Whirlwind

by Barrett Tillman

  88 “I’m in sharp disagreement”: Wilbur H. Morrison, Point of No Return (New York: Playboy, 1979), 167.

  90 “In my opinion”: Wesley F. Craven and James L. Cate, The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 5: The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), 601.

  91 One flier survived: http://216.219.175.113/73bw/bartlett/bartlett1.html.

  92 “About 50 lights”: http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4501a.html.

  92 Brigadier General J. H. Davies: Sixty-three years later there was still uncertainty about Davies’s given name. Social Security records and his Air Force biography state “James” but nearly all wartime documents—including some released on his authority—are “John.” His nicknames were “Skippy” and “Big Jim.” The urn containing his ashes in Oakland, California, is unmarked so the contradiction remains irreconcilable.

  92 “Boy that’s”: Lawrence S. Smith, 9th Bombardment Group (VH) History (Princeton: 9th Bomb Group Association, 1995), 191.

  92 “Sergeant Owens was”: http://www.philcrowther.com/6thBG/6bgcrewg00.html.

  93 “didn’t need”: Curtis E. LeMay and MacKinlay Kantor, Mission with LeMay: My Story (New York: Doubleday, 1965), 339.

  93 “This was a nail biter”: http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4501b.html.

  95 “If I ever get out”: “Flak Alley,” http://mypages.cityhighflash.com/flakalley.html. And “Now It Can Be Told,” http://www.geocities.com/twincousin2334/Mission_Log.html.

  95 Irish Lassie: Koji Takaki and Henry Sakaida, B-29 Hunters of the JAAF (London: Osprey, 2001), 76–77.

  96 Fifty-five years later: “Enemies Then, Friends Now,” http://home.att.net/~sallyann5/b29/enemy-friend1.html.

  97 By month’s end: Hansell’s official Air Force biography at http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=5693.

  97 “If you don’t succeed”: LeMay and Kantor, Mission with LeMay, 367.

  98 When LeMay obtained: Ibid., 340.

  98 “a real training job”: Ibid., 342.

  99 “a capable scientific type”: Ibid., 345.

  99 From Guam to Tokyo: Analysis of 8th Air Force missions to Berlin, http://www.303rdbg.com/missions.html.

  100 Nevertheless, with the new 313th Wing’s: XXI Bomber Command mission summary, 10 February 1945.

  101 “with diabolical frequency”: LeMay and Kantor, Mission with LeMay, 344.

  102 McElroy was unique: Morrison, Point of No Return, 187; Virgil Morgan, 6th Bomb Group Association, e-mail to author, February 2008.

  102 In all, 202 bombers: Craven and Cate, The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 5: The Pacific, 573; Coox, Japan, 23.

  103 “meager”: Ray Brashear diary, February 25, 1945; Ed McElroy to Virgil Morgan e-mail, February 2008.

  103 “a test incendiary mission”: Werrell, Blankets of Fire, 151.

  103 “a necessary preparation”: Ibid.

  104 “You know General Arnold”: LeMay and Kantor, Mission with LeMay, 347.

  104 “being a little unorthodox”: Ibid., 348.

  CHAPTER FOUR: FROM THE SEA

  Page

  107 The fleet’s striking arm: Samuel Eliot Morison, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 14: Victory in the Pacific (Boston: Little, Brown, 1960), 25.

  109 Rear Admiral William A. Moffett: William F. Trimble, Admiral William A. Moffett: Architect of Naval Aviation (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993).

  109 Between 1914 and 1923: Naval Historical Center, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r4/reeves-ii.htm.

  110 Essex class carrier: Seventeen Essexes were commissioned between December 1942 and June 1945, and despite service in three wars, none was ever sunk. Eleven of the total twenty-four served into the 1970s, including USS Lexington (CV-16), which remained the Navy’s training carrier until 1991.

  111 “He wasn’t real bright”: Rear Admiral James D. Ramage, USN (Ret), to author, 1990.

  112 Task Force 58: Location of U.S. Naval Aircraft, 20 February 1945, distributed by U.S. Navy, copy in author’s collection.

  112 “We were invited”: Barrett Tillman and Jan Jacobs, “The Wolf Gang: A History of Carrier Air Group 84,” The Hook, August 1990, 81.

  113 “During the period 9 March 1945”: Commander, Air Group 6, report in War History of USS Hancock, 12 October 1945, http://www.usshancock association.org/wwii%20history-3.html.

  113 “The relationship”: E-mail to author from Bob Kettenheim, USS Shangri-La Association, 2008.

  114 “The maps”: Commander Willis E. Hardy, USN (Ret), e-mail to author, January 2008.

  114 “but plans were aborted”: USS Yorktown pilot Robert S. Rice correspondence, December 6, 1976.

  115 “dark and icky”: Jim Pearce, A 20th Century Guy (Goodyear, AZ: Steiner Associates, 2007), 152.

  115 “The attack of the 16th”: Masatake Okumiya and Jiro Horikoshi with Martin Caidin, Zero: The Story of Japan’s Air War in the Pacific (New York: Bantam, 1991), 330.

  116 “pedestrian”: Rear Admiral Roger Hedrick (Ret), commanding officer of VF-84, to author, 1990.

  117 “a genius in the air”: Henry Sakaida, Winged Samurai: Saburo Sakai and the Zero Fighter Pilots (Mesa, AZ: Champlin Museum Press, 1985), 122.

  117 “a friendly and cheerful ace”: Ikuhiko Hata and Yasuho Izawa, Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in World War II (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1989), 250.

  117 “the toughest fighter pilot”: Sakaida, Winged Samurai, 122.

  117 His wife, Kiyoko: Ibid., 123.

  118 “The apron was packed”: Robert S. Rice correspondence to author, December 6, 1976.

  118 “The old lesson”: Clark G. Reynolds, The Fast Carriers: The Forging of an Air Navy (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968), 333.

  118 “We, being high cover”: Commander Willis E. Hardy, USN (Ret), e-mail to author, January 2008.

  119 But it appears: Henry Sakaida e-mail to author, April 2008.

  120 “We appeared to be floating”: Donald A. Pattie, To Cock a Cannon: A Pilot’s View of World War II (Zephyrhills, FL: Pattie Properties, 1983), 111.

  120 “Looming out of the carpet”: Ibid.

  121 “It was not”: Ibid., 112.

  121 “We bore down”: Ibid., 113.

  122 “On straight-deck carriers”: Captain Wally Schirra (Ret) to author, 1995. Schirra flew off carriers from 1947 to 1958 before becoming an astronaut.

  123 In all, during two days: Morison, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 14: Victory in the Pacific, 25. February aircraft acceptances: Barrett Tillman, Corsair: The F4U in WW II and Korea (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1979), 203.

  123 Actual Japanese aerial losses: Okumiya and Horikoshi, Zero, 330. Respective air combat claims: Hata and Izawa, Japanese Naval Aces, 432.

  125 some 800 men were killed: Franklin’s death toll usually is given as 724, apparently due to incomplete accounting by Captain Leslie Gehres. Franklin historian Joseph Springer cites 798 from 3,348 aboard.

  127 “the cream”: VMF-123 action report, 19 March 1945.

  129 “I was armed”: Tillman and Jacobs, “The Wolf Gang,” 81.

  131 Two days’ claims: Hata and Izawa, Japanese Naval Aces, 432. Polmar, 474, cites 482 air and ground claims combined.

  133 “You began to realize”: Captain Armistead B. Smith III to author, c. 1979.

  CHAPTER FIVE: FIRESTORM

  Page

  134 A small AAF support unit: Kenneth P. Werrell, Blankets of Fire: U.S. Bombers over Japan During World War II (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996), 149.

  135 “Whenever I land”: Samuel Eliot Morison, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 14: Victory in the Pacific (Boston: Little, Brown, 1960), 75.

  135 “We must seek”: Wilbur H. Morrison, Point of No Return: An Epic Saga of Disaster and Triumph (New York: Playboy, 1979), 190.

  136 “For almost a week”: Ralph H. Nutter, With the Possum and the Eagle: The Memoir
of a Navigator’s War (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2005), 243.

  137 “a helluva lot worse”: Morrison, Point of No Return, 191.

  138 Probably the most innovative concept: C. V. Glines, “The Bat Bombers,” Air Force, October 1990.

  138 In order to determine: Stephen Budiansky, Air Power (New York: Viking, 2004), 336–37.

  139 Napalm was developed: “The Man Who Invented Napalm,” Time, January 5, 1968, http://web.archive.org/web/20050312093403/http://moderntimes.vcdh.virginia.edu/PVCC/mbase/docs/napalm.html.

  139 The third incendiary weapon: John W. Mountcastle, Flame On! U.S. Incendiary Weapons, 1918–1945 (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane, 1999), 109–111.

  140 “It made a lot of sense”: Thomas R. Searle, “The Fire Bombing of Tokyo in March 1945,” Journal of Military History, January 2002, 115–16.

  140 “it was necessary”: Ronald Schaffer, Wings of Judgment: American Bombing in World War II (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 109.

  140 “The panic side”: Ibid., 118.

  141 The first firestorm: Francis K. Mason, Battle over Britain (New York: Doubleday, 1969), 473–74.

  142 That same year: Taschenbuch f. Deutsche Polizei/Feuerwehr u. Feuerschutzpolizei, Berlin, 1941, Axis History Forum, http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=130909&sid=706355c2f36b40c988557b27c42864c6&p=1190967#p1190967.

  143 As was often the case: F. J. Bradley, No Strategic Targets Left (Nashville: Turner, 1999), 34.

  143 “by ritual”: John Costello, The Pacific War (New York: Rawson, Wade, 1981), 549.

  143 “Men were recruited”: Horatio Bond, ed., Fire and the Air War (Boston: National Fire Protection Association, 1946), 152.

  144 By contrast: “New York City 1945 Annual Report: Fire Extinguishing Force,” courtesy Ed Fahey, November 2007.

  144 “large equipment”: Bond, Fire and the Air War, 155.

  145 “The common portable”: Ibid., 156.

  145 As an island nation: Ibid., 155; “Proud History: FDNY Fireboat Fleet,” http://www.fireboat.org/history/fleetlist.asp.

  146 “totally inadequate”: Attaché Report No. 161-40, September 30, 1940, http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:E_riunEJFGwJ:www.alanarmstronglaw.com/187.pdf+%22important+bombing+objectives%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us.

  146 “The reason”: Assistant Chief of Air Staff–Intelligence, HQ AAF, Mission Accomplished: Interrogations of Japanese Industrial, Military, and Civil Leaders, Washington, DC, 1946, 29.

  146 “the library Obunko”: Alvin Coox, Japan: The Final Agony (New York: Ballantine, 1970), 24.

  147 “once the gayest”: John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945 (New York: Random House, 1970), 834.

  148 “Night incendiary”: “56 Years Ago Today,” http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4503a.html.

  148 “fiery pancakes”: “Incendiary Jelly,” Time, April 2, 1945.

  148 “Bright flashes”: Robert Guillain, in Costello, The Pacific War, 550.

  150 Nearly 100 fire trucks: Richard Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire (New York: Random House, 1999), 8.

  150 “The key to survival”: Ibid., 9.

  150 “The whole spectacle”: Martin Caidin, A Torch to the Enemy (New York: Ballantine, 1961), 141.

  151 “like match sticks”: Toland, The Rising Sun, 836.

  151 “the hellfire began”: Frank, Downfall, 9.

  152 “like a cork”: Gordon Bennett Robertson, Jr., Bringing the Thunder: The Missions of a World War II B-29 Pilot (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole, 2006), 10.

  153 “Stacked up corpses”: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fire_raids_on_japan.htm.

  153 “Red fire clouds”: Mission Accomplished, 24.

  153 fewer than 1,300 deaths: Frank, Downfall, 17. The actual death toll remains unknown. Authorities reckoned 83,793 dead but the uncounted missing could have raised the figure to 100,000.

  154 “The effect of incendiary bombing”: Mission Accomplished, 73.

  154 “It was the great incendiary attacks”: Ibid., 49.

  155 “Looked as though”: http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4503a.html.

  156 “This is a significant”: Lawrence S. Smith, 9th Bombardment Group (VH) History (Princeton: 9th Bomb Group Association, 1995), 133.

  157 “It became apparent”: Mission Accomplished, 24.

  157 “After the first B-29 raid”: John W. Mountcastle, Flame On! U.S. Incendiary Weapons, 1918–1945 (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane, 1999), 112.

  157 In one ward alone: Coox, Japan, 24, 28.

  158 “I felt nauseated”: Fusako Sasaki in http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fire_raids_on_japan.htm.

  159 “pinpricks”: F. J. Bradley, No Strategic Targets Left (Nashville: Turner, 1999), 60.

  159 “a swarm of interceptors”: 39th Bomb Group (VH) history, http://39th.org/39TH/aerial/61st/crew34.html.

  160 “Shortly afterwards”: 873rd Bomb Squadron history, http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4504b.html.

  160 Whether the serious U.S. naval losses: Morison, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 14: Victory in the Pacific, 233.

  160 twenty American ships: Ship losses March 27 to May 11 compiled from ibid., 390–92. The figures for the periods before and after the B-29 strikes totaled thirty-five ships sunk or permanently disabled in eighty-seven days, or 0.4 ship per day.

  161 “These airfields”: Bradley, No Strategic Targets Left, 60.

  162 “How they got the ships”: Morrison, Point of No Return, 197.

  164 One crew was lost to ramming: Koji Takaki and Henry Sakaida, B-29 Hunters of the JAAF (London: Osprey, 2001), 97.

  165 “One morning in mid-April”: http://www.40thbombgroup.org/.

  165 His crew was a well-drilled team: Author correspondence with Henry E. Erwin, Sr., 2000.

  167 He believed to the end: Author interview with Senator Henry E. Erwin, Jr., December 2004.

  167 “We received the news”: Robertson, Bringing the Thunder, 171.

  168 “undiscriminating bombing”: “56 Years Ago Today,” http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4505a.html.

  168 “not at present”: Toland, The Rising Sun, 919.

  168 “swell fires”: Navigator’s notes, 499th Bomb Group, 23–24 May 1945.

  169 “When crews returned”: Wilbur H. Morrison, Point of No Return: An Epic Saga of Disaster and Triumph (New York: Playboy Press, 1979), 209.

  169 “Tokyo just isn’t”: “56 Years Ago Today,” http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4505b.html.

  169 “As I ran”: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fire_raids_on_japan.htm.

  169 “a netherworld scene”: http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4505b.html.

  170 “If you are shot down”: Costello, The Pacific War, 548.

  171 “May 25 was”: Halloran account, http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4505b.html.

  171 subjected to vivisection: Thomas Easton, “Japan Admits Dissecting WW II POWs,” Baltimore Sun, May 28, 1995, http://home.comcast.net/~winjerd/Page05.htm.

  172 The most egregious sanctioned murders: Mark Landas, The Fallen: A True Story of American POWs and Japanese Wartime Atrocities (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2004), 116, 167, 251. Though few Japanese were hanged for crimes committed in Japan, 920 war criminals were executed, mostly for atrocities in other areas. Some notorious offenses went unindicted because Western law had no proscriptions for cannibalism.

  172 That left 283 Americans: Toru Fukubayashi in Takaki and Sakaida, B-29 Hunters of the JAAF, 114.

  172 “The time to get captured”: Bataan Death March symposium, Arizona Military Museum, Phoenix, AZ, 1993.

  173 “considered to be futile”: Coox, Japan, 36.

  CHAPTER SIX: PACIFIC PONIES

  Page

  175 “Mickey” Moore was typical: Major General Ernest M. Moore (Ret) correspondence
with author, 1975.

  175 “Iwo was perhaps”: Crim correspondence with author, 1976.

  176 “When the war ended” and following: Ibid.

  177 Taking one navy fighter squadron as an example: Data from Hikotai 407, Naval Air Group 221, Luzon, November 1944, compiled from information courtesy of Richard L. Dunn.

  178 “We spotted the enemy planes”: Henry Sakaida, Imperial Japanese Navy Aces, 1937–45 (London: Osprey, 1998), 79.

  179 In some twenty encounters: 343rd Air Group data compiled from Henry Sakaida and Koji Takaki, Genda’s Blade: Japan’s Squadron of Aces (UK: Surrey, 2003).

  180 “I don’t believe” and following: Major General Ernest M. Moore (Ret) correspondence with author, 1976.

  181 “I had about 500 hours”: Barrett Tillman, “The Mustangs of Iwo Jima,” Airpower Magazine, January 1977.

  181 “We had practically”: Ibid.

  181 “the ’51 with the fuselage tank full”: Ibid.

  182 “After what seemed”: Ibid.

  182 “It takes a lot”: Ibid.

  183 “You lose your radio”: Ibid.

  184 “Finding enemy aircraft”: Ibid.

  185 an American duplicating the feat: Sakaida, Imperial Navy Aces, 88.

  186 After the war, U.S. investigators determined: A war crimes tribunal imposed a forty-year sentence upon the officer responsible for releasing Scanlan to the mob. Other Japanese received from one to five years for their roles in the murder. How many of the sentences were served to completion is unknown.

  187 “I think the combat break”: Harve Phipps correspondence with author, 1976.

  187 “We dropped”: Crim correspondence, 1976.

  188 “You could really put”: Tillman, “The Mustangs of Iwo Jima.”

  190 “Sure enough”: Ibid.

  190 “heavy, meager to moderate, inaccurate to accurate”: XXI Bomber Command mission summary, 26 June 1945.

  191 “Bob, get me”: http://39th.org/39th/aerial/60th/crew13a.html.

  191 “We came in sight”: Lieutenant Ernest Bonjour, USNR, letter, June 1945, via City of Galveston pilot Donald A. Gerth.

  192 “You don’t come out”: http://39th.org/39th/bio/mundy2.htm.

  193 “Let’s get the hell”: Henry Sakaida, Pacific Air Combat (St. Paul: Phalanx, 1993), 88.