B-29 Vet

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Frank enlisted in 1940. Stationed in India, he was assigned as a flight engineer for a B-29 of the 44th Bomber Group. Throughout the war Frank flew 35 missions; 14 of those bombing missions over Japan. Frank’s B-29 first bombed Japan in 1944, one year after Frank had been commissioned as an officer. Some of the missions he described included firebombing Tokyo and Kobe. He also mentioned placing mines in a Bangkok inlet. Frank said when they flew over the inlet Japanese soldiers in boats started firing at the plane. His co-pilot (later pilot for the last three missions) was James Gallagher; who flew the first non-stop flight around the world. On one mission Frank’s B-29(a prototype at the time) got shot up really bad. During the course of the mission they lost three of their gunners to shrapnel. The crew was forced to land in an emergency airfield in China. Unfortunately there was another B-29 blocking the runway so they were forced to land in a rice paddy. Frank commented that when they landed Chinese civilians came and covered up the plane with straw. They did this because they didn’t want the Japanese in the nearby village to know that they were helping the Americans. The civilians had learned after Doolittle’s raid (where the B-25 crews were executed along with the Chinese who helped them) that they need to be more secretive. The Chinese hid the crew in a temple until they could be evacuated by C-46’s. The three gunners were replaced by gunners who parachuted out of a B-29 that split in half during flight. One story that made me laugh was when he told about how their command sent them on a 19 hour flight just to see if the weather was alright for a later bombing mission. Frank’s last mission took place July of 1945. During his service he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and four Air Medals.

 

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