르메이, 일본군과의 만남과 B-29 운용 문제

He also scrapped the four-plane diamond formation in use here, and instituted a twelve-plane grouping similar to the one he had used in Europe.

- four-plane diamond formation: 전투기나 폭격기 편대에서 네 대의 항공기가 마름모(다이아몬드) 형태로 비행하는 진형. 보통 선두기(lead aircraft) 1대가 앞에, 좌·우 뒤쪽에 각각 1대씩, 맨 뒤 중앙에 1대가 위치해 마름모꼴로 배열

- scarp: 폐기하다, 없애다

 

It took him a while to manage all this. But with Arnold waiting impatiently in Washington, he could hardly delay his operations until he was sure he was ready.

*그래서 그는 Saunders가 9월 8일에 일본의 강철 공장(Anshan, 북한 위쪽) 공격하려고 한 임무를 준비하고 그때 리드하려고 계획했는데, 워싱턴에서 이를 반대한다. 그는 반발했다. “You can’t have an outfit with a commander who doesn’t fly combat, he insisted.”(114) 워싱턴도 한 발 물러나서 한 번은 비행하기로 했고 그래서 첫번째 공격에 참여하기로 해는데, 그게 바로 그가 도착한 지 아흐레 뒤의 일이었다. 그가 Anshan을 선택한 건 그곳에 일본군 최고의 정예 파일럿이 있으리라 생각해서 였고 직접 그들의 실력을 보고 싶어서였다.

 

LeMay himself arrived at Chengtu on one of the last of the supply flights and took his place in the lead plane. All but seven of the Superfortresses got off the ground that day and ninety-five reached the Anshan steel plant, where they dropped two hundred tons of bombs despite antiaircraft fire that perforated several planes, including LeMay’s. Only four planes were lost on the mission. Photos later indicated that three coke ovens were so badly damaged it would take a year to restore them; three others would take six months. (114)

- perforate: 구멍을 내다 뚫다 (대공포 사격이 여러 대의 비행기에 구멍을 냈음)

- three coke oven: 여기서 coke oven은 주방 오븐이 아니라, 제철소의 코크스 가마를 뜻하는데, coke는 석탄을 고온가열해 불순물을 제거한 연료이다. 제철 과정에서 필수적이다. 그러한 코크스 가마가 세 대가 심하게 손상되어서 수리에 1년 걸리고, 다른 세 개의 가마도 여섯 달 걸릴 예정이었다.

 

Flying north into Japanese-held territory, LeMay and his crews began watching for fighters. And as they approached Anshan they suddenly found them, airborne, in squadron formation, poised to attack.

- squadron formation (일본군의 squadron formation)

 

“You fellows are just getting your feet wet over here,” he told them, they were still amateurs. They had a lot to learn. And there was only one way to teach them. He grounded the entire Twentieth Bomber Command for as long as it would take to retrain everyone, which meant the ground crews and support units as well as the air crews. (115)

- He grounded: ‘ground’는 ‘비행 금지 조치를 내리다’이다.

 

Meanwhile, the “grounding” of the command didn’t mean the cessation of flying. It meant only the cessation of missions. (115)

To save the Air Force plan, Arnold invented a scheme which would make him, as an agent for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, commander of all B-29 units worldwide, with headquarters in Washington, while subordinates like LeMay would command in the various theaters.

- 공군의 계획을 지켜내기 위해 Arnold는 계획을 생각했는데, 그건 그 자신을 합동참모본부의 대리인 자격으로서, 전 세계 모든 B-29 부대의 사령관으로 만든 것. 그것의 본부는 워싱턴. 그리고 르메이 같은 부하 장성들이 각 전구에서 지휘를 맡음.

 

By an amazing bit of sleight of hand, Arnold had managed to get the Joint Chiefs to approve this scheme. (116)

- sleight: 솜씨, 기술, 책략

 

But he[Blondie Saunders] was now several hours overdue and no one had heard from him. Not even a radio distress call.

- distress call: 위급 신호, 조난 신호.

 

But while he sent his men to scour the whole area, he himself began to think it most likely that Saunders had crashed right after takeoff, near the field at Piardoba. […] LeMay called in Kalberer and said, “Let’s get a B-25 of our own and crank it up.” (118)

- scour: 샅샅이 뒤지다, 구석구석 수색하다

- crank it up: 크랭크로 시동 걸다, 가동하다, 시작하다

 

“Out there about three miles off the end of the runway,” he recalled, “was a big gouge, a real rough gouge, cut right through the jungle. We went down and flew very low, practically brushing the trees as we examined the wreckage. It was a real mess.” He couldn’t conceive of anyone surviving it.

- gouge: an indentation or groove made by gouging

- practically brushing the trees: 나무에 스칠만큼 낮게 날았음.

 

He […] canceled the grid search.

- grid search: 구역별로 격자처럼 나누어 체계적으로 수색하는 방식

 

“And there was old Blondie,” LeMay recalled, “still inhabiting that wreckage, big as life. Did he give us hell for taking so long to get there. One of the engines was crushed down on his busted leg.”

- 거기서 Blondie 발견, 파손된 기체 안에 있었음. Big as life 하게.

- big as life: 관용적인 표현으로, ‘살아 있을 때처럼 크게’라고 직역되나, 실제로는 ‘놀랍게도 (바로 거기) 버젓이,’ ‘생생하게’ 이다. “거기에 웬걸, Blondie가 버젓이(멀쩡히) 그 잔해 속에 있었다”

- did he give hell for taking so long to get there: 여기서 ‘give someone hell’은 ‘호되게 나무라다, 호통치다’라는 뜻으로, 우리가 거기 도착하는데 오래 걸린 것을 두고 호되게 뭐라 했다.

- busted leg: 부러진 다리

 

이때 같이 있었던 승무원이 살아 있던 채였는데 다음날 죽었고 르메이는 Blondie도 곧 죽을 거라고 생각했기에 묻어줄 자리까지 찾아보고 있었다. 그런데 Blondie는 군 병원에서 3년에 거쳐 고통스러운 수술을 수없이 한 뒤 South Dakota의 본인 집으로 돌아갔고 전후에 자동차 판매원으로 성공적인 커리어를 가지고 산다.

---

 

[About the circumstances and Hap Arnold, LeMay says:] “[…] And the command arrangement was not satisfactory. Yet I didn’t feel that Arnold was breathing down my neck.”

 

LeMay’s friend, Alva Harvey, who was now one of his B-29 group commanders, could give firsthand evidence of Arnold’s impatience. In 1942, Arnold ordered Harvey to fly a B-17 from Alaska to Russia because the Russians thought it would be practical for their pilots to do so in the lend-lease planes the United States was offering them. Arnold doubted it. Harvey immediately applied for Russian passports for himself and his crew but they were delayed. Two days later, Arnold saw Harvey in the hall outside his office and said, “Why aren’t you in Russia?” Harvey said, “We haven’t yet got our passports, sir.” “Goddamn it, I don’t care about passports,” Arnold barked. “I want you out of here in three hours.”

- Arnold는 Harvey에게 B-17 가지고 Alaska에서 Russia까지 비행하라고 명령. 왜냐면 러시아인들이 자기네 파일럿이 미국이 빌려주는 비행기로 Alaska에서 Russia까지 비행기 몰고오면 좋겠다고 해서. Arnold는 그게 되나? 싶었고 그래서 하비에게 비행 해보라고 한 것임.

 

Aircraft factories were now the top priority targets, so LeMay, on October 14, sent 130 of his bombers against an aircraft factory at Okayama. This time, each plane was able to carry 6.8 tons of bombs, more than tripling the previous record load. Cruising slowly to preserve gas in the newly learned box formations, 104 planes actually drooped their bombs on the factory, and in conjunction with naval carrier attacks, left only six buildings intact.

- 해군이 지원하는(항모로) 공격과 함께해서 naval carrier attacks

- 오직 6개 빌딩만 온전하고 나머지 다 폭격했다 left only six buildings intact

 

Writing to Arnold five days later, October 19, LeMay didn’t even deign to mention this accomplishment (aware, no doubt, that Arnold already knew about it), and only obliquely mentioned the bombload problem, … (120)

- obliquely: 간접적으로, 에둘러서 (폭장량 문제는 돌려서만 말함)

- 햅에게 쓰는 편지에서 르메이는 그의 업적에 대해 이야기 안했다.

 

Fuel economy was difficult to regulate or even measure because “present fuel quantity gauges are practically useless.”

- 연료를 효율적으로 활용하는 것이 사실상 불가능했던 이유는, 그 효율성을 측정하는 것 자체가 어려운 상황이었기 때문인데, 현재 남은 연료량에 대한 안내 측정 표(계기판 상)이 사실상 무용했기 때문이다.

 

But the worst villain confronting the Superfortress was still its own engine. “The B-29 airplane is capable of a considerably higher performance than the R-3350 engine now installed will permit, as the maximum gross operating weight is limited by the power available for take-off and climb. […] Most of our difficulties center around the engine.”

He described three plane losses on recent missions, all definitely due to mechanical failures. (121)

- mechanical failures: 기기의 결함, 기계적인 고장이다. 디자인 결함(설계상의 문제)과 다른 운용 중의 고장(기계적 결함)이다.

- 설계상 결함은 애초에 만들어질 때부터 구조나 설계에 문제가 있는 거다. 정비를 잘 해도 같은 문제가 반복된다.

- 기계적인 고장은 설계는 정상인데 운용 중에 부품이 파손되거나 마모되고 작동이 불량해서 고장이 나는 것이다. 같은 기체여도 어떤 건 잘 날고, 어떤 건 고장이 난다.

 

Despite these congratulatory words, neither Arnold nor LeMay was so naïve as to think the basic problems of B-29 operating from India and China—distance and supply—had actually been solved. The conclusion of Arnold’s letter made that clear: “One of our major interests continues to be to get you out of China. I cannot at this time tell you where you will go or when your bases will be ready. In any event, you will have to operate under your present conditions for a matter of months.” (122)

*당시 사이판, 티니안, 괌은 일본령에서 미국령으로 바뀜. 한셀이 B-29 가지고(General Hansell’s Twenty-first Bomber Command) 사이판에서 도쿄 공격을 준비하고 있었음.

 

In the prewar Air Corps, he was one of only two thousand officers. Arnold knew most of them, but he didn’t know LeMay, who was still a lieutenant until 1940. It was only because there were so few career officers available that he was given command of the 305th bomb Grouop in 1942. (123)

 

And during less than three months in India-China, he had apparently yanked the Twentieth B.C. off the ground across the Himalayas, and into significant action against Japan. (123)

- yank: 힘있게 잡아당기다, 강력하게 끌어올리다

- 그는 Twentieth Bomb Command를 확 끌어올렸다, 본격적으로 가동시켰다.

- off the ground 땅바닥에서 억지로 잡아뜯듯이

yank!

 

Arnold was even more prone to criticize than praise, yet he was writing what could only be called fan letters to this fellow who had so suddenly popped up out of obscurity to get some good out of those exasperating bombers on which Arnold had staked so much of his reputation.

- Arnold had staked so much of his reputation on those exasperating bombers.

- stake: 걸다

- Arnold가 그의 평판을 걸었다 / 이 절망적인 폭격수들에게

- 그런데 거기에서 좋은 것들을 르메이는 끄집어냈다. 이 무명의 인물, 무명에서 튀어나온 인물인 르메이가 말이다.

- obscurity: 무명 (무명의 주드…)

 

[General Hansell] was one of the authors of the Air War Plan, an amazingly accurate projection of the course of the war and the needs of the Air Force in fighting it. But he was in a position now which no one would envy.

- 한셀은 이제 누구도 부러워하지 않을만한 위치에 놓였다. (모두가 피하고 싶어할 상황에 놓임)

 

Having just recently arrived at the partially constructed bases on Saipan with his Twenty-first Bomber Command, he was preparing to launch his first mission against Tokyo, which promised to be the most fiercely defended target in all Japan […] He had still to cope with all the B-29 deficiencies that had bedeviled LeMay.

- 르메이를 괴롭히던 B-29 결함도 동시에 다루면서 도쿄 공습을 준비해야 했던 Hansell.

 

And on top of all that, he had an Air Force chief who was spreading the word that his other B-29 commander, LeMay, had already won the title as the Bebe Ruth of Bombers. (124)

- Bebe Ruth of Bombers: ‘Bebe Ruth’는 1920-30년대 미국 메이저리그의 전설적인 홈런 타자이다. ‘폭격기의 베이비 루스’라는 것.