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The
crew of the "Lancer" left the Continental U.S. April 1945.
They were assigned to the 62nd Bomb Squadron and flew
their first mission on Kanoya April 21. It was the first
22 missions they would fly.
Captain
Edmond T. "Red" Arvin, Jr., 1st Lt Stanly A. Lapinski
and S/Sgt James C. Wilkes, Jr. were awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross (per GO 64 Section XXXI dated 15 Sept
1945, issued by HQ 20th AF) for the 11 May mission on
the Kawanishi
Aircraft Factory at Kobe, Japan. The crew was awarded
the Air Medal
4 June and another 20 July 1945.
After
an aborted mission of 3:30 hours on August 10, the men
of the "Lancer" were flying back to the United States
for ten day stay at the Rest and Recreation Center. They
missed the end of the war by just a few days. No one ever
made any reference about being "sad" concerning this situation.
No boat ride or the pleasure of the "Sunset" trips months
later.
Martin
McDonough shared the following about the name "Lancer":
"This
was the name of a lesser known fighter plane - of limited
production - a forerunner to the P-47. Capt Arvin knew
of this and it was his idea to nickname our P43 "Lancer".
"
Martin
painted "Lancer" on the nose of their B-29;
in addition he painted the names or nickname if they prefered
next to each man's window.
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