 |
| Robert Brown, Calcutta, 1944 |
| |
| Current Address: |
|
9535 S.W. 93rd Loop, Ocala, FL 34481 |
| |
| Email: |
|
|
| |
| Family Information: |
|
|
| |
| Hometown: |
|
Chicago, IL |
| |
| Date Entered Service: |
|
April 6, 1942 |
| |
| Service Number: |
|
16058309, 0-735259 |
| |
| Bomb Group: |
|
444th |
| |
| Squadron: |
|
677th |
| |
| Location of Unit: |
|
Dudkundi, India (August, 1944) |
| |
| Missions Flown: |
|
35 (8-CBI; 2- Hump; 25-Tinian). Flew 25 Missions out of 28 missions in 85 days. |
| |
| Hump Missions Flown: |
|
8 (credit for 2 missions) |
| |
| Targets: |
|
Anshan (3), Omura, Singapore (3), Saigon, Rangoon, O Shima, Nagoya, Tokyo (2), Yokohama, Osaka (5), Kobe, Kawanishi, Toyohashi, Himeji, Tsu (2), Okayama, Kure, Takamatsu, Chiba, Sendai, Utsonomiya, Namazu, Fukui, Hachiogi |
| |
| Awards/Decorations: |
|
Distinguished Flying Cross, 2 Presidential Unit Citations,
Air Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 5 Bronze Service Stars, American Theater Campaign Medal, Commendation by Brigadier General,
WWII Victory Medal, Air Offensive Japan, Western Pacific Campaign, India-Burma Campaign
|
| |
| Service Schools Attended: |
|
Air Corp Replacement Training Cent., Santa Ana, CA Apr 1942; Army Flying School, Roswell, NM Oct 1942-Jan 1943; AAF Navigation School, Hondo, TX May 1942-Sep 1943 |
| |
| Military Specialty(ies): |
|
MOS 1035-Bombardier, MOS 1034-Navigator |
| |
| Rank Upon Discharge: |
|
1st Lt. |
| |
| Crew Type: |
|
Flight crew |
| |
| Airplane Serial No.& Name: |
|
|
| |
| Were you a POW? |
|
No |
| If so, where? |
|
|
| |
| Were you interned? |
|
No |
| If so, where? |
|
|
| |
| Date Transferred from the 58th: |
|
August 7, 1945 |
| |
| Date Discharged from the 58th: |
|
December 30, 1946 |
| |
| Post-WWII Military Service: |
|
|
| |
| Post-WWII Civilian Occupation(s): |
| CEO, Circle Case Corporation, Chicago, IL (Manufacturing);CEO, Wagtowne Enterprises, Inc., Chicago, IL (Optical/Medical Supply); Horse Breeder -- Saddlebreds and Race Horses |
| |
| Thoughts on the 58th Bomb Wing: |
| China-Burma-India program a fiasco, poorly thought out. Example: using B-29 crews to fly supplies over Hump in C-109 (B-24). B-29 engine + India = trouble. We set an engine record while in India. Four engines worked "50" hours on one B-29. Problems solved later on in Pacific. |
| |
| Comments: |
|
After navigation school went to 462nd Bomb Group AAF Victoria, Kansas on 10/7/43. We had two B-29's. Supposedly the 58th had ten B-29's for four groups. Flew twice on one of the two B-29's on 10/20/43 and 10/29/43. At a reunion a pilot from one of the four groups said they did not have a B-29. Transferred to Clovis (472nd) and didn't fly in a B-29 until 6/1/44.
Picked up B-29 AAF Herington, Kansas, July 1944. Put 20 hours on it and left States 7/12/44 and thirty-nine days later arrived in Dudkundi. Three aborts (Natal). One abort the l0-man life raft popped out and hit the vertical stabilizer at about 150 feet and put a hole in it. Flew 3hrs 20minutes to unload gas before landing. Left our B-29 in Accra, West Africa, and picked one up in Khartoum. Following B-29 crashed on takeoff from Natal -- one survivor, the bombardier.
|
 |
| Robert Brown, 2003 |
| |
|
|
|
