At the top of this page are questions and answers between my grandfather and me. I'll bring in other FAQs once you've submitted some questions that I can respond to. At the bottom are some interesting facts that will be helpful for any research or other projects.
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FAQs
Q) Did the crew on the plane know the attack targets before take off?
A) Yes, all crew members were briefed around 3 hours before take off. The briefing included weather conditions, the type of bomb that was to be carried, where the flight escort would come from, the actual target's location etc., and the duration of the mission.
Q) Did the navigator ever get lost?
A) There is an old saying about navigators, "They never get lost, only a little confused!"
Q) To your knowledge, how much flack did you take on in your worst (most dangerous) mission?
A) In my first mission, over Kobe, Japan, we took on 27 flack holes, I think that was the worst!
Q) Did the officers have to sleep under mosquito nets?
A) No, we slept in quonset huts which were, for the most part, mosquito proof, but we had a net handy, just in case!
Q) What is a quonset hut?
A) A quonset hut is a hut built out of metal. They are about 25 feet wide by 75 feet long. They have tarps over the top (so that the rain won't get in), and screens on each side (to provide fresh air without mosquitos). There are bunks on each side, and each man keeps his things in an area near his bunk.
Q) Did you share your hut with any officers from other planes?
A) Yes, several planes were represented in each hut.
Q) Were any Japanese spies or snipers ever found on Tinian, where you were based?
A) I never saw any, but apparently some people did, because we had a small camp to keep them in. I was told that some Japanese hid out in the mountains, but they weren't thought of as dangerous, just scared and hungry. In fact some had nerve enough to come and steal food from the garbage. By the time I left most of them were caught, I think.
Q) Was there rationing of water on Tinian?
A) No, although we didn't bathe every day. We had a separate hut that housed toilets, showers, etc. But although we could, we didn't use the showers as often as we would have if we were leading a civilian life.
Q) Did you do your own laundry, or did they have a laundry mat?
A) When I arrived the laundry mat wasn't yet built, so we either did it ourselves or gave the enlisted men a bottle of whiskey to do it.
Q) Where did you get the whiskey from?
A) The officers were given a ration of one bottle of whiskey every week, and the enlisted men were given a bottle of beer on the same basis.
Q) What kinds of bombs were used in the B-29?
A) We either used demolition bombs or incendiary (fire) bombs.
Q) How did the brass know which bomb type to assign you?
A) Well, when we bombed cities or towns we were given incendiaries because most of the structures were wood and would be more badly damaged by fire. When we attacked ammunition plants, airplane factories, docks, and airfields we would use the demolition bombs, because an explosion would cause more damage there than a fire would.
Q) You attacked towns, cities, docks, amo plants, airplane factories, and airfields. Anything else?
A) Well we attacked shipyards, but I think you might consider them to be docks. We also flew some POW relief missions after the war was over (dropping food, etc., down to the camps), but there was not attacking involved then.
Q) Did you ever have any technical problems in your plane?
A) Yes. Once we had a bomb get stuck in our bomb bay. We were afraid that it was going to explode, but we were able to get out over water and get rid of it. We also had a problem when we were testing our pure oxygen tanks [We only needed them in emergencies, though, because the B-29 was fully pressurized.]. Our tail gunner had a cigarette lit when his air was flowing. When the oxygen got to his cigarette it blew up the entire tail gunner's area and killed him.
Q) How long was the average mission?
A) About 13 hours, but the time over target was only around 60 to 90 seconds. The most stressful time was the bomb run which started about 5 miles away from the target and ended after the objectives had been achieved and we were safe again.
Q) What navigational equipment was the B-29 equipped with?
A) I, as the navigator, worked with LORAN (long range navigational high frequency radio waves). There were bases that emitted signals to LORAN so that we could fly toward them and, therefore, find our way home. I was also able to judge our direction by the white caps on the waves below us. But, the best resource, by far, was the sun and the stars which I would "shoot" with my sextus to get a perfect fix on our location.
Q) How many enemy fighters did you encounter?
A) During my first few missions we ran into a whole lot of enemy fighters, but after a while there stopped being so many because the Japanese were running out of fuel and good pilots. The worst thing about the enemy fighters was when they would go into their Kamikaze act. If they chose you and fixed their course on you, then they would take you right along with them to the "happy hunting grounds."
Q) How many kills did your gunners get?
A) I remember at least two celebrations about confirmed kills, but the fighters got most of them.
Q) Did flack ever hit anyone after it had gone threw the body of the plane?
A) No, not that I remember.
Q) What would happen to a crew member if he survived a crash into enemy territory?
A) He would have most likely been killed or taken prisoner. We were all trained to use a 45 automatic in defense, but after my first time to see the Japanese chefs handle knives while cooking, I figured that the soldiers could chop me up and fry me with soy sauce before I could ever get a shot off!
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Facts
The B-29
The B-29 had an empty weight of 70,140lbs. The B-29 could deliver a max payload of 12,000lbs. The B-29 had a max speed (at 25,000 ft.) of 375mph. The B-29 had a defensive armament of ten 50 calibre remote controlled machine guns and one 20mm cannon. The B-29 had an 11 man crew -- my grandfather was the navigator.
The 40th Bomber Group
The 40th BG served in missions related to the Pacific Theater from the very day it was activated. Its first combat experience was a strike against a railroad in Bangkok, Thailand, in June 1944. The 40th was originally a medium bomber group, but was moved up to "very heavy" before it was deactivated (around 11 months after the end of WW2). From Tinian the 40th BG led day and night time attacks on heavily defended Japanese cities.
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40th BG Sheild
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