| DATE:
April 26, 1945
TARGET:
KOKUBU AIR FEILD, KYUSHU
TIME:
Daylight
Briefed
at three o'clock, pre-flighted our turrets and guns, then
we did a little horizontal engineering till midnight.
We then went to the plane and prepared for takeoff.
We
left at two o'clock and started for Japan on our second
mission. We finally reached the assembly point, and it
mess so socked in we could not see anything. So we tried
to climb above it, being tossed around all the way up.
While climbing, ice began forming on the leading edge
of the wings and empennage. And at times the clouds were
so thick we could not see the wing tips. Finally we lost
a little altitude and found an opening in the clouds,
and started for the target by ourselves. We could not
see the target; hence we had to drop our five-hundred-pound
G. P. bombs by radar. And we think we did a rather good
job. After we returned we found out that only four other
planes besides ours bombed the target.
On
this mission we encountered no flak and no fighters, but
we were running low on gas. Lucky for us Iwo Jima is where
it is because we had to land there for fuel. We also had
to land at Tinian because we did not get enough fuel at
Iwo. It was late when the next day at one o' clock, When
we landed everyone gathered around the plane because they
did not know what had happened to us. They thought maybe
we might have gone down in the ocean someplace. Well, we
almost did.
DATE:
April 29, 1945
TARGET: KUSHIRA AIR FIELD, KYUSHU
TIME: Daylight
Today
the take-off was at two o' clock in the morning. On the
other side of Iwo Jima we test fired the guns. Then assembled
and headed for the target.
This
is a beautiful morning with only a few scattered clouds
in the sky. And B-29's all over the place. Finally we
open the bomb-bay doors and drop the five-hundred-pound
bombs, which we think fell a little distance short of
the target. When we closed the door one of the bombs,
which had hung on the racks, dropped on our left front
bomb-bay door, tearing it from one of the hinges. After
bouncing the plane around, we finally succeeded in closing
the doors and proceeded back to Guam.
Over
the target there was very little flak and one or two fighters.
The tail gunner and the bombardier fired few rounds, but
I don't think any fighters were damaged.
After
we returned we did not think we would get credit for the
mission because the bombs fell short, but after about a
week we are told that Wing Headquarters decided to give
us credit or it. That is the Twentieth Bomber Command though.
They won't give you anything. |
