all of you have seen of the appearance of submarines from high altitudes then a weather report must be transmitted introduced by the weather symbol wx this information indicates to what extent aircraft and surface vessels can be used against the enemy and in case of survivors cited it assists rescue craft in estimating the probable drift of life boats and rafts weather is reported by a digit system this system is listed on the last page of the series manual using these numerical symbols a weather report can be formulated in a few seconds the last item is the date time group it represents time of citing not reporting the first two numerals represent the day of the month the last four greenwich civil time on a 24-hour clock basis end of message sign the commander what's the procedure when the message is transmitted and cold when the message is coded the modified international urgency indicator xxx is used no matter what object is reported this indicator is not in cipher the other four letter indicators are never used in a coded message the rest of the message is transmitted in the authorized cryptographic system except the weather and the date time group numerals which are never in cipher information concerning amplifying and cancellation reports can be found in series and should be studied there are several ways by which our aircraft can warn friendly vessels of the proximity of enemy forces a white or yellow pyrotechnic star fired over a submarine will indicate to friendly ships the presence of the sub and its approximate position aircraft may also warn friendly ships by using the oldest lamp where both these visual methods fail warnings can be communicated by transmitting a cq broadcast never attempt to radio friendly vessels by their known call sign or by the unknown ship called sign a a to do this may disclose their position to the enemy any questions now it's up to you good hunting thank you commander captain grier will now take over and brief you men flying south from here tonight so [Music] okay i'll take it a while sleep well little man yeah four o'clock should be getting light soon [Music] take her off gyro these clouds are banking up pretty fast pick up a little ice too ned better lash down the octan it's going to get rough [Music] too much ice boots aren't getting it off i'll take it going down tell ned [Music] held fire look at that see any survivors another couple of life votes take over here goes a sighting report then what's our position there's a freighter burning three four three eight north 66 37 roger code or plain language plain language the enemy knows all about that ship now let's see burning ship x x x joe pick up sighting report so [Music] fights coming up fast yeah [Music] backhack full throttle [Music] any damage seems okay here and we report this sub take over submarine on surface course zero nine zero speed eight cheap put patrol squadron 26 from area command enemy submarine sighted 3356 north 6542 west right [Music] give us a life boy look at that guy hauling fanny down there looks like one of those fast new tankers hey there of course we'll take them right near that subway saw so we got to warn them get joe they let him up forward what goes on joe see if you can get that ship with that blinker [Music] no response too far away and we're making a cq broadcast the tanker's changing course she got our cq all right i wonder if they caught up with that sub yeah i wonder [Music] [Music] you