Physiology of Fear

World War II's fighting men have told frankly how it feels to be afraid (TIME, Dec. 25). Last week, in a report to the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Lieut. Ralph E. Kirsch described not only how it feels but how fear in battle translates itself into bodily reactions.

Lieut. Kirsch, a 29-year-old Navy flight surgeon, pursued his researches in the course of 21 combat flights over Jap-held islands in the Pacific. All were unusually dangerous missions on which, besides dropping bombs, the planes were required to hold a straight, level course to permit mapping and picture-taking.

"Scared as Hell." On his first combat flight, Lieut. Kirsch did nothing but find out for himself how battle fear feels. He was "literally 'scared as hell' from the time the aircraft neared the target area until it had passed well out of range of the island's defenses." His mouth was dry ("spitting cotton"), his hands were drenched in icy sweat, his heart beat so hard he could feel its throb. Over the target "there was a strong impulse to seek the shelter of any available armor plate in the cockpit. A sensation of helplessness left a deep impression; the idea of having nothing to do but watch and wait was not appealing."

He was never that frightened again. He credits most of this relative calm to the fact that on later flights he was busy making tests on the pilots and himself, ascribes very little of it to getting used to enemy fire. For a man never gets really used to enemy fire: Kirsch has records of a pilot who reacted similarly on his 8th, 15th, 22nd and 25th missions.

Blood Pressure and Breathing. Lieut. Kirsch's seat was in the forward cockpit just behind and between the two pilots. From there he took pilots' blood pressures, counted respirations by watching the rhythmic rise & fall of the little flow indicator ball in the oxygen control box (most flying was done at heights requiring masks), took pulses and armpit temperatures, watched for trembling, pallor, changes in pupil size. In all, he observed 16 different men during the ordeal by flak. Only three showed no fright reaction.

Typical reactor was Pilot A, whose mission was to take a lone plane on a photographic-bombing mission over the best-protected part of a target. At the take-off and during the climb, the pilot's pulse was 96 a minute (high), his blood pressure 132 (a little high), respiration 18 (normal). An hour later, when "cruising was uneventful," pulse rate had dropped to 86 (still high), blood pressure to 122 (about normal). When the target was sighted the pulse immediately rose to 94, the blood pressure to 138, the respiration to 22 (high). Heavy sweating began. The breathing reached 28 a few minutes later. This particular symptom was not quite typical--most pilots did not breathe that fast under severest stress. When the plane nosed down for the run over the target all readings began to go down a little. When the target run actually began, the pulse was down to 80, blood pressure to 132, respiration to 26. The first burst of antiaircraft fire shot the pressure up to 138 again. The pulse went to 96 and the blood pressure to 140--its highest--over the strongest part of the target.

After that, all the pilot's readings went down. Less than an hour later, his pulse was 68, his blood pressure 104, his respiration 16. The pilot said he was a little apprehensive at the takeoff, that apprehension returned so forcefully when he sighted the target that he could feel his mouth go dry and his palms sweat, that he felt better over the target and definitely relieved afterward.

Sweating and Sighing. From his observations, Lieut. Kirsch concludes that:

P: Severe fright reactions occur only on sighting targets known to be well defended. Undefended targets, the putting on of oxygen equipment, difficult instrument maneuvering in cloud banks have no effect.

P: Reactions usually involve at least a 10-point rise in both heart beat and blood pressure, some increase in respiration rate and sweating. Sometimes fingers tremble uncontrollably. Some men sigh when they are afraid, some urinate frequently. But the popular notion that a tough flight may cost a pilot 20 pounds is unfounded. Average weight loss is a pound and a half.

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