One mission flight to Kagoshima almost resulted in the court martial of the crew. The flight plan was to fly to Iwo Jima, then on to Okinawa, then to the target. Pilot Land didn't like long flights, so he decided to fly directly to the target, drop the bombs and return directly. Our Crew left 59th out of 60 planes, but was either the first or third to actually arrive at the target. Our Crew was the first to arrive back in Guam by more than 1 hour. Norman Mills was awakened by the MPs and told to go to HQ ASAP. The Brass thought that our crew had not dropped it's bombs. AC, Pilot and Flight Engineer were questioned, and referred them to the back of the plane where there was a camera (one of the few on B29s). The camera was to document the damage done. The film was developed which proved that the mission had been quite effective. And in this case, proved that the bombs hit their target. The photo flash bombs had worked well to illuminate the damage. The Brass was still not pleased that our crew didn't follow the flight plan.

Each plane had its own target city, mainly used incendiary bombs. During the last couple of flights, there was only ammunition for the Tail Gunner (Herman E. Spain). Only room for bombs. During one mission, there were bullets coming through the fuselage, but luckily none hit the wings nor fuel tanks. That was the only time that Japanese planes were very close to our Crew in the air. Clayton Orton remembers collecting the flack debris under his seat.

There was also the time during the only daylight mission having 12 planes flying in formation. Huge column of smoke. The fire, heat and smoke were so intense that when our Crew arrived, the updraft carried the plane upward (3000 feet) like a leaf, completely disorienting everyone. When our Crew came out of the clouds there were no other planes in sight. For a little while, it was feared that they had all been shot down or crashed. But they all made it, and all had been lifted like a leaf by the same heat! It was a very weird experience.

Of the three B29s in the group, our crew was the only crew to survive. One crew went down during the 1st mission over Tokyo. The 2nd crew while flying a test flight (to keep the system dry), after the end of the conflict, flipped over, caught on fire and crashed into the pacific ocean. Only one survivor, the radio operator was the only survivor from that crew, and he was badly hurt (P-40). Only our Crew survived the war, and the quick end of the war was a blessing for all.

Certainly part of the good fortune of our Crew was due to the Airplane Commander Eugene S. Land, who (while he was a bit of a maverick) was very strict, very disciplined, demanded excellence, and was respected by all that I talked with. He kept the crew alert and busy at all times during the missions. He got this crew through the war. Several of our crew flew once or twice with other crews and planes, and didn't like it. Because the other crews were not disciplined... .they slept during most of their missions, and crew morale was not great. Our Crew in contrast, got along quite well with each other, was very disciplined, accomplished its missions well and survived the war.