Whirlwind - Barrett Tillman [138]
87 The Bonin Islands: James Bradley, Flyboys: A True Story of Courage (New York: Little, Brown, 2003), 190.
87 Meanwhile, on December 3: XXI Bomber Command mission summary, 3 December 1944.
88s Lieutenant Hugh Mcnamer’s: 500th Bomb Group history, http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4412.html. The group’s mechanics repaired the plane, which eventually flew twenty-eight more missions.
88 “I’m in sharp disagreement”: Wilbur H. Morrison, Point of No Return (New York: Playboy, 1979), 167.
90 “In my opinion”: Wesley F. Craven and James L. Cate, The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 5: The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), 601.
91 One flier survived: http://216.219.175.113/73bw/bartlett/bartlett1.html.
92 “About 50 lights”: http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4501a.html.
92 Brigadier General J. H. Davies: Sixty-three years later there was still uncertainty about Davies’s given name. Social Security records and his Air Force biography state “James” but nearly all wartime documents—including some released on his authority—are “John.” His nicknames were “Skippy” and “Big Jim.” The urn containing his ashes in Oakland, California, is unmarked so the contradiction remains irreconcilable.
92 “Boy that’s”: Lawrence S. Smith, 9th Bombardment Group (VH) History (Princeton: 9th Bomb Group Association, 1995), 191.
92 “Sergeant Owens was”: http://www.philcrowther.com/6thBG/6bgcrewg00.html.
93 “didn’t need”: Curtis E. LeMay and MacKinlay Kantor, Mission with LeMay: My Story (New York: Doubleday, 1965), 339.
93 “This was a nail biter”: http://www.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4501b.html.
95 “If I ever get out”: “Flak Alley,” http://mypages.cityhighflash.com/flakalley.html. And “Now It Can Be Told,” http://www.geocities.com/twincousin2334/Mission_Log.html.
95 Irish Lassie: Koji Takaki and Henry Sakaida, B-29 Hunters of the JAAF (London: Osprey, 2001), 76–77.
96 Fifty-five years later: “Enemies Then, Friends Now,” http://home.att.net/~sallyann5/b29/enemy-friend1.html.
97 By month’s end: Hansell’s official Air Force biography at http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=5693.
97 “If you don’t succeed”: LeMay and Kantor, Mission with LeMay, 367.
98 When LeMay obtained: Ibid., 340.
98 “a real training job”: Ibid., 342.
99 “a capable scientific type”: Ibid., 345.
99 From Guam to Tokyo: Analysis of 8th Air Force missions to Berlin, http://www.303rdbg.com/missions.html.
100 Nevertheless, with the new 313th Wing’s: XXI Bomber Command mission summary, 10 February 1945.
101 “with diabolical frequency”: LeMay and Kantor, Mission with LeMay, 344.
102 McElroy was unique: Morrison, Point of No Return, 187; Virgil Morgan, 6th Bomb Group Association, e-mail to author, February 2008.
102 In all, 202 bombers: Craven and Cate, The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 5: The Pacific, 573; Coox, Japan, 23.
103 “meager”: Ray Brashear diary, February 25, 1945; Ed McElroy to Virgil Morgan e-mail, February 2008.
103 “a test incendiary mission”: Werrell, Blankets of Fire, 151.
103 “a necessary preparation”: Ibid.
104 “You know General Arnold”: LeMay and Kantor, Mission with LeMay, 347.
104 “being a little unorthodox”: Ibid., 348.
CHAPTER FOUR: FROM THE SEA
Page
107 The fleet’s striking arm: Samuel Eliot Morison, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 14: Victory in the Pacific (Boston: Little, Brown, 1960), 25.
109 Rear Admiral William A. Moffett: William F. Trimble, Admiral William A. Moffett: Architect of Naval Aviation (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993).
109 Between 1914 and 1923: Naval Historical Center, http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r4/reeves-ii.htm.
110 Essex class carrier: Seventeen Essexes were commissioned between December 1942 and June 1945, and despite service in three wars, none was ever sunk. Eleven of the total twenty-four served into the 1970s, including USS Lexington (CV-16), which remained