One
mission flight to Kagoshima almost resulted in the court
martial of the crew. The flight plan was to fly to Iwo
Jima, then on to Okinawa, then to the target. Pilot Land
didn't like long flights, so he decided to fly directly
to the target, drop the bombs and return directly. Our
Crew left 59th out of 60 planes, but was either the first
or third to actually arrive at the target. Our Crew was
the first to arrive back in Guam by more than 1 hour.
Norman Mills was awakened by the MPs and told to go to
HQ ASAP. The Brass thought that our crew had not dropped
it's bombs. AC, Pilot and Flight Engineer were questioned,
and referred them to the back of the plane where there
was a camera (one of the few on B29s). The camera was
to document the damage done. The film was developed which
proved that the mission had been quite effective. And
in this case, proved that the bombs hit their target.
The photo flash bombs had worked well to illuminate the
damage. The Brass was still not pleased that our crew
didn't follow the flight plan.
Each
plane had its own target city, mainly used incendiary
bombs. During the last couple of flights, there was only
ammunition for the Tail Gunner (Herman E. Spain). Only
room for bombs. During one mission, there were bullets
coming through the fuselage, but luckily none hit the
wings nor fuel tanks. That was the only time that Japanese
planes were very close to our Crew in the air. Clayton
Orton remembers collecting the flack debris under his
seat.
There
was also the time during the only daylight mission having
12 planes flying in formation. Huge column of smoke. The
fire, heat and smoke were so intense that when our Crew
arrived, the updraft carried the plane upward (3000 feet)
like a leaf, completely disorienting everyone. When our
Crew came out of the clouds there were no other planes
in sight. For a little while, it was feared that they
had all been shot down or crashed. But they all made it,
and all had been lifted like a leaf by the same heat!
It was a very weird experience.
Of
the three B29s in the group, our crew was the only crew
to survive. One crew went down during the 1st mission
over Tokyo. The 2nd crew while flying a test flight (to
keep the system dry), after the end of the conflict, flipped
over, caught on fire and crashed into the pacific ocean.
Only one survivor, the radio operator was the only survivor
from that crew, and he was badly hurt (P-40).
Only our Crew survived the war, and the quick end of the
war was a blessing for all.
Certainly
part of the good fortune of our Crew was due to the Airplane
Commander Eugene S. Land, who (while he was a bit of a
maverick) was very strict, very disciplined, demanded
excellence, and was respected by all that I talked with.
He kept the crew alert and busy at all times during the
missions. He got this crew through the war. Several of
our crew flew once or twice with other crews and planes,
and didn't like it. Because the other crews were not disciplined...
.they slept during most of their missions, and crew morale
was not great. Our Crew in contrast, got along quite well
with each other, was very disciplined, accomplished its
missions well and survived the war.
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