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B-29 Gunner - 468th Bomb Group, 400+ Combat Flight Hours


Waltz41
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Picked this one up here on the forum awhile back now. B-29 stuff goes hand in hand with my main interest of the 7th Fighter Command, so I was happy to add it to the collection. Staff Sergeant Williams was a gunner on a B-29 crew that was with the 793rd Bomb Squadron, 468th Bomb Group.

The 468th was known as "The General Billy Mitchell Group", after the group had established the best operational record of the 4 B-29 groups that were in combat at the time (late 1944) and with this honor XXth Bomber Command awarded it General Mitchell's personal sailing flag and authorized the name change. Williams was the gunner on the B-29 crew that normally flew "Totin' to Tokyo". According to some research, it seems that this B-29 was one of the very early B-29's that served in combat and did not have any center wing tanks, so they retired the plane as soon as it was possible. It seems that the original aircraft flew from June of 44 to January of 45, and then 'Totin' to Tokyo II' was their new mount.

Here's how I have some of it displayed:

 

post-89245-0-91556300-1502318850.jpg

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Sorry they are not bigger, originally scanned as PDF's, then changed to JPGs and downsized to under 251 kb! I messed around a few times but I got tired of trying to get them right.

Also sorry for double post. Uploaded wrong file and can't delete it from the post for some reason!!

post-89245-0-88328300-1502319307.jpg

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Right after the war, Williams started flying, and his civilian pilot logs were included, as well as some US flight maps and other pieces.

post-89245-0-45489700-1502319849.jpg

 

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post-89245-0-61578400-1502319911_thumb.jpg

 

From what I gather, it's an all male club of aviators, who are primarily retired airline, military and freight pilots, as well as a few astronauts. You have to be invited to join, and you join for life!

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doinworkinvans

Killer!!!! Such a super group.... I had my eye on this a long while back but never could swing it. Glad it's in good hands. Thanks for presenting it so well.

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