by Nate Hicks



Some of "Genie's" crew

Rear: Dick Fisher- Bombardier, Burlington, VT
Front L to R: Lt. Nate Hicks - Radar/Navigator, Melrose, MA, Capt. Tom Turner - Aircraft Commander, Kansas City, Mo, Lt. John Constandy - Navigator, Bridgeport, CT.

As the holiday season approaches we are reminded of all the joys of the time but also of the infamous "return counter" lineup thereafter which bring to mind one of "Genie's" sleigh rides with her bags of goodies to be placed down the Empire's chimney (with care).

Genie was #10 of the 25th Squadron, 40th Group, 58th Wing based at West Field on Tinian and had been well used in India before being deployed to the Marianas in April 1945. We were a replacement crew assigned to that "sleigh" upon our arrival on May 19th. She had a couple of rusty runners and some sick reindeer when we inherited her, but these were quickly patched up after the first few missions, and she never had an abort while under our care right through the end of the campaign, successfully completing every mission assigned to her

.On one fine day in June, the elves packed the sleigh with a full complement of 500# HD goodies, and off we went, down one of the West Field runways, probably about 10 tons over the maximum gross the sleigh was designed for. Reaching the end of the runway and probably, as was usually the case, wondering where the last few necessary knots were going to come from and sort of mushing over the easterly perimeter road where there was, thankfully, a bit of a valley before an elevation rise on the shoreline. Some poor SeaBee was busy working with a drag line in that valley, saw us coming right at him, and let his boom go splat! If not, we all would have gone splat!

The trip north was the usual uneventful game of rationing the munchies for the reindeer so we could depend on them for the return trip. The line up to get the right chimney was substantially different. A lot of activity had occurred before we arrived and the smoke and the thermals were already at our altitude.

Just when we were about to deliver our bags of toys, violent gyrations began, and sitting in the radar operators seat in the rear, eyes glued to the scope, with right hand up over the right shoulder on the bomb release toggle, I suddenly found myself pinned to the

ceiling of the plane with the seat, ripped from the floor, still strapped to my posterior and catching glimpses of the "porta potty" flying around at eye level with lid open and now reaching down instead of up for the release toggle.

The toys had to be delivered so off they went anyway with some concern. However the S.O.P. inspections of the bomb bays after leaving the target got a clean report and off we went on the trip home.

Upon approaching the Iwo area, it was decided that the reindeer would not have enough munchies to make Tinian so we made a quick stop, picked up extra for them and off for the rest of the trip. Landing at Iwo always seemed hairy. Crews were tired. Everyone thought that they had a greater emergency and the traffic pattern approached mayhem. Our landing was certainly not pristine, but got the job done. The landing at Tinian was less so (more tired), but still got the job done. Back to the hardstand to deplane. The Navigator exited through the hatch to the forward bomb bay and -- surprise! There was one of our 500# goodies completely free of the shackles with the arming wire out of the fuse. It was hung up by the rear fins on the center wing section with the nose resting on the catwalk which is what may have saved the day by keeping the little propeller in the fuse from spinning. We evidently recaptured it after its release during our violent altitude changes. Armarment personnel were called but they decided they only put things like that into the plane - and weren't supposed to take them out. The 'elves' vacated the area so quickly, we could have been on a deserted isle. The Bombardier and I got one of the crew chiefs ladders, I held it, and he (bless his soul) climbed up and unscrewed the two fuses on that particular toy. Once it was known that these were out, the 'elves' all scrambled back and it was business as usual. Another day, another dollar!




There'll Always Be a Christmas
Source Unknown

As we stir a Toddy this Heavenly Body
Is winging her way through the sky
Her pose is a sign that the going is fine
And America's still flying high
The pace has been hot and we've been through a lot
And none of us look any younger
But 'Mussy" is sunk and 'Tojo' feels punk
And Hitler is strictly from hunger
So lift up your glasses, you lads and you lasses
And lets drink a toast to the crew
Who showered their eggs on those arrogant yeggs
Who boasted that free men were through
And drink to this gal who is boosting morale
As she visits our barracks or shanty
For now it's our inning, America's winning
And that means there must be a Santy

 



Nate's simulation

And, like any politician who gets his hands on ther microphone, I cannot pass up my brief visit to this column without mentioning my pet project - "Genie", a flying model for M/S Flight Simulator. She was originally posted on some of the Flight Sim libraries earlier in the year but will be updated soon with the addition of glass cockpit, turrets, operating bomb bay doors and some other refinements along with a scenery add on for the same program which re-creates Tinian as it was in 1945 - the largest air base ever constructed. Both should work well with either FS98 or FS2000.

Visit my web pages at http://www.redrival.com/nateh/ for pictures and more on Tinian operations. Email me at nateh@optonline.net.

April 1999 - How the Revisionist Grinches Stole the 50th Anniversary of the End of World War II
by Andy Doty.

May 1999 - The tale of our 16th mission . . .
by Joseph Majeski

We did not have a guest columnist in June 1999.

July 1999 - Col. Patrick J. Ryan - The REAL Bombardier by Fred Byars

We did not have a columnist in August.

September 1999 - The Take Off in a Loaded B-29 by Earl L. Johnson, Maj. Gen. (Retired)

October 1999 - The first B29 to Bomb Japan - by Terrence Lindell

November 1999 - Ford Speaks Out