Volume 43- No. 48
by Frank Lorey III The B-29 Superfortress gained most of its fame flying missions over Japan during World War II. “Blackie” Blackburn operated the central fire control on a 20th Air Force, 73rd Bomb Wing B-29 Superfortress. He made twenty missions in the Pacific, his first on November 24, 1944, striking at Tokyo; his last was on the very last mission of the war. On the same day that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Blackburn was out on another mission, and heard on the radio that an atomic bomb had been used. The Paper - 760.747.7119
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November 29, 2012
He had been operating out of Tinian, the same island that the nuclear bomb wing was deployed, but their group had been kept completely away from the secret B-29 force. “My first response to hearing the news was ‘What in hell is an atomic bomb?’ but when we got back [to base] we got more word of it,” recalled Blackburn. Operating the Fire Control also made for some interesting experiences. “I shot down a lot of Japs—they came in from the front, even though we were flying at high level, between 29,000 and 35,000 feet,” he remembered. Still, they were high enough that many of the enemy fighters could not
reach them—on his very first mission Blackburn could see about a thousand of them milling about far below, posing no threat. He finished his B-29 career dropping supplies on POW camps after the war ended, before our troops could get in to liberate all the prisoners. Col. Robert Morgan gained fame as the first to complete 25 missions with his famed B17 Flying Fortress, the “Memphis Belle.” Few people remember that he also went on to fly the B-29 Superfortress for another 26 missions, including leading the first bombing raid on
Tokyo since Doolittle raid.
famed
Morgan said the biggest transition problem going between the B-17 and the B-29 was that “the B-29 was not fun to fly--the B-17 was. The 29 you had to work to fly, you had to fight the controls, and it wouldn’t take the punishment the B-17 could. The whole story on the B-17 was the damage it could take and still fly.” The Memphis Belle crew and plane were returned to the United States for a threemonth public relations tour. After the tour, he was sent to train in the B-29 at Pratt and Wichita, KS, and then it was
“The B29 Superfortress” Continued on Page 2
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