| December 12, 1952 A morning briefing took place at Yokoda Air Force Base in Japan. The target
was Huickon Railroad Bridge in North Korea. Four flak batteries that were known to be extremely
accurate protected this area. Four B-29 bombers were given the job of getting to the target and completing
the task. Take off was normal. Each bomber carried forty, five hundred pound bombs on board. As
we gained altitude the Tokyo International Airport was shut down until we were past the area. Due to
conditions I cannot recall, we were the only crew that reached the target area. We were to drop the
load by a method called Shoran.
Arial Photo of Huickon Railroad Bridge
(Click picture for a larger view) |
A few miles from bombs away, the flak started. The E.C.M. operator
was doing all he could to block out the radar guns from below, but as we had been briefed, the flak
batteries were very accurate. The bomb doors came open; the bombs were dropped. As one can see
by this photograph, the bridge over the river was destroyed. [Note: In the photo, one can see thee two
tunnels, the factory, the town and the bombs exploding on impact. We had a lot of flak damage, but all
of the crew was safe. The serial number of our B-29 was 9668. I still play this number in the Lotto.
We were in the 98th bomb wing, 345th bomb squadron. Our nickname was "Andy's Dandys." We flew
28 comb at missions during our tour of duty. Due to combat related problems, we went down three times
and luckily survived. - Deny L. Pitts, C.F.C. Gunner |
