W45AUTH\BF30P-FB.DOC

Capt Fred T. Blakely’s Crew, Airplane No 42-65307 City of Ogden

Photo	Duty	Rank Feb 45	Name	ASN	MOS	Remarks 1994
S-1	AC	Capt	Fred T. Blakeley	0-416985	1093	Author of crews story
S-5	P	2nd Lt	Alfred L. Marcum Jr.	0-827870	1092	died
S-4	N	2nd Lt	Herman Klugman			unkown
	N	1st Lt	Wyeth N. Barnard	0-797235	1038	transferred to Ed Burns crew
S-3	B	1st Lt	Oliver T. Johnson	0-752620	1035	unknown
S-2	RO	2nd Lt	A. H. Gajewski			unknown
	RO	1st Lt	Robert P. Marvin	0-1293286	1042	transfered to Muroc Lake
K-5	FE	T/Sgt	Guy W. Reid			unkown
	FE	2nd Lt	Horace B. Edwardsen	0-868797		transfered to Muroc Lake
K-3	R	Cpl	John K. Tyson			unknown
	R	Sgt	Floyd J. Shelp Jr	39916894	2756	transfered to Muroc Lake
K-6	CFC	Cpl	Tom M. Stallings			unknown
	CFC	Cpl	Stanley N. Fisher	6847072	580	transfered to Muroc Lake
K-1	RG	Cpl	Robert J. Miller	33660636	611
K-2	LG	Cpl	Royall T. Moore	42103072	611
K-4	TG	Cpl	Fred F. P. Mormino	34921336	611

Notes:

1. Blakeley, Marcum, Johnson, Miller, Moore, Mormino; were on the original crew and finished 33 missions.

2. Marvin, Edwardsen, Shelp, Fisher, Gajewski; went to Muroc Lake Air Base, as Bomber Crew instructors after about our 16th mission.

3. Barnard was apparently shot down with Ed Burns crew.

Ground Crew: T/Sgt Harry Orlowski, front center, Crew Chief

“The “most scary” mission was the “max raid” on Tokyo on March 9, 1945. On March 6 we flew a special mission to hit South of Tokyo at 5000 ft fly up Tokyo bay, across the dock area and across the city, break away to the right and go out east and south-east, climbing to 10,000 ft. Purpose was to take Radar Scope pictures of the Bay and City. These pictures were used as basis or the March 9th raid.” Blakeley

Fred T. Blakeley, AC; Horace “Buck” Edwardsen, FE; Floyd Shelp, R; Royal Moore, LG; Robert P. Marvin, RO

Reunion, Aug 1992 Seattle, Washington, 50th Anniversary of 1st flight of the B-29

Record of Combat Duty

Last: Blakeley First: Fred MI: T. Grade: Capt\Major ASN: 0416985 MOS: 1093

Date Left Continental U.S.: 3 Feb 1945

Date	Target	mission #	Combat Flying hrs	Crew Credit Sorties	Cumulative Flying Hrs	Cumulative Credit Sorties	Cumulative Months	Initial on entry	Initial by crew member
02-25-45	Tokyo	1	17	1	17	1	0	EL	FTB
03-06-45	Shizuoka	2	15	1	32	2	1
03-09-45	Tokyo	3	16	1	48	3
03-13-45	Osaka	4	14	1	62	4
03-16-45	Kobe	5	16	1	78	5
03-24-45	Nagoya	6	15	1	93	6
03-30-45	Nagoya	7	16	1	109	7
			92	6			2
04-07-45	Nagoya	8	16	1	125	8
04-12-45	Koriyama	9	18	1	143	9
04-15-45	Kawasaka	10	15	1	158	10
04-26-45	Kyushu	11	16	1	174	11
04-29-45	Kanoya	12	14	1	188	12	3
			79	5
05-03-45	Kyushu		15	1	203	13
05-10-45	Otake		16	1	219	14
05-14-45	Nagoya		16	1	235	15
05-16-45	Nagoya		14	1	249	16
05-19-45	Hamamatsu		14	1	263	17
05-25-45	Tokyo		15	1	278	18
05-29-45	Yokahama		15	1	293	19
			105	7
06-01-45	Osaka		16	1	309	20
06-05-45	Kobe		16	1	325	21	4
06-07-45	Osaka		15	1	340	22
06-15-45	Osaka		15	1	355	23
06-22-45	Tamashima		15	1	370	24
			77	5
07-04-45	Tokushima		14	1	384	25	5
07-06-45	Kofu		14	1	398	26
07-16-45	Heratsuka		14	1	412	27
07-24-45	Tsu		15	1	427	28
07-26-45	Omuta		15	1	442	29
			72	5
08-01-45	Mito		14	1	456	30
08-06-45	Kobe		15	1	471	31	6
08-09-45	Tokyo		15	1	486	32
08-14-45	Isesaki		17	1	503	33
09-01-45	Hainan I.		10	1	513	34	7	entry	Initial

Missions Diary

02-03-45; 13:55; Mather Field to Honalulu

Took off about 23:00. Flew through 4 hours of instrument weather. Blown 70 miles off course in storm. Arrived at Honolulu next afternoon on our way to Guam. Flew over Oakland and San Francisco -- last contact with USA.

02-06-45; 11:25; Honolulu to Kwajalien

Still on our way to Guam. Took off from John Rodgers Field Honolulu at 0700 and arrived at Kwajalien that afternoon. Just a coral atoll with a runway the whole length. Passed over some enemy held Islands, Enemy was starving to death.

02-07-45; 6:45; Kwajalien to Guam

Took off in morning and landed at Guam about 13:00. Lots of jungle on it and our field was being constructed by engineers. We were the 4th plane to land on it. Wing commanders and correspondents came out to welcome us.

02-12-45; 05:10; Rota Island

Took off with 5 airplanes and bombed Rota Island. Practice training mission and we carried two 500 lb bombs. Hit Jap runway from 20,000 ft.

02-16-45; 07:45; Maug Island

Lead squadron over Maug Island at 25,000 ft. Practice training mission and each plane carried (10) 500 lb bombs. Bombing results fair as formation was too loose for a good pattern.

02-18-45; 07:00; Maug Island

Led 9 airplanes out of two squadrons over Maug Island at 25,000 ft. Practice training mission and each plane carried (10) 500 lb bombs. Results were excellent the best bombing formation pattern that has been done in these parts.

02-22-45; 02:05; Saipan

Took off at night flew to Saipan and back. Looking the area over at night.

02-23-45; 03:35; Rota Island

Led formation of 3 squadron planes. Navy wouldn’t let us put bombs on island so we took a picture of the target and dumped our (30) 500 lb bombs in the water on the other side of the island. 20,000 ft practice mission on Rota Island.

02-25-45; 16:40; Guam to Tokyo

F Blakeley #1 by F Blakeley: “Led wing formation of 22 airplanes over Tokyo -- 1st combat mission. 200 B-29s involved from Guam, Tinian, Saipan. Hit bad weather 300 miles from Japanese coast. Finally arrived over Tokyo with (13) B-29s at 25,000 ft flying semi instruments in cirrus clouds. Snow reported falling on Tokyo. 459 mph ground speed, 145 knot tail wind. Bombed entirely on instruments & radar. 183 B-29s hit Tokyo that afternoon and destroyed or burned 240 city blocks in industrial and urban Tokyo. Light flak -- no fighters. Flak was radar controlled. Area assigned to us destroyed. (8) 500 lb incendiaries (1) 500 lb Demolition. 3500 statute mile flown.

02-28-45; 7:10; Guam to Maug

Led 6 ships in practice mission - bombed by radar - (8) 500 lb demolition bombs used. Results unobserved.

03-03-45; 5:30 Guam to Maug

Led 6 ships in practice mission. First night takeoff and assembly at night. Took off at 05:30. 3 ships aborted. (8) 500 lb GP bombs used. Bombed by radar, results were pretty good.

03-05-45; 1:05; Test hop

Tested airplane out to see how it worked.

03-06-45; 15:20; Guam to Tokyo

F Blakeley #2 by F Blakeley: “Special mission to hit south of Tokyo at 5,000 ft. Fly up Tokyo Bay, across the dock area and across the city -- break away to the right and go out east and southeast climbing to 10,000 ft. Purpose was to take radar scope pictures of the Bay City. Hit the bay at 00:35 and broke away about 45 minutes later. Overcast ended at mouth of bay leaving us exposed in clear weather. Fortunately the moon wasn’t up. Flak started as we came over edge of overcast and continued into center of city, about 45 minutes. Observed 4 fighters taking off from fields around Tokyo. Mission was successful. Scope pictures were good, no flak hits on ship. No searchlights, no fighters fired at us. Flew 3,200 statute miles. No bombs carried.
03-09-45; 15:30; Guam to Tokyo

F Blakeley #3 by F Blakeley: “Maximum effort to destroy city with approximately 250 B-29s involved from Guam, Tinian & Saipan. My previous camera raid of the 6th was the precedent for this effort as we all went in at 5,000 ft carrying (24) 500 lb incendiaries and with (1) bomb bay tank less -- but I fooled them by putting in (30) 5 gallon cans of gas on the rear bomb bay catwalk which also acted nicely as ballast because the ship was loaded extremely nose heavy. We hit Tokyo about 0200 and was guided in by radar and fires started by the previous planes. Quite a lot of flak & machine guns -- searchlights and a few fighters -- no fighter attacks. Hit 3 times by flak & was pinned in searchlights 2 times. Looked like a picture of “Dante’s Inferno” as Tokyo was burning pretty good. Flew 3,200 statue miles.

03-13-45; 14:25; Guam to Osaka

F Blakeley #4 by F Blakeley: “Went in individually at 7,000 ft over Osaka. Hit a few clouds off the coast which afforded us a little protection. Had (24) 500 lb incendiaries. Moderate flak and quite a few searchlights, no fighters. Pegged by 14 lights at one time, flak breaking level and all around. Cockpit so light they could see my hair turning gray. Got into a cloud & got away from them. One flak burst from a ship off shore. Flew about 3,200 miles. 7500 gal of gas carried, and approx. 6500 gal used. Made radar run until right over target and had a 31 sec visual run. Indicating 260 mph downwind. Ground speed about 335 mph. Wind from 243 deg at 32 knots.

03-16-45; 3:10; Check flight

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Flew a new B-29 that replaced Savages old 703. Also checked out Lt Larned, a co-pilot, as an AC.

03-16-45; 15:35; Guam to Kobe

F Blakeley #5 by F Blakeley: “Took off at 15:35 with 11,000 lb of incendiaries. Took off at night and had to fly instruments off the ground, over the cliff and for about a half hour later. Bombs were new type incendiary, 22 of them. Went into Kobe at 5,000 ft. Nothing happened and we only saw one small fire, city was blacked out & no flak or searchlights until we got over the docks. 15 searchlights came on & picked us up in about 15 seconds & they threw up everything they had including the kitchen sink. To top it off a fighter got on our tail just as we were turning off the target & hit us with machine gun and 20mm explosives. Sgt Moore, left gunner, was wounded in the arm, a fire and large hole in the blister compartment, a large hole and smashed windows about 6 inches in back of me. Piece of bullet skinned top of my hand which was on throttles. Left flap riddled. Radar, C-1 [auto pilot], fluxgate [compass], & vacuum system shot out. Hole through supercharger on #2 outboard -- no engines lost. Approximately 18 holes in airplane. Report that in five low level night raids on the 4 principal cities -- 35 square miles were burned out.

03-23-45; 1:30; _______

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Night mission. Tried dropping flares on the end of the island, made 3 passes, one every 10 minutes, along with 9 other planes -- flew new airplane.

03-24-45; 1:10 Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Test hoped 307. Service group had equipment hooked up all wrong -- took half a day to fix everything right.

03-24-45; 15:10; Guam to Nagoya

F Blakeley #6 by F Blakeley: “Take off 15:10; Night low level attack at 8,000 ft. Precision navigation and timing were paramount as we had to hit target at 01:00. Carried 27 flare bombs and hit the Mitsubishi aircraft plant at exactly 01:00. Lit up plant and area very well. 250 other B-29s came in behind us and bombed on the flares but from reports the bombing was not to successful. About 15 searchlights had us pinned on our bomb run but managed to dodge out of them just as we were hit. About 20 holes on right side of airplane -- 3 in #1 engine -- knocked out our CFC [central fire control] control cables and wires. Seriously wounded Major Janing our S-2 [intelligence] officer who was riding in back as a passenger. Ripped a big gash in his left leg just above the ankle. Same piece of flak ripped up sleeve of Sgt Miller, right scanner, and went out top of his blister.

03-28-45; 2:40; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 2:40; Test hoped 307 and calibrated airspeed and flux gate compass. Had Honeywell man aboard who tried out the turbo [supercharger] and C-1 [autopilot].

03-28-45; 5:15; Maug Island

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 5:15; Night practice mission to Maug, acting as instructor to Lt Larned in 307 -- dropped (4) GP 500 lb bombs.

03-29-45; 1:35; Rota Island

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Night practice mission on Rota Island. Dropped flares and had other ships follow in with demos. Ship 818.

03-30-45; 16:25; Guam to Nagoya

F Blakeley#7 by F Blakeley: “Take off 16:25; First ship in over target carrying suspension flares. 13 ships in strike on Mitsubishi factory. Other ships carried Demos. Mission called off and then the “brain”, Gen Powers, called it on again. Very foolish as he knew the weather was bad. Weather as predicted, socked in, timing was perfect & we should have dropped by radar on the first run, but due to interference of Major Irwin, we had to make a second run and then things were really screwed up. Everybody dropped bombs all over the place. Had to go on without navigator Ed Johnson who couldn’t be found when mission was called on again. Also had new gunner, Sgt Aston who is replacing Sgt Moore temporarily until Moore gets out of the hospital. Mission a flop due to too much interference by the “gears”.

04-03-45; 2:00; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Test hop 307 to swing flux gate compass which makes the 4th time we’ve had to swing the D____ thing. Changed transmitters as they found a couple of ball bearings rolling around loose. C-1 representative went along to give opinion on C-1 which was OK.

04-05-45; 3:20; Rota Island

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Flew practice mission on Rota with 5 Demos, at 8,000 ft indicating 250 mph with 11 ship formation -- “gears” say this is way next mission will be run -- they don’t seem to care whether we get back or not. We’re not only ducks but will be sitting right on the end of the shotgun asking for it. Naturally we couldn’t indicate 250 mph with bomb bay doors open, this not being a rocket ship.

04-07-45; 16:05; Guam to Nagoya

F Blakeley#8 by F Blakeley: “Take off 16:05; Carried (16) 500 lb GP [general purpose] bombs. Took off at 03:15 -- Very calm on takeoff with no wind -- almost didn’t take off by time we came to end of runway. Supposed to lead the 30th Sqd and 19th Group on a daylight formation raid on the Mitsubishi aircraft plant at 20,000 ft. Supposed to assemble on southern coast of Japan which was all screwed up as nobody was in the proper place in formation. We finally ended up tail end Charlie, left & high in an 18 ship formation. We went over Nagoya in a big bunch of planes and strangely enough destroyed the factory. Another wing went into Tokyo in perfect formation with about 60 or 70 P-51s for protection and only got 12 hits on the target. A few enemy fighters seen but stayed out of range. Pretty heavy flak over city. One stray P-51 got lost and tagged on under Ruther’s plane and skipped out long enough to shoot down a twin engine fighter -- Ruther’s tail gunner also got one confirmed. 1st one in the group. Radar went out, C-1 burned out, Radio compass antenna & mast broke off. Loran burned out. Came home on L.O.P. Sun shots and aura null. Landed with 400 gal of gas.

04-11-45; 7:05; Guam to Pajoris

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 7:05; Flew 3 ship elements off the deck -- practice bombing in 3 ship elements. Indicated 250 mph at 250 ft off the water. Briefed part of Island was cliffs and rocks -- nearly killed the left wing man, Tobin, as he got squeezed up against the cliff and had to hop over it.

04-12-45; 18:00 Guam to Koriyama

F Blakeley#9 by F Blakeley: “Take off 18:00; Attack on the chemical plant at Koriyama -- made tetraethyl lead for aviation gasoline. A day formation job. Got all 11 planes in formation at Aaga Shima -- missed Group so went in by ourselves -- took off at 02:55, bombs away at 12:44. (12) 500 lb GPs. We led formation and destroyed our target. 7700 ft alt 205 mph. no flak, fighters dropped phosphorous bomb on formation - high - left ahead. Two fighters diverted our attention high at 9 o’clock. two more snuck in at our nose and low -- came in shooting like hell -- Johnny spotted them just in time and gave them a couple of long bursts & scored hits on one of them. Continued on out east & then south past Tokyo -- broke up and came on home very bad weather on landing -- a B29 crashed trying to get in. Longest bombing mission run out of these islands -- 3900 miles flown not counting the assembly or trying to get into the field.

04-13-45; 1:10; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 1:10; Test hoped 307 for a cylinder change on #1 engine. Crew broke a stud out of cylinder day before which put plane out of commission -- we had to use 300 on Koriyama mission.

04-15-45; 14:25; Guam to Tokyo

F Blakeley#10 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:25; Max effort to burn out industrial section Kawasaki, just south of Tokyo. Take off at 1802. Bombs dropped at 0107-0122 Napalm 100 lb incendiary bombs and (1) 500 lb Frag Cluster. Radar was jammed & finally went out at landfall. Fires visible out at least 100 miles -- headed for fires and finally dropped to left of the largest fire. Scattered fires all the way from landfall to departure point. Plenty of searchlights but none found us. No flak close. Saw one enemy fighter cut in close to our nose -- saw plenty of “fire balls” Whole thing looked like huge 4th of July celebration. After turning off target we ran into two large clouds of smoke from fire -- terrific thermals -- plane felt like it was tearing to pieces. 200 miles off coast a fighter started to jump us -- CFC man gave him a burst and he left. Attack was 40 miles off Jap held island Hahachi Jima.

04-22-45; 2:50; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 2:50; Test hoped 307 for #4 engine change.

04-26-45; 15:30; Guam to Kanoya Airfield

F Blakeley#11 by F Blakeley: “Take off 15:30; (20) 500 lb Demos. Led 30th Sqd & 19th BG plus the Wing. A.P. [assembly point] was socked in -- finally flew to I. P. [initial point] I was in between two layers at 16,000 ft managed to get 16 planes into formation and had to bomb secondary target by radar. No flak, No enemy fighters, about 20 P-51s flew cover for us into and out of the target.

04-29-45; 14:05; Guam to Kanoya Airfield

F Blakeley#12 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:05; (20) 500 lb GP Bombs. Led a 9 ship formation over target. Elliot was lead but aborted when he lost an engine. Weather clear but hazy. Had to make one extra 360 deg turn at assembly point in order to get all ships in formation making us 12 minutes late. The 330th Group went in before us -- missed A.P. and left our A.P. covered with smoke. John aimed short of run ways and bombs (180) walked up both runways for 5,000 ft.! Light flack at target and beyond about 1/2 dozen fighters before target. Broke to left went out to ocean another turn to left over Tonga Shima and on our way home. Formation good. Bombed at 18,000 ft, dropped down to 16,000 ft and stayed there all way home. Good tail winds. Made it back in 6 hours. Results of bombing good to excellent.

05-03-45; 15:05; Guam to Kakahu Airfield

F Blakeley#13 by F Blakeley: “Take off 15:05; (20) 500 lb GP Bombs. Flew deputy lead on Tobins right wing. Operation in support of Navy at Okinowa. 10 ships in 30th Sqd rendezvoused at Yakishima off Kyushu, formed and flew into the airfield about 100 miles north. Fighters started coming in between I.P. and target and followed us all the way in and out again . about a 30 minute running fight . Most fighters I have seen yet. They also pressed their attacks very close and even dove through the formation. our guns really threw the led at them. John and Gunners scored hits and perhaps a probable kill. Light flak. Bombs scored some good hits on airfield. Airfield is supposed to be a training base for Jap suicide pilots.

05-08-45; 2:10; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 2:10; Test hoped 307 for #3 engine change. #2 swallowed a valve so that engine had to be changed when we got down.

05-10-45; 16:05; Guam to Otake

F Blakeley#14 by F Blakeley: “Take off 16:05; (20) 500 lb GP. Flew deputy lead for Tobin. Otake was a big oil refinery on the tip of Honshu. About 400 B-29s took part in this raid and against other refineries nearby. Took off at 01:30 and formed in a squadron formation about 100 miles south of target, just off Jap coast. Saw about 7 fighters which did not attack. Although we threw plenty of lead at them. Flak came up at various points but was heaviest across the bay from target at naval station “Kure” Target and oil and gas blew up very well. We broke away sharply to the right and started out getting a lot of in accurate flak from “Kure” 10 miles to our left. We must have flushed the whole Jap navy in the Inland Sea. More big boats all taking evasive action & all shooting - very inaccurate although one broke about 300 feet in front of us and smoke passed between fuselage and #3 engine. Over Jap land for about 2 hours. Bombed at 16,000 ft.

05-13-45; 3:50; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 3:50; Local hop to try out somebody’s crackpot idea of glide bombing in formation.

05-14-45; 16:25; Guam to Nagoya

F Blakeley#15 by F Blakeley: “Take off 16:25; (24) 500 lb incendiary carried. 500 B-29s involved from 4 wings to burn out Nagoya. Led Sqd, Group and Wing. Metro was way off, too much time to kill -- too many dog legs -- formation was scattered out until we went over landfall. Clear weather -- slight haze -- A.P. was obscured by smoke had to make a radar run. Half of bombs hit on east side of town and other half just inside. Only seven fighters seen and about a dozen bursts of flak -- very slight opposition for Nagoya.

05-17-45; 14;20; Guam to Nagoya

F Blakeley#16 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:20; A night raid on the airframe plant in Nagoya. 500 B-29s from 4 wings, (24) 500 lb incendiary bombs. Took off at 20:20 and got over target at 04:40 just as day was breaking. Had to bomb by radar as target was overcast. 12,400 ft alt. No flak except about 5 bursts, no fighters. Murphy saw one “fire ball”. Saw searchlights trying to get through overcast but none did. Low elements (7,000 ft) probably hit target visually underneath as city was burning good when we got there. Metro was way off and we really had to pull the power to get there on time.

05-19-45; 14:10; Guam to Tokyo

F Blakeley#17 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:10; A day formation on a aircraft plant at Tachikawa, a small town just west of Tokyo. (22) 500 lb GP Bombs Composition B carried. Plane weighed 140,250 lb at take off at night. First attempt at take off #1 engine died -- almost burned up brakes trying to get off runway to give the other ships behind me room. Went around and tried again. Arrived at assembly point at Tori Shima and just made it as Group took out. We climbed to 20,500 ft but weather went right up also. Tried to fly formation in clouds but it didn’t work. Finally got on top at 25,000 ft and found part of our formation. Bombed Hamamatsu by radar. Doors froze open and couldn’t get them closed until we got to Iwo. No flak or enemy fighters. Saw about 36 P-51s from Iwo horsing around.

05-21-45; 4:50; Rota Island

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 4:50; Practice mission on Rota. dropped (5) 100 lb GP bombs -- 3 dead center hits. Lost #2 engine, cylinder head cracked away from barrel -- only cylinder was changed.

05-25-45; 14:35; Guam to Tokyo

F Blakeley#18 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:35; A night raid on Tokyo -- (40) 500 lb aimable incendiary clusters weighing 17,000 lb. About 20-25 searchlights had us from 1/2 way between I.P. and target until we had passed across Tokyo bay. Plenty of fireworks of all kinds including “balls of fire” and one fighter. Had a good look at mount Fuji in the moonlight on way to I.P.

05-27-45; 3:40; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 3;40; Local test hop for training purposes. Tried glide bombing in formation at 15,000 ft. CE [Circular Error] of 200 ft. Radar made a couple of good hits.

05-29-45; 15:20; Guam to Yokahama

F Blakeley#19 by F Blakeley: “Take off 15:20; (128) 70 lb Napang fire bombs weighing approx 10,000 lb, carried 6 bombs on a shackle. Led 30th Sqd. Assembled at Toni Shima. Bombs away at 10:42. Used Mount Fuji for an I. P. first good look we have had of it. Noticed a radar station on top as we passed over. Yokahama was burning when we got there and smoke up to 15,000 ft. Our altitude was 19,000 ft about 300 mph. GS [ground speed], two squadrons ahead of us really caught the flak and only one ship out of the 28th escaped battle damage. We came along about one minute later and only got a few wild bursts. No fighter attacks on our squadron. P-51s from Iwo were over Tokyo at the same time as cover. One lone P-51 came in on us from below and Ebys bombardier shot at him. We hit target. Not much left of Tokyo, Kwasaki or Yokahama except ashes.

06-1-45; 15:35; Guam to Osaka

F Blakeley#20 by F Blakeley: “Take off 15:35; (23) 500 lb incendiary clusters with one 500 lb Fragmentation bomb weighing 10,275 lb. Took off at 03:00 and assembled at Minawi -- hit front and broke up. Reassembled at point off Jap coast. About 5/10 coverage over Osaka with smoke from fires up to 19,500 ft. which was our bombing altitude. Flew deputy lead for Tobin. Moderate flak but very accurate. Nearly everyone in Sqd was hit. We thought we were hit but wasn’t. Enemy fighters escorted us back out to the coast. Everybody almost, claims a fighter. Morinino, my tail gunner, sent one down smoking and twisting when he closed to within 400 feet of our tail

06-05-45; 16:10; Guam to Kobe

F Blakeley#21 by F Blakeley: “Take off 16;10; (29) 500 lb clusters and (1) frag weighting 12,775 lb. No bomb bay tank. Took off at 00:20 and bombs away 08:31. Tobin was leading but never showed up. I started to get as much of 30th together as I could in 20 minutes had 4 30th ships and one “red tail”. Went in pretty close behind two other squadrons. Flak very accurate and we were hit several times, one piece smashed front glass panel and sprayed glass all over Johnson and Klugman. Some of it went in Klug’s eyes. Fighters swarmed all over us. Mormino claims another one. Had to land at Iwo for gas. Tobin came in after us with two engines shot out -- claimed three fighters. Took off from Iwo about 5 hours later due to rain storm. Brought back Flewelyn and crew from 39th Group.

06-7-45; 15:20; Guam to Osaka

F Blakeley#22 by F Blakeley: “Take off 15:20; (183) 70 lb Napan fire bombs weighing 12,810 lb. Assembled at Minashi Iwo -- penetrated front. We led 30th Sqd arrived at 20,500 ft off coast of Osaka. Gathered 11 ships together and started in . Radar and fluxgate went out at I.P. and had to give lead to Murphy. Overcast from coast in. Everything went fairly well considering everything. Sweat out gas again as we did not have any bomb bay tanks.

06-13-45; 1:55; Rota Island

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 1:55; Local training flight around Rota. Dropped (5) 500 lb GP Demolition bombs by radar. Some pretty good hits.

06-15-45; 14;50; Guam to Osaka

F Blakeley#23 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:40; (32) 500 lb incendiary clusters carried weighing 14,720 no bomb bay tank. Led 30th Sqd and 19th Bomb Group. Rendezvoused at Minami Iwo -- Formation assembled in 20 minutes and we were off -- until we hit a “moderate front” just south of Japan. Never did reach the top. Picked up enough ice to stock a refrigerator car. Everybody bombed individually by radar. We bombed from 22,000 ft. Much danger of collision over target as there were over 500 B-29s milling around in the “soup”. Landed back here [Guam] with 400 gals of gas. Cutting it a little too close.

06-17-45; 1:55; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 1:55; Test hoped 862 for a new engine.

06-19-45; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Test M-37 for a new engine.

06-22-45; 15:05; Guam to Tamashima

F Blakeley#24 by F Blakeley: “Take off 15:05; Carried (22) 500 lb GP Comp “B” bombs weighing 12,700 lb. Led 30th Sqd assembled off coast of Honshu with 19th Group, Formed and went in behind 28th and the 93rd was behind us. A fighter shot down Capt Miller from the 93rd and crippled another B-29 in the same pass. At the assembly a phosphorous bomb almost hit us, fighter dropping it so close we could see red meat balls and camouflage paint. Target was clear with moderate and inaccurate flack. Very good bombing by all three squadrons. this plant was brand new and was part of the Mitsubishi aircraft works.

06-25-45; 2:30; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 2:30; Local training and calibration mission in 307.

06-29-45; 1:55; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 1:55; Local test hop on K-25.

06-30-45; 3:00; Check flight

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 3:00; Checked out Lt Bryant a new crew in M-36. Landed at Agana and Depot Field.

07-03-45; 14:05; Guam to Takushima

F Blakeley#25 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:05; (40) 500 lb incendiary clusters weighing 18,200 lb carried. This was a small town of about 120,000 people on the east coast of Skikoku. 3 other wings hit small towns simultaneously. We were almost last over target going in up wind. Fires were going good. Hit smoke and convection currents and had to bomb by radar. Broke out right over target and saw bombs hit in the middle of the city. Post strike photos show city completely destroyed by fire -- no flak -- no fighters -- no searchlights -- small amount of rapid fire arms. Could see two other cities burning about 100 miles to each side of our target. Smoke clouds nearly tore plane apart and almost flipped us over on our back. City destroyed.

07--6-45; 14:20; Guam to Kafu

F Blakeley#26 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:20; (184) 100 lb size Napang bombs carried weighing 12,880 lb. Kofu was a small town of 102,000 east of Tokyo. Overcast when we got there, 2nd ship in as we were one of the path finders. Bombed by radar and pretty certain we hit city as fire were confirmed by following ships who caught a glimpses of the city. #3 and #4 engines backfired and cut out badly. Had to keep #4 going in auto rich and on primer. No flak, no fighters, no searchlights

07-16-45; 13:35; Guam to Hiratouka

F Blakeley#27 by F Blakeley: “Take off 13:35; (40) 500 lb incendiary clusters carried weighing 18,200 lb. A small town southwest of Tokyo overcast above us and undercast below us over target. Had to bomb by radar. Other ships had bombed before us. Fire looked good. Ran into a severe electrical storm about 120 miles off the Jap coast. “St Elmos Fire” all over the place.

07-21-45; 4:00; Pagin Island

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Guam to Pagin Island as training mission with (5) 500 GP Demos.

07-24-45; 14:45; Guam to Nagoya

F Blakeley#28 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:45; (2) 4000 lb block busters carried weighing 8,320 lbs. Assembled at Minami Iwo. Flew deputy for Crandal. Managed to fly all way on auto pilot in formation. Crandal missed landfall by 90 miles which made us late. Primary target which was textile factory was socked in as was the secondary naval target. Finally ended up by bombing the radar target.

07-26-45; 15:05; Guam to Omuta

(20) 500 lb incendiary clusters and (92) 100 lb Napang incendiaries carried weighing 14,840 lbs. A night mission to mop up what the 58th wing had missed which was about 96%. We were a pathfinder and about 3rd over the target. Saw one load go into water off docks. John saw our bombs hit in the city as did our gunners. This mission was over 3,000 nautical miles and we only had a small center section, arrived back with about 500 gal.

07-28-45; 2:00; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 2:00; Local test hop in M-40 for a new engine.

08-01-45; 14:15; Guam to Mito

F Blakeley#29 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:15; (20) 500 lb incendiary clusters and (92)100 lb Napang incendiaries weighing 14,840 lb. A night mission to Mito, a small town about 60 miles north east of Tokyo. Saw Kawasaki burning to the west as we went by. We were about 4th plane over target which was overcast. Some medium automatic weapons fire coming up through clouds. Bombed by radar -- Hacks were good right up to edge of the glow.

08-05-45; 14:50; Guam to Kobe

F Blakeley#30 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:50; Carried (39) 500 lb incendiary clusters and (1) 500 lb frag plus (1) 100 lb photo flash. Weather was good but smoky. City was burning good when we got there. Lots of searchlights, tracers and flak. No fighters. Bombed visually and was guided in by radar.

08-05-45; 1:40; Saipan

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: “Take off 1:40; A C.S. detail to go to Saipan after an airplane as soon as we landed from the mission.

08-10-45; 14:50; Guam to Tokyo

F Blakeley#31 by F Blakeley: “Take off 14:50; Carried (4) 2000 lb bombs and (4) 500 lb demos in the back with an extra bomb bay tank to balance the load. A daylight mission after 356 in Tokyo. Assembled at Tori Shima. We led the 30th Sqd, went in behind the 28th. About 5/10 coverage over 356 so went on to radar target which was an arsenal. Results were unobserved. 356 is an aircraft plant that has never been hit as yet. P-51’s flew cover and chased a few Jap fighters around. Plenty of flak came up however even though the city was partially covered with clouds.

08-14-45; 17:00 Guam to Isaseka

F Blakeley#32 by F Blakeley: “Take off 17:00; Carried (2) 4000 lb bombs. Took off 2 hours in advance of the main force to obtain a wind for a radar run. Sitting on pins and needles all the way because they might call us back because of the peace. Dropped at 01:46, and the bombs made a hell of a flash and racket. Stayed over Chosie Point for 3 hours broadcasting wind direction and velocity for rest of planes. Tower told me on final approach that this would be the first peace time landing as President Truman just announced the signing of the Peace Terms.

08-20-45; 4:00; Practice

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Local Practice mission for Group assembly in to squadrons and a group review over field.

08-21-45; 2:15; Check flight

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Local Gave two instrument checks. Wrote up failing for Lt Bill Wilhelm co-pilot who wants to quit flying.

08-23-45; 2:40; Test hop

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Local test hop and instrument check for Lt Kellog.

08-25-45; Check flight

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Local flight, Tobin gave me an instrument check and I gave him one and then we gave Al one.

08-28-45; 2:10; Check flight

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Local flight and Instrument check for Lt Williams and co-pilot.

08-31-45; 7:20; Guam to Florida Blanco, Luzon, Philippine Islands.

F Blakeley by F Blakeley: Landed there about 9:30 in the morning. Had to detour north around a hurricane. Purpose was to investigate PW camps on Hainan Island off coast of China, Nothing but tents at this field. Water buffalo grazing around the tents. Filipino men, women and children running at large all very hungry as they snatched at food in your mess kit. Some of the boys got into Manila and said it was about half demolished. I stayed in the tent and slept.

09-01-45; 9:50; Florida Blanco to Hainou Island & return.

Stayed over this island 3 1/2 hours but did not see any camps marked PW. Saw some Jap garrisons still flying the Jap flag. Really worked some of those garrisons and towns over from about 5 feet. Took several hundred pictures. Some Chinese coolies were scared as hell while some apparently didn’t notice us.

09-02-45; 7:35; Florida Blanco to Guam.

Listened to the Japs signing the peace treaty on the Battleship Missouri in Tokyo bay just as we were flying east out of Luzon Bay.

RESTRICTED RESTRICTED

HEADQUARTERS

19TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP

APO 246 UNIT 2

c/o Postmaster

San Francisco, California

17 March 1045

GENERAL ORDERS

NO......................4

SECTION 1

By direction of the President and pursuant to the authority contained in AR 600-45 dated 27 September 1943 as amended, and XX Bomber Command Regulation 35-16 dated 24 December 1944, the following named officer and enlisted man of the 30th Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group, Army Air Forces, having been wounded during a combat mission over Kobe, Japan on 16-17 March 1945, are awarded the Purple Heart:

Captain FRED THOMAS BLAKELY 0-416985

Sergeant ROYALL T. MOORE 42103072

BY ORDER OF COLONEL ROBERTS:

JAMES L. COLEY

Major, Air Corps

Adjutant

OFFICIAL: James L Coley

JAMES .. COLEY

Major, Air Corps

Adjutant

DISTRIBUTION: “A”