P-7 SN 44-61795 in formation with other 39th Bomb Group B-29s during one their missions Photo courtesy of Richard Curry, TG, P-19 "Butler County Veterans of WWII"

Joe Giannini, Crew Chief, and "Shorty" Higgins, mechanic, though totally fatigued from having worked all day and until past 0100 in the morning, waved us off. One hundred thirty-two Superforts of the 314th Wing revved up their 3350 rpm Wright Cyclone engines, then one by one lumbered down the 8,500-foot runway at North Field, Guam. Each was loaded with 20-500 pound bombs and all were headed for the same place - Otake. Joe and "Shorty" would be there to welcome us back.

There are a lot of nice things I could say about Lt Dale Barton, navigator, but the nicest is - we were never lost. Following the usual plan, we flew up in single file, climbing all the way. This tends to complicate the job of a navigator as wind velocity and direction were constantly changing. We arrived at our prearranged assembly point off the coast of Japan and approached the target from the west. The gunners flicked on their power switches and energized their guns, sights and turrets. They carefully checked out these components of the gunnery system and then fired short bursts to be certain all was ready for action. Up front, Dick Little, radio operator, released a flare signaling the start of assembly for our element.

Otake was an oil refinery and fuel storage area about 425 miles southwest of Tokyo. The Operation Plan called for pinpoint rather than saturation bombing. So, since we were Deputy Lead Crew for this mission, and would be leading an element, "Biff" Badgley would use the bombsight rather than drop on the leader.

At 1048 hours on the morning of 10 May, Capt. Leo C. Lewis, whose career included a tour in B-17s over Europe, led the 314th over the target. · He would eventually become a General Officer. Capt. Juvenal of P-7 led our element, "Biff" turned on the bombsight camera to record results as Juvenal and Ralph Hardin, co-pilot, prepared themselves for the bomb run.

Dick little, as usual, positioned himself to watch the aerial action. I don't know what happened to the 550 Japanese fighters that had been predicted but we only sighted two twin engines and one "Oscar." The Official record of the mission would show 39 enemy aircraft made 54 attacks and damaged one B29. I guess those that followed us took the worst of that. "Biff" released the bombs on target - the others dropped on the resulting smoke and flame. Juvenal held course on the bomb run until bomb impact to allow the camera to record results. Immediately thereafter, we broke formation, made a sharp right turn and headed for open water in order to avoid anti-aircraft fire which briefing had warned, protected the Kure Naval Base. Twenty-six minutes after the lead plane began its bomb run, all planes had left the target area.

Normally at this point, the bombardier would turn off the camera, but "Biff" distracted by flak, did not. Years later, "Big Ed" Reinhold would kid, "Biff" about photographing the beautiful mountains of Shikoku. The camera ran on, recording each ship of the Japanese Navy which we unfortunately passed over that day ' amid their terrifying anti-aircraft barrage. We had no way of knowing that this oversight of allowing the camera to operate would provide Headquarters with valuable intelligence- Until our film was processed, no one knew the location or condition of the Japanese Navy. As it turned out, they were alive and well in the Inland Sea having just returned from the battle of Okinawa to lick their wounds in home waters. There was still some fight left in them as their barrage attested. Juvenal poured on the coal and hurried out of there, but in the process took a hit in number 3 engine. We lost oil, then altitude, and with # 3 feathered, made the decision to try for an emergency landing at Iwo Jima.

Continued