The 494th Bomb Group (H) Association, Inc.

"Kelley's Kobras"

History of the 494th Bomb Group (H)

Although the 494th Bombardment Group (H) had been a paper organization for several months in the top secret files of G3, it was not until December, 1943, that it began to assume physical reality. From all quarters of the compass, by train and bus, airplane and automobile, an apparently casual collection of individuals began to assemble in that Garden Spot of the Old West, Wendover, Utah. They debarked usually in flurries of snow, or a steady drizzle of cold rain, jostled each other in the muddy and salt-encrusted streets of the Area, lost and found their personal gear in the growing mounds of baggage, and lined up for everything from going to a latrine to delivering "name, rank & serial number" to anyone who required this information.

Lives there a man with soul so dead who can forget the first impressions of Wendover! The chill bleakness of the hills North and West of us that was only equaled by the salt flats extending to the horizon to the South and East, with a haze of soft coal smoke hanging over the small (pop. 140) town, the airfield and cantonment area day and night. It has been wisely observed that no better area could have been selected by anyone for the training of a combat outfit in combat scenery; Sherman on his march to the sea left more behind him to look at than our new home provided. In brief, it was a masterpiece of desolation .

Eventually, the above noted individuals found their belongings, their quarters, mess halls and plumbing, signed all their forms, and awoke one morning to discover that they were in fact the 494th Bombardment Group (H), equipped with a Headquarters Squadron, four others (the 864th, 865th, 866th & 867th) and very little else. They began to think of themselves as "we." The brightest features in an otherwise drab-looking future appeared to be the State Line Hotel, with its bar in Utah and its remainder in Nevada, and the daily train & bus to Salt Lake City. Those with the time, money and proper credentials availed themselves of these facilities with commendable alacrity.

A confused January moved into a more settled February, and on the 13th, a cadre of O and EM was sent to the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics at Orlando, Florida, for a six weeks course in simulated combat conditions and problems. Orlando, even with its formations, lectures and examinations was not hard to take; and Brooksville's training in the shortcomings of tents, pyramidal, and pre-dawn take-offs probably stood those of us who were exposed to the routine in good stead. Colonel Kelley joined us at Orlando on 15 February, returning to Wendover with the Brooksville veterans on the 23rd after an appropriate and welcome delay en route. The 24th of February saw our life as a Group begin in earnest.

Our crews put in their appearance during March, and schoolroom exercises were begun, as were training missions when airplanes became available. The 489th Group, training at Wendover when we arrived, pulled out for the European Theater and left us with whatever equipment and facilities that they felt was not worth taking with them. We went on a week-long bivouac in the hills, strafed by "Chief" Sturm and his Hot Rocks, and exposed to the rigors and mysteries of guard duty in rough and cold terrain. Surviving all this, we packed, processed and proceeded to Mountain Home, Idaho, on the 13th of April to complete our training, glad to trade Wendover for anything that the War Department had to offer.

April 1944:
7th AF striking Guam, Saipan & Tinian from bases at Kwajalein and Eniwetok.

As all of us hoped, but few expected, our new resting place presented a much more attractive picture as the train- weary elements of the 494th peered out of the windows and doors of their tourist sleepers and three-decker Pullmans at the town of Mountain Home (pop. 1200-plus). Real live trees, and grass, too, was growing quite unconcernedly around the railroad station and along the town's streets that appeared to be actually paved. This looked much better. Two hotels (the Millen and the Mountain Home), a couple of restaurants and a liquor store were all in plain view from the train, not to mention a movie, a barber shop and the usual hardware and dry goods emporiums along the main street. A highway sign, visible from our point of view, said "Boise-45 miles." All this and Heaven too! Those who flew up from Wendover, or made the move via privately owned vehicle, missed that soul-satisfying first sight of "Town" from the train. Our base was only seven miles away.

The airfield and its facilities as well as our living and working quarters were all new and well arranged. After the increasingly familiar routine of finding everything and signing up had run its bewildering course, the 494th settled down to the business of getting itself ready to go somewhere else. Latrine and other less reliable rumors indicated that we were (a) Headed for the ETO. (b) Going to be put into B-29's. (c) Destined to become a training Group. (d) Going to join the party in the Pacific.

Mountain Home was where the Group was required to learn how to become an Agent of Destruction, and as it turned out, the time allotted for its education along these lines was to be short. Daily missions, complete with briefing, target photos and diagrams became as much a part of life as the sound of airplane engines on the line and the routine of keeping them in operation. The airplanes given us to use at Wendover and here had been used before, and used hard, to put it mildly; and the fact that we flew them without a serious accident until our new and shining "J's" began to put in their appearance early in May stands as a tribute to the ability of pilots and ground crews alike. By the time that all the new equipment had been flown in and distributed to its eager owners, the hours of night and day flying, navigating and all the other endless ground work of a bomber group were nearing the total set for us by the Second Air Force. A visit, about the middle of May, from General Landon and his atabrine-tinted staff from HQ 7th BOMCOM strengthened the conviction that the Summer gear we were using would some day be permanent equipment. Our missions to Las Vegas, Reno, Sacramento, Portland and Pendleton took on an unmistakably Japanese flavor as the briefings described enemy forces landing on the West Coast and paralyzing the War Effort centered in that unfortunate area. Late in May, the POM missions were run off with a sureness and excellence of rating that caused the examining team from HQ 2AF to sit up and take notice. "Here," they said, is a Group that's really going places!" How right they were! 7 day furloughs began to appear shortly thereafter. The Brass had its official picture taken.

25 May 1944:
Saipan & Tinian in the process of being softened up by the 7th AF from its bases on Kwajalein & Eniwetok. A landing has been scheduled to take place on Saipan in June.

On 1 June the Ground Echelon, packed and semi-processed, squeezed itself into its sleepers (tourist) and Pullmans (3 decker) and pulled out of Mountain Home, waving and calling farewell to the friendly citizens, male and female, who had gathered at the station to see us off. No one knew where the engineer was heading with us, but since we were equipped with such odds and ends as heavy metal headgear, carbines and other lethal weapons, and canvas strips (complete with buttons, button holes, loops, pegs & pins) described as shelter halves, we felt that our future was going to be slightly more rugged than it had appeared three months back. Our direction was north and west, and by the time night had fallen on the caravan, the experts among us had our destination picked out as Portland. The engineer kept his own counsel, and kept going. So we climbed down from our conveyances in the foggy half light of very early morning and lined up along the tracks in the yards that later observation proved to be adjacent to the Seattle, Washington, railroad station. Weighed down by our equipment that seemed more bulky and heavy than any possible use could justify, we walked as steadily as possible to a waiting line of trucks, 2 1/2 ton(6 x 6), which received us and moved us through little used back streets into the open country and Fort Lawton. Here, where an old Artillery post had been turned into a POE, we were set down in the midst of confusion and what seemed like seven full divisions of transient personnel to undergo a processing that made all others look simple by comparison. New clothing for old, AGO cards and photographs, more and more equipment (tropical), lotions and ointments, showdown inspections and formations at all hours of the day and night. If life was like this before we even got going, what would it be like when we got there? Six days of this routine, (during which time all our Air Corps patches had been removed from our clothing to prevent identification of those of the outfit who got in town, and we had been initiated into the mysteries of censoring mail), and we were alerted again, loaded into the same trucks, 2 1/2 ton (6 x 6), and conveyed to the waterfront. Here in the heat of early afternoon we got ourselves onto and into the converted cruise liner "Mexico. "With upwards of 2500 personnel occupying space originally intended for 300 comfortable travelers (or so it seemed ), we set off into the setting sun on the evening of 8 June.

The voyage was uneventful, and after the first day of sailing into a head wind and a less than placid sea, the weather improved and the roll of the ship became hardly noticeable. Seasickness abated (though there were some characters who never left their sacks), and card games and sun bathing began to be observed on such small portions of the decks as we were allowed to use. Without escorts we were, the subject of enemy submarines was thoroughly discussed at the beginning of the voyage and soon forgotten as one relaxed day followed another. An early riser on the morning of 15 June looked off the starboard bow and saw the lovely, green, mist-shrouded mass of a mountainous island ringed with white surf punctuated by occasional tall spouts of water, and the decks were soon crowded with passengers eager to set foot on this vision of delight. Several hours later, the "Mexico" was berthed in the harbor of Port Allen on the southern coast of the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands.

With the motion of the boat still being felt by every pair of legs, the outfit, complete with all its gear and some pets that had made a mysterious appearance, fell in on the dock, had its assorted noses counted, and climbed over the high tailboards of the waiting trucks, 2 1/2 ton (6 x 6),and other varied vehicles to proceed to its new home. This turned out to be a station built for the Navy in the early days of the War at an area north of the small settlement of Kekaha, at a location known as Barking Sands, situated on the western bulge of the island facing the purple silhouette of the island of Niihau 17 miles away.

The ride to the Base opened our eyes to scenery with a capital "S." From our road, roughly skirting the coast, the land rose toward the center of the island to form the peak of Kawaikini, which the small guide book (courtesy of USO) said was 5170 feet high. Canyons and valleys, cut to a depth of 3000 feet by the mountain streams which we occasionally crossed, made each successive view more dramatic than the one last seen, and the combined colors of rich green vegetation, red soil and blue sea and sky had to be seen to be believed. Those of us who later made the tour of Kauai (and who did not) found it well named the Garden Island.

The caravan dropped us in our respective areas. Again we found our belongings, quarters, mess halls and plumbing, signed our forms and settled down, this time in separate squadron areas strung out along the ocean facing the setting sun. We were to live like this, with minor variations wherever we went, for over a year and a half.

The Air Echelon, rested and sun-tanned from its stopover at Oahu, joined the Barking Sands contingent as fast as the crews could be rounded up in the various pastures that they had discovered. The last airplane made its usual perfect landing and taxied to its camouflaged revetment on 22 June, and once again, the 494th was a complete Bombardment Group (H), ready for the next move which everyone hoped would not take too long to come. It is worthy of note here that each airplane and crew that left the States arrived safely at Kauai.

Although the airplanes that the Group brought along were the latest model of Stateside effectiveness, they were not equipped to meet standards set by the 7th AF during its more than two years experience in Pacific warfare. The first and most pressing job facing us, therefore, was to see that the necessary modifications were made to our equipment as quickly as possible. After lengthy negotiations with the Hawaiian Air Depot had proved that we would never catch up with the War if we waited for the work to be done at that busy spot, it was decided to take on the job at our own place with our own personnel. Starting early in July, after a full formation flight around the Island on the 4th, all alterations and additions were complete by 1 August, much to the surprise of experts sent over by HAD to observe the operation. Completed also was much of the art work that decorated every airplane by the time our first combat mission was flown, none of it equaling in size or sheer iriventive genius the face of "Casey" Laskowski's "Horrible Monster" that was the first job to be executed back at Mountain Home.

Meanwhile, GI's and Brass alike drilled on the sun-baked steel matting of taxi strips, stood guard at night through-out the Area, disported themselves in the mountainous surf at Sunova Beach and toured our Island and many of its neighbors while the time ran out. The crews went through Gunnery School at Hickam, gaining a proficiency with cal. 50's and cal. 30's that was to stand them in good stead later in life. As July ended and August began, rumors and common sense made it plain that the Group was going to move again.

What and where the move would be was complicated by the fact that there was no place for us to go. Unless we were to be put to work keeping by-passed islands in a continually reduced state, there was no base in the forward area that was in shape to be used by a heavy group at this time, unless it was Saipan, and the rumor was that a heavy group had been moved in there already, A clue to our destiny came to S-2 early in August, when a bale of Philippine target photos made its appearance. Where could a B-24 Group base and strike the Philippines? Yap had not been taken, and no one thought it would be. The Palaus looked ideal on the map, and there were rumors -

On 17 August, an advance echelon of the Group was assembled, processed and stuffed into a waiting vessel, the "Sea Sturgeon," which set out for parts unknown but faintly surmised. The story of the wanderings of this hardy band of pioneers in the "Sturgeon" is too long to set down here in any detail, but a brief outline will suffice to show why some members of the 494th prefer any fate but that of spending any part of their life on the water. From Kauai they steamed to Honolulu and remained tied up at the harbor end of one of that City's main streets for the weekend with no shore liberty to ease the strain. Casting loose, they set sail for Kwajalein, lying offshore for a suitable length of time to take on or deliver supplies. From this desolated area they steamed South, crossing the Equator with appropriate ceremony, and put into Manus for rest and relaxation as well as anything else the "Sturgeon" happened to need. At this point many will remember Duffy's Tavern on the island of Pittylou, where real beer was encountered in considerable quantity. Hoisting anchor once more regretfully, the little band headed North, and eventually found itself anchored and riding out the swells of a recent hurricane off the northern coast of Babelthuap Island, which a glance at a chart showed was the largest and most northerly of the Palau Group. So this was it! Forty-three (43) days and blacked-out nights had elapsed since Kauai!

It wasn't it, exactly. When the weather had modified enough to permit landing (barely enough), the "Sturgeon" proceeded South for the full extent of the group of islands, picked out the smallest one, and set the travelers on the beach in a heavy rain, complete with a small mountain of gear and supplies. The island was Angaur, the meanest of the Group, where in happier times the natives-of the area condemned its mentally deranged brethren to live separated from the more normal members of their society. Though "all organized resistance had ceased" in the estimation of the communiqué writers, there was still plenty of the unorganized variety, and few if any of that first echelon will forget the first weeks of trying to cope with Jap snipers, land crabs, pup tents, K rations and the jungle growth separately and collectively. Pelelieu Island, on this 30th of September '44 was still in the process of being separated from its Japanese defenders, and the strip at Angaur was far from complete. The Advance Echelon wondered if it would ever see the rest of the Group again.

The remainder of the Group at Barking Sands began to pack, process and check equipment while a complicated schedule for moving the outfit by air was being worked out with ATC at Hickam Field. It was not until 10 October that the "Missouri Mule," piloted by Lt. Colonel Halstead and staffed by a crew containing many of the top-ranking officers of Group HQ, took off, followed by a C-47 load of HQ personnel on the 12th. The route took them to Hickam (where the C-47 was traded for a C-54), thence to Johnson Island, Kwajalein and Saipan. At Saipan, an enforced "delay en route" of 10 days gave members of this small contingent a first-hand view of operations in the rough from the receiving end, for the Japs had not resigned themselves to the apparent loss of this strategic spot, or else did not know that they were beaten. Here, while quartered with the 7th BOMCOM, several members of the 494th flew their first combat mission with crews of the 30th Group, stationed on Saipan, and got their only glimpse of Iwo Jima. The "Mule'' landed on Pelelieu on 16 October, picking up its first combat scars in the form of stray bullets from the battle of Bloody-Nose Ridge which was in full swing at the time. Leaving his flying machine for a few days in comparative safety at Pelelieu, Colonel Halstead established contact with the forward echelon on Angaur by means of a convenient "puddle-jumper" taxi service that had been established by MAG 11. The "Missouri Mule" followed as soon as the unfinished strip at Angaur permitted it to land and find a parking space out of the way of the night and day construction being rushed to completion by the Seabees and Combat Engineers. The first installment of HQ personnel, marooned at Saipan until this time, put in its appearance at Angaur on 23 October. Colonel Kelley, in No. 101 (an unarmed version of our combat airplanes that was later to be known as the "Fat Cat") landed on our strip on 24 October, and the Group was completely headed up. Airplanes and crews came in from that date on as quickly as the strip could accommodate them, but it was not until 23 November that the last plane was in. By this date, starting on 3 November, 15 combat missions had been flown by the 494th over Yap and the upper islands of the Palaus, Arakabesan, Koror and Babelthuap, and the first of the Philippine missions had been carried out successfully by a strike at the Legaspi Airfield on 17 November.

Last of the 494th personnel arrived by ATC and TAG on 10 December 1944, and the 494th Bombardment Group (H) was assembled for action at last, nearly one year from the date of its original activation. From here on in, a factual account of our missions and moves will tell the story. Much will be left unsaid, but the pictures that follow have been selected with a view to recapturing the sights, sounds and other sensations that were our life from this time on. We had caught up with the war.

TARGET – PHILIPPINES

In the fall of 1944 the great Allied drive aimed at re-conquest of the Philippine Islands got under way. Playing a major role, the B-24's of the 494th Bombardment Group based at Angaur, Palau Island Group, operated over the Philippines throughout the period of re-conquest contributing heavily to the destruction of enemy materiel located in these islands, thus decreasing the enemy's ability to fight back against our land forces. Though having to make long flights and though often assigned difficult targets where Jap-held installations to be destroyed were directly contiguous to Filipino installations to be kept free of bombs, the 494th experienced a high degree of success, and by accurate, medium-altitude bombing set an example of efficiency in heavy bombardment.

LUZON

Luzon had been our first target in the Philippines on 17 November 1944. At that time the objective had been the runway of Legaspi (Sanborn) Airdrome, important staging base for Jap planes attacking our forces engaged on Leyte. This field, along with its auxiliary, Bulan Airdrome, was pounded regularly throughout November and December, and was in a thoroughly forlorn condition by the end of the year; the runways had been cratered, adjacent barracks and air installations destroyed, and the field generally rendered too vulnerable to be of much use as a staging base. Bulan was reduced to a similar condition. With the conclusion of the Leyte campaign, airfields on the Bicol Peninsula lost their immediate importance, and our operations were shifted to Northern Luzon, Our first mission over that area had been directed against the dispersal areas of Grace Park Airdrome on 23 December, and was one of the first of many strikes made by planes of the Far East Air Forces designed to annihilate the enemy's remaining stock of aircraft in the area prior to our landing at Lingayen on 9 January. On their first mission our planes, bombing through a partial cloud cover, were officially credited with twenty planes damaged on the ground, though unconfirmed reports gave a figure of thirty-five destroyed.

On Christmas Day our planes made their second strike in the area, hitting Mabalacat Airdrome, important Jap-built unit of the Clark Field Air Center. Fierce resistance was encountered, with anti-aircraft fire intense and accurate, and at least twenty-five Jap fighters intercepting. Despite this, five parked aircraft were destroyed on the ground and ten damaged. Six of the interceptors were shot down by our B-24's. On two missions against units of Clark Field flown on January 2nd and 4th, our planes at medium altitude met intense and accurate anti-aircraft fire, and on the second raid two Jap fighters intercepted, one of which was shot down. One B-24 with Lt. Winnar's Crew was lost to enemy anti-aircraft fire on these two strikes, while four received major damage and eight minor damage. Damage to the target was great, with many direct hits in the dispersal areas, on the runways, on twenty four buildings, and on anti-aircraft and automatic weapons positions; three aircraft were destroyed and twenty-three damaged on the ground. On January 7th a strike against Grace Park Airdrome met sufficient fire from the ground to damage four of our B-24's; but the mission scored 80% of its bombs in the target areas, damaging at least eight parked aircraft and setting fire to a possible ammunition dump.

A number of other Luzon targets were struck during January. The materiel-laden town of Cabanatuan, supply center for Jap forces operating on the Luzon lowlands, was hit on January 14, and many buildings, including the railroad terminal, were damaged or destroyed. On January 18, buildings in Bamban Town, another enemy storage point, suffered many direct hits causing explosions and fires, while the railroad line outside the town was temporarily out. At this time American ground forces were operating in the vicinity of Tarlac, about 18 miles away. On 21 January our planes attacked the storage area near Bamban Airdrome where in a most notable example of precision bombing direct hits were scored with 1,000 pound bombs on an underground storage system difficult to distinguish from the air. Buildings in the dock area of Mariveles Town, unloading point for southern Bataan, suffered direct hits on 22 January, causing a large explosion and fires. The Batangas Bay Airfield was hit by a few planes which cratered the runway, and Calumbang Town was also bombed. During January some planes, unable to make the full flight to targets farther west, used Eulan and Legaspi Airdromes and installations at Legaspi Town as secondary targets; and Legaspi Town was the victim of one large strike on 12 January, when hits were scored on the important Legaspi Port railroad junction, which links Legaspi Port with Legaspi Town and the Manila Railway. After the end of January, Luzon targets were only twice hit by our planes; Bulan on 6 February by two planes unable to reach Corregidor, and Legaspi Airdrome's personnel area 27 March in the week preceding our landing at Legaspi. On these strikes no interception was encountered and anti-aircraft fire when encountered was meager and inaccurate.

"CORREGIDOR - THE ROCK"

Corregidor and Caballo were the targets for twelve major strikes by our B-24's from 24 January to 14 February, two days before the landing of ground forces on this sentinel of Manila Bay. A total of 267 sorties were flown, and over 665 tons of bombs were dropped. During these strikes many direct hits were placed on the American-named gun batteries, Crockett, Cheney, Wheeler, Grubbs, Morrison,and Ramsey. A number of buildings with their contents of war materiel suffered direct hits, as did water tanks, docks, jetties, a cargo vessel off the island, personnel areas, anti-aircraft positions, and fuel dumps. A tremendous explosion and fires were caused at Caballo.

After each visit the tiny islands were left smoking and exploding as the hoarded stores of Japanese occupation were reduced to debris and ashes. Anti-aircraft fire, at first meager, inaccurate to accurate, dwindled to nothing under these attacks and the many others carried out by Far East Air Forces planes, so that Corregidor was literally a burnt firecracker by the time our landing forces parachuted down upon it. In the bombardment of Corregidor, two of ourB-24's with the crews of Lt. Brown and Lt. Morris were lost operationally flying these missions. Only the co-pilot of Lt. Brown's crew parachuted to safety.

"CEBU"

Lahug Airdrome and Cebu City on Cebu Island were targets for our bombers during the later phases of the Leyte Campaign, and much damage had been caused to air installations at the field and storage installations in the city. Open Airdrome on nearby Mactan Island was heavily hit during November and December and became but a secondary target thereafter. On 22, 24 and 25 March, prior to the landing of ground forces on Cebu on 26 March, large-scale softening-up missions were flown, and direct hits were scored on defense and storage installations at Naga Town and in the vicinity of Cebu City, causing fires and explosions. No flak was encountered over these targets.

"MASBATE - NEGROS"

On the single mission against Masbate our planes had found the targets largely closed in, and some jettisonedt heir bombs rather than risk hitting friendly Filipino installations. En route to base, the formation was fired upon by two Jap destroyers, and five of the B-24's that still retained part of their loads made a run that narrowly missed the enemy's warships. Negros Island twice provided targets for our bombers in December, when a high percentage of hits was scored on Bacolod Airdrome installations, and two aircraft were destroyed on the ground at Carolina Airdrome amid fires and explosions. These strikes were ordered in order to decrease the danger to ground operations against Mindoro. After December, installations at Silay, Talisay, Fabrica and Bacolod Airdromes were hit as secondary targets when more profitable missions had to be cancelled.

MINDANAO

Mindanao had furnished one of our first Philippine targets in November when 25 B-24's attacked Diklom Airfield, one of the Del Monte system, patterning the runway and damaging repair shops and warehouses. This was a secondary target for a strike scheduled against Bulan Airdrome, Luzon. Mindanao was not again hit by our B-24's until the middle of February. From 17 February through16 March Mindanao provided most of the targets for our bombers. Nineteen large-scale missions were flown with a total of 850 tons of bombs being dropped on three general areas of the second largest island in the Philippines.

Beach defenses along the strip of land between San Roque and Calarian Airdromes and the sea were effectively pounded on the days just before the invasion, and planes on the last mission against this area on March 18 dumped their bombs with 90% accuracy on defenses near Calarian just 15 minutes before our ground assault forces landed.

The second area of attack lay about Davao on the eastern half of the island, and furnished targets for eight major strikes; Some of the airfields in this area were still operational, aid aircraft were observed on the ground. Runways at Sasa, Daliao, and Libby were attacked and thoroughly cratered. In addition, barracks and warehouses were destroyed at Licanan Airdrome, 18 barracks were destroyed at Ilang, supply and personnel areas at Sasa were thoroughly patterned and left burning, and four aircraft were probably destroyed on the ground at Matina Airdrome, where fires were started in the dispersal area. Typical of some number of targets assigned to our bombardiers on Mindanao was the personnel bivouac area at Ising, situated in the woods and only distinguishable from the air by its proximity to a Y-shaped crossroads. The location of targets such as this was made known through the co-operation of the competent Mindanao Guerrillas, and thee xplosions following the impact of our bombs indicated the accuracy of this information, since they were considerably larger than would result from frag clusters bursting among trees. On one of the missions Filipino Guerrillas reported that Jap troops were surprised at a noonday meal and many killed.

The third area of attack was in the southern extreme of Mindanao in the Sarangani Bay area, where the enemy had large concentrations of personnel and supplies. Targets here were almost altogether hidden in the forest, but their presence was made known, as at Ising, by the explosions and fires that followed our bomb hits. As a result of these strikes there was little doubt but that the number of Japs to be subsequently wiped out by American and Guerrilla forces in this area had been greatly decreased.

In these operations over Mindanao, anti-aircraft fire varying from meager to intense, inaccurate to accurate, was sometimes encountered in the Davao and Zamboanga areas. Nine of our planes were damaged, seven at San Rogue and two at Ilang. On a mission to Ising one B-24hit by automatic weapon fire over the target crashed but all of Lt. Lampe's crew were rescued by guerrillas. One other plane crashed en route to Mindanao with only minor injuries to personnel of Capt. Yearley's crew who had parachuted to safety over Leyte Island.

Throughout the period the 494th operated from Angaur, the northern islands in the Palau Group, except Pelelieu and a few small islands nearby, remained in Jap hands. Kept under the watchful eye of Marine reconnaissance, these islands presented little threat of danger to our B-24base at Angaur, and did afford excellent targets for training and for fill-in missions when inclement weather prevented strikes in the Philippines. Since anti-aircraft fire from Koror and Arakabesan Islands often exceeded in accuracy and intensity that encountered over Philippine targets, these so-called "training targets" earned a high degree of respect from our combat crews.

Targets scheduled in November and December included principally the radio stations, power plants, dock areas, barracks and the building district of Koror Town. After the first of January only a few missions were scheduled in the Palaus as all effort was being concentrated in the Philippines. Philippine targets for heavy bombardment having run out, the middle of April our B-24's recommenced neutralization of these neighboring enemy islands. In response to request by the Marine Air Group operating from Pelelieu, our B-24's set out to destroy the anti-aircraft defenses of Koror and Arakabesan Islands. That this was effectively accomplished was indicated by the total absence of anti-aircraft fire on the last mission over these targets on 7 June, although we had paid a price in the loss of Lt. Custer's crew whose B-24 received direct hits from flak over Koror and went down in flames.

MARCUS & TRUK

In the midst of a heavy training program the latter part of April, the 494th was called upon to aid the 11th Bombardment Group (H) at Guam in neutralizing airfield installations on Japanese held Marcus Island and Truk Atoll, at which places it had become evident from aerial reconnaissance that the Japs were ferrying in aircraft for probable attacks on vital Guam installations. On 28 April a detachment of thirty-six B-24's with necessary ground personnel flew to Guam where in the course of the next two weeks they conducted with good results four strikes against Truk Atoll and three against Marcus Island. During the flying of these missions we lost one B-24, and four crew members of Lt. Moon's crew in a fatal take-off accident from Harmon Field, Guam.

TARGET JAPAN AND CHINA

With the arrival of the 494th at Okinawa we were ready to help deliver the final knockout blows to Japan and in evidence that there was to be no time wasted in achieving this end, our first strike was scheduled for 5 July although our first forty-eight planes had only arrived the evening of 1 July and we had just commenced to set up a bivouac area. Preparatory to the Navy's return to operations in and around the Tokyo area about the middle of July, all air effort possible from Okinawa bases was called upon to destroy and neutralize to the greatest possible extent the Japanese Air Force located on Kyushu Island. Therefore, called upon for maximum strength for a strike against Omura Airfield, a major base in Kyushu, the 494th sent forty eight B-24's out which dropped at least 50% of their bomb loads in assigned dispersal areas, starting three large and numerous smaller fires as well as direct hits upon building installations. For this strike the 494th was officially recognized as the first B-24 Group to hit a target on the enemy mainland from bases on Okinawa.

Following this initial success, on 9 July forty-four of our B24's again hit the dispersal and landing areas at Omura scoring 85% hits and starting numerous scattered fires.

Weathered out of primary targets on Kyushu, our group formations on the next three missions hit secondary targets and targets of opportunity in the small islands south of Kyushu. On 16 July, directed to destroy a vital bridge at Nobeoka, our B-24's found the target completely socked in and as a result made a radar run in formation with unobserved results.

On 17 July, we participated with other Seventh Aar Force units in carrying out our first strike against a Japanese target in China. Bombing by radar due to a heavy under-cast, forty-seven of our B-24's dropped on the dispersal areas of Chiang Wan, a major airbase in the Shanghai area. Two of our B-24's were hit over the target and subsequently crashed. Lt. Trowbridge's plane crashed at sea and of the twelve crew members, seven were rescued. Lt. Eiffer's plane went down in the Shanghai area where six of the crew members were rescued by friendly Chinese Guerrilla forces and later returned to Okinawa. This mission was followed the next day by a strike with twenty-two B-24's against Wusung, another major airbase at Shanghai. An excellent pattern covered 80% of the assigned dispersal areas. Repeat missions were flown against Chiang Wan and Wusung on 22 and 24 July.

Returning to Kyushu targets on 25 July, our B-24's chalked up for the number of participating planes their most successful mission, and a mission strongly reminiscent of similar strikes against the Clark Field area in the Philippines. Claiming that 90% of its bomb load fell in assigned dispersal areas at Tsuiki Airfield the bomber formation left the target aflame and exploding with black smoke rising to two thousand feet.

However, meeting interception for the first time over Japan, we paid for this successful mission with the loss of one B-24 and Lt. Anderson's crew of which only two members were later rescued at sea. Although the twenty to thirty Jap fighters encountered were the first interception our gunners had experienced since December, 1944, they acquitted themselves with excellent marksmanship, destroying five Zekes, and damaging four others. Scoring again on 27 July, twenty-two B-24's left the railway marshalling yards at Kagoshima ablaze and smothered in smoke as crews reported 85% of their bombs on the target.

On 28 July we paid the price of two B-24's and the crews of Lt. Cartwright and Lt. Dubinski for an unsuccessful mission directed against the Japanese battleship "Haruna" at Kure, Honshu Island, where Jap gunners threw up the most terrific curtain of flak ever experienced by our crews. Participating personnel declared that was one mission they would not soon forget.

Our second instance of interception occurred on 31July when our planes turned back from a strike against the Kammon Tunnel due to weather, and being split up, two elements were attacked by enemy fighters. We escaped undamaged, but claimed to have damaged one Zeke in the encounter. Contact with enemy fighter aircraft was experienced for the last time on 1 August when our formation orbiting Yaku Jima, scheduled fighter rendezvous point, was notified by radio that our fighter escort would be late. Shortly thereafter twenty to thirty Jap fighters made their appearance and in the ensuing engagement our gunners destroyed two Zekes and damaged three Tojos. Two of our B-24's were damaged with two crewmen of Lt. Gladson's crew killed and six wounded.

Commencing in August we flew our first mission employing 500 pound napalm bombs. First hitting Tarumizu City, Kyushu, returning crewmen described the target they had left as a blazing inferno. Similar bomb loads were subsequently deposited on Kagoshima, Kuinamoto, and Miyazaki cities with undetermined results due to the dense smoke and cloud undercasts over the targets.

Following the unofficial announcement of Japan's desire to surrender, our B-24's carried out two highly successful strikes against Japan, earning for the Bomb Group the distinction of having inflicted one of the final blows against Japan during the closing hours of the war. On 11 August the Group formation achieved excellent results in scoring 90% hits in the fire bombing of Kurume Town, Kyushu. On the following day in our final bombardment mission, but first mission against targets on Shikoku Island, we attacked Matsuyama West Airfield with fragmentation clusters scoring 85% hits on the target, setting off huge explosions and scoring direct hits on building installations, leaving behind billowing smoke clouds rising to 3,000 feet.

Then came the peace. First, that wild hilarious celebration the night of 10 August 1945, when word first was flashed from "Radio Tokyo" that Japan desired to surrender; then the waiting period--three weeks long--until finally V-JDay, 2 September 1945, was announced. We of the 494^th knew we had completed a task and felt that we had done our part very well. We were ready to go home.

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© 2002 The 494th Bomb Group (H) Association, Inc.

Comments or questions about these pages should be directed to: 
Ray Sestak