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| E. N. Tyndall, WWII |
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| Current Address: |
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101 Princess Lane, Clemson, SC 29631 |
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| Email: |
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| Family Information: |
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Father: Leroy |
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| Hometown: |
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Georgetown, DE |
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| Date Entered Service: |
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April 6, 1942 |
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| Service Number: |
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A0676177 |
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| Bomb Group: |
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468th Bomb Group |
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| Squadron: |
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794th Bomb Squadron |
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| Location of Unit: |
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Kharagpur, India; Jan 1945 |
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| Missions Flown: |
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25 |
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| Hump Missions Flown: |
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| Targets: |
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Kuala Lumpur, Rangoon, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe, Omuta, Yokohama, Kure, Tokyo, Aomori, Hikari. |
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| Awards/Decorations: |
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Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters |
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| Service Schools Attended: |
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AAF Navigation School, Hondo, TX Apr 1943 |
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| Military Specialty(ies): |
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MOS 1034-Aerial Observer (Navigator) |
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| Rank Upon Discharge: |
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1st Lt. |
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| Crew Type: |
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Flight crew |
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| Airplane Serial No.& Name: |
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42-24714 The Robert J. Wilson in memory of the crew's first bombardier who was killed out of India |
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| Were you a POW? |
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No |
| If so, where? |
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| Were you interned? |
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No |
| If so, where? |
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| Date Transferred from the 58th: |
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August 1, 1946 |
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| Date Discharged from the 58th: |
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August 1, 1972 |
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| Post-WWII Military Service: |
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He was assigned in January 1946 to a B-29 crew to represent the 468th Bomb Group on Operation Crossroads, the Bikini Atomic Bomb Test. Upon return to the States was assigned to the 43rd Bomb Group in the Strategic Air Command. Later served on the staff of the Eighth Air Force in SAC and USAF Headquarters in the Pentagon. Command assignments followed at group and region level both overseas and stateside. |
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| Post-WWII Civilian Occupation(s): |
| Following retirement from the Air Force in 1972, after thirty years active duty, he worked as assistant to the President of Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, in a second career. |
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| Thoughts on the 58th Bomb Wing: |
| Looking back upon his service in the 58th Bomb Wing, he now credits that period with setting the direction the rest of his life would take. Combat in B-29s and association with quality people in the organization brought about peacetime assignments which resulted in a thirty-year career in the Air Force and retirement with the grade of regular Colonel. Midway through that career the Air Force sent him to graduate school where he earned the MBA degree which eventually made possible his second career. |
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| Comments: |
| After instructing Navigation for eighteen months, he went into the 468th Bomb Group as an individual crew member replacement. He flew two combat missions and was then assigned to a lead crew. That crew led many daylight missions among them two at the end of the war being the most prominent. On August 14, 1945, it led the entire 58th Bomb Wing against the Hikari Naval Arsenal. Japan surrendered before the crews had returned to their base on Tinian. On V-J Day September 2, 1945 it led a formation of 20th Air Force B-29s over the USS Missouri during the signing of the surrender document by Japan and the Allied Nations. The 58th Bomb Wing had been selected to lead that formation which totaled over 400 hundred planes. |
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| E. N. Tyndall, 1997 |
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