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"City
of La Grange" (IL)
"Low and Lonely"
B-29
44-69908
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"Show
of Force"
Photo courtesy of William S. Lawrence,
LG
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Mission
12 for us was a daylight incendiary
raid on Yokahama. We were the lead squadron and the
first to go over the target. The day was perfect for bombing.
We came in over Mt. Fuji and turned east for a bomb run
on the big city. Off to the left and north we could still
see smoke on Tokyo from our previous raids. Up ahead right
on course and at our altitude was the heaviest barrage
of flak I had ever seen. It was exactly over our target
and we knew we were going to catch all hell. Sure enough
over the target all hell broke loose. All around us flak
was bursting. Some flashes were close enough to be blinding
and the pieces that glanced off our ship sounded like
stones on a tin roof. One phosphorous bomb exploded right
in front of us and we flew through without a damaging
hit. After bombs away we started evasive action to miss
the flak. All around us ships were feathering engines
and losing ground. Just before land's end we saw six Jap
fighters starting to attack out of the sun and suddenly
out of nowhere came six P-51s to knock them out. This
was the first time the P-51s had ever been near to help
us and they really paid off. On the way home from Japan,
our bomb bay doors stuck open and we had to crawl into
the bays and work to get them closed. They were tied up
with wire saved for just that purpose. Just north of Iwo,
we located a P-51 pilot bailing out. We circled him and
called a destroyer that happened to be close enough to
pick him up. While circling him, our No. 1 engine blew
off a cylinder and we had to shut it down. It was several
hours before we were back to base all safe and sound but
very tired.
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On about the 15th mission No.
4 prop had a hole shot in one blade. The hole was polished
up, the blade rebalanced and reinstalled, to be sure
it whistled. One piece of flak damaged number 3 fuel
cell but engineer Jim Chennault was able to transfer
fuel skillfully enough to keep the engine running and
still not leak. They returned to Guam without any problem.
No other damage was received on old "Low and Lonely."
On
a later flight, around 20, several of the crews reported
electronic failures and were unable to navigate due to
cloud cover. The night was very black on the return to
base. Capt Van put out a general call saying his equipment
was A-OK and he would put on his landing lights so they
could trail him home. On break out over Guam he had 13
or 14 aircraft following Crew 54. Later the plane was
equipped with additional equipment enabling them to work
with Navy ships at sea
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| According
to a diary kept by Lawrence Reineke, 73rd BW S-2 Combat
Intelligence Officer on Iwo Jima notes: "April 14 1945
- Capt. P. Van Schulyer Jr. 314/39/62 Bombbay doors open,
flak in #4 prop, short on gas." |
| Anyone
with additional information about this crew, please email
updates@39th.org
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Crew
54 Main Page
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