INTRODUCTION
TO BAIL OR NOT TO BAIL
Normally, a controlled crash-landing, with fuel to spare, is preferable to bailing out because:
The intact outline of your airplane will help searching parties to find you.
The airplane will provide shelter.
Residual fuel and oil can be drained and burned for warmth and to supply smoke or signals to guide searchers.
Material will be available for improvised sun helmets, fish spears, shelter, bush knives, signalling devices, etc.
SIGNALS
If your plane is intact, and there is some chance that you may be able to fly it out,
your first job is to secure it by digging hub-deep holes for the landing wheels and
staking down the wings and tail.
If you have no staking kit, improvised stakes can be made by burying oil cans or two or three-foot
sections of tree branches.
Your second job is to attempt to establish radio contact and to set up signals.
Place bright-colored or reflecting objects on the wings and around the plane.
Cowl panels removed from the engine nacelles and placed upside-down with their unpainted
surfaces pointing up form good reflectors.
Line them up side-by-side on the wings where they can reflect the sun and will be readily visible
from the air.
Lay several fires within a few hundred feet of the plane, so they can be lighted when a rescue plane
is sighted during the day or heard at night.
Place a small can of engine oil and a can of water near one of the fires - engine oil thrown on
a fire will produce black smoke, water will send up billows of steam.
Do everything that you can to make the plane stand out against its background.
Remember, your plane is a green-brown that by design is a good match for the ground.
Objects whose colors contrast with that of the trees and grass, such as orange life-preserver
cushions, will stand out against the background if they are put out on the fuselage and wings
where they can be seen.
Once you have sighted a rescue plane and attracted the attention of the pilot, the body signals
on this page can be used to transmit messages.
When the sun is shining, a mirror or any piece of shiny metal - your rear-vision mirror, a food tin,
or a piece of metal from the plane - can be used as one of the best of all signalling devices.
However, the mirror must be accurately aimed if the reflection of the sun in the mirror is to be
seen by the pilot of a passing plane.
One of the simplest ways to aim a mirror is to use an aiming stake as shown.
Any piece of wood four or five feet long can serve as the stake, or one of you party can stand
in position.
Hold the mirror so you can sight along its upper edge.
Change you position until the top end of the stick and the plane line up,
then adjust the angle of the mirror until the beam of light reflected by the mirror
hits the top of the stick.
If stick and plane are then kept in the sighting line, the reflection will be visible from the plane.
Some emergency kits are now fitted with a special signalling mirror, which is a double-faced
mirror (i.e. mirrored on both sides) and provided with a sighting or aiming hole.
If you have one of these, use it.
Divide the general duties among your crew.
It will help to prevent fear and panic.
Post a guard every night.
If you are reasonably sure that you are not within, or dangerously near, enemy-held territory,
the guard should keep a signal fire going continuously.
This will conserve your signal pistol ammunition or flares for the more important job of
signalling a rescue plane when it is actually heard or sighted.
Fix your location by compass, octant, or the stars.
Make scouting trips out from the plane in search of streams, making sure to mark the trail
in the form of knife cuts on trees, bent branches, arrows, or bits of paper or cloth.
Never go any distance from the plane without laying some sort of trail that can be followed back.
IT IS VERY EASY TO ROAM IN CIRCLES IN THICK FOREST OR JUNGLE.
WATER
If you find a stream, make careful note of its direction and position from your camp.
It will not only provide you with water for drinking, washing, and cooking, but it may lead you
to civilization when you decide to give up hope of rescue and start to walk your way out.
If you can't locate a stream for drinking water, dig a hole in the lowest depression near your camp.
If you don't strike water down three or four feet, try another spot.
Unless you are on high ground, water should be located in a few trys.
Animal trails will eventually lead you to water if you are careful not to get lost in the maze
of intersecting paths.
ALL ANIMALS, WITH FEW EXCEPTIONS, TRAVEL TOWARDS WATER AT DAWN AND DUSK.
WARNING: All water for drinking must be purified either by boiling for three minutes or
by treatment with Halazone tablets (or iodine if Halazone tablets are not available).
PARACHUTE
Save your parachute, or as much of it as you can.
The shrouds cut loose can be braided into a strong rope and the canopy can be cut and folded
to form a good tent.
A single parachute shroud line has a minimum breaking strength of several hundred pounds,
so a double strand will be strong enough to carry your weight with plenty of strength to spare.
However, shroud line will chafe easily when run over rock or tree bark.
CLOTHING
If you were able to land your plane, check your equipment carefully before leaving for your
trek back to civilization.
In jungle travel it is important to keep as dry as possible.
If you have them, include extra shirt, pants, underwear and socks in your kit in spite of the
weight the add.
The jungle's high temperatures and high relative humidity will make you sweat freely and any
rapid cooling of your sweat-wet body should be avoided.
Chilling due to the rapid evaporation of the sweat reduces body resistance and can be
the cause of pneumonia, bronchitis, stomach cramps, and skin infections like fungus and prickly heat.
BEFORE LEAVING YOUR PLANE BURN ALL PAPERS, TECHNICAL ORDERS, AND TRIP DATA THAT MIGHT BE SECRET,
RESTRICTED, CONFIDENTIAL, OR CLASSIFIED.
SECRET INSTRUMENTS SHOULD BE SMASHED AND THE PARTS BURIED.
IF YOU ARE IN OR NEAR ENEMY TERRITORY, BURN THE PLANE.
PART THE JUNGLE, DON'T TRY TO PUSH THROUGH IT.
Travel in the jungle forests is slow.
Try to follow a stream downstream, and try as far as possible to stick to natural trails,
or native trails.
Don't try to break your way through.
Blundering ahead only leads to bangs on the head and thorn scratches on your face.
You will get through faster if you watch your step and pick your way.
Keep your head up and your chin in.
If you can't find a stream or native trail, follow the swampy hollows which generally run in chains
and eventually join a stream.
In hilly country, the ridges are easier to follow than the valleys, but precipices may make long
detours necessary.
In elephant country, follow the elephant trails.
Elephants do not wander aimlessly.
If a track shows frequent use, follow it.
Elephants never go where they are likely to fall or get bogged.
Elephant trails are 3 or 4 feet wide, other game trails are a foot to 18 inches wide.
WILD ANIMALS
In just about ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, jungle animals will be just as frightened of you
as you are of them.
They will hear you long before you can see them and in most cases they will do their best to keep
out of your path.
If you are traveling alone and want some form of protection at night in a particular area where
you feel large animals are present, build a fire and pile on bamboos.
They will go off like gunshots and make enough noise to scare away any animals that may be nearby.
In an emergency, a shot from your signal pistol will scare off an angry elephant or a tiger.
WARNING:
One of your worst enemies in the jungle is the mosquito.
Never go to sleep without some sort of protection - regular netting if you have it or your parachute.
Don't sleep on the bare ground.
Protect yourself from mosquitoes and all bugs.
NATURAL FOOD
Natural food is plentiful in most jungles if you know where to look for it and are able to
distinguish between the edible and the poisonous.
There are only three general rules beyond definite recognition -
EAT NOTHING THAT HAS A BITTER TASTE UNLESS YOU ARE SURE WHAT IT IS.
AVOID ALL PLANTS THAT HAVE A MILKEY SAP.
ANYTHING THAT YOU SEE MONKEYS EAT, YOU CAN EAT.
JUNGLE HEALTH
Three things are absolutely necessary to your health in the jungle - periodic doses of Quinine or
Atabrine, a Quinine substitute, the use of some sort of mosquito protection, and daily doses of
salt or salt tablets to replace the salt removed from the body by excessive sweating.
JUNGLE NATIVES
With the exception of those in New Guinea and in parts of Assam, There are few dangerous jungle
natives.
When you encounter natives, try to appear confident but not aggressive.
Stay away from the women.
All natives are superstitious and suspicious.
Through generations they have learned to trust no one.
You can only win their confidence by appearing open-handed.
String tricks - the cat's cradles and spider webs that you did when you were a kid - are an almost
universal pastime with jungle natives all over the world.
If you remember any of them, pick up a piece of pliable vine and demonstrate them to natives
you meet.
In most cases it will serve as an immediate bond between you and them.
If you can't do a string trick, go through the motions to arouse their curiosity.
Be particularly careful of your treatment of natives if you are in or near enemy territory.
If they want to, they can help you get back to your lines.
Don't try to use terrorist methods to get them to work for you or conceal you.
Jungle natives move about a great deal, but if they are not threatened or abused they will seldom rush
news of your presence to the enemy.
Eat native food only when it has been well and freshly cooked and be sure all water offered you by
natives has been boiled.
Under no conditions sleep in or near native camps or bathe in nearby streams.
Avoid close contact with any native.
Don't go around barefoot.
