TR93N-LR.doc

Orem, Utah

May 8, 1992

1st Lt Roy E. Tew

Navigator B-29 -Age 21

20th Air Force -North Field -Guam

314th Bomb Wing, 19th Bomb Group, 93 Squadron, Crew 97

A REMEMBRANCE of what our crew was doing when we heard about the Atomic Bomb being dropped on Hiroshima.

August 6, 1945

We were up early getting ready for a pre-dawn takeoff for a bombing mission to Toyokawa, Japan and our plane was loaded with 22-500 pound general purpose demolition bombs. We were told that this would be a fairly easy mission with not a great deal of flak and that we would also have P-51 fighter escort out of Iwo Jima, which was a relatively new thing for us so we felt good, not knowing what was in store for us.

This was our 2Sth mission and everything went as planned until we were flying in formation on our bomb run. The radio operator, Paul Tsalapatas, who shared the same compartment with me, asked me to take a picture of bombs-away so we would have a picture of the bombs dropping from the other planes in our formation. As I was waiting to take the picture and watching out my small window, I could see that we were experiencing some flak right at our altitude.

Shortly before dropping our bombs, we received a direct flak hit in the propeller hub of # 1 engine. This caused about 80 gallons (according to our Engineer, Roy McNamee) of oil to pour out of the propeller hub and over the engine. As a result, we were unable to keep up with the formation due to the loss of power but we were able to continue over the target and drop our bombs. I did snap a picture of the engine shortly after the flak hit and some of the oil had covered part of the engine.

After leaving the target area, I hurriedly checked the locations of our rescue submarines off shore in case we had to ditch the plane near one of them. One of the other planes, M-13, dropped back and accompanied us until we were out over the ocean a considerable distance which we appreciated very much.

Because of the hole in the hub and the loss of hydraulic oil, we were unable to feather the propeller. This allowed the pitch of the prop to flatten out, resulting in a considerable amount of drag. The propeller increased in speed until it broke the tachometer by exceeding the limit of the tachometer which was, as I recall, somewhat over 5,500 rpm.

Near an island named Kita Iwo Jima, the propeller flew off the engine and very amazingly missed the tail. If it had struck the tail, it would have been disastrous since this was a very heavy four bladed propeller that was 17 feet from tip to tip.

We proceeded to Iwo Jima and then decided to go on to Guam, since we now had three good engines and had lost the prop which was giving us so much drag. About 35 miles south of Iwo Jima, the automatic pilot was having trouble flying the plane properly, and after some investigation, it was then discovered that we had been hit in the rear area of the plane and the cables to the aileron trim tabs had been severed. How fortunate it was that it was only the cables to the trim tabs and not the cables to the ailerons which were probably running side by side!

The Airplane Commander, 1st Pilot, decided to return to Iwo Jima and land there. On our arrival at Iwo, we witnessed a B-29 crew bail out of their plane and then saw their plane spiral down and crash in the water a very short distance from a ship which was anchored near the shore. We proceeded to make our landing approach and then discovered that our nose gear (wheel) would not come down. We pulled up from our landing approach and tried manual emergency measures to extend the gear without success. We later learned that the screw mechanism that extended the wheel had been damaged by flak.

The Pilot called the control tower for instructions as to what we should do. They gave us a choice; we could either land with the nose gear (wheel) up or we could bail out and abandon the plane. We all chose to land the plane and most of the crew then proceeded to the rear of the plane so that the extra weight in the rear would help keep the nose of the plane off the runway as long as possible. The landing was successful and as the nose of the plane hit the runway the three other propellers dug into the tarmac and bent the ends of the blades.

The fire trucks were there to meet us and they proceeded to spray the engine without the prop to prevent a possible fire. This was the coolest engine that we had, since it had not been operating for many hours but they did not know that.

We were all sent to the dispensary to check and make sure we were OK. While there, we met some of the crew that had previously bailed out. One of the men had his tongue out when his chute opened and, as a result, bit his tongue nearly in half. The doctor was just finishing sewing it back together.

That same day or maybe the next day, the pilot and I went over to the so called Officers Club (which was a tent on the sand) because we heard that they had some of that 'powdered' ice cream. While there, we heard President Harry Truman announce over the radio that an atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima.

Of course, our immediate reaction was that we hoped that this weapon of such horrible destruction would hasten the end of the war and hopefully avert any land invasion of Japan, thereby saving many lives on both sides of the conflict. It was, and still is, my opinion that the war would have ended soon even without the atomic bomb or a land invasion. I thought that the increasing devastation on the cities of Japan by the B-29's would have brought the war to a close within a few months. This conclusion was arrived at by my examining the reconnaissance after strike photographs of the targeted cities and also realizing how the B-29 forces were increasing in strength and how the Japanese air defenses were decreasing. I'm sure that the bomb did hasten the day of the Japanese surrender and probably resulted in the saving of many Japanese lives that would have been lost, if the bombing of their cities were continued.

Of our eleven original crew members, two gunners were killed during missions and the airplane Commander, 1st Pilot, was later killed in Vietnam when his plane was shot down. Our right waist gunner was buried on Guam on Memorial Day; I'm sure that TAPS has a special meaning to each of us as a result of that day. Seven of our crew members will meet in Seattle, Washington this August where Boeing Aircraft is having a reunion commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the B-29. My wife and I are really looking forward to this event.

February 13, 1997

This letter was first written at the request of a young American boy, Richard Gilbert, who was living in Tokyo at the date of the writing of this letter. Richard had been asked by his school teacher in Japan to have an American who was in the Service at time the Bomb was dropped to write what he was doing on the day that he heard about the bomb being dropped. Today I changed and added a few words for further clarification but of no real significance.