This
is the other half of the story told by Asa Edwards about
our mission on Yokohama, 29 May 1945. I'll start from the
time we reached the target.
Leo
turned the plane over to the bombardier for the bomb run.
We were hit by flak seconds after we heard "Bombs Away."
It tore an 18" - 20" hole in our right wing and knocked
out our No. 4 engine. Leo feathered the prop as we watched
gas, oil and parts of the wing fly by. Luckily, we did not
catch fire. Leo got control of the plane and we headed home.
We
then started to loose attitude to about 4,000 - 5,000 feet
before leveling off. Soon after, we began to drop once more.
The pilots ordered everything out that we didn't need and
to watch for any Navy Rescue Subs in case we had to ditch.
You
never saw a bunch of men move so fast. I don't remember
what we tossed but I guess it was anything loose or we pulled
out. Finally we leveled off. It was touch and go for the
next few hours. We knew that we could never make back to
Guam so we prepared to ditch.
The
pilots worked like hell to keep "8-Ball" flying and after
hours of sweating, nail biting and prayers, Iwo came in
sight. We had a little hard and bumpy landing but we were
down. When we finally stopped and got out, we counted 156
or 186 (forgot which) holes besides the big one in the wing.
A
day later, they sent a plane to pick us up and take home.
We were assigned another plane, the 8-Ball II. This one
took us another 18 missions without a scratch for a total
of 27 missions.
Submitted
by Carmine "Campy" Camperlino
CFC Gunner, Crew 8
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