New Equipment
Valentines day, 1941 the navy seaplane tender
USS Curtiss, lay at anchor in Agana Bay off loading
10 new P-40 Fighters and equipment. The 10 P-36’s were to be crated and sent on the next supply ship to the Philippines. Capitan Walker and his pilots and ground support staff were all very happy with this change as the P-40 was faster and better armed with 50cal guns not the little 30cal. Also being off loaded along with it’s assigned crew and supplies was a SCR-270 radar that would be moved to Mt Lamlan. Phone lines would have to be installed to connect the radar crew with the airstrip and also with the Marines stationed at Merizo. No one but the crew of the radar knew anything about radar, it’s capabilities and liabilities. Lots of training was in store for both the crew of the radar and the pilots assigned to Guam with their new equipment.
Additionally the security group sent to Howland Island had been removed and had reassigned with two more quad 50’s to the Island. That gave Capitan Smart a full company of negro security troops. He planed that once the second airfield was competed to split his force between the two airfields.
Capitan Jones had requested that more training bombs as well as some of the 500lb armor piercing bombs be sent from Hawaii so that his crews could get more training. At that time he had only 100lb and 250lb general purpose bombs.
The Major in charge of his three Marine companies wanted to know if Pear Harbor could or would send them any coastal defense guns, 5 or 6 inch. Brad advised him he would request them but did not know if they would be sent. There was no artillery assigned to Guam other than the puny guns on the M-3 tanks.
The Marines were worried that with no artillery of their own any (Japanese) force with artillery would
have no trouble taking Guam.
The Capitan of the
Curtiss had let him know that the cable laying ship from Pearl was about 500 miles from Guam. That meant then in about two weeks he would have teletype and phone communication with Hawaii.