Missions of the
Star Duster

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November 1944

23 — Left Sacramento, California, at 3:00 a.m. Arrived at John Rogers Field on Ohu Island. It [has] taken us 13 hours to fly the 2300 miles and most of our Thanksgiving was spent in the air.

24 — We did nothing but rest. The chow was rotten.

25 — We crossed the International Date Line which made it the 26th.

26 — Arrived on Kwajalein Island at 3:00 p.m. and stayed overnight.

27 — We left for Saipan at 10:30 a.m. but we had to land at Guam because Saipan was having an air raid. We stayed on Guam about three hours and then left for Saipan and as we flew over three [B-]29’s were really burning and several others were shot up. There were 13 Jap planes that did the work and all were shot down.

28 — Spent all day getting assigned.

29 — Most everybody are digging fox holes as we had an air raid early this morning. About 12 planes came over, 6 were shot down by ack ack [antiaircraft guns] and they say the rest were shot down by fighters. No damage done.

30 — We had an alert early this morning.

December 1944

1 & 2 — All quiet.

3 — We started out today and we bombed a town northwest of Tokyo. A good deal of flack and about 7 fighter attacks. I claimed one damage and Hanks claimed another. We lost one plane by ditching. I am afraid the crew is lost also. (See mission details.)

4 — All quiet.

5 — Another air raid but no damage, about 10:30 a.m. The P-47[s] knocked them all down. Our news cast says that fires are still burning due to high winds. Also, we had an earthquake this morning.

6 — All quiet.

7 — Air raid 4:30 a.m. They got 3 B-29’s. The alarm went off late and when we woke up they had already gotten one 29 and were strafing our area. We really got a move on too. They shot one down just a little ways from us. He started to burn and as he burned he tried to turn so that he would hit some 29’s on the field but he blew up. Our plane came very near being hit.

8 — We have taken off to bomb Iwo [Jima] but we had to turn back due to engine trouble. We spent the rest of the day cleaning our guns.

9 — We had an alert at 4:00 a.m. but no planes came over. This evening we went around the island and this place is really torn up.

10 — Our copilot carried us around the island again. He carried us to a cave that the Japs used for a hospital but when we tried to take it they fought for it and our troops used flame throwers on them. The bodies are still there.

11 — All quiet.

12 — All quiet. The crew that went down on our first raid [December 3rd] are lost.

13 — All quiet.

14 — The other crew in our hut went to Nagoya. Their bombardier was killed and their tail gunner was wounded.

15-18 — Very little doing.

19 — We took off at 7:00 p.m. tonight to bomb Tokyo.

20 — We hit Tokyo at 2:00 a.m. and started fires in the shape of a “T”. Their search lights caught us just for a little time: anyway, long enough to scare us half to death. (See mission details.)

21-22 — All quiet.

23 — Another raid at 11:00 a.m. but dropped no bombs.

24 — All quiet.

25 — Christmas. We were having a party at the mess hall but we had hardly gotten started and the Japs came. One bomb hit in the water about 100 feet out.

26-29 — All quiet.

30 — We test hopped our ship. A-square-30 [the Star Duster]. (See mission details.)

31 — We went out to the sub tender Fulton and had dinner and really had a time. We were carried through the sub Silversides and we had ice cream for the first time.

January 1945

1 — Got promoted [to sergeant] today and also an air raid about 10:00 p.m.

2 — All quiet.

3 — We bombed Nagoya today and I hope we burned it up¹. Take off was at 7:30. There were 12 planes but only 10 reached the target. Bombs away at 3:45 p.m. We were over land 1.5 hours and we had several fighters but little flack. All planes returned safe. We were in the air 13 hr. 55 min². (See mission details.)

14 — Another mission to Nagoya. Ten planes took off but only 9 got there. Dropped our bombs at the usual time, 3:55. We had plenty of fighters. Hanks got one. We were in the air 13 hr. 20 min. (See mission details.)

19 — We were supposed to go on a mission but our plane was out. (See mission details.)

22 — Our back mail caught up with us today and we also had to start to school.

23 — We went to Nagoya again and to beat all we couldn’t drop our bombs because the racks were frozen up and had to wait until we got down to warmer weather to drop them. (See mission details.)

27 — We were supposed to go on another one today but our ship was out. They sure did have a rough one. Their losses today were 75%³. (See mission details.)

31 — We had to go out and search this morning but could[n’t] find anything. We were out for 16 hr. 35 min. (See mission details.)

February 1945

4 — Another wing mission and all planes returned safely. It was to Kobe.

5-6 — We went to Kobe on a weather strike. We carried bombs, frags [fragmentary bombs]. It was a very easy one. Total time 13 hr. 25 min. (See mission details.)

15 — We started to Nagoya but we lost an engine. All planes returned safely. (See mission details.)

26 — We went to Tokyo again. There were 200 planes in this raid. While we were assembling two planes ran together. One blew up ant the other ditched near by. No one got out of either plane. The rest of the way to the target was very bad. We ran into a storm and got separated but got into a small formation for the bomb run. There were no fighters and little flack. Take off: 7:00, Bombs Away: 15:35, Land: 21:50. (See mission details.)

March 1945

4 — Back to Tokyo but we have taken off earlier this time. The target was covered up so we bombed by radar. No fighters and little flack. Take off: 2:10, Bombs Away: 10:04, Land: 16:35. We flew Thumper, A-square-21. One plane ditched, A-square-25. (See mission details.)

9 — This was the start of the fire raids. We left two men and had only a few guns. There was plenty of fires and a very rough ride. We were in the lights for some time and got hit. (See mission details.)

11 — We went on another night raid to Nagoya. This was not near as rough as the other. We were picked up by lights but saw no flack. We lost an engine at landfall but we kept going. When we got back here the weather was bad. We had to land at Tinian and stayed there about three days. (See mission details.)

18 — We went back to Nagoya tonight. We lost another engine over the target and as we dropped our bombs another went out. We thought we were gone but made it OK. We were so late getting back everyone thought we went down and [we] almost did. (See mission details.)

27 — We bombed an air field near Tachiarai on the Island of Kyushu. No fighters or flack. We flew our first dumbo and had a very easy time. We saw two Jap ships that our sub was after. (See mission details.)

April 1945

3 — Our target was a factory 14 miles northwest of Tokyo but it was cloudy and we could not see it. A lot of flack but none hit us. I went to the hospital as soon as we landed but got out on the 10th⁴. (See mission details.)

13-14 — Another dumbo. Flew up to within 50 miles of last and circled. Lost one ship, A-square-24. (See mission details.)

21 — We bombed another air field near Tachiarai on the Island of Kyushu. We really hit it too. Fighters hit us after we dropped our bombs. I think we shot several down but was too busy to watch. We had no. 3 engine shot out and no. 1 prop off⁵. (See mission details.)

24 — We took off to bomb Tahikawa Airplane Engine Plant west of Tokyo. We went over at 10,000 ft. There was plenty of flack and a few holes. There were some fighters. Take off: 2:30, Land: 16:55. (See mission details.)

29 — The mission today was Migayaki Air Field on the southern coast of Kyushu. We really hit the target. No fighters and little flack. Take off: 0:45, Land: 14:14. (See mission details.)

May 1945

7 — We went to Iwo to escort fighters and did some sight seeing. (See mission details.)

8 — We didn’t see anything much today as we didn’t go over land. Everything went fine.

10 — Bombed Takuyama air storage. We really knocked it out too. Plenty of flack of all colors⁶ but no hits. Land: 17:45. (See mission details.)

14 — We bombed Nagoya again and there was plenty of smoke. One fighter was shot down. Little flack. Take off: 2:30, Bombs Away: 9:57, Land: 16:30. (See mission details.)

16-17 — Tonight we went back to Nagoya. Take off: 8:40 p.m., Bombs Away: 4:00 a.m., Land: 10:20. (See mission details.)

23-24 — We bombed Tokyo again. The lights picked us up several times but we were not hit. We hit the smoke and really got a ride. This was really a large raid. Take off: 21:23, Land: 10:45. (See mission details.)

25-26 — Our second straight on Tokyo. These were the largest fires yet. You could see them for 230 miles. There were plenty of lights but we were not picked up. Take off: 18:10, Bombs Away: 12:57, Land: 07:40. (See mission details.)

29 — Today we bombed Yokohama. The smoke rose to about 19,000 feet. We saw some flack and only two fighters. Bombs Away: 11:00, Land: 17:00. (See mission details.)

31 — Today we went to Iwo to navigate for the P-51’s. We will be there for several days.

June 1945

1 — We were to carry fighters to Osaka but ran into bad weather and had to return. Lost 27 planes due to weather⁷. (See mission details.)

4 — We were sent out on a search mission but found nothing.

5 — We finally got back to Saipan.

7 — We were to bomb Osaka but had to turn back. (See mission details.)

10 — We were to bomb Tokyo 357 but it was too overcast and had to bomb Hitihi Engine Works. We had P-51’s for the first time. Take off: 2:00, Land: 16:00⁸. (See mission details.)

Mission Log