The 458th, hurt early in the conflict by the loss in action of its commanding officer LTCOL Doyne Turner, recovered and kept pace with its neighbors under its new leader, MAJ Elmer E. Ambrose. Among the familiar faces of key administrative non-coms there were always those of MSGT William Conway, and his SGT Major, SSGT Raymond McLaughlin, of SSGT Wilfred Hogle in supply and of SSGT Kenneth Dillow, master of the mess hall. Over the target too, there were always a few familiar 458th faces; this Squadron is quick and proud to point out that its Lead Crews were the reason all units of the Group had high accuracy in their combat bombing.

Thanks to Leon Thorpe, Elton's son, for the priceless crew photo above. Thanks!

Here is the Pilot of K-28, 1LT Glen Jensen (Left)and the FE, MSGT Lyle Thomas discussing how to make this the best mission ever.

To read about the time a Live Radio Broadcast was beemed from this aircraft to Guam then back to the U.S.Click Here!

Rank	Position	First	Last	SN	Comments	AM	DFC
CAP	A/C	Raymond B.	Smisek	0-433740	DFC for missions to Kobe on 5 June and Hamamatsu on 19 May	3	2
2LT	P	Robert C.	Woolson	0-774866		3	2
1LT	N	Knut W.	Flo	0-712543	Squad Nav as of 12 AUG 45	3	2
CAP	B	Alfonso	Escalante	0-667272	Squad Bomb as of 12 AUG 45	3	2
CAP	Rad Ob	Richard W.	Flanagan	0-443078		3	2
MSGT	FE	Harold R.	Turvey	16028004		3	2
SSGT	RO	Roy G.	McLeod	36554377		1	1
TSGT	CFC	William J.	Nickels	36755519		3	1
SGT	RG	Bart H.	Klinger	16171367		3	1
SGT	LG	Edward J.	Kindl	31379904		3	1
SGT	TG	Marion H.	Kinsell	33683080
Ground Crew
MSGT	Cr/Chief	Charles A.	Logue	16027583
CPL	Ground	John F.	Matrangol	13168034
CPL	Ground	Stephen	Guzik	31271187
SGT	Ground	Oscar W.	Libby	31052227

K-29's RO, SSGT Roy McLeod seen here after a mission to Gifu, July 1945.

Photo courtesy of Mr. John (Jack) Paine. Thanks!

Special thanks to Mr. Jim Fels for the photo Crew 814 received the DFC and multiple Air Medals. LG Bob Billings has half a fighter kill along with the TG Eldred Folwell..., neither one claims which half. Mr. Billings is now the Treasurer of the 330th BG Association. Also, one of the original 458th's Here they are receiving one of several Air Medals, L to R: CAP Duwayne Baker (A/C), 1LT Raymond Beason (P), 1LT Raymond Reasoner (B), FO Leslie Fels (N), FO Frank Rose (Rad Ob), MSGT Clarence Skrutvold (FE), TSGT Joseph Malley (CFC), SSGT Arthur Mecker (RO), SSGT Leon Rondeau (RG), SSGT Robert Billings (LG), SSGT Eldred Folwell (TG)

They were on what was to be their 13th Mission (Lucky Thirteen). They took off at 0210 Guam time. Their target was to be Tamashima. Minutes into flight the No. 1 engine overheated. Shortly after that the decision was made to feather and abort the mission. All bombs were salvoed in the ocean. The A/C, Carl R. Bauer asked for landing instructions at about 0315 and began to let down. The tower called for landing on the South Runway, but K-32 lined up on North Runway instead. Simultaneously, a heavy squall hit the island. About halfway down on their final approach and perhaps 100 feet above the field, the aircraft made a sudden turn left, evidently to try a go around. The aircraft never completed the full turn and stalled out above the cliff's edge near the radar antennas and went over. She crashed and burned 500 feet below. The only survivor was Lt. Wallace Howard, the 458th Squadron Gunnery Officer who replaced SGT Henry Mathis (CFC) on that one mission. Howard was riding in the TG position and was able to crawl out before the aircraft was engulfed in flames. In hind sight, the crash investigation committee recommended that in the future, any B-29 aircraft capable of remaining aloft on less than four engines should remain aloft until daylight and under no circumstances attempt a night landing. MACR # 14915. Plane was found in 1997 and the wreck was historically documented in 2002.

Thought you would like to know that final IDs of all members of K-32's crew who died on 6/22/45 crash have been completed and they were interned at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, May 20th, 2003.

Here they are being debriefed by CAP Nathaniel Frank (458th Intelligence) and MAJ Elmer Ambrose (458th CO) regarding fighter attacks.

[Special thanks to Mr. Jack Rodin (N) for the photo and invaluable support and information]

Here is the same crew prior to departure for Guam. Taken in Jan 1945 at Walker, KS. Thanks to Jack Rodin (N) for the photo!

A/C Rice (far left) is holding up his daughter's baby shoes that are talked about in the above article.

Crew 802

As promised here is the first of many photos sent by Virginia Jordan! This is 2LT Donald Dubbins (P) at his post.

Here is one of her husband MSGT Roy Jordan (FE) at his post as well. He looks about 14, but I imagine he was all of 19.

You can visit this aircraft in person at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.

This B-29 had a runaway prop on 16 May mission to Nagoya. Here is the recount by the A/C, Vick: "We had a runaway prop on the #2 engine. Couldn't feather it. The vibration got so bad I lost control of the aircraft several times. Then we had an engine fire. I gave the order to bailout. All crewmembers in the rear bailed out. All chutes were seen to open. All crewmembers survived and were picked up by Navy ships except for 2LT Cohen. In an attempt to circle back to bailout those in the front of the aircraft, the reduction gears froze and the vibration stopped. The prop free rotated. We limped into Iwo Jima with an engine fire. The aircraft should have been named 'City of Iwo Jima' as we had to stop there 4 more times. Thank God for the Marines."

Vick's crew, being a "Lead Crew", flew most of those missions (15+) as "Pathfinder" missions. His crew was responsible for leading the missions to Japan and dropping the first bombs to highlight for the others. Doing this he caught the Japanese by surprise. However following their bomb run his crew was required to fly a wide 360 degree turn and follow the last plane in and take photos of the strike. By this time the Japanese were really hot and no longer a surprised. He jokingly commented that they didn't get credit for this "second" mission.

This photo graciously provided by the A/C Clyde Higginson. That is him, 2nd from the right in the front row.

According to a written account from Clyde Higginson "This plane was assigned to our crew as soon as it arrived at Guam. We flew it on about 10 of our 20 missions I flew it back to Mather Field after the war with about 25 passengers in Nov. 1945. As I recall, Vick and I shared her. It was a good Seattle built plane."

This photo of K-42 that was provided to me by SSGT John Ferdinand's grandson, Steve Sofranek. I am in the process of cleaning up several more and will post them shortly.

Ferdinand's MOS indicates he was a Turbocharger Specialist

MACR # 14240

[Many thanks to Ralph Leftwich (P )for the photo and info]

The other aircraft were: K-35, K-39, K-40, K-58, K-41 and K-10. "We moved into the crew quarters before their personal effects had been cleared." As the Pilot, Leftwich recalls. " don't recall any conversation with the other crew members using the same quarters upon their return from the mission. We lived together until the war ended without much conversation and I do not remember any of their names. We were not a part of their many months of training in the States and could not share experiences of training, etc. We each did what we were called to do and contributed a small part in the victory. " That was an understatement to say the least!