Whirlwind - Barrett Tillman [30]
With the Body losing fuel from battle damage, it was not possible to reach Chengtu. Therefore, Ledford ordered a bailout over central China. The crew tied a shroud line to Miller’s ripcord and dropped him successfully, as his parachute opened. Fitted with a spare chute, Ledford was released through the nose wheel well. He fell perhaps 5,000 feet before pulling his own ripcord. He alit in a rice paddy where he was found by friendly Chinese. The crew regrouped in a nearby village, where a Norwegian missionary informed them that Miller had died. En route to base, the crew was hosted by a hard-drinking Chinese general who asked the Americans for tennis balls. He had rescued another 40th Group crew, which had promised to deliver the balls and he expected payment.
The Body’s crew members remained together and named their next B-29 in honor of Harry Miller. Captain Ledford recovered stateside, received the Distinguished Service Cross for his extraordinary heroism, and retired as a brigadier general in 1970.
The next homeland mission was launched on Armistice Day twenty-six years after “the war to end all wars.” Nearly 100 bombers departed the Chengtu complex for Omura again, but weather forced an abort. However, twenty-nine planes never received the recall message and continued on to make a radar attack above a cloud deck. The results were described as “negligible.” Forty more bombers diverted to Nanking and other Chinese alternates, without significant effect. The effort cost four B-29s destroyed. Another, damaged over Omura, was unwillingly delivered to the Russians—a 468th Group aircraft named The General H. H. Arnold Special, after the Air Forces chief.
The seventh homeland mission was XX Bomber Command’s largest: 109 Superfortresses launched against the usual target, Omura’s air arsenal, on November 21. Sixty-one bombers reached the objective, releasing nearly 200 tons of bombs. Meanwhile, a baker’s dozen hit Shanghai and some others attacked targets of opportunity. Seven Superfortresses were lost plus one that diverted to Vladivostok, the last of three B-29s retained by the Soviets. In January the crew of Ding How and the other interned B-29s were permitted to “escape” through Persia.
The 58th Wing’s gunners submitted claims for twenty-seven kills but the American losses were heavy. One plane was wiped out in a runway collision while another crashed on takeoff, killing all but one of the crew. The 444th Group wrote off two planes including one in a crash landing; five men perished. Actual mission losses on the 21st included a 40th Group bomber whose crew bailed out over China, while a 462nd aircraft crashed in the China Sea with its entire crew.
The 462nd Hellbirds also lost a plane in combat. Returning near Hankow, Captain Richard McMillan’s aircraft was shot up by a skillful Japanese pilot. With two engines out, McMillan rang the bailout bell at 13,000 feet and four men jumped safely. Of the others, the central fire control gunner’s parachute was damaged and no spare was available. The remaining crewmen stayed aboard, attempting a belly landing alongside the Hankow–Peking railroad. The crippled bomber drew heavy ground fire that killed three men including McMillan. The badly wounded copilot, First Lieutenant Vernon Schaefer, was pulled from the wreckage and recognized his three remaining companions. Unable to move, he was thrown into a filthy cell and left untended by the Japanese. Surprisingly, he recovered and survived.
The Japanese took the others into