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I have attached a photograph of my father's B29 taken on Saipan during WW2. A photo of the crew is shown below. My father, Captain Carl F. Breth, was the Flight Engineer on this plane which flew over 25 missions to Japan. He was a member of the 73rd Bomb Wing, 497th Bomb Group. This group had an "A" on the tail. Best Regards |
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Wheel
N Deal #42-24604 73rd Bomb Wing 497th Bomb Group Back
Row: Donald
Phillips, T/Sgt.- Crew Chief, Charles W. Boal, Cpl.- Tail Gunner, Harold
Bossley, Sgt.- Gunner, Nick Samela, Sgt CFC, George Quattlander, Sgt -
Radio Operator, Edward Tuenge- Sgt. Radar Operator Front
Row: L.H. Breininger, 2nd. Lt - Co-Pilot, Roy E. Meeker, 1st Lt. -
Navigator, Paul Beard, Capt. - Pilot, Carl F. Breth, 1st Lt. -Flight Engineer,
William E. Wild, 2nd. Lt - Bombardier, Ival L. Witsman, 2nd. Lt. - Passenger |
| Here is a photo of my Dad and his crew. He was stationed at Hobbs, New Mexico right before he left for Tinian. My Dad is 5th from the left in the back row.I don't have any first hand info on the rest of the crew, but Jack Nichols said that the airplane armorer assigned to this plane was Kenneth D.Meek and one time Crew Chief was Ronald J. Martelly. Harry George said that the Aircraft Commander was John C. Jaekels - Thanks, John McFee |
| When Otis was shot
down my oldest brother was four days short of being 2 years old, my other
brother was 6 months old, and my mother was about 6 weeks pregnant with
me. She passed away December 2, 1994 but she never really got over that
"what if he was still alive" concern. Like most war widows, she remarried (a really wonderful guy that took all three of us kids and raised us like we were his own) and we kids didn't want to possibly upset our "Dad" by inquiring too much about our father. And, of course, as we grew older and married we came to realize Dad would have helped us find out all we wanted to know if we had only asked him....but by then we were all so taken up with our own families that none of us followed up on it after we were told the records had been destroyed. My youngest son (who is a police officer in Richmond, VA) has taken up the task. - Denese Judd |
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My interest in
the B-29 comes from my many years of flying in light aircraft with the
late Captain Glenn William Dye. When he landed his B-17F, 42-30089,
"Sunny", at New Philadelphia, Ohio in 1943, Glenn was on his
way to Thorpe Abbotts, England to join the 351st Squadron of the 100th
Bomb Group as the Group entered combat in the E.T.O.. After finishing
his tour in the E.T.O., Glenn was stationed at Smokey Hill A.A.F.B.,
Salina Kansas, where he took part in the program that is sometimes referred
to as the "Battle of Kansas". At Salina, a lot of B-29s were
extensively flown and many modifications were made to them in order
to get the airplane ready for operational service. Glenn flew the B-29
there as a test pilot and also as a flight instructor. He also was a
crash investigator. He was involved in the training of the 509th Composite
Group and he was at Battista Field in Cuba with them, but he did not
go overseas with them. His remark on this was: "We knew we were
training for something big, but we didn't know what it was!"
Glenn was flying a training mission in a B-29 out of Salina when word
came over the radio that Japan had surrendered. Also, when Glenn
was at Smokey Hill, he held the position of "Acting Colonel".
Hap Arnold froze promotion for non-combat personnel and Glenn finished
his B-17 tour in the E.T.O. as Captain. The only way he could command
the people he needed to was for the Army Air Force to give him "Acting"
rank! The "Acting" rank dissolved for Glenn when the B-29
testing, modification and initial crew training was finished and I suppose
when he left the 509th training area. He was discharged as Captain. I want to pass
this along. Glenn used to say: "A pilot could like a B-17 and
fly it without much trouble, but you had to RESPECT a B-29." |
