About the Missions
The objective of the 73rd Bomb Wing in World War II was to bomb targets in Japan. These missions included:
- High-altitude, daytime, precision bombing
- Low-altitude, nighttime, fire bombing
- Weather strike missions
- Dumbo (search) missions
- Fighter escort missions
The crew of the Star Duster got credit for flying 32 missions. These are listed below. The first three missions (listed in italics) were flown by the officers who later made up the Star Duster's crew before the enlisted men arrived on Saipan. There are also some incidents of interest that some of the members of the crew recall but cannot pinpoint to a specific mission.
- Truk (October 30, 1944)
- Iwo Jima (November 8, 1944)
- Bonin Island (November 20, 1944)
- Tokyo (December 3, 1944)
- Tokyo (December 19, 1944)
- Pagan (December 30, 1944)
- Nagoya (January 3, 1945)
- Nagoya (January 14, 1945)
- Scheduled -- Grounded due to mechanical problems (January 19, 1945)
- Nagoya (January 23, 1945)
- Scheduled -- Grounded due to mechanical problems (January 27, 1945)
- Search (January 31, 1945)
- Weather Strike to Kobe (February 6, 1945)
- Incomplete (February 15, 1945)
- Tokyo (February 25, 1945)
- Tokyo (March 4, 1945)
- Tokyo (March 9, 1945)
- Nogoya (March 11, 1945)
- Kobe (March 16, 1945)
- Nagoya (March 18, 1945)
- Tachiarai (March 27, 1945)
- Dumbo (March 31, 1945)
- Tachikawa (April 3, 1945)
- Dumbo (April 7, 1945)
- Dumbo (April 13, 1945)
- Tachiarai (April 17, 1945)
- Tachikawa (April 24, 1945)
- Mayazaki (April 29, 1945)
- Fighter Escort to Tokyo (May 7, 1945)
- Tokayama (May 10, 1945)
- Nagoya (May 14, 1945)
- Nagoya (May 16, 1945)
- Tokyo (May 23, 1945)
- Tokyo (May 25, 1945)
- Yokahama (May 29, 1945)
- Fighter Escort to Osaka (June 1, 1945)
- Incomplete (June 7, 1945)
- Hitachi (June 10, 1945)
