| DATE:
June 24, 1945
TARGET:
CITIES OF FUKUYAMA and BOFU (HONSHU)
TIME:
Night
Briefed
at fourteen hundred (1400) and took off at twenty-hundred
(2000). The reason for the delay being because the forward
bomb-bay gas tank was taken out.
After
arriving at Japan we made one picture run on FUKUYAMA
at an altitude of from ten to eleven thousand feet, the
altitude of all these missions. The city was well covered
with clouds, but radar takes pictures directly through
it.
The
run on the second target was the same as the first. There
were no fighters and no flak, and no lights. The only thing
we saw was a flare fired by we don't know who.
After almost two hours over the Empire we left and headed
for Guam, arriving here at twelve-thirty (1230).
DATE:
June 26, 1945
TARGET: CITIES OF SAPPORO, OTARU, and MURORAN on the ISLAND
OF HOKKAIKO
(a
23 ½ hour Mission)
TIME: Night
Briefed
at fourteen-thirty (1430), then took off at seventeen-o-five
(1705).
The
trip up was 0. K. because the weather was better than
usual. Just a few hours from the target we saw the eclipse
of the moon. But over the target the moon was at its brightest.
Luckily for us, there were a few clouds below us.
While
on this, the northernmost inland of Japan, I was greatly
surprised at the poor blackout they had. We saw a couple
of airfields, which were lit up, and the steel mills at
Muroran were also lit up from the blasts of the furnaces.
There were also a few lights here and there on the ground.
And one time they turned one spotlight on us but turned
it off again immediately. Besides the above, we saw nothing
else. No flak and no fighters.
Finally we left the island and started back to Guam. We
flew all along the eastern edge of Honshu at a distance
of from thirty-five to seventy-five miles. But we came
though O.K., landing here at about sixteen-thirty (1630).
For
this feat Wing Headquarters gave us credit for two combat
missions instead of one. Lucky us. This mission was supposed
to be the longest combat mission ever flown. We were supposed
to have our story published by AP news also, but I doubt
if it ever went through. Mainly on account of the Commanding
General, LeMay. But who cares. |
