Mission #1 TODO TODO[Missing Page 1]for a very few minutes. Departed immediately after the bomb run for home. Flew directly down to Iwo Jima and from there flew a dog-leg to the Pagan islands and from there south to Guam. We had to sweat out gas coming in. Engine No. 3 especially was low on gas. Also we began our let down too soon and were at 2,000 ft. long before we reached Saipan. That gave us an extremely low True Air Speed. After landing at 0810Z, 30 April 45 we pulled onto the taxi strip and when the plane in front of us stopped we cut our engines. That started the rumor through the squadron that we had run out of gas right after landing. Total flying time on the strike was 15:12 and we covered about 2900 n.m. The mission was pretty easy, no flak or fighters, and the bombing was excellent. All in all our first mission was a success. Flight crew: AC- Johnson, P- Knuth, N- Turnock, B- Blythe, K- Kokenge, E- Watts, RO- Vincent, CFC- Helton, LG- Sparks, RG- Snyder, TG- Sparling. |