Both sides of my family can boast their fair share of those who nobly served our nation in the armed forces. My late father was extremely proud of that fact, even though he wasn’t a veteran himself. The closest he came was being a member of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. My paternal grandfather, a Jamaican-born immigrant, served in the U.S. Army during World War I. After Pearl Harbor, my maternal grandfather ran away from an orphanage with his younger brother, lied about his age, and joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, serving in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater as a staff sergeant.

My dad told me that one of my cousins from my grandmother’s Colorado-rooted side of the family served as a Naval aviator aboard the USS Hornet. I also had a great uncle on my mother’s side who served in the Navy during WWII. Another uncle—like myself and my father, a proud A&M graduate—flew as a navigator on a WWII bomber and recorded more than 100 missions in Korea and Vietnam.

Given my family’s military background—which, by the way, has made holidays like Memorial Day and Veterans Day resonate more keenly in recent years—it’s no surprise my dad proudly told me about William L. Tingle, who went by Bill.

Since my father was born in 1941, he never knew his first cousin Bill, a copilot on a B-17 Flying Fortress, one of the most famous heavy bombers in history and a major factor in winning WWII. His airplane was shot down over Nazi-occupied France in 1942. Of the crew of 10, only four survived—and Tingle was not among them. I don’t recall much more than that, other than seeing his parents’ graves next to that of my father, grandparents, and my dad’s brother. I never gave him much thought when visiting the family plots at our south-side cemetery in San Antonio. That’s probably because I never realized Bill Tingle’s body, like so many who served in WWII, was never recovered from his ill-fated final mission.

• READ MORE: Remembering the Mighty Men of the 381st Bomb Group

According to Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency documentation, on October 21, 1942, First Lieutenant Tingle was aboard a B-17, the Francis X—named after the pilot, Second Lieutenant Francis X. Schwarzenbek—that took off from the British Royal Air Force Base in Polebrook, England, as one of 99 aircraft on a mission to destroy German submarine bases in Lorient, France. Only 18 of those bombers made it to the target because the rest were forced to turn back because of heavy cloud cover over the target. Tingle and Sergeant George Whitham Jr. were actually filling in for two members of Schwarzenbek’s crew.

Witnesses on the same mission said the Francis X was hit by enemy fire from a Focke-Wulf 190 fighter, fell out of formation, and went down in the Bay of Douarnenez. Four crewmembers managed to bail out and survived but were captured. The remains of the other six, including Tingle, were never located or identified because the heavy presence of German forces in the area prevented any search efforts. Postwar attempts to find the airplane’s actual crash site along its route, or any remains of the missing crewmembers, also proved unsuccessful.

I know all of this detail thanks to Nanis Gilmore.

In 2019, Gilmore, a 72-year-old retired registered nurse living in Vancouver, Washington, emailed me to ask if I was related to William L. Tingle. She informed me that her mother, the former Charlotte Elizabeth Teepell, married Bill Tingle in Tampa, Florida, in February 1942, just before he shipped out to England. Bill was killed a mere eight months later at the age of 25, leaving Charlotte a 27-year-old widow.

After Charlotte suffered a stroke in 2007, the family decided to move her to a care facility. In preparation for that, Gilmore was going through her mother’s belongings when she came across a box of love letters Charlotte received from Bill during the war. All the envelopes were addressed to Mrs. William L. Tingle, and the letters—all 71 of them—were neatly stowed away along with some other keepsakes, telegrams, and photo albums. When she was a teenager, Gilmore recalls stumbling across an 8-by-10-inch framed photo of Bill in uniform in a desk drawer and asking her mother, “Mom, who is this handsome man?”

• READ MORE: Downed WWII Lancaster Bomber Raised from Sea Floor

“[She was] fumbling a little bit [to answer] because she really hadn’t mentioned him before…[and said,] ‘Well, he was my first husband. He died in the war,’” said Gilmore, whose father, Merrill Gilmore, married Charlotte about five years after Bill’s death. “…It was hard for Mom to talk about. I think it speaks volumes that she carried that box of letters her entire life.”

It’s undoubtedly a common occurrence for those who represent what’s been aptly dubbed the “Greatest Generation.” There must have been untold instances of marriages taking place just before the soldier was called off to war.

One of the Francis X’s survivors, Sergeant Ned Herzstam, wrote a letter to George Randolph Tingle—Bill Tingle’s father and my great-great-grandfather—that Gilmore has graciously shared with me. The correspondence included a rough drawing of the B-17 crew positions aboard the aircraft.

“As you see [from the diagram], Bill had a [more] difficult escape passage than myself, [the] radio operator,” Herzstam said in his letter dated July 23, 1945. “However, the bombardier [Lieutenant Harry R.] Erickson survived and he reported that Bill was putting on his parachute, but had not started for the escape hatch at the time…Erickson bailed out. That is the only visual report there was about Bill. However, I believe I talked with him last as I was one of the last to leave the ship, and he was still there when I left. Mr. Tingle, your son was a real soldier and one of the few real officers it was a pleasure to serve [with]. I heard him talk under fire, and there was no trace of fear in his voice, always calm assurance. The last words I heard him say were, ‘We’re turning back for England.’…

“I landed about 5 miles offshore and was fortunate enough to be picked up by a French fishing boat. Of the five men that went out of my escape door, three lived [and] two drowned. By my diagram, you can see five go out the front hatch…of those five front men, only one is back home now, [Lieutenant] Erickson…and he told me he did not know if the other four ever got out of the ship. So Mr. Tingle, it is impossible to determine if Bill went down with the ship, drowned after parachuting, or was taken POW. Only one thing more, wherever he is now, rest assured you can always be proud of him. I am!”

Gilmore said Charlotte, who was living in Boston at the time of her husband’s last mission, went to live with Bill’s parents in San Antonio not long after he was declared missing in action to share in their grief.

“[My husband, Philip, and I] visited the house [at 201 Cloverleaf Avenue in March 2018] and sat outside with the current owner and chatted for quite some time,” she told me in one of the many emails we have exchanged about Bill and Charlotte’s brief life together. “He remembered the Tingles.”

Tingle’s name is enshrined on the Wall of the Missing, along with more than 5,000 MIA men and women—most of whom died in the Battle of the Atlantic or the strategic air bombardment of northwest Europe—at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial in England. My father had a marker erected for Bill at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio. Gilmore also shared with me the letter my father sent to her mother in 2003 to deliver that special news.

Inspired by her mother Charlotte, who died at age 94 in 2009, and Bill’s incredible love story, Gilmore visited the Cambridge memorial with her husband in 2019.

“The wall stretches a block in length,” Gilmore said. “It was, for me, overwhelming to see the names plus all the crosses in the field and to realize the enormous sacrifice made to win the war. It was an emotional experience when the superintendent of the memorial took us to where Bill’s name was on the wall and handed me an American and British flag [to take photos with].”

At Gilmore’s urging, my cousin Dr. Leslie E. Tingle, also an A&M alum and the eldest son of the decorated Air Force officer and late uncle, and I have submitted DNA samples to the Department of Defense Family Reference Database for use in the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory. It’s a service the government provides so that in case any remains are ever discovered during excavations of Europe’s beaches and battlefields, Bill Tingle might be able to be identified. According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, more than 72,000 service members remain unaccounted for from the WWII era.

“The journey to find Bill has been fascinating and very emotional at the same time,” Gilmore said. “I know my mom and Bill are together now, and I’d like to think that this search is somehow meaningful for them too.”

Before enlisting in 1941 and earning his wings at Brooks Field in San Antonio, Bill Tingle was “studying voice in Boston,” according to a three-paragraph article in the October 29, 1942, San Antonio Evening News with the headline: “1st Lt. W.L. Tingle Reported Missing in Action.” It was in Boston where Bill and Charlotte first met in 1941 as voice students, started dating, and fell in love.

It didn’t take me long to realize the little fact about “studying voice” near the end of the newspaper story helps to explain the closing of Herzstam’s letter to Bill’s father. It was clearly a nod to my distant cousin’s love for music and singing. In one of his final letters to Charlotte, Gilmore said he told his wife that he even led his bomber group—in need of a morale boost—in song because a scheduled vaudeville troupe was late for its performance.

“Well, I’ll end now with a thought [from a Christian Science hymnal] that proved helpful to me: ‘O’er waiting harpstrings of the mind, there sweeps a strain, low, sad, and sweet, whose measures bind the power of pain and wake a white-winged angel throng of thoughts illumined by faith and breathed in raptured song with love perfumed.’ A lot of Bill’s life was devoted to song and I’m sure he’d want you all to carry on this singing. — Respectfully, Ned.”

Respectfully, indeed. Rest in peace, Bill and Charlotte.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Plane & Pilot.

The post A War-Torn Tale of Love, Service appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The USAAC sent bids for such an aircraft to multiple manufacturers. The ensuing competition ultimately came down to three, each building three prototypes in 1939 for the contract. Bellanca responded with the YO-50, a high-wing taildragger with an enclosed tandem cabin powered by a 420-horsepower Ranger inverted V-12. Stinson responded with their L-1 Vigilant, an aircraft of similar design but with a more traditional 295-horsepower Lycoming radial engine.

Ryan’s offering was the YO-51 with a company name of “Dragonfly,” and it incorporated a few unique features that made it stand out from the other two contenders. Rather than being equipped with an enclosed and glazed cabin, the Ryan utilized an open cockpit beneath a parasol wing. While doing away with a cabin altogether makes for an effective observation platform by eliminating a number of blind spots, one wonders how effective the airplane would be in frigid northern climates with cold and fatigued crew members.

The Ryan’s landing gear was quite different from the others but nearly identical in design to the Storch. While the YO-51 differed by integrating the wing strut into the design, both the Ryan and the Storch utilized an extremely wide stance and long-travel suspension. In the case of the Storch, it provided a plush 16 to 18 inches of suspension travel to soak up all but the most violent landings. 

In addition to being a parasol design, the Ryan’s wing incorporated full-span leading-edge devices. Publications differ in their description of them, randomly referring to them as slots, which remain fixed in position, and slats, which move between retracted and extended positions in flight. The publications can perhaps be forgiven, however, as photos exist showing both variants installed on different YO-51s.

Ryan chose full-span Fowler flaps for the trailing edge, a then-revolutionary design utilized by Lockheed on the 14 Super Electra and later on most high-wing Cessna models. Notable for introducing primarily lift in the first segment of travel and then drag at higher settings, these flaps helped to enable exceptional STOL performance, particularly when they make up the entire trailing edge of the wing. To provide roll authority in the absence of traditional ailerons, Ryan equipped the YO-51 with roll-control spoilers.

To the delight of U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) maintenance technicians, Ryan eschewed inverted V engines and instead opted to use a common and known engine, the Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior radial. Producing 440 horsepower for the YO-51, this engine was also utilized in the Beech 17 and 18 as well as the de Havilland Beaver and Vultee BT-13 Valiant. With almost 40,000 built over the years, Ryan must have touted their engine choice as far more sensible than Bellanca’s.

The three YO-51s, wearing serial numbers 40-703, 40-704, and 40-705, first flew in 1940 and predicted performance was achieved in flight testing. Hard data is sparse, but multiple sources report the 4,200-pound airplane could take off in less than 100 feet and clear a 50-foot obstacle in slightly less than 500 feet. Landing over a 50-foot obstacle reportedly required 400 feet. 

When it came to speed, the complex wing enabled a broad operating range. Stall speed was reportedly only 30 mph, while cruise speed was a healthy 107 mph. These numbers were nearly identical to the Storch…and, perhaps not coincidentally, also nearly identical to the Bellanca and Stinson with which it was competing. 

During some of the first test flights, spectators were wowed by the performance. An article in a Ryan company newsletter reported that during one takeoff, the YO-51 “leaped into the air after a run of only 50 feet, pointed its nose at a 60-degree angle, rose almost vertically and remained virtually motionless over the airport.”

The March 15, 1940, edition of the Air Corps Newsletter described the YO-51’s flight capabilities in an even more colorful manner, observing, “The first model of the YO-51 has been grasshoppering in our midst and is doing things that have reduced our carefully nurtured conceptions of how an airplane flies to a pile of ashes.”

Despite such impressive grasshoppering, the USAAC competition was ultimately awarded to Stinson. During its production run, some 324 examples of the O-49 (later L-1) were built for the U.S. and the Royal Air Force.

Sadly, no trace of the three YO-51s nor the three Bellanca YO-50s remains today. One account reports that the three YO-51s were utilized as “ground instructional airframes,” and it’s likely that all six contenders were ultimately scrapped at some point thereafter. 

The post The Ryan YO-51 Wowed with STOL Performance appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Origins

Orville Wright made the world’s first controlled, powered, and sustained heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903. Less than four years later (August 1, 1907), the U.S. Army Signal Corps formed an Aeronautical Division. It was put in “charge of all matters pertaining to military ballooning, air machines and all kindred subjects,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The division was the first heavier-than-air military aviation organization in history and the beginning of what eventually became the U.S. Air Force. 

The Aeronautical Division purchased the first powered military aircraft from the Wright brothers in 1909, created aviation training schools, and started a pilot rating system. 

The 1st Aero Squadron comprised the “first military unit of the U.S. Army devoted exclusively to aviation,” as designated on December 8, 1913, according to Air Force Materiel Command. It was the U.S. Army’s first air combat unit. Now it’s known as the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, remaining active since its creation. 

Congress authorized the Signal Corps’ Aviation Section, and directed it to operate and supervise “all military aircraft, including balloons and aeroplanes, all appliances pertaining to said craft, and signaling apparatus of any kind when installed on said craft,” according to the Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA). It also would train “officers and enlisted men in matters pertaining to military aviation.”

When World War I began, the 1st Aero Squadron was the U.S. Army’s entire tactical air strength. Congress appropriated $500,000 for the Aviation Section on March 31, 1916. Influenced by the war, Congress appropriated over $13.6 million for military aeronautics and land acquisition for airfields on August 29, 1916. 

According to the Air Force Historical Research Agency, by October 1916, Aviation Section plans included 24 squadrons. By December, seven squadrons had been organized or were in process. Of the squadrons formed by early 1917, only the 1st Aero Squadron was fully organized and equipped when America entered the war on April 6, 1917.

World War I: United States Army Air Service 

The first U.S. aviation squadron entered combat in February 1918, staffed mostly by pilots who had previously volunteered with the French. American-trained squadrons soon joined the fighting.

Most American aviators flew French airplanes, since U.S. aircraft production was behind schedule. Training was hazardous, causing twice as many deaths as in combat. Additionally, “green” U.S. pilots faced experienced German pilots, resulting in heavy losses in early aerial combat.

The Aviation Section’s inefficiency mobilizing led President Wilson to transfer aviation responsibilities to the Secretary of War. 

Despite various challenges, American pilots steadily improved; 71 U.S. pilots shot down at least five aircraft, earning “ace” status. Eddie Rickenbacker led all Americans with 26 “kills.” U.S. aviators helped stall German offensives in spring 1918, and control the skies in final Allied offensives.

Air Service personnel engaged in combat between February and November 1918. On Armistice Day, 740 U.S. aircraft stood in front-line squadrons (about 10 percent of Allied aircraft). Despite its relatively small numbers, “the Air Service conducted 150 bombing attacks, dropped 138 tons of bombs, and downed over 750 enemy aircraft and 76 enemy balloons.”⁴ 

Demobilization and the 1920s

Pundits of the day called World War I “the war to end all wars,” and the U.S. government took that seriously. Between Armistice Day and June 30, 1920, officer strength plunged “from 19,189 to 1,168, and enlisted strength dropped from 178,149 to 8,428,” according to AFHRA.

“During most of the 1920s, the total offensive strength of the Air Service” in the continental U.S. was one pursuit, one attack, and one bombardment group, according to the AFHRA. The Panama Canal Zone and the Philippines each had one pursuit and one bombardment squadron; two squadrons of each type remained in Hawaii. 

The Air Service became the Air Corps through the Air Corps Act of 1926, but little else changed. The Air Corps had 919 officers and 8,725 enlisted men; its “modern aeronautical equipment” consisted of 60 pursuit planes and 169 observation airplanes, according to AFHRA. 

Despite limited funding, the Air Corps focused on setting new records in altitude, speed, endurance, and distance, helping focus the nation’s interest on the potential of military aviation and earning international prestige.

“Blind flying, aerial photography, and airborne communications,” took on critical importance, according to the National Museum of the United States Air Force. In addition, the Air Corps “flew forest-fire patrol and border patrol, crop dusted farm fields, bombed ice jams in swollen rivers, flew relief supplies into disaster areas, and dropped feed to snowbound livestock.”

War Clouds in Europe

During the 1920s and 1930s, U.S. aircraft manufacturers led the world in passenger aircraft development. In particular, numerous U.S. and foreign airlines purchased the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2 and DC-3. Meanwhile, Germany and Japan focused on building more powerful warplanes.  

Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937, with a clear advantage in aircraft and mechanized weapons. Germany “tested” its aircraft during the Spanish Civil War, assisting Nationalist forces under Francisco Franco. In September 1938, Luftwaffe aircraft supported German ground forces that occupied Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland. 

World War II began by most measures on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland using blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactics—coordinated aircraft, mechanized weapons, and infantry. 

President Franklin Roosevelt worried about the United States being drawn into the war. He also believed in the growing importance of airpower, and according to advisor Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt believed “that airpower would win it,” according to AFHRA.

President Roosevelt requested 10,000 airplanes for the Air Corps from Congress on January 12, 1939. On April 3, Congress authorized $300 million for an Air Corps “not to exceed 6,000 serviceable airplanes,” according to AFHRA, to make up for lost time.

World War II

Germany quickly conquered Poland, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France. Swift Nazi victories caused Congress to appropriate funds to improve and enlarge the U.S. armed forces. 

But when war began the Air Corps had only 800 first-line combat aircraft. U.S. fighter aircraft were inferior to those flown by the British, Germans, and Japanese. In late 1940, newspaper publisher Ralph Ingersoll visited England and wrote that the “best American fighter planes delivered to the British are used either as advanced trainers—or for fighting equally obsolete Italian planes in the Middle East.”

Plans were revised upward, to 84 combat groups with 7,800 aircraft and 400,000 troops by June 30, 1942. By the end of the war, the Army Air Forces (AAF)—established on June 20, 1941, by Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall—grew from 26,500 servicemen and 2,200 aircraft in 1939 to 2,253,000 servicemen and -women and 63,715 aircraft in 1945.

Expansion and Reorganization

The War Department began building bases and air organizations in the continental U.S. and overseas in 1939. During this expansion and reorganization, “the Hawaiian Air Force was activated on November 1, 1940, the Panama Canal Air Force on November 20, 1940, and the Alaskan Air Force on January 15, 1942,” according to AFHRA. (These subsequently became the Seventh, Sixth, and Eleventh Air Forces.)  

The War Department was reorganized on March 9, 1942, four months after Pearl Harbor. Three autonomous U.S. Army Commands were created: Army Ground Forces; Army Service Forces; and Army Air Forces. In September 1942, the First, Second, Third and Fourth Air Forces were created. 

By the end of the war, the USAAF had 16 numbered air forces (First through Fifteenth and Twentieth), distributed worldwide to prosecute the war, plus a general air force within the continental U.S. to support the whole and provide air defense.

Operational Summary

The Air Force Historical Studies Office (AFHSO) summarized the USAAF strategy during World War II:

“…the first priority [was] to launch a strategic bombing offensive in support of the RAF [Royal Air Force] against Germany. The Eighth Air Force, sent to England in 1942, took that job. After a slow and often costly effort to bring the necessary strength to bear, joined in 1944 by the Fifteenth Air Force stationed in Italy, strategic bombing finally began to get results, and by the end of the war, the German economy had been dispersed and pounded to rubble.

“Tactical air forces supported ground forces in the Mediterranean and European theaters. In the war against Japan, Gen. Douglas MacArthur made his advance along New Guinea by leapfrogging his air forces forward and using amphibious forces to open up new bases. The AAF also supported Adm. Chester Nimitz’s aircraft carriers in their island-hopping across the Central Pacific and assisted Allied forces in Burma and China.

“…the Twentieth Air Force [was] equipped with the new long-range B-29 Superfortresses used for bombing Japan’s home islands, first from China and then from the Marianas. Devastated by fire-raids, Japan was so weakened by August 1945 that [Gen. H.H.] Arnold believed neither the atomic bomb nor the planned invasion would be necessary. The fact that AAF B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrated what air power could do in the future.”

• READ MORE: FLYING CLASSICS: B-29 Superfortress 

USAAF Statistical Summary

AFHSO also provided the following information: 

• “USAAF incurred 12 percent of the Army’s 936,000 battle casualties. [A total of] 88,119 airmen died in service. Only the Army Ground Forces suffered more battle deaths. 

• “Total AAF aircraft losses from December 1941 to August 1945 were 65,164. The AAF is credited with destroying 40,259 aircraft of opposing nations.

• “Total sorties flown by the AAF were 2,352,800, with 1,693,565 flown in Europe-related areas and 669,235 flown in the Pacific/Far East.”

Demobilization 

As it had when World War I ended, U.S. armed forces immediately began a massive demobilization following the surrender of Germany on May 7, 1945, and Japan on August 15, 1945. In the AAF, “officers and enlisted were discharged, installations were closed, and aircraft were stored or sold,” according to AFHRA.

Between August 1945 and April 1946, AAF manpower fell from 2.25 million to 485,000, to 304,000 in 1947. AAF aircraft decreased from 79,000 to fewer than 30,000. Permanent AAF installations dropped from 783 to 177. Less than a year after war’s end (July 1946), only two of the 52 AAF active-duty units were combat-ready. 

In February 1946, General H.H. “Hap” Arnold, AAF commanding general, retired due to ill health. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz succeeded him, reorganizing the AAF into major commands not requiring a second restructuring once the Air Force became independent. Additionally, he restructured reserve components, including creating the Air National Guard in April 1946.

Reorganizing the U.S. Military

By April 11, 1945, 80 “key military and naval personnel” had been interviewed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Special Committee for the Reorganization of National Defense, according to history.defense.gov. Their recommendation? That U.S. armed forces should be organized into a single Cabinet department, and that “three coordinate combat branches—Army, Navy, and Air” comprise the operational services. The committee noted that the “statutory creation of a United States Air Force would merely recognize a situation that had evolved during World War II with the Army Air Forces.” The measure saw broad approval.

Nonetheless, the Navy Department opposed a single Department of Defense and creation of a separate Air Force during congressional hearings. On December 19, 1945 President Harry S. Truman declared his strong support for an air force, “reminding Congress that prior to the war independent Army and Navy departments had often failed to work collectively or in coordination to the best interest of the nation,” according to AFHRA.

An Independent Air Force

With President Truman’s endorsement, Congress enacted the National Security Act of 1947 on July 26, 1947. The Department of Defense, the United States Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency were established.

On September 18, 1947, Stuart Symington became the first secretary of the Air Force. This officially founded a new U.S. military branch. Gen. Spaatz became the U.S. Air Force’s first chief of staff on September 26, 1947, overseeing both the demobilization of the largest air force in military history and its rebirth as an independent branch. 

Legacy

“The Army Air Forces in World War II” is the official history of the AAF, stating, “By the close of the war [the AAF] had emerged as virtually a third independent service.” This was almost inevitable after the AAF became an autonomous U.S. Army Command in 1942. At its height, the AAF had more than 2.4 million people and 80,000 aircraft in service and flew more than 2.3 million missions during the war.

Today, the Air Force has over 300,000 active duty troops, with approximately 20,000 pilots, according to veteran.com.

Happy birthday, U.S. Air Force, and many more!

FLYING Classics thanks the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Materiel Command, the Council on Foreign Relations, military.com, the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the United States World War I Centennial Commission, veteran.com, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and of course the United States Air Force for information and photos that contributed to this article.

The post Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the U.S. Air Force appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Capt. Robert Rodenhouse, a B-29 pilot, recalled, “It just blew my mind. First of all its size, and then its capabilities. And to think that they could take an airplane, a bomber, and pressurize it so that we could feel the same at sea level as we did at 30,000 feet. And when I knew the range it was capable of, and the bomb load, I couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel.”

When the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) originally ordered B-29s, it planned to use them to bomb Nazi-held Europe. However, the B-29 served only in the Pacific; there, they delivered conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines and two nuclear weapons.

Background

In the mid-1930s, the USAAC sought a heavy bomber capable of flying 5,000 miles. The Boeing B-17 was the result; it had strength, firepower, speed, bomb load and altitude capability. However, it could not fully meet the design request—particularly in range. 

The range was needed because military strategists thought that the United States would be forced to fight Nazi Germany from American soil if Germany invaded England.

Maj. Gen.Henry H. “Hap” Arnold issued the order for the new bomber on November 10, 1939; RFPs were issued in February 1940. A new “very-heavy, very-long-range bomber to replace the B-17 and B-24” was needed.

• READ MORE: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Flight Aboard a B-29

The B-29’s Development

Four aircraft manufacturers—Boeing, Consolidated-Vultee, Douglas, and Lockheed—were asked to develop a prototype. Boeing had begun designing such an airplane in 1938, and immediately began revising its design to meet the new specifications. 

Only Boeing and Consolidated-Vultee developed flying prototypes; the USAAC decided on the Boeing design. A contract for two flyable prototypes was issued in September 1940, followed in April 1941 by another contract for 250 aircraft plus spare parts equivalent to 25 bombers (the contract was later amended to 500 B-29s). 

Among the B-29’s firsts:

• The heaviest production aircraft
• The first to have pressurized crew compartments
• Centralized/computerized fire control
• Bomb load capacity of 20,000 pounds
• Capable of flying 5,830 miles, with a top airspeed of 365 mph (317 knots) 

The earliest B-29s were built before testing was finished; therefore, the Army established “modification centers,” where last-minute changes could be made without slowing aircraft assembly lines.

Boeing innovated the long, narrow, high-aspect ratio wing equipped with large Fowler-style flaps, according to the Pacific War Online Encyclopedia. The wing design allowed the B-29 to cruise at high speeds and at high altitudes, but also to maintain good handling characteristics during slower takeoffs and landings. 

More revolutionary were the aircraft’s pressurized sections—the flight deck forward of the wing, the gunners’ compartment aft of the wing, and the tail gunner’s station. For the crew, flying above 18,000 feet msl was more comfortable because pressure and temperature were regulated. 

Except for its rear guns, all could be controlled remotely from any of the gunner stations, which were located away from turrets to isolate the gunners from noise and vibration. The B-29B was fitted with the AN/APG-15B airborne radar gun sighting system, mounted in the tail to help provide defense against night attacks.

For maximum streamlining, B-29s had two bomb bays to maintain a narrow fuselage. Six generators produced 54 kilowatts to power the B-29’s systems. Each airplane had an Eagle radar system to aid navigation and bombing accuracy. 

The first XB-29 prototype flew on September 21, 1942, from Boeing Field (now KBFI) in Seattle, followed by a second prototype by year’s end, and then 14 YB-29 service test models. (The second B-29 prototype crashed after two engines caught fire; the test crew and 20 people on the ground were killed.) 

Boeing built new B-29 facilities in Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas. Under license, Bell built B-29s in Marietta, Georgia, and Martin built them in Omaha, Nebraska. To build Curtiss-Wright R-3350 turbo supercharged engines, Curtiss-Wright and licensee Dodge significantly expanded, while thousands of sub-contractors delivered various components. 

Service in World War II

The first B-29s off the production line had numerous design flaws because 500 were ordered before the end of flight tests. 

Capt. Rodenhouse commented on the B-29’s problems. “We had trouble getting the bomb bay doors and landing gear to retract. The biggest problem was engine overheating. And that was so critical, because if an engine coughed or sputtered on a takeoff, you’d never make it; never get off the ground. And the plane was so overloaded that it would never be able to stop with its normal braking.”

Gen. Curtis LeMay led bomber groups in Europe; then in July 1944, was transferred to the China-Burma-India theater to command the 20th Bomber Command, the first to deploy B-29s. According to history.net, LeMay said that the B-29 “was the buggiest damn airplane that ever came down the pike.” 

After arriving at 20th Bomber Command, five B-29s crashed in two days; engine failure in the hot desert conditions was blamed. Engine fires during takeoff were the most dangerous flaw (due to magnesium alloy engine components used to save weight). Also, the airplanes’ fire extinguishing systems were woefully inadequate, failing to fully extinguish fires 87 percent of the time. 

By May 1944, 130 B-29s were operational. The first B-29 combat mission went after targets in Bangkok, Thailand, the longest raid of the war to date. Of the 100 B-29s, only 80 reached the target; the others returned to base due to mechanical issues. Bombing results were mediocre. 

The first bombing mission against the Japanese home islands since Doolittle’s Raid in April 1942 occurred on June 15, 1944. This was also the first mission launched from Chinese bases. The B-29s attacked iron and steel factories on Kyushu. Again, results were poor—only 47 of 68 aircraft reached their targets. 

Additionally, photo reconnaissance showed bombing accuracy (within 1,000 feet of the target) was only 12 percent during daylight precision raids in January 1945. By June, accuracy improved to 40 percent. 

However, for all of its flaws, the B-29 terrified the Japanese.

The United States captured Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the Mariana Islands in August 1944. Captured Japanese air bases were several hundred miles closer to Japan. The bases were repaired and improved. The 21st Bomber Command was established on those islands and began bombing Japan on November 24, 1944. 

The massive B-29s generated significant logistical burdens, however. Each flew about eight missions monthly; each mission consumed 6,400 gallons of gasoline and expended 8 tons of bombs per airplane. By June 1945, more than 100 cargo ships were needed to meet these logistical requirements.

A Change of Tactics

The high-altitude, precision bombing tactics of the 20th and 21st Bomber Commands had yielded poor results. High altitude winds over Japan were so strong that the B-29’s bombing computers could not compensate. Capt. Rodenhouse recalled, “If we were going with the jet stream, our bombs were over the target. If we were going against it, the bombs would fall short. After several missions a meteorologist went along; he determined the problem was a jet stream.” Additionally, the weather over Japan was generally so bad that visual target acquisition was rarely possible at high altitudes. 

In January 1945, LeMay took over 21st Bomber Command. For two months, crews flew similar high-altitude missions, achieving similar results. The bloody island battles were killing or wounding thousands of Americans, and kamikaze attacks caused casualties and sunk or damaged ships. Despite huge losses, the Japanese continued to fight. Therefore, LeMay decided on a risky strategy—B-29s would fly night bombing missions as low as 5,000 feet. 

Capt. Rodenhouse was shocked, and his reaction was echoed by many. “We thought they could throw the kitchen sink up there and hit us. Can you imagine flying a big four-engine bomber at 5,000 feet? Why, that was just unheard of! My crew said, ‘I think those generals lost their marbles.’”

Paradoxically, the B-29 was designed as a high-altitude weapons platform. But its greatest successes came at low altitudes. The new plan allowed each B-29 to carry more bombs. Night missions meant that remaining Japanese fighters were avoided. Therefore, most gunners were left behind, which meant more bombs—including incendiaries. 

Incendiaries contained gelatinized gasoline (napalm). When an incendiary bomb hit, napalm started fires that spread quickly and were almost impossible to extinguish. Ensuing fires became infernos. For example, on March 10, 1945, 300 B-29s dropped nearly 250,000 incendiaries on Tokyo. As many as 100,000 Japanese died, almost 16 square miles of the city were destroyed, and a million people were left homeless. 

In similar raids, much of Japan’s remaining industrial and economic infrastructure was devastated. 

The Atomic Bombs

Late in 1944, USAAF leaders chose the Martin plant to produce a squadron of B-29s codenamed SILVERPLATE. These B-29s were modified significantly; except in the tail, all gun turrets were removed, armor plate was jettisoned, electric propellers were installed, and bomb bays were modified to hold the highly secret atomic bomb. 

Despite the devastating bombing raids and ongoing defeats of the Japanese army and navy, Japan continued to fight. Those planning the invasion of Japan calculated that the U.S. would suffer as many as 1 million casualties.

Harry S. Truman had been president only since April 12, 1945, following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Truman made the difficult decision to drop an atomic bomb on Japan to end the war. On August 6, 1945, Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., in command of the Superfortress Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. 

Three days later (after no word from the Japanese), Maj. Charles W. Sweeney piloted the B-29 Bockscar, dropping the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Finally, on August 14, 1945, the Japanese accepted Allied terms for unconditional surrender.

Post-World War II and the Korean War

Following the war, B-29s were adapted for other functions, including in-flight refueling, anti-submarine patrol, weather reconnaissance, and search and rescue duty.

The last of 3,970 B-29s was built in 1946. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, B-29s served as “motherships” for research aircraft. Among the aircraft launched from a B-29 was the Bell X-1, Chuck Yeager’s first supersonic flight. The B-29 design also was modified as the B-50 bomber, which debuted in 1947.

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950; B-29s returned to strategic daylight-bombing missions. The few strategic targets and industries in North Korea were quickly destroyed. B-29s flew more than 20,000 sorties, dropped almost 200,000 tons of bombs and downed 27 enemy airplanes. The bombers were effective throughout the war; however, they were vulnerable to attacks by MiG-15 jet fighters.

As the war wound down, most B-29s were taken out of combat except some RB-29s, according to the Korean War Educator. The website states, “Other B-29s were redesignated as Training (TB-29), Photo Recon (RB-29), Air-Sea Rescue (SB-29) and Refueling/tanker (KB-29).”

Legacy

The last B-29 in squadron use was retired from service in September 1960. By then, the U.S. Air Force was primarily jet-propelled.

Despite its shortcomings, the B-29 could carry more payload and fly faster and at higher altitudes than other Allied bombers. The aircraft were a huge and expensive gamble—the program cost $3 billion ($50.5 billion today)—more than the $2 billion spent on the Manhattan Project, which developed the nuclear bomb. 

Questions then and since were raised regarding the B-29’s cost-effectiveness. Each cost over $500,000 to build—five times the cost of a Lancaster, a British heavy bomber. Each airplane required 13 tons of aluminum, half a ton of copper, 600,000 rivets, 9.5 miles of wiring, and 2 miles of tubing. To keep a B-29 flying required 74 relief and ground crew members. 

B-29s were judged a failure in their original roles as conventional high-altitude daylight strategic bombers. They were much more successful as low-altitude night bombers. However, the use of B-29s as the world’s first nuclear bombers likely muted more intense criticism of the program. 

FLYING Classics thanks Boeing, Korean War Educator, the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the National World War II Museum, the Pacific War Online Encyclopedia, Public Broadcasting System’s “The American Experience,” the Smithsonian Institution, warbirdalley.com, and others for information and photographs used in this article.

Specifications

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Armament

Production

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