|
|
Memoirs of a B-29 Pilot
|
Price: From $6.95 to $34.95
Product Options
| |
|
Memoirs of a B-29 Pilot
by Charles R. Reyher, Major, U.S. Air Force (Ret.)
This memoir is of the author’s wartime experiences leading up to and as a B-29 Superfortress Aircraft Commander.. He was engaged in the Air Offensive--Japan from the Marianas Islands in the South Pacific. He looks back at those experiences from the professional view of a retired airline captain, having flown over 35 years of service with Trans World Airlines.
After graduation as a pilot cadet, he became a bomb approach pilot at a bombardier training base for one year. Then, rated as a B-17 Flying Fortress 1st Pilot, he spent six months duty as a B-17 instructor pilot at an airbase training new B-17 crews as replacements for the 8th Air Force in England. Many months of training to be a B-29 Aircraft Commander followed.
He arrived at newly constructed Northwest Field, Guam, in early June 1945. 125 factory-new B-29B Superfortresses made up the new 315th Very Heavy Bomb Wing. He and his crew flew 13 missions before the end of the war, all against oil targets.
In addition to covering his wartime service, the author concludes the book with several chapters detailing various aspects of the air war against Japan and how he believes attacking Japan’s oil refineries and supplies could have ended the war even without the use of the atomic bombs.
Contents
-
Acknowledgments
-
Preface
-
Why the B-29 Was Built
-
Deming, New Mexico
-
The China B-29s
-
Hobbs, New Mexico
-
Sioux City, Iowa
-
Formation Flying
-
Harvard, Nebraska
-
My First Look at a B-29
-
Meeting My Crew
-
The Solo Flight With My Crew
-
The 315th Bomb Wing Readies for Guam
-
The “Chicago Queen” Leaves for Guam
-
Northwest Field, Guam
-
Air Combat Begins
-
The Special Mission of the 315th Bomb Wing
-
Status of the Air War in June 1945
-
Mission Planning and Getting Ready
-
Maximum Gross Weight Take-offs
-
A Typical Bomb Run
-
My First Mission, Kudamatsu, A Near Disaster
-
The 509th Composite Group and the Atomic Bomb
-
The Blockade of Japan
-
The Fire Bombing of Japanese Cities
-
The 7th Fighter Command
-
Air and Sea Rescue in the Pacific Combat Theaters
-
More About Iwo Jima and Okinawa
-
The Planned Invasion of Japan
-
The Kamikaze
-
Japan’s Preparation for an American Landing on Kyushu
-
More Combat Missions
-
The Last Mission of World War II
-
August 15, 1945
-
MacArthur is Appalled
-
Flight to the Philippines for Prisoner of War Supplies
-
My Prisoner of War Drop
-
A Legal Buzz Job of Japan
-
My Flight to Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., and Discharge
-
Post War
-
Addendum
-
Testimony
-
B-29 Ditchings at Iwo Jima
-
About the Author
-
First Edition (April 2008)
-
Paperback: ISBN 978-1-4357-1508-0 — $19.95
-
Hardcover: ISBN 978-1-4357-1509-7 — $34.95
-
PDF file on CD disc
-
228 6 × 9 inch pages
-
1 color photo
-
26 B&W photos
-
10 documents
-
1 map
Booksellers: This title is now available through Ingram.
Reviews and Testimonials
I recently purchased subject book (written by my uncle). I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I learned a lot more about my uncle's war experience, his flying career, and the war effort in the Pacific. Thank you so much for publishing my uncle's memoirs!
Mike Keenan, CDR, USN (Ret)
Got your book yesterday and read it last night; fascinating story; you have had quite a life. My Dad was a bombadier with the 364th on Okinawa which did not get into the war, but he was sent TDY as advance party and was on Guam North Field with 314th and flew with them over Japan. Thank you for your service; they throw the word 'Hero' around a lot today, but (to me) it was folks like you in WWII that gave us the freedoms we cherish today. You were, indeed, the greatest generation!
Colonel Terry A. Yon, USA (Ret)
Public Relations Officer, Valiant Air Command
This is a first-person account, from a pilot's perspective, of the World War II air war in the Far East and a most remarkable aircraft, the B-29 Superfortress. With the U.S. and Japan at war, the world entered a new era of global warfare with no aircraft with the range and payload capabilities of reaching the enemy's homeland. The development and production of the Boeing B-29 became one of the highest priority. The U.S. spent over three billion dollars on it, more than it spent on the entire Manhattan Project. There were 3,960 aircraft built between 1943 and 1946--excluding 847 Soviet Tu-4 "Bull's", an exact reverse-engineered copy which Russia and China flew well into the 1960s.
Anyone who flew "big pistons" (or just is interested in them) will like Chuck's account of the plane and the mission:
"...An uncontrollable engine fire could even shed a wing. The engines were newly developed and huge at 2200 horsepower each with four-bladed propellers over 16 feet in diameter. The problem was with engine cowling, causing overheating, and another tendency was to 'swallow valves' (cylinder failure) ... Since the 315th Wing was stripped of all guns except the tail gun, we had two gunners each without guns. They were called Scanners and kept the engines on their side of the aircraft under constant observation. We had no fire warning devices in the cockpit, nor could we see the engines from the cockpit. When over Japan the Scanners were necessary observers for enemy fighter attack or an impending side collision with another B-29 on its own individual attack."
The B-29 must have been a lot like the L-1049 "Connie" [Constellation]: MGTW [Maximum Gross Takeoff Weight] B-29 - 133,500 pounds; Connie - 137,500 pounds. The big difference would have been in performance, with the B-29 totaling 8,800 hp (4 x 2,200) vs. the Connie with R-3350 DA turbo compounds rated at 3,400 hp x 4 = 13,600!
Chuck tells of 2,400 emergency landings at Iwo Jima by aircraft returning from Japan in the summer of 1945. "... [They] were brave men who had a difficult job which they performed with great skill and courage."
And, the same can be said of the author.
TARPA Topics, July 2008 [TWA Active Retired Pilots Association; Chuck was a TWA Captain, 1947-1982]
Major Charles Reyher, USAF (Ret), a member of the [Cape Canaveral Chapter of MOAA--the Military Officers Association of America], has published a book of his wartime experiences. He was engaged in the air offensive against Japan from the Marianas to the raids on Tokyo. He looks back on those experiences from the professional view of a retired airline captain, having flown over 35 years with Trans World Airlines. After graduation as a pilot cadet he was trained as a pilot and a bombardier and rated as a B-17 Flying Fortress 1st pilot. He instructed B-17 pilots, then was trained to be a B-29 Aircraft Commander. He was assigned to Guam where 125 new B-29B Superfortresses made up the new 135th Very Heavy Bomb Wing. He flew 13 combat missions against oil targets in Japan before the war ended.
The Intercom, Cape Canaveral Chapter, MOAA, August 2008
This memoir is of the author’s wartime experiences as a B-29 Superfortress Aircraft Commander during World War II. In addition to covering his wartime service, the author concludes the book with several chapters detailing various aspects of the air war against Japan.
Military Officer, MOAA, August 2008
Links
|
Product Reviews
|
The Search Site feature only works when you enter the main title of a book or product.
Shopping on this web site is secure.
We accept MasterCard, Visa, American Express credit cards and PayPal from all customers, and checks/money orders from U.S. customers.
You do not need to create an account to shop on this web site.
|
|