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39th Bomb Group (VH)
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Date — 1 July 1945, Sunday 1915
Mission — Honshu Island, Shimonoseki Time — 16:20
— Completed
Take—off at 1915 for an incendiary night raid on the city of Shimonoseki on the southernmost tip of Honshu Island. This city is a transportation center for Korea and it has an underwater tunnel going to Korea. We hit the target around 4 o’clock in the morning from an altitude of 15,000 ft. We dropped our bombs right in the groove and although there was a barrage of automatic fire of 40 millimeters, it was just a thousand ft. or so below us. We travelled over land for around an hour and no enemy fighters were encountered. The raid was very successful and it was our sixteenth.

Date — 6 July 1945, Friday 1845
Mission - Honshu Island, Kofu Time — 14:40
-Completed
Take—off at 1845 for an incendiary night raid on Kofu, 65 miles southwest of Tokyo. We hit the target at 0145 and we dropped our bombs from an altitude of 13,600 ft. As we approached our bombs away point we encountered the thermal and right into it we had to go. It was very calm compared to the last one over Shizuoka. The bomb bay doors were opened as we were still in it and as bombs were away we came out of the columns of smoke. It was 10/10’s cloud coverage so our bombs were not seen. We could, however, see the fire glow from below. Looked very good too. No enemy opposition was encountered over the target or on the withdrawal. Two search lights were seen at some coastal towns and at the same time, one enemy fighter flying around at a distance. This is #17 and one more mission will put us over the hump and headed on the down grade. Oh, happy day!

Date — 9 July 1945, Monday 1725
Mission - Honshu Island, Gifu Time — 14:10
- Completed
Take—off at 1725 for an incendiary raid on Gifu, l5mi. north—northwest from Nagoya. Our plane and crew was a pathfinder and scheduled to take off at 1705 but #3 engine mags were cutting out. A new magneto was installed and although we took off 20 minutes late we did get to the target on time. We dropped our bomb load at 0050 from an altitude of 15,000 ft. There were six of us pathfinders and we dropped around 4th. The target was said to be highly inflammable and truer words were never spoken. The results were excellent. Enemy opposition was nil. There were six search lights a little left of target but they did not pick us up. Flak was very meager, next to none, although the weather was fairly clear. We did see several enemy plane lights far below us but no attacks were made on our plane. All in all we were over the land area for an hour or so.
That was our hump mission — #18. The rest are down hill now.

Date — 16 July 1945, Monday 1730
Mission — Honshu Island, Hiratsuka Time — 13:45
(Naval munitions & makers of the Baka plane)
- Completed
Take—off at 1730 for an incendiary night raid on Hiratsuka, 25mi. southwest of Tokyo. Our plane again was pathfinder and the first of, the group to hit the target. We dropped our bomb load at 0038 at 11,000 ft. and the third of the wing to hit the target. Our results were unobserved due to complete cloud coverage over the target. There was no enemy opposition as we went over and only one enemy plane was sighted. He made no attempt to attack. Our only trouble was the electrical storm we encountered and it was around an hour or so long. We had another showing of San Ellias ? fire on our plane. A very beautiful sight. Number 19, with 16 more to go. It won’t be long now. A very lovely mission according to later reports.



Date — 19 July 1945, Thursday 1905

Mission — Honshu Island, Okazaki Time — 13:35
(transportation hub, elec. appliances & aircraft parts)
-Completed
Take—off at 1905 for an incendiary night raid on Okazaki, 25mi. southeast from Nagoya. Once again our plane was a pathfinder for the group, the first to hit the target. We let our bomb load go at 0154 from an altitude of 14,000 ft. No bombs had yet hit the target, but just 10 seconds or more after our bombs away, we saw the bombs of the other planes hit. We hit just a matter of seconds after the first couple of planes. The target was overcast and enemy action was nil. Of course the weather was stinking again and we did plenty of jitter bugging in the storm clouds and front. We made a 9O° right turn from the target and ? to fly for 8min. on course. 5 minutes out, I saw a large dark form coming directly at us, fast as a B—29 could go in a turn. I didn’t even have time to warn the pilot. The plane passed beneath us, forcing us up due to its displacement of air, and the tail gunner caught a glimpse as he passed under our tail. It was only a matter of ft. Everyone felt the bounce and only till I told my story did we all begin sweating. A very close one, but as always God was there beside us.

One more city that used to be and our 20th mission. May our dear Lord always watch over us as in the past.


Date — 24 July 1945, Tuesday 0355
Mission - Honshu Island, Handa Time — 14:50
— Completed
Take—off at 0355 for a general purpose bombing raid, during the daytime and in formation, on the town of Handa, 13mi. east of Nagoya. Our target being the aircraft factory. Our altitude 17,000 ft. We assembled a little way off of Iwo Jima and flew loose formation to the reassemble point, the coast of Japan, where we tighten the formation and head for the target. In spite of the many clouds and a couple of squall lines, we managed to stick fairly close together, so by the time we did get to the reassemble area, we were all there. The way into the target was solid undercast and just as we neared the target, it openned up and our bombs were dropped visually with excellent results. There was meager flak but no fighters. P—51’s were down below the undercast strafing and bombing airfields and 1,000 carrier based planes hitting Kure around 125mi. to the southwest. We had to land at Saipan to refuel while others landed at Iwo. Number 21 and except for a couple very rough thunder heads that bounced us fairly roughly, the mission was swell.


Date — 28 July 1945, Saturday 1914
Mission — Honshu Island, Ogaki (Industrial suburb of Nagoya) Time—14:40
- Completed
Take—off at 1914 for a night incendiary raid on the city of Ogaki, l7mi. north-northwest of Nagoya and a few miles south of Gifu, one of our other targets. This raid was well publicized 24 hours before the actual bombing and an announcer also described the actual bomb raid from a plane going over the target. 7 cities were hit on this raid. The night was a beautiful, clear, moonlit night and at 0244 our bombs were away from an altitude of 15,000 ft. Our bombs were dumped visually by our bombadier and they were right on the money. Enemy opposition was meager, no fighters, although we did see 15 search lights. Flak very meager and inaccurate. It was a beautiful mission except for the weather between here and Iwo and it makes number 22. Slow but surely we will get number 35.


Our navigator did not go on this mission due to a broken jaw and we will not have him along anymore. It will take at least 8 weeks to set. A freak of an accident.


Continued

62nd Squadron Crew Index

Source: A. L. Fierro, Left Gunner