Emergency B-29 Landing at Iwo Without Brakes

On the night of May 23rd we were scheduled to fly our 20th mission the most memorable of our 35 missions (6BG Mission 43). It was a return to Tokyo at an altitude of 14,000 feet. General LeMay had decided to bring us in over Tokyo over land from the west instead of from the east as on the March 9th raid. As we hit our initial point up past Mount Fuji and turned on our bomb run to the target area in Tokyo I heard the airplane commander noting that there were anti-aircraft search lights beginning to pick up planes out in front of us. As I had done ever since the first combat mission when we were about 20 minutes from the target area, I alerted the crew to put on their flak equipment consisting of a jacket and a helmet.

SUDDENLY A FLASH WENT THE LENGTH OF THE FUSELAGE AND THE EXPLOSION CAUSED THE PLANE TO BREAK INTO THREE PARTS

We were on the bomb run which meant we would not change course again until we heard the bombardier say, “bombs away”.  As I looked out the window I saw another B29 bracketed by about five different searchlights. You could see enemy fire being directed at this B-29. I would estimate the difference to be about three or four hundred yards from us. Suddenly a flash went the length of the fuselage and the explosion caused the plane to break into three parts.

As I watched the tail appendage drop off and go straight down, the fuselage with the right wing attached dropped off toward our plane and the left wing went to the left. There were no parachutes and I am sure that the plane was from the 6th Bomb Group because a Lieutenant Snyder and his crew were never heard of again. This all happened in about twenty seconds. I now turned back to the bomb run that we were on. As I started calling the slant range angles to the bombardier I heard the A/C, Wayne Maki, yell to the radioman to drop chaff which was made up of strips of tin foil. This would give false readings to the enemy anti-aircraft lights and guns. As Hitchcock, the radio man, went to put the chaff down, he bumped his head against the gun turret in our compartment and his flak helmet fell off. However, he continued with his chore and did not put his flak helmet back on.

A NIGHT FIGHTER PLANE HAD COME UP ONE OF THE SEARCHLIGHT BEAMS AND HIT US IN THE BOMB BAY AND ALSO KNOCKED OUT OUR NUMBER TWO ENGINE

Several anti-aircraft lights now bracketed our plane. I reached the point of saying to John Sabol, the bombardier, “no more slant ranges”. A few seconds later Sabol announced, “bombs away”. At this point the A. C. asked the radioman to check to make sure the bombs had been released. As this was happening Hitchcock had still not put his flak helmet back on. As he was looking into the bomb bay to make sure there were no more bombs hung up, I turned for a quick glance at “Hitch” and heard what sounded like a shot gun blast, smelled gun powder and looked around quickly to see Hitchcock start to stand up holding his left forehead. A night fighter plane had come up one of the searchlight beams and hit us in the bomb bay and also knocked out our number two engine. Thank God we had dropped all our bombs just seconds before we were hit.

THE HIT DESTROYED OUR HYDRAULIC SYSTEM USED TO LOWER THE WHEELS AND OUR BRAKING ABILITY TO STOP WHEN LANDING. “HITCH” NOW WAS UNCONSCIOUS.

The hit in the bomb bay was by a 22MM explosive shell and it also destroyed our hydraulic system used to lower the wheels and our braking ability to stop when landing. After “Hitch” had tried to stand up I told him to lie down within an arm’s length of me so that I would be able to put on his chest chute to assist him in bailing out if it became necessary. “Hitch” now was unconscious. Some gas lines in the bomb bay area had been ruptured by the exploding 20MM shell causing the fumes to become so heavy in the plane that Captain Maki came by on his way to get into the rear bomb bay door to check on which gas lines had been ruptured. As he went by me he told me I had better go on oxygen as the fumes were so strong in my compartment and he had ordered our bombardier who had taken some first-aid courses to get back in my compartment and do what he could for Hitchcock. The searchlights were now off of us and we were out over Tokyo Bay when I gave the co-pilot the compass heading for lwo Jima. No way could we make it back to Tinian after losing all the gas that we did.

AS HE ENTERED THE FUMES WERE SO STRONG THAT HE LOST HIS BALANCE AND FELL ONTO THE BOMB BAY DOORS. THE DOORS SPRUNG OPEN.

All of a sudden I heard this yell over the intercom, “close the bomb bay doors, close the bomb bay doors” and even I yelled out to close the bomb bay doors. The bombardier had not yet had the opportunity to come back to assist in treating Hitchcock so he closed the bomb bay doors. It seems that when Maki went into the rear bomb bay he had not taken his parachute with him as it usually remained in his seat unless he was going to bail out. He went into the bomb bay area to check out what gas lines had been damaged by the explosive shell and as he entered the fumes were so strong that he lost his balance and fell onto the bomb bay doors. The doors sprung open and as Maki by reflex grabbed for the side of the bomb bay area he held on until the doors closed.

While this episode was going on that is Maki hanging ‘On for his life without a parachute out over Tokyo Bay, God was surely with us that night especially for Wayne Maki. As the bomb bay doors closed letting fresh air in Maki was able to pull himself out of the bomb bay area to safety in the rear of the plane. He then returned to his position as airplane commander. In the meantime, the bombardier had given the unconscious Hitchcock a unit of plasma to help offset shock. I then gave the airplane commander the compass heading to get us to Iwo Jima. Because there was cloud coverage that night, I was unable to shoot any stars to verify our location. I gave this airplane commander a course correction of about three degrees to the right because I was going to do what was called a land-fall on I wo Jima What I needed was to have the sun come up high enough above the horizon to get a shot looking at the sun using the sextant and getting the angle of the sun above the horizon.

When doing a land-fall you had to be sure of which side of lwo Jima left or right you were on. It was critical that you knew whether you were left or right because if you thought you were on the right side but you were actually on the left and you turned left you would fly about 4,000 miles over water. By that time you would have been long gone over the Pacific. I told the airplane commander to give me a course correction of two more degrees to the right. I had a strong feeling that God was guiding my decision. I could do nothing more right now because the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon it was not high enough for me to get an accurate celestial shot of the sun. We cruised along for about another twenty minutes (would I have loved to have a cigarette but the no smoking ban was still in effect) then over the intercom the tail gunner announced, “Tail gunner to airplane commander there are two B-29’s at three o’clock, over.” I jumped up into the astrodome and there they were.

The airplane commander came back to my position and asked if I thought we needed assistance. I told him that I could not use my radar because of the gas fumes and I’d feel a lot better if one of the two B-29’s could stay with us until we could see Iwo Jima visually. One of the B-29’s swung over in front of us and we followed it for a brief time when we saw Iwo Jima dead ahead. The B- 29 ahead of us was now headed for Tinian. I had not been able to use the radar set and the clouds above prevented me from getting any celestial fixes. I had been navigating and making a couple of corrections by hunches or maybe God’s help to keep me pretty much on the correct course otherwise we would not have been so close to those two B-29’s. Now as we headed for a landing on Iwo with wounded on board with our hydraulic system not working the airplane commander issued the following order:

THE WHEELS HIT AND THE GUNNERS LET THE CHUTES GO

First gunners in the rear get ready to open your parachutes nearest to your exit as soon as we hit the runway, CFC Sergeant Hester start cranking down the wheels and everyone be prepared for a rough landing. There was a low overcast over Iwo and when we broke out of the clouds we were about halfway down the runway and had to go around for another try. This was not Maki’s fault. He was being instructed by the people in the tower and they did a lousy job of trying to bring us in. Maki checked with the flight engineer on the amount of gas we had left and he determined that we had enough gas for one more try. Remember we had lost our number two engine over the target plus many gallons of gasoline. We now had circled around and were making a second attempt at landing. This time the tower did a better job at bringing us in but we were still quite a distance down the runway before we touched it. The wheels hit and the gunners let the chutes go. Now that we were on the ground I hopped out of my seat and went up to the flight deck and stood behind Maki. We were still rolling along pretty good which means actually fast. One other thing we had fired a red flare as we landed indicating that we had wounded on board so an ambulance would be on its way to us as soon as we stopped.

WE NOW WENT OFF THE END OF THE RUNWAY HEADED TOWARD THE OCEAN WHEN MAKI GROUND LOOPED THE PLANE AND WE ENDED UP ALMOST FACING THE END OF THE RUNWAY THAT WE JUST CAME OFF.

I remember as we could see the end of the runway coming up and the Pacific Ocean ahead of us there were a lot of marines on the ground at the end of the runway. Maki threw open his window and started waving his hand trying to signal them to get out of the way. We now went off the end of the runway headed toward the ocean when Maki ground looped the plane and we ended up almost facing the end of the runway that we just came off. The ambulance was there in seconds to pick up Hitchcock. I proceeded to climb out of the plane to get a cigarette when somebody yelled, “Here comes another one”. Another B-29 which had a braking problem also came off the end of the runway and ground looped in the opposite direction from our plane their wing tip missing our wing tip by only a couple of feet.

THANK GOD THE MARINES TOOK IWO. WE HAD JUST ENOUGH GAS LEFT TO LAND HERE

As Hitchcock was being removed from the plane I put my nice warm jacket over him to keep him warm. He was still unconscious and his wound had bled on my jacket. I never saw that jacket again. Hitchcock was lifted out of the plane into an ambulance and it sped off to the hospital. I tried once again to have my cigarette. As I lit it, a marine Corporal said, “It looks like you had a rough night”. I said, “They were certainly waiting for us. Thank God the marines took Iwo. We had just enough gas left to land here.”

There were still quite a few people gathered around the plane inspecting the damage to the bomb bay door and the number two engine. A jeep drove up and a lieutenant announced to our Captain Maid stating that he and his crew would be taking off in another fifteen minutes in another B-29. Among the onlookers was a Major who was also a chaplain. I saw him and was close enough for him to hear me say, “for the love of Jesus Christ are they going to make us take off before we even know whether Hitchcock is going to live or die? This is stupid.” The Major disappeared and within about five minutes the Lieutenant and jeep reappeared and announced, “Captain Maki you and your crew will be taking off in an hour and fifteen minutes.” I’m sure the chaplain heard my words of disgust and made quick arrangements for the change in our take-off time. In about a half hour another jeep appeared and we were informed by the driver that Sergeant Hitchcock would live but he had a compound fracture of his skull and that his fighting days were over. He would be shipped home to the dear old U.S.A.

As luck would have it Captain Maki and a limited crew of myself, Sabol and Segal but no gunners, would have the opportunity to fly down to Guam and visit Hitchcock for a short while. He couldn’t talk very well but he recognized us. After expressing our feelings for him we left thinking well at least Hitchcock lived through the war and the rest of us on the crew would have to sweat out surviving 15 more combat missions. The trip back to Tinian from Iwo was in a plane some other crew had to leave at Iwo because of engine problems caused by enemy fire. Once a crew left their plane there they would fly a few missions on the plane they adopted at Iwo. In other words, we would fly the plane that we brought back from Iwo until our plane bad been repaired and flown back to Tinian.