Flight from Gander: On Board a B-24 in the C.B.I.

By Albert Fales and Staff Sgt. Al Fales W.W. II

This is a tale of adventure and learning based on my time in the Air Force in W.W. II. I enlisted in mid 1942 right after graduation from high school. I went through the basics and graduated from Hancock College of Aeronautics pilot school in June of 1943. From here, I was sent to Air Force radio school and subsequently, after several specialty schools, I was assigned to a B-24 as radio operator. I served in this capacity in the C.B.I. For 270 combat hours. We were just getting ready to move to the Pacific area when the war ended after the B-29s dropped a couple atom bombs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 30, 2007
• ISBN: 9781465328526

Albert Fales

I, the author was born on a farm in 1922, about 175 miles north of Detroit, Michigan. My family moved to Standish Michigan at the start of the 1929 crash of the U.S. economy. I enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942 and served as a radio operator on a B-24 bomber in the C.B.I. in both India and China. Came home in 1945 and was married for 62 years until my girl passed away.

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Copyright © 2007 by Albert Fales.

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Contents

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Endnotes

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to those

who lost their lives in the C. B. I. while fighting against the forces of tyranny, and to those who waited at home, wondering if we were coming back or not. To those whose skillful hands assembled the planes that bore us aloft and returned us to base, may heaven have

a special place for them. In our hearts, we do.

Preface

I will try to answer the question, Why the B-24 and why In the C.B.I. Area? The United States faced the beginning years of WW.II with just about everything in the armed services except the navy, in an out-dated and skeleton condition. President Roosevelt had seen the clouds of discontent and war that hovered over Europe and as a precaution, had started parts of industry on a path of re-armament. Prior to the 1940s, the aircraft industry had not gotten into the production or design of air force planes in a manner that would meet the demand of a major conflict.

There were several factories producing air craft but most of these were small planes, primarily for civilian use. A number of companies saw the need for larger planes and two of these were Douglas and Boeing.

Douglas, after trials, came up with the DC. 3, intended for air line passenger service, and as history shows, this was one of the finest planes ever built. It evolved from an air line plane to a troop transport, cargo plane, tow plane for troop gliders and all around work horse for the Army and Air Force.

Boeing had been working on several models of a bomber and after several experimental models, the B-17 came off the assembly lines. This plane was good plane to fly, did it’s job in a more than satisfactory manner, and became one of the prime machines that took the war to Europe and the Nazi invaders.

There was an engineer in the mid-west that had been experimenting with a new wing design called the Davis Wing. This wing was long and more slender than the conventional design and the crown of the arc on top of the wing was farther back from leading edge than the usual design. This gave the wing additional lift and allowed for a faster air speed. Consolidated Aircraft took this wing and designed a plane around it with three point landing gear, double vertical stabilizers, and a new design wing flaps. It was designated the B-24 and carried a bigger load, farther and faster than the B-17.

The C.B.I. area of war was spread over such a large area that a plane with the advantages of the B-24 was needed. We flew missions of up to 18 hours carrying extra gas in two rubber tanks in the front bomb bays and bombs in the rear bays. The shortest mission I ever flew on was almost 11 hours and some were up to 16 hours. By using methods of engine power and R.P.Ms. pioneered by Colonel Lindberg, this was possible to do, using our on-board fuel supply. The B-24 continued it’s use in the C.B.I. until the threat of enemy action in this area was basically over and we were preparing to move to the Pacific theater to join the B-29s, when the war ended. The B-29, built by Boeing, a larger version of the B-17, had basically made the B-24 and the B-17, obsolete because of it’s long range, larger capacity and the electronics used in it’s design.

Chapter 1

Much of the history of Asia and Europe is comprised of episodes of conquest, both religious and territorial. Some of this history in an indirect way, paved the road that leads to World War II.

The first part of this story relates some of the episodes that occurred in past history that led to WW I, and then on to incursions that drew us into WW II.

The part about the B-24 bomber is true, and the things that occurred are real. I have included the names of the crew on our plane and the dates of the missions are correct except for just a few that I could not get from Air Force records.

This is the true account of my life in the Army Air Force for the time I was in service during W.W. II. I still have a copy of the orders that sent us over-seas, and the page of a copy of the orders that brought us home. At the present time there are only a couple of B-24s that are in flying condition.

The man who helped build the transmitter for the AZON bomb came to visit me when he found out that we had dropped one. He told me he had worked for the Argus Camera Co. in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and that a man from the Air Force came to the company and asked them to build this strange radio. He didn’t say what it was for or why, Just build it. After the war, I found out it was a radio for the Azon Bomb, which had to be tuned and set for the bomb we dropped, and as radio operator, my job to do.

As part of the story, I wish to include the following two pages so that you may be aware of things that happened in the early part of the war that gave the U.S. encouragement in its fight against those who truly though they were divine soldiers of the Emperor.

These oriental despots have had a history of perpetuating the phrase, Mans inhumanity to man, going back many years. When the Japanese invaded China in 1932, one example of this attitude was the reported slaughter of 200,000 civilians in the city of Nanking, merely because they were Chinese and in the way of the incursion.

The Bataan Death March was another case in this policy by the Japanese military, supported by those who instituted the start of the aggression against the United States. The prisoner of war camps managed by the Japanese military truly embodied the word cruelty.

The final assault they tried to make on Midway Island had been such a disaster for the Japanese navy that it left it almost a skeleton. So many aircraft carriers, cruisers, and warships were sunk in this battle along with the losses in the last few months, that this loss of ships and sailors was the final blow that broke the back of the Japanese force in the Pacific. This happened on June 4 to 7, 1942. The loss of Admiral Yamamoto followed this and these two items are in following pages. Another blow to the Japanese Navy was the American raid on the stronghold of Truk Lagoon. This was on Truk island, about 1400 miles north of Point Lord, Australia, and had been a gathering place for tankers, freighters and support craft. Truk Lagoon was a deep, well sheltered anchorage, and the Japanese had assembled a huge force of naval craft there when it was hit by American aircraft. Torpedo bombers, dive bombers, fighter strafing, and strikes from bombers left the bottom of the lagoon littered with sunken Japanese ships. The last strongholds in the Philippine Sea and Micronesia were being either conquered or by-passed, as the Allied forces thrust toward the Land of the Rising Sun almost daily.

I mentioned two things that happened earlier in the war while I was just beginning my Air Force tour of duty, and consequently, before my story began. These two episodes shook the Japanese High Command right to the core and helped to dispel the idea that the Rising Sun was all powerful. Number one, for some time, the Japanese navy had been preparing for an assault on one of the Allied strongholds. They had been sending messages by radio about a target they designated as only A. These radio transmissions had been intercepted and decoded by the U.S. cryptographers but the identification of A, had not been placed on any certain site. The U.S. intelligence personnel were quite sure that A was Midway Island but they had to be sure before sending ships out on a wild goose chase. The navy had radio operators on Midway send out a message that they were getting low on water and needed more. This was a sham that worked perfectly. A message from the Japanese was intercepted, that when decoded, read, A nearly out of water. This confirmed that Midway was the intended target and the United States High Command immediately assembled an aircraft carrier group just far enough from Midway to reach the area but not be spotted too quickly. When the Japanese fleet converged in the area of Midway, the planes from our carriers wrecked such havoc on the Imperial fleet that the Japanese navy never recovered from the blow.

The second episode that shook His Imperial Highness, happened on April 18, 1943. There was a secluded air base on one of the islands in the Pacific, north of Australia. The U.S. Air Force had a bunch of P-38s based there and their job was primarily top cover for the bombers that ranged in that area. Some times they would go out on a search and destroy mission, looking for any Japanese target they could find. On this mission they were on, they were looking for ships or supply boats to strafe. Some of the planes took a high altitude pattern and others flew closer to the surface. The four .50 Cal. Machine guns and the 20-MM cannon in the nose of a this plane was a very potent firing combination and was very effective on smaller ships or on aircraft. One of the P-38s spotted a twin engine plane with the familiar hamburg patty on the wing, heading north by west flying low and speeding toward safety. The pilot took a closer look and discovered it was a, Betty, Japanese bomber. He immediately went into a dive after the bomber but by the time he reached it, he was going so fast he almost flew by the target. The pilot of the P-38 got off a blast with his guns and the bomber erupted flames and smoke immediately. It went into a long flat angle as it started to go down, and crashed into the jungle in a mass of smoke and fire.

There had been a rumor that some Japanese Gold Braid was being transferred from some location, but no more information was available. The next day, the news came out that this American pilot had shot down the Imperial, Yamamoto; truly a blow to Japans ego.

Chapter 2

The history of the world has been immersed under a cloud of discontent, turmoil, and combat as far back as records have been kept whether they be in Script, Hieroglyphics, or Latin. These periods of skirmishes over the centuries lead us up to a period of time that is relevant to us as residents of the 20th century and into 2000. Following is a brief look into the episodes of the past that had an influence on the nations of the world and eventually led to the outbreak of WW II that pretty well covered the globe.

In 1894, segments of history were starting to unfold that would have an impact on the lives of the ten young men in our story, fifty years later. For a long period of time, Korea was under the control of China. Japan was not in agreement with this policy so she attacked one of China’s possessions on August 1, 1894. By 1895, China decided to recognize Korea as an independent country rather than to continue the war with Japan. In 1931, Japan again attacked China this time with the idea of broadening the Japanese Empire. China was a huge nation and Japan wanted control of the natural resources available there as she was a small island nation, densely populated and needing more than her resources could supply. Japan’s superior military might overpowered the Chinese defenses and China was occupied in a short time. Japan’s occupation of China continued until 1945 and her military and economic domination of the Chinese people ended only after the end of World War II when Japan was defeated in the Pacific.

A second part of history started to unfold in Europe when Germany, now called, The Third Reich, under the control of Hitler began an expansion campaign. On March 12, 1938, German troops forced their way into Austria and met little resistance in doing so. The campaign into Austria was primarily a matter of going in and occupying the country as the rest of the world did little to discourage it. On August 23, 1939, Hitler formulated an agreement with Russia that showed how he was getting ready for the future by setting up some safety blocs in his favor. Russia signed this Pact, called the Non Aggression Pact with the thought in mind that it would be binding, with Joseph Stalin being the signator for Russia.

Now let’s digress a moment to another part of the historical pattern that would influence the great conflict known as Would War II.

In 1935, Benito Mussolini of Italy was beginning to feel that he should make his mark in the world of supremacy and once again pit his