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Commemorating
the Sunday, July 27, 2003,
marked the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Korean War. FlightSim.Com is
commemorating that event with an exclusive article series by Clyde Durham.
Tailgunner Clyde served a long and distinguished career in the United
States Air Force that included a six month tour of duty in
Korea. During those months,
Mr. Durham flew hair-raising missions in the B-29s that survived withering
flak and dodged hostile fighters over MiG Alley to pound the North Korean
forces during the war. This is the second in a series of articles that
chronicle his Korean War Tour of Duty.
Mr. Durham is a
frequent contributor to FlightSim.Com. His most recent article
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The aircraft first assigned to us was one named Apache.
She was the B-29 with the sexiest nose art in the unit that featured a scantily
clad and gorgeous Native American woman perched on a tom-tom. She was a
veteran warrior, We got word of our assignment shortly before lunch one day.
After chow we went to the squadron area and found Apache. Her regular
crew was flying a mission that night and the hot guns position showed the
gunners had already completed their preflight and left the hardstand.
We learned from a member of Apache's ground crew that the mission that night was to be the last of that flight crew's tour. The next day they would begin processing for their return to the USA. Our crew was next in line to put Apache on the warpath again. We hung around the hardstand for awhile, took some photos and visited with a couple of guys on the ground crew. They were very proud of their airplane.
The next morning we got the grim news. Apache had gone down the night before with the loss of all crewmembers. The crew of the plane following Apache in the bomber stream told the sad tale of Apache's last mission.
Apache had passed the IP and was on the bomb run. The crew following them said that Apache was maybe half way between the IP and the bomb release point when suddenly the night sky was lit up by a gigantic fire ball. Apache had suffered a direct flak hit and the 20,000 pounds of bombs and 3,000 gallons of high-octane fuel exploded. The airplane and her entire crew were instantly vaporized in the monstrous explosion.
Two days later we were assigned Top Of The Mark.
This B-29 was named after the cocktail lounge on the top of the world famous
Mark Hopkins hotel in
Our fourth combat mission on
We took off on this particular mission grossing 140,000 pounds, which was normal for all our missions. The original B-29 design called for a maximum gross takeoff weight of just 120,000 pounds. We had the usual bomb load of fourty 500-pounders (twenty in each bomb bay) and every pound of fuel we could cram in.
Normal procedure was to fly from
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The Wright R-3350 "Cyclone" was one of the most powerful radial aircraft engines produced in the United States. The first R-3350 was run in May 1937. Later versions of this engine remained in production into the 1950s. Thousands were built to power both military and commercial aircraft during this time. Its first major military use was in the Boeing B-29 during World War II. Subsequent versions were used in the C-119, C-121, A-1 Skyraider, and several Navy and commercial aircraft. The R-3350 is a twin row, supercharged, air-cooled, radial engine with 18 cylinders and a displacement of 3,350 cubic inches. Horsepower ranges from 2,200 to over 2,800, depending on the model. |
Almost the entire length of this mission was flown on three engines. There is a reason why they hung four of those 2,200 HP Wright-Cyclones on a B-29. Lose one, and this magnificent flying beast will still take you to the target and safely back to base. These aircraft were a flying testament to the brilliance of American design, the innovation of our engineering, the quality of our manufacturing and the dedicated craftsmanship of the men and women who built them.
The AC decided to divert to the secondary target and
bomb from as high as we could get which was somewhere near 6,000 feet. The
secondary was just over the 38th parallel in
Our AC was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for this and the other 10 of us were rewarded by aging a few years each in a matter of hours.
Several missions later we were presented with the opportunity to duplicate the three-engine mission feat. We lost an engine about 30 minutes after take off and the AC again decided to go for it on three. This time his/our luck didn't hold. Shortly after shutting down the first engine, another one began running rough. Just before feathering the prop on the second bad engine we quickly dumped our bombs in the ocean (we hadn't even armed them yet) and made a 180-degree turn and headed back to Kadena.
We made it back, declared an emergency and made a
straight-in approach to Kadena on just the two remaining engines. We landed
without any further incidents and taxied up to our hardstand. Our ground crew
had been alerted and was waiting for us. Tears were running down the cheeks of
the crew chief, a Master Sergeant veteran of WWII. He said this was the first
abort of a combat mission for Top Of The Mark in almost 100 scheduled
combat flights dating back to
Flying Top of The Mark through
a typhoon.One of my most unusual, and sometimes scary, times was
one in which the B-29 we were in never left the ground. Typhoons hit
But one time, for some reason unknown to me, we and our
planes were still on the ground at Kadena when a typhoon hit the island. As
usual it was raining so hard you felt as though you were under water. I was born
and raised in
We got word at the barracks for the left and right gunner and the flight engineer of all crews to report to their aircraft immediately bringing every thing we normally took on a mission except the flak vests.
When we got to Top Of The Mark the rain was getting heavier and the wind stronger. Our AC and pilot had just gotten there and they told us what we'd be doing for the next 24 hours or so.
The five of us, along with three or four of our ground crew, would quickly preflight and board the aircraft. We would then start the engines and fly the plane on the ground, keeping it headed directly into the teeth of the typhoon. Controls were unlocked, engines were running and the AC and pilot were using the flight controls as though we were airborne. On occasional trips to the cockpit I observed the air speed indicator touching on close to 150 knots and blipping higher while we weren't moving more than a foot or two at the most backward or forward. They controlled that with the throttles.
I found out this was a technique developed late in WWII when there were hundreds and hundreds of B-29s in the Far East theatre of operations and the only bases large enough to handle the big bombers were crammed with them, leaving no place to go when a typhoon hit.
We spent about 24 hours at this, getting a few breaks when the wind lessened and later when the eye of the typhoon passed over the island. It was one of the stranger experiences I ever had involving a B-29 but it saved our aircraft when the potential for large damage was clearly there. Only minor damage occurred to any of our planes, mostly when the savage winds blew objects into a plane.Our combat missions averaged about nine and a half hours
flying time with our longest being 12 hours, and the shortest
Anti-aircraft fire was another story. Depending on the
target, the enemy's radar- controlled guns and searchlights ranged from very
light to very heavy. From our crew's point of view our worst mission was our
18th, on
A total of 45, B-29s made up the main bomber force.
Three B-29s attacked before the main force hit, dropping airburst bombs in a
flak-suppression role. After that attack, they orbited the area above the main
force using electronic countermeasures (ECM) against the radar-controlled guns
and lights. In addition, seven B-26s flew low-level searchlight suppression
attacks prior to the main force attack.
Our aircraft was well back in the main bomber stream. We were flying for the first time since Top Of The Mark had been sent back to the states. Our aircraft was a recently reconditioned B-29 fresh from the states and this was its first flight since arriving at Kadena.
The aircraft was in good shape but it felt very strange
after flying Top Of The Mark on every combat mission and training hop for
over four months. On this mission our bombing altitude was 27,500 feet, the
highest of any of our missions over
As we turned on the IP, we could see the lights and guns picking up each B-29 as it neared the target area. When we closed on the target, we began picking up anti-aircraft fire and searchlights. At first they weren't close but they rapidly began getting our range, speed and altitude. We could hear shrapnel rattling on the skin of the airplane. Suddenly, the searchlights locked on us. We immediately felt naked and exposed, as though the whole world was looking at us. The interior of our B-29 was brighter than full daylight.
Just a few minutes from the bomb release point we felt, heard and saw a huge explosion in the left wing near the rear of number one engine nacelle. A large stream of smoke poured back from number one engine and the left wing went up and the right down from the force of the explosion. I reported the smoke just as another explosion hit us on the underside of the plane between the lower aft turret and the tail compartment. This was immediately followed by a flak burst under the right wing. The second and third hits were not as strong as the first one but they were strong enough to get our attention.
We were locked in searchlights and the anti-aircraft guns were right on our altitude and course. The AC gave the order to salvo the bombs so we could get the hell out of there! The bombardier had a salvo switch in the nose and we had one in the gunner's compartment. Capt. Mohr immediately hit his switch and nothing happened. The CFC gunner had climbed down from his position and flipped our switch. Still, not a single bomb dropped. This is what's known as a very high pucker moment.
We were still locked in lights and catching shrapnel.
The AC gave the order to prepare to bail out. The next command would be,
"Bail out!" We were deep in
It has taken a lot longer to read all this than it took for it to happen. The actual time could be measured in seconds. Fortunately we never got the final bailout command. Suddenly, one of the salvo switches worked and all 40 of our 500-pounders dropped instantly. Relieved of that 20,000 pounds of weight in a split second, the B-29 surged several hundred feet upward. At the same time, the AC racked the plane hard over on its left wing and into a sharp descent. We lost three or four thousand feet very quickly. The searchlights and guns left us far behind. The AC quickly began a crew check as he leveled off and no one had a scratch!
The aircraft was not so lucky. Smoke was still streaming back from the left wing. The flight engineer, in checking his instrument panel, reported an almost total loss of fuel from number one wing tank. We realized then that it was vaporized fuel and not smoke that had been streaming back from engine number one. The miracle was there was no explosion after the hit and no huge fireball to consume our bomber.
With all the fuel lost from that tank we didn't have
enough remaining to get back to
Itazuki was a jet fighter base. A lot of the F-86
Sabre jet pilots were kidding our AC and pilot. They complained that our big old
obsolete bomber was tarnishing the reputation of their sleek jet fighters just
by sitting there with them on the ramp. Capt. Locker and Lt. King suggested
those fighter boys come watch us take off in that big old bird. The next day at
1000 hours, 20 or 30 fighter pilots and assorted personnel were on the ramp
watching our engine start up.
The main runway at Itazuki was about 8 or 10,000 feet.
The B-29 we were flying back to Kadena was relatively light. No bombs, no
ammunition, only enough fuel to get us home and just our parachutes and the
weight of the crew. After engine run-ups and checks. Locker positioned the B-29
at the very end of the runway. He held the brakes and applied takeoff power to
those big radials. He let the plane shudder and shake until he was assured he
had maximum RPM. Then he released the brakes. That light B-29 surged down the
runway and about the halfway point he pulled it off the ground. With just 10
feet of altitude, he gave the gear-up command. The gear sucked up and he held
the plane just a few feet off the ground for the last half of the runway. Just
as we neared the end of the runway he pulled the wheel back and began a pretty
sharp left turn. He got up to a couple hundred feet and roared over the
assembled pilots on the ramp. I looked down and saw big grins and waves as we
passed over them. Locker said, That ought to show those guys what a real
airplane can do.
A hair-raising tailgunner mission, dam-busting on the Yalu River, as this Korean War Tour of Duty series continues. Read it here.
Cgbsdurham@aol.com
Click
here to read Part 1 of this series.