Name That B-29 Unit; India/China
- From: Bruce <NCPartisanRanger@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:50:08 -0500
I'd like the help of this group to identify a WWII China/India/
Pacific B-29 unit.
Here's what I know -- my father was a supply officer. In
December, 1942, he was selected to set up and administer a "Stearman"
training facility near Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Later, he was transferred
to a training facility for B-29's near Macon Georgia. About February,
1945, he was called into a headquarters (somewhere???) and told that
he was being sent to India. He was to move all the supplies, spare
parts, workshop tools, etc. in India and move them across the "Hump"
to China. And he was given a "verbal order" for the commander of the
B-29 unit -- that order was:
1) If you haven't completed the first 6 planned missions, complete
them, then *stop*;
2) If you have completed the 6 planned missions but haven't begun any
others, *stop*;
3) If you have begun missions past the 6 planned missions, complete
those, then *stop*;
Then, after you've reached the *stop* point, move the entire unit
with all its support components to Tinian. Aircraft are to be flown
from China to Clark AFB in the Phillipines and then on to Tinian.
My father (who had now passed away) completed the move from India,
including a plane ride (in, I think, a C-54) in such bad turbulence
over "The Hump" that they were certain that they were going to lose
the aircraft, to China. He was stationed for some of the work in
China at Chendu and part of the time in Kunming. One of the things
that made an impression on him was watching the local Chinese
authorities execute a local man by firing squad for stealing a
blanket. He also spoke of pigs being fed opium to drug them and then
being carried to market in a wheelbarrow.
They completed the preparations for the move from China to Tinian
about the time that Okinawa was invaded. He made the decision that he
would be on the last plane out. He always said that they nominated a
date for moving the B-29's -- on that date, they had 120 aircraft take
off for Clark AFB; one aircraft returned with a burnt exhaust stack --
they repaired that aircraft that day into the evening and it flew out
the next day. Over the next few days, they completed the transfer of
supplies, spare parts, vehicles, tools, and personnel. On the last
day before he was due to depart for Tinian, he got orders to proceed
direct to Okinawa and prepare at Kadena AFB for B-29's to be based
there (or be a part of the preparation of another airfield on Okinawa
for the B-29's). Another officer who had been his tent-mate in China
was soon sent from Tinian and was again his tentmate on Okinawa.
Since they had a "longest out there, first to be sent home" policy, he
didn't return to the US until the summer of 1946.
So, based upon my memories of his stories, can anyone identify the
B-29 unit with 120 aircraft that was based across India and China in
early 1945 and was moved to Tinian about April, 1945?
.
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