V1945G05FL1.DOC

Mission Return and Take off

 

Return View of North Field

            You will gather at your plane about 3:00 to 4:00 pm and start taxing to take off about 5:00 pm.  Some time within the following hour it will be your turn to head down that run way with 6700 gal of gas and up to 10 ton of bombs. Such a take off is described by Maj Van Parker in his book "Dear Folks". You will sweat out takeoff, super heavy loads demanding flawless maximum output of each engine as horsepower gradually overcomes the inertial load. Airfoils, worthless until there is enough speed for lift, give relief for wheel bearings sustaining the concentrated tons of weight at over 100 mph. Pilots seek more and more speed to assure altitude for their 8800 horsepower steed. The controls in their grasp feed back the feeling of new life as aerodynamics forces generate positive control authority. The assurance is offset with the concern for over heated engines, engine life and fuel must be conserved, there is little margin for error.

            You will do a slow climb to cruise altitude for the long flight north, then form up off the coast of Japan with other aircraft en-route. You may even team with others from Saipan and Tinian – weather & fuel consumption may not permit you to linger for the many from your own base to catch up. Spread out above the clouds you are aware of hundreds of planes en-route to Japan all on coordinated missions. Weather and Radar Scope missions, flown by others, returned in advance with forecasts and pictures of the target. Pathfinder planes are now in lead to mark the target with their bombs.

            It will be your task to unload all your bombs on the primary target and return. The damage you will have done will be awesome, you are trying to get the enemy to give up and surrender so you & others can all go home to pick up the lives you set aside to do this job.

            You will be gone for 12 to 14 hours.  During this time the ground crews will be trying to get needed sleep before starting the cycle all over again.

            The photos of your landing were take by Capt. Keough, Engineering Officer of 28th Sqd. using a K-20 military camera. He was my boss and gave me the negatives just before he returned home.

 

Returning from North turning East to narrow part of the island, main harbor & native town of Agana to right.

Looking across the island. In the middle is a Marine airfield, the Navy field is to the right out of sight.

Harmon Field near left, Navy Field far right, highway from main harbor is at lower right.

Looking down on the Tumon Bay  an ideal beach for swimming.

Three of us went swimming there while assigned to the 20 AF Hdq for three days. We received combat ribbons for our strenuous duty. While we swam, sub-tier units of the 20th AF were completing campaigns against other islands.

The Near side of Harmon Field was dedicated to Experimental B-29 flight testing conducted by Col Bill Irvine. I was called to take some engine specialist, the best we had, to change cylinders on a couple of engines in preparation for a record breaking flight from Guam to Cairo Egypt. The flight was a success and made head lines at the time.

20th AF Hdq lower left, Harmon Field Test center runway, Air Transport Command far runway

            20th AF Hdq, at the lower right, is where the mission results were displayed on floor to ceiling photo maps. In the center of this large Quonset was a plotting table with Guam at one end and Japan at the other.  Those in charge follow the missions from start to finish. Personnel moved models and coded flags to show progress and any aircraft in trouble.

When first there we knew nothing of this and walked from our quarters down to Tumon Bay to swim.

North Field ahead, NW Field would look the same to the left of this view.

This region was unoccupied jungle & a several mile drive from 20th AF Hdq. You first drove past a Marine Base and a Marine Cemetery then entered the jungle region driving down an avenue of tall undisturbed jungle trees. A driver had been assigned to drive me from 20th AF Hdq to North Field, I had no idea how far it was, my eyes were taking in all I could see, past the Marine base was a destroyed American Tank. After leaving a region of heavy grass we entered the Jungle region, it seemed to go on and on.

 

314 Wing Hdq to near right

The main highway leaves the jungle at the right and climbs over a hill which overlooks the huge airfield.  When we arrived, the jeep diver pulled over and stopped so I could see,  saying I'm always overwhelmed by this sight!   Ahead spread out in the morning sun I first saw the sea of B-29's being readied for their evening take off – I’d never seen a B-29 before, few in the states had.

            Our living quarters area was to the right, all was carved out of jungle.

Coming in to land on the South runway

To us on the ground these seemed to take off to the North, though actually to the east. Midway on the left are the piles of bull dozed trees in which a B-29 crashed, At the far end is a 600 ft cliff. Aircraft taking off would go out of sight when dropping to cool hot engines.

Where the rubber hits the road

Rubber burns off on each landing when tires go from zero to over 100 mph – emitting a double screech, seldom do both pair touch down at the same instant.

19th BG at far right

314th Wing; 19th, 29th, 39th & 330th Bomb Groups

Base Construction Plan, the actual was much as shown.  The 29th Group is lower left , the 19th lower right, 39th upper right and the 330th upper left.  Our 28th Squadron was at the lower right end.  The Service center for the 29th and 19th included hangers and facilities for repairing damage to airframes. It was also the supply center for parts and rebuilt engines. We went through a lot of engines.

Turn off to 28th Sqd at far end

            15 planes per Squadron * 3 Squadrons per Group * 4 Groups per Wing = 180 aircraft per Wing   One take off per 30 seconds * two runways = 2 per min. 180 planes / 2 = 1 1/2 hours for take off if all goes well.  Engine life = 98 hrs average, 4 engines per airplane = 25 hrs between an engine change.  25 hrs / 12.2 hrs/mission = 2 missions; ie pull an engine every other mission. This was brutal duty for ground crew as manpower had not been planned for this, all worked till their plane was ready to fly again.

            After landing, aircraft turned off the far end of the runway and taxied to their Hard Stand. They drove in and had to be turned about by ground crews before take off time. This often caused problems especially when two shared the same hard stand. They often had to be moved after they had been loaded with 10 ton of bombs and 6700 gallon of fuel, for a total Cletrack load of 70 ton; story follows.

29th Bomb Group with "O" near;  19th with "M" at far end

Incendiary Bomb Cluster

 

(20) 500 lb General Purpose Bombs/bay      500 lb  Incendiary Cluster on Bomb Dolly  

It was hot sweaty work up in one of those bomb bays, the sun bearing down on the plane, the humidity, and no breeze up on those racks. The most obvious damage was done with the Fire Bombs.

  

(20) 500 lb Bombs in rear Bombay     Bomb Racks & Pressurized Crew Tunnel       Fusing Incendiary Bombs

There was a forward and aft bomb bay, each the same size & separated by the center wing section. Vertical racks on the sides held electrically operated shackles which the Bombardier could operate to release the bombs. The tube at the top was a pressurized crawl tunnel that connected the forward and aft pressurized compartments.

 

500 lb Bombs ready at the Bomb Dump   The bombs were stored in a jungle area away from the field and were always under guard. The wheels on the Bomb Dollies were confiscated to make scooters. We repeatedly had to chase Navy guys away to keep our remaining Dollies mobile.

 

500 lb bombs ready to be hoisted                          11 Man Crew Prepared to Load and take off

            I never saw fellows decked out with that much gear. In fact many evolved their own uniform they wore while flying. There was no point in being all decked out for landing in jungle because you were over water. Some had special shoes they whittled into being like slippers, they were in those planes for hours and hours and did their best to make things comfortable without jeopardizing the mission or prudent safety.

  

6400 gal into main wing tanks                650 gal fuel tank, 2 tanks/ bomb bay; a total of 4

5400 main wing + 1300 center wing = 6700 gallon normal fuel capacity.  650 gallon (1) bomb bay tank,  7350 miles, far target fuel capacity

Pneumatic bay door actuators above center.  Early models use electrical actuators.  The heavy loads sometimes distort the fuselage and caused electric motors to burn out. The bombardier was given extra motors to change in flight if needed.

Briefing “Flimsy”

 

 

Pulling the Prop through                                      "Stand Clear, Starting #1"

Pulling the prop through was to clear oil from the lower cylinders before starting the engines.

            Flight Engineer behind pilot always faced aft and had a window for looking at the right side engines.  Entrance was a door in the floor above the nose wheel well  between the two in this view. Behind that was a gun turret. The Radio Operator and Navigator were behind that turret, their path to escape for ditching was to go out the bomb bay.

Cueing Up on Saipan  and progressing toward end of runway.

Five Wings in 20th AF = 5 * 180 airplanes per wing = 900 aircraft on a single mission. Each of the Squadrons were filling out with more aircraft. Plans were already under way to move planes into Okinawa.  The real live view of these big birds working their way to take off position was a very dynamic sight and unique sounds. Their brakes would squeak especially turning a corner. Their engines would rev up to over come the inertia of their 70 tons. Those huge fans had a noise of their own. The aircraft would sometimes dip on the nose wheel strut when stopped with brakes then accelerated with engines.  The TV documentary WINGs has a few moments which shows this kind of view, but it's over so fast it's easy to miss.

Aircraft will cue up on this taxi strip, above/below,  when order is given

The next three figures are from a video tape

 

In a matter of minuets the planes move from hard stands to being lined up for take off

 

Use your imagination to fill in the missing noise, wind and dynamic movement as each team brings their plane into play for another mission.

Cowl flaps are wide open and flap partly extended in preparation for take off

On their way

            Bob Nelson a lead Navigator with 73rd wing Saipan, and my room mate in college, flew his missions in the early phase out of Saipan, he was shot down 03-15-45 and was beheaded 08-04-45.

            All branches of the service participated in making these operations possible. These raids were the tip of the spear, many, all the way back to the factories had contributing to making their thrust felt.

            After the war ended in Europe public interest in the pacific shifted from Iwo Jima, to Okinawa, Kamikaze's against Carriers --- abruptly to the Atomic Bomb and MacArthur's -- pointing where to sign the surrender papers. History tends to have been written as if one airplane with one bomb had wiped out Japan.  Most industrial targets had already been destroyed, the Japanese knew they had been defeated. Medieval warrior tradition demanded the leaders die if they failed – they chose instead to cause more of their own people die before they were willing to practice what they preached.