5
June
We were selected as the crew in our Grp to take to two Majors
from Gen Arnold’s staff in the Pentagon on a practice
mission on the island of Rota.
We were to drop two 500 lb fire bomb clusters on the island.
One of the Major’s wanted to drop the bombs so I showed
him the whole procedure from pulling the pins on the bombs,
calculating all data, setting information in the bombsight
– then after starting the bomb run let him take over:
results were good. As a crew were highly commended by them
which made everyone feel good.
Flying time 3 hrs 35 min.
7 June
Pulled a fire raid on Osaka. Results were unobserved due
to heavy undercast. Bombing was done radar. Flak was light
and distant. We had no fighter attacks and no damage. Hit
lots of bad weather near Iwo on our return. Had to land
at Tinian for gas. Again saw Tony De Foleo, Bob Siverly,
Stevenson & Halderman. Flying time 15 hrs 56 min
10 June
Departed Guam about 0100 for a daylite mission, carried
24 highly explosive composite “B” 500 pound
bombs. Lost #2 engine on take off. Was afraid to salvo bombs
while so close to the ground for fear they would go off
under us. Thankful for a 400 ft drop to the ocean a quarter
a mile from the end of the runway. We gained enough flying
speed to stay airborne. We almost settled in the drink but
managed to nurse the Lancer up to 2800 ft on 3 engines &
I salvoed the bombs and not one of them went off. We flew
around for a couple more hours to lighten our gas load,
then returned to the field.
16 June
Again struck at Osaka. It was a maximum effort mission with
520 B-29 from the 3 Mariana island on the anniversary date
of the 1st B-29 to hit the Japanese Mainland.
It was a daylite mission and we hit lots weather about 2
hrs before hitting the mainland and bombing was done either
by single plane or in a small formation by radar with no
results observed. Had to land on Iwo on return for gas.
Flying Time 15 hrs 25 min
20 June
Our first nite mission town of Shizuoka. Took off from Guam
approx 2030 Hit very bad weather to & from the target.
City was blazing like everything when we dropped our bombs.
Saw one fire-ball. No flak or fighter attacks.
Flying time 14 hrs 30 minutes
22 June
Bombed Tama Shima aircraft plant between Kure & Osaka.
Flak was meager & had one fighter attack. Weather was
bad between here and Iwo and we took off in a downpour of
rain. Reports are that 85% of the aircraft works were demolished.
Flying time 15 hrs 35 min
26
June
Scheduled to bomb an aircraft plant in Nagoya but due to
bad weather over primary target we bombed the secondary
which was the city of Tsu. Results were failr. Poor assembly
and formation due to weather. Saw a number of enemy fighters
and flak was quite heavy and we got a flak hole thru the
leading edge of the wing. Saw 36 fighters coming at us at
one time and thout’ they were Jap at first but found
then to be our own. We were told at briefing that we wouldn’t
have P-51 escort because of the weather but somehow they
got thru anyway.
At
the assembly point that day – right off the coast
of Japan, we saw Jap fighters catch a stragling B-29 and
it went down in flames exploding when it hit the water.
Capt
Miranda and crew, who had our Group C.O. with them (Col
Mundy) were badly shot up. They all bailed out over one
of our subs.
We
were buddying with them at the time and we learned of
their plight we circled once & get their position
and reported it to the nearest superdumbo in that area.
Immediately after we had landed back on Guam a plane from
the 29th Group had to crash land because it couldn’t
get its gear down. He belly landed right down the middle
of the runway. A beautiful job and no one was hurt.
Our flying time was 16 hrs 15 min.
29
June
Nite raid on Nobeoka. Had to feather #2 engine about a half
hour from target. Made our run anyway. No flak no fighters.
Landed at Iwo to get engine fixed Kept there until 1600
when airplane was ready we returned to Guam.
Total mission time 15:20 |
