THE PIRATES LOG PART III – Chronology of Missions
Mission Status Board in Briefing Hall – charts formations & crews for last raid 14 Aug
CHRONOLOGY OF MISSIONS – 1 February 1945 to 15 August 1945
Hiroshima – 6th BG Mining Missions
| No. | DATE | TARGET | ACFT | REMARKS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 3 Feb | Fighter Escort to Iwo Jima | 4 | First Navigation Mission |
| 2 | 8 Feb | Truk, Moen Island Airfield | 30 | Daylight Precision |
| 3. | 11 Feb | Radar Search Mission No. 1 | 8 | Japanese Ship Search for Navy |
| 4. | 12 Feb | Radar Search Mission No. 2 | 8 | Lost Lt Casaurang’s Crew |
| 5. | 14 Feb | Radar Search Mission No. 3 | 5 | |
| 6. | 18 Feb | Truk, Moen Island Airfield | 19 | Daylight Precision |
| 7. | 19 Feb | Tokyo Urban Area | 3 | Planes with 504th |
| 8. | 25 Feb | Tokyo Urban Area | 21 | Incendiary-First Group Strike |
| 9. | 4 Mar | Tokyo Urban Area | 20 | Daylight Incendiary |
| MARCH BLITZ | ||||
| 10 | 9 Mar | Tokyo Urban Area | 32 | Night Incendiary |
| 11. | 11 Mar | Nagoya Urban Area | 32 | Night Incendiary |
| 12. | 13 Mar | Osaka Urban Area | 30 | Night Incendiary |
| 13 | 16 Mar | Kobe Urban Area | 33 | Night Incendiary |
| 14. | 18 Mar | Nagoya Urban Area | 32 | Night Incendiary |
| 15. | 24 Mar | Nagoya Urban Area | 18 | Night Incendiary |
| FIRST MINING MISSION | ||||
| 16. | 27 Mar | Shimonoseki Straits-Mining | 29 | Lost Lt Steel, Lt Grounds’ and crews |
| 17. | 30 Mar | Cure Harbor Area | 23 | Night Mining |
| 18. | 1 April | Super-Dumbo Mission | 3 | Air Sea Rescue |
| 19. | 3 Apr | Nakajima A/C Eng Co, Ota-Koizumi | 19 | Night Precision |
| 20. | 7 Apr | Nagoya Mitsubishi A/C Co | 30 | Night Precision |
| 21. | 8 Apr | Kanoya East Airfield, Kyushu | 10 | Capt Preston Crash |
| 22. | 9 Apr | Shimonoseki Straits | 10 | Mining |
| 23. | 12 Apr | Hodojoma Chern Co., Koriyama | 20 | Daylight Precision |
| 24. | 13 Apr | Tokyo Arsenal Area | 29 | Night Incendiary |
| 25. | 15 Apr | Kawasaki Urban Area | 24 | Night Incendiary |
| TACTICAL SUPPORT OF 10th ARMY | ||||
| 26. | 17 Apr | Kanoya East Airfield | 10 | Tactical Raid on Kyushu |
| 27. | 18 Apr | Kushira Airfield | 10 | Southern Kyushu |
| 28. | 21 Apr | Kanoya East Airfield | 22 | Tactical Support |
| 29. | 22 Apr | Kanoya East Airfield | 16 | Tactical Support |
| 30. | 24 Apr | Hitachi A/C Co, Tokyo | 12 | Daylight Precision |
| 31. | 26 Apr | Matsuyama West Airfield | 18 | Tactical Support |
| 32. | 37 Apr | Miyakonajo Airfield | 6 | |
| 33. | 28 Apr | Miyakonajo Airfield | 18 | Night Incendiary |
| 34. | 15 Apr | Tachikawa Arsenal, West of Tokyo | 7 | Daylight Precision |
| 35. | 3 May | Inland Sea Harbors | 32 | Mining |
| 36. | 5 May | Kure Harbor Area | 24 | Mining |
| 37. | 7 May | Kanoya, Ibuski Airfields | 20 | Tactical Support |
| 38. | 10 May | Usa Airfield | 22 | Daylight Precision |
| 39. | 11 May | Nittigahara Airfield | 11 | GP Bombs by Radar |
| 40. | 14 May | Nagoya Urban Area | 31 | Night Incendiary |
| 41. | 16 May | Nagoya Urban Area | 33 | Night Incendiary |
| 42. | 19 May | Tachikawa Arsenal | 30 | Precision by Radar |
| 43. | 23 May | Tokyo Urban Area-Incendiary | 33 | Lost Lt Boynton, Lt Snyder, Lt Anderson’s crews |
| 44. | 25 May | Lost Lt Fox’s crew | 24 | |
| 45. | 29 May | Yokohoma Urban Area | 25 | Incendiary |
| 46. | 1 June | Osaka Urban Area | 27 | Daylight Incendiary |
| 47. | 5 June | Kobe Harbor Area | 29 | Daylight Incendiary |
| 48. | 7 June | Osaka Urban Area | 27 | Incendiary by Radar |
| SECONDARY INDUSTRIAL CITIES | ||||
| 49. | 9 June | Kawasaki A/ C Co, Akashi | 26 | Precision by Radar |
| 50. | 15 June | Amagasaki | 35 | Incendiary by Radar |
| 51. | 18 June | Yokkaichi | 30 | Night Incendiary |
| 52. | 19 June | Shimonoseki Straits | 2 | Radar Search |
| 53. | 20 June | Fukuoka | 29 | Night Incendiary |
| 54. | 22 June | Kawasaki A/C Co, Akashi | 29 | Daylight Precision |
| 55. | 26 June | Kawasaki A/C Co, Akashi | 38 | Daylight Precision |
| 56. | 28 June | Moji Urban Area | 30 | Night Incendiary |
| 57. | 1 July | Ube Urban Area | 35 | Night Incendiary |
| 58. | 3 July | Himeji Urban Area | 35 | Night Incendiary |
| 59. | 5 July | Marcus Island | 3 | Precision |
| 60. | 6 July | Shimizu | 36 | Night Incendiary |
| MINING MISSIONS RESUMED | ||||
| 61. | 9 July | Shimonoseki Straits-Mining | 24 | Lost Capt Schmid’s crew with Lt Col Dixon |
| 62. | 11 July | Mining Rashin, Fusan in Korea | 27 | Longest Mission of the War |
| 63. | 13 July | Mining Inland Sea Harbors | 31 | |
| 64. | 15 July | Mining Japan Sea | 27 | |
| 65. | 17 July | Mining | 28 | |
| 66. | 19 July | Mining Inland Sea Harbors | 29 | Lost Capt Jordan’s crew |
| 67. | 22 July | Mining | 26 | Last Mining Mission |
| FINAL PHASE | ||||
| 68. | 26 July | Tokuyama Urban Area | 36 | Night Incendiary |
| 69. | 28 July | Marcus Island | 4 | Daylight Precision |
| 70. | 28 July | Uji-Yamada Urban Area | 30 | Night Incendiary |
| 71. | 1 Aug | Nagaoka Urban Area | 45 | Army Air Force Day |
| 72. | 5 Aug | Maebashi Urban Area | 26 | Night Incendiary |
| 73. | 7 Aug | Toyokawa Naval Arsenal | 12 | 91% Within 1,000 ft. |
| 74. | 8 Aug | Yamata Steel Works | 29 | Night Incendiary |
| 75. | 14 Aug | Marifu Railroad Yards-lwakuni | 41 | Last Mission of the War |
| (Number of aircraft is number of airborne minus aerial aborts) |
ONE PAGE HISTORY
1944
1 April-Group Reactivated.
23 May-Move to Grand Island.
3 June-First B-29 Arrives.
17 June-Col Gibson Assumes Command.
1 July-Extensive Flight Training Begins
31 July-Gen Arnold Visits Group.
3 Aug-Bivouac.
10 Sept-Colors Presentation.
15 Septr-Motion Picture Unit Arrives.
20 Sept-Organization Day Picnic.
7 Octr-Capt Richards’ Crash.
17 Octr-George Jesse! Show.
6 Nov-Flying Circus Arrives.
18 Nov-Ground Echelon Leaves GlAAB.
29 Nov-Ground Echelon Leaves Seattle.
8 Dec-Sea Marlin Docks in Oahu.
24 Dec-Planes Return from Borinquen.
28 Dec-Sea Marlin Reaches Tinian.
1945
2 Jan-Combat Crews Clear GlAAB.
9 Jan-Air Echelon Leaves Grand Island.
18 Jan-First Sixth Planes Land.
18 Jan-ATC Echelon Arrives.
30 Jan-Maug Island Training Mission.
2 Feb- Navigational Escort to Iwo Jima.
8 Feb-Truk Mission. First Flak.
12 Feb-Radar Search-Lost Lt Casaurang.
19 Feb-Four Planes over Tokyo.
25 Feb-First Group Empire Mission.
3 Mar-Key Personnel Changes.
9 Mar-First Blitz Mission to Tokyo.
11 Mar-Nagoya Incendiary.
12 Mar-Suicide Attack Rumors.
13 Mar-Osaka Fire Raid.
16 Mar-Kobe Urban Area Burned.
17 Mar-Iwo Jima Ours.
17 Mar-Sixth Gets Its First Jap Plane.
18 Mar-Nagoya Raided Again.
20 Mar-The Blitz Over-A Holiday.
27 Mar-First Mining Mission
2 April-Okinawa Invasion.
7 April-Capt Preston Crash.
13 April-President Roosevelt’s Death.
15 April-Kawasaki Urban Area Hilt.
17 April-Tactical Raids on Kyushu Begin.
26 April-Back to Kanoya A/ F Raids.
3 May-Mine Inland Sea Again.
9 May-V-E Day in Europe Announced.
10 May-Usa Airfield Bombed.
14 May-Nagoya Hit with Incendiaries.
23 May-Tokyo Incendiary-Heavy Losses.
24 May-Lost Boynton, Snyder, Anderson.
25 May-Tokyo Again-Roughest Mission.
26 May-Lost Lt Fox. Clay Bail Out At Iwo.
1 June-Osaka Fires Rekindled.
9 June-Secondary City Fire Raids Begin.
18 June-Yokkaichi Burned Out.
22 June-Kawasaki at Akashi Strike.
28 June-Moji Urban Area Fired.
1 July-Incendiary Mission to Ube.
3 July-Officers’ Club Opening.
9 July-Mining Missions Start Again.
9 July-Lt Col Dixon. Capt Schmid Lost.
11 July-Longest Mission of War.
19 July-Capt Jordon’s Plane Goes Down.
28 July-Incendiary Mission to Uji-Yamada.
1 Aug-AAF Day Raid to Nagaoka.
6 Aug-Hiroshima Atomized.
8 Aug-Yawata Daylight Raid.
9 Aug-Atom Bomb Hits Nagasaki.
9 Aug-Russia Enters War.
14 Aug-Last Mission to Marifu Rail Yards.
15 Aug–Japs Surrender.
28 ·Aug-Col Gibson Leaves Group.
31 Aug-Lt Col Tucker Assumes Command.
2 Sept-V -J Day.
12 Oct-Rescue Search Missions.
15 Dec-Sixth Echelon Leaves.
1946
15 Jan-Seventh Echelon Leaves.
28 Jan-First Planes to Clark Field, P.I.
POST-WAR DAYS
In the early days of the post-war era the Sixth remained on Tinian as a part of the 313th Wing. Training and so called “snooper” missions to Japan were the only flying activities. The Group Commander was Lt Col T. W. Tucker; the Deputy Commander, Lt Col Jack E. Cunningham. Other key positions underwent many personnel changes as officers and men were returned to the U.S. under the point system. With the addition of months of service as a rotation factor in December, greater numbers were eligible to go home. Many combat crews flew their ships home on the various Sunset Projects. In January 1946, the Wing, including the Sixth, was ordered to Clark Field on Luzon in the Philippines to become a part of the 13th Air Force. The first airplanes moving to Clark Field took off on 28 January. Others followed in the next few weeks. The ground echelon was scheduled to move late in February.
EDITORS NOTE | The story of the Pirate’s Log is included in the Bill Webster Photos video on our website: VIEW VIDEO
TO PURCHASE THE PIRATES LOG | The 6th Bomb Group Association offers high quality lithographic prints (using the original negatives, shortly after its formation in 1984) of the Pirate’s Log for $30 per copy.