Everything
was going fine for us until Friday May 11, 1945 when B-29#
42-93975 crash-landed on Iwo Jima, borrowed by P-31's
(Lt Henry Snow) crew. Fortunately we were not aboard.
We
were able to get in our 8th mission in B-29#
44-70077 and mission 10 was in B-29#
42-94079. We were delayed by faulty action of a bomb bay
door so we took off 45 minutes late. We came into flak
alley at 13,000 feet and immediately were picked up by
numerous searchlights. We were hit several times but nothing
vital. Results of the 500-plane raid looked excellent.
We
were back in our damaged but repaired #42-93975 for the
rest of our missions. June 26's mission (Nagoya) was to
hit an unfinished factory. We got into formation with
P-41 on the way to the IP when we ran into clouds and
planes going in every direction. P-57
just missed hitting us. We lost # 3 engine when it blew
a piston and had to be feathered. We dropped out of formation
and saw the town of Shiroko below and dropped our bombs
on it. Flak was heavy and accurate; we were in a turn
so it didn't get too close. While heading for Iwo we buddied
up with P-38 and decided to head back to Guam.
At
0907k time on the plane's radio compass, we heard the
news of the surrender. Mission 23 was finished and the
war was over. We made it and we were ready to go home.
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