 simpilot34 wrote: |
| Is it Curtis "Boms away" Le May The firebombing of Japan B-29's? |
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Bullseye!
That's correct, Simpilot34 on all three parts of the question. (check spelling on "bombs away" though... Ha!)
That story was related to me first hand from Phil, a B-29 pilot (20th Army Air Force, retired)
The results of bombing with the B-29 were dismal at first. The airplanes were rushed into combat and technical, teething problems had to be worked out in the field. Those problems as well as new phenomenon such as "jet streams" hindured accuracy and it really pissed Curtis LeMay off quite a bit.
B-29s of the XX Air Force were ordered to fly missions as low as 10,000 ft and sometimes attacks were carried out as low as 5,000 ft ...in massed formations!
(see Martin Caidin's "A Torch To The Enemy")
If you want a little more (experience with the B-29 Superfortress), check this out:
...sooo at the meeting the gentleman seated next to me introduced himself. Phil was a B-29 pilot in the XX Air Force. He related to me a vignette about his experience. I told him what I've heard other pilots of the B-29 say. And that is, "As long as you don't suffer an engine fire, it's a mighty airplane. It's very over-built and tough as nails."
"Yes, precisely." he answered. He told me how he first saw a B-29 in Kansas in 1944. "Awe inspiring and the biggest airplane I ever saw, up to that time." he described. He was there for training. An experienced B-17 pilot, Phil had flown many of Americas bombers of that time and had logged gobs of hours in Flying Fortresses. "We hadn't any idea what we were going to Kansas for. Maybe train B-17 pilots we guessed. Then the Super Fortresses flew in and we were instructed on how to fly ‘em."
The condition of overloading and limited runway length was known to me and I asked about it. They would fly from Saipan and leave the end of the runway at the top of a cliff at the edge of sea. "We'd come off the runway with all the engines under extreme scrutiny especially temperature. Each engine had a 60 gal. tank of oil in it's nacelle! The plane was put into a shallow dive, skimming the waves until the temperature readings were OK. Then we'd get our airspeed up and start to climb. I asked about the way the B-29 was rushed into combat and how planes were varied in their equipment, wiring, and systems of all types being varied... Phil confirmed this. "The first time we did a mission over Tokyo, when we got to altitude, the moisture from our breath froze solid on all the interior glazing. We couldn't see anything and there was some mid-air collisions. We scraped the inside of the glass with our fingernails to make it alive." I asked, "Was that fixed?" Phil said, "Yes, the ground crew retro-fit a defroster system in the field. The information was forwarded to Boeing and all subsequent types had a defroster system intalled in the factory after that." I commented, "So it was tough plane, I know they could float quite awhile. What about fighters? Did you see interceptors? "Yes", Phil confirmed. He described his friends aboard a B-29 next to them on a bombing mission. "You know, the Japanese had a fighter that was a copy of the Messerschmitt." Phil's eyes welled up as he described the adjacent B-29 to his get rammed by TWO "Tonys". "Our buddies next to us sustained not one, but two separate He-61s ramming their plane, one after the other. The Super Fortress continued on but the pilot sustained injuries and bled out. He lost consciousness, slumped over the control column. Their B-29 went into a shallow dive. I followed them, three parachutes came out and I watched as their aircraft crash landed into Tokyo Bay. He also related a first hand experience regarding Curtis Lemay. That I'll relate on another day...
That last part is where the I got the question!
You're up, Simpilot34.