TOP
usaflag.gif
39th Bomb Group (VH)
usaflag.gif

[Search Tip: Use " " for better search results ex. "John Q. Doe"; "City of ..."]

-
-
-
-

23 April
Scheduled for mission on an Engine Factory near Tokyo. We lost #3 engine shortly after take off. After savoing our bombs we returned to the base. We missed a rough mission with much flak and many fighters. The B-29 flying in position we were scheduled for was badly shot up and had to land at Iwo Jima.

27 April
Mission #2 completed. Bombed Kushira Air Fld again on Kyushu. Got in formation with the 29th Group and was attacked by from 20 to 30 fighters. Main trouble was phosphorus bombs used by the fighters.

Saw Benjamin Powell & crew get hit by a phosphorus bomb as they were flying right off our right wing. The plane started to burn but they managed to hang on until we got out over water. They broke formation and with the left wing burning they started down. We saw 2 men bail out. Later the wing broke off and the plane spun and crashed into the ocean almost 15 miles from the coast of Japan.

About 6 attacks were made by fighters with no damage to our plane. I was put in for one probable fighter. I fired at it at long range when it began a slow nose attack. Both Bob Johnson (Co-Pilot) and I saw a burst of black smoke come from it, then it did a roll and passed down beneath us with no one knowing where it went from there. Flying time on this mission 15 hrs 55 min.

30 April
Our 3rd Mission. We hit Kokobu Airfield on Kyushira. Were jumped by about 20 Jap fighters. Got in a claim for another fighter. Capt Paquette’s crew lost an engine and got a 20mm explosive phosphorous shell threw the nose severely injuring Bob Morton the bombardier. We got a 20mm in the rear & #4 engine & about the same time lost #2 over the target.

It was almost comical at the moment even tho’ we were in a serious situation to see our little engineer M/Sgt Hardin get up from the engineering panel to walk to the other side of the plane to see what could do about #2 engine. With his C-1 vest on, his mae west, 45 automatic with belt, canteen & flak suit and helmet he could hardly move, but he did get #2 working again.

No planes in our formation were shot, but many of us had to land at Iwo Jima.

Our #4 engine leaked gas all the way to Iwo. We spent the nite there after getting off in the B-29 we were to have flown back to Tinian since ours had to have a new gas tank & wouldn’t be ready for a couple of weeks.

Saw Bob Morton for awhile the next morning who as in the hospital in pretty serious condition. We then flew another B-29 to Tinian. Mac & Yarns stayed at Iwo to guard our plane. While at Tinian I called Bob Ivan who told me where I could find Tony De Falco, Stevenson and Siverly. Had almost a half hour visit with them before they took us back to Guam in a B-24.

Total Flying Time on that mission was 16 hrs 36 min.

5 May
Super Dumbo Mission. Took off from Guam in another crew’s plane at 0900. We patrolled an area several hundred miles from Iwo. That night we back to Iwo and found the island completely socked in. It was our first attempt at a complete (GCA) radar landing but Big Red brought us in within 400 ft of Mt Surabachi and down almost 50 ft above the lights of the runway and made a very nice landing.

We took off from Iwo the next morning and flew back to Guam.
Total hours for mission was 15 hrs 50 min.

11 May ‘45
Took off from Guam 0240 Bombed aircraft plant at Kobe. Flak was thick and saw quite a number of fighters. Put in another claim for another and Paul put in claim for one. Landed at Guam with almost nothing but the fumes left in our gas tanks and with our hydraulic system completely shot out. Made a nice landing but no brakes and were towed to our parking ramp.

Total time 16 hrs 40 min.


Continued

62nd Squadron Crew Index

Source: Diary of Leonard A. Kuther, Bombardier