Date
— 1 July 1945, Sunday 1915
Mission — Honshu Island, Shimonoseki Time —
16:20
— Completed
Take—off at 1915 for an incendiary night raid on
the city of Shimonoseki on the southernmost tip of Honshu
Island. This city is a transportation center for Korea
and it has an underwater tunnel going to Korea. We hit
the target around 4 o’clock in the morning from
an altitude of 15,000 ft. We dropped our bombs right in
the groove and although there was a barrage of automatic
fire of 40 millimeters, it was just a thousand ft. or
so below us. We travelled over land for around an hour
and no enemy fighters were encountered. The raid was very
successful and it was our sixteenth.
Date — 6 July 1945, Friday 1845
Mission - Honshu Island, Kofu Time — 14:40
-Completed
Take—off at 1845 for an incendiary night raid on
Kofu, 65 miles southwest of Tokyo. We hit the target at
0145 and we dropped our bombs from an altitude of 13,600
ft. As we approached our bombs away point we encountered
the thermal and right into it we had to go. It was very
calm compared to the last one over Shizuoka. The bomb
bay doors were opened as we were still in it and as bombs
were away we came out of the columns of smoke. It was
10/10’s cloud coverage so our bombs were not seen.
We could, however, see the fire glow from below. Looked
very good too. No enemy opposition was encountered over
the target or on the withdrawal. Two search lights were
seen at some coastal towns and at the same time, one enemy
fighter flying around at a distance. This is #17 and one
more mission will put us over the hump and headed on the
down grade. Oh, happy day!
Date — 9 July 1945, Monday 1725
Mission - Honshu Island, Gifu Time — 14:10
- Completed
Take—off at 1725 for an incendiary raid on Gifu,
l5mi. north—northwest from Nagoya. Our plane and
crew was a pathfinder and scheduled to take off at 1705
but #3 engine mags were cutting out. A new magneto was
installed and although we took off 20 minutes late we
did get to the target on time. We dropped our bomb load
at 0050 from an altitude of 15,000 ft. There were six
of us pathfinders and we dropped around 4th. The target
was said to be highly inflammable and truer words were
never spoken. The results were excellent. Enemy opposition
was nil. There were six search lights a little left of
target but they did not pick us up. Flak was very meager,
next to none, although the weather was fairly clear. We
did see several enemy plane lights far below us but no
attacks were made on our plane. All in all we were over
the land area for an hour or so.
That was our hump mission — #18. The rest are down
hill now.
Date — 16 July 1945, Monday 1730
Mission — Honshu Island, Hiratsuka Time —
13:45
(Naval munitions & makers of the Baka plane)
- Completed
Take—off at 1730 for an incendiary night raid
on Hiratsuka, 25mi. southwest of Tokyo. Our plane again
was pathfinder and the first of, the group to hit the
target. We dropped our bomb load at 0038 at 11,000 ft.
and the third of the wing to hit the target. Our results
were unobserved due to complete cloud coverage over
the target. There was no enemy opposition as we went
over and only one enemy plane was sighted. He made no
attempt to attack. Our only trouble was the electrical
storm we encountered and it was around an hour or so
long. We had another showing of San Ellias ? fire on
our plane. A very beautiful sight. Number 19, with 16
more to go. It won’t be long now. A very lovely
mission according to later reports.
Date — 19 July 1945, Thursday 1905
Mission — Honshu Island, Okazaki Time — 13:35
(transportation hub, elec. appliances & aircraft parts)
-Completed
Take—off at 1905 for an incendiary night raid on
Okazaki, 25mi. southeast from Nagoya. Once again our plane
was a pathfinder for the group, the first to hit the target.
We let our bomb load go at 0154 from an altitude of 14,000
ft. No bombs had yet hit the target, but just 10 seconds
or more after our bombs away, we saw the bombs of the
other planes hit. We hit just a matter of seconds after
the first couple of planes. The target was overcast and
enemy action was nil. Of course the weather was stinking
again and we did plenty of jitter bugging in the storm
clouds and front. We made a 9O° right turn from the
target and ? to fly for 8min. on course. 5 minutes out,
I saw a large dark form coming directly at us, fast as
a B—29 could go in a turn. I didn’t even have
time to warn the pilot. The plane passed beneath us, forcing
us up due to its displacement of air, and the tail gunner
caught a glimpse as he passed under our tail. It was only
a matter of ft. Everyone felt the bounce and only till
I told my story did we all begin sweating. A very close
one, but as always God was there beside us.
One
more city that used to be and our 20th mission. May our
dear Lord always watch over us as in the past.
Date — 24 July 1945, Tuesday 0355
Mission - Honshu Island, Handa Time — 14:50
— Completed
Take—off at 0355 for a general purpose bombing raid,
during the daytime and in formation, on the town of Handa,
13mi. east of Nagoya. Our target being the aircraft factory.
Our altitude 17,000 ft. We assembled a little way off
of Iwo Jima and flew loose formation to the reassemble
point, the coast of Japan, where we tighten the formation
and head for the target. In spite of the many clouds and
a couple of squall lines, we managed to stick fairly close
together, so by the time we did get to the reassemble
area, we were all there. The way into the target was solid
undercast and just as we neared the target, it openned
up and our bombs were dropped visually with excellent
results. There was meager flak but no fighters. P—51’s
were down below the undercast strafing and bombing airfields
and 1,000 carrier based planes hitting Kure around 125mi.
to the southwest. We had to land at Saipan to refuel while
others landed at Iwo. Number 21 and except for a couple
very rough thunder heads that bounced us fairly roughly,
the mission was swell.
Date — 28 July 1945, Saturday 1914
Mission — Honshu Island, Ogaki (Industrial suburb
of Nagoya) Time—14:40
- Completed
Take—off at 1914 for a night incendiary raid on
the city of Ogaki, l7mi. north-northwest of Nagoya and
a few miles south of Gifu, one of our other targets. This
raid was well publicized 24 hours before the actual bombing
and an announcer also described the actual bomb raid from
a plane going over the target. 7 cities were hit on this
raid. The night was a beautiful, clear, moonlit night
and at 0244 our bombs were away from an altitude of 15,000
ft. Our bombs were dumped visually by our bombadier and
they were right on the money. Enemy opposition was meager,
no fighters, although we did see 15 search lights. Flak
very meager and inaccurate. It was a beautiful mission
except for the weather between here and Iwo and it makes
number 22. Slow but surely we will get number 35.
Our navigator did not go on this mission due to a broken
jaw and we will not have him along anymore. It will take
at least 8 weeks to set. A freak of an accident.
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