March 9, 1945. Iwo Jima. The crew of the American bomber Boeing B-29-45-BW, named “Pride of the Yankees”, 882 squadron, 500th bomb group, inspects the damage to the aircraft. During a raid on Tokyo, the propeller of one engine came off and struck a nearby engine. The crew had to fly 700 miles to Iwo Jima with only two working engines on the starboard side.
The greatest generation.
ReplyDelete...I was just going to say that!
DeleteNearly an impossible task. My father flew a B-24 and had a similar incident where both engines on one side quit. He told me that he and the co-pilot took ten minute turns with both feet on a rudder pedal to keep the plane flying straight.
ReplyDeleteWow, but they did it. No power steering in those days. Hats off to your dad.
DeleteAmazing feat. Back of the envelope calculation, figuring normal cruising speed= 220mph, but since 2 engines down reduced to ~150mph-- gives a flight time of 4.6 hours for 700 miles. That's a long, long time to be wrestling that aircraft!
ReplyDeleteThose men deserved some R & R after that, so I hope Iwo Jima was safe when they got there!