Mission Number: 32
Mission Date: 26 June 1945

Target: Nagoya Date: 26 June 1945 Time: 0016 hrs Altitude: 17,680 35º08'N - 136º08'E Crew P-22

Air Force Photo Courtesy of Ben Hill, RG, P-22 Click on image to enlarge

The next strike on Nagoya and the neighboring points on 26 June was fouled up enough by weather to please the heart of even the most confused muddler in the world.

The weather did everything to this mission. We had thirty-five aircraft on the attack and the freakishness of the clouds caused some planes to bomb visually in the clear and others to bomb primary and targets of opportunity by radar through 10/10ths cloud cover.

Cloudbanks from 16,000 to 20,000 feet, together with icing conditions, made assembly difficult. Overcast at primary visual target was 19,000 to 22,000 feet with a few scattered clouds below 10,000 feet. Various crews as from 0/10ths to 10/10ths reported coverage, some aircraft bombed above the clouds and some from below. Visibility was further restricted by ice on the plane windows.

Targets bombed by as few as one plane and as many as nine in formation included the following: Nagoya, Uji-Yamada, Shingu and Shiroko.

In spite of all the problems with the weather, the Nippon Vehicle Company, the 314th's Bomb Wings primary target at Nagoya, was hit to the extent that 31.4% of it's total roof area was damaged.

It was on the 26 June strike at Nagoya that two members of the Group won the Silver Star for gallantry in action. They were Colonel George W. Mundy, 39th Bomb Group Commander and Major John A. Miranda, Airplane Commander of "City of Galveston (Texas)" (P-13). [For more details read P-13's history here]

While the Group's 32nd Mission was taking place Crew 10 of the 39th Bomb Group had it's own mission that later would be the Longest Combat Flight on Record.