Enola Gay is shot down
6 August 1945
B-29 Enola Gay
Over the Great Inland Sea, Japan
Robert Lewis was still angry. How dare that colonel displace him from his post as pilot of the Enola Gay?
His woes were soon to be replaced by much greater ones.
"Jap fighters!" Flight engineer Duzenbury was the first to raise the cry. FOUR Jap fighters, all heading straight for the group of B-29s. One of them went after Straight Flush, one after The Great Artiste, one after Necessary Evil. And one, horrifyingly, straight for his own Superfortress.
Bullets from the fighter's machine guns smashed through the cockpit windows. Duzenbury yelped in pain as one of them smashed through his hand. And one, or perhaps more than one, blew out the back of Colonel Tibbets' head. He slumped forward onto his control column. The B-29 started to dive, so Lewis grabbed Tibbets' body and hauled him off the control column. "Full power!" he yelled to Duzenbury. He didn't know if the flight engineer would be capable of it, but hey, at least he'd tried. And, wonder of wonders, the B-29's four engines did go up to full power. Then, two of them quite suddenly stopped providing power at all - the two engines on the right wing had both been hit by bullets from that damned Jap's machine guns.
Lewis turned the Enola Gay for home. She had about as much chance of finishing the mission as of the Japs making peace with the USA. One of the Japs' fighters started spurting dark smoke from its engine. Great, at least we hurt them a bit, he thought. Then he stared in horror. The Jap was aiming his damaged fighter straight for the Enola Gay's right wing root.
As he frantically tried to turn the massive bomber, the Jap's plane slammed into the wing root. The Enola Gay suddenly snapped into a tight barrel roll and plunged towards the earth, completely out of control.
Son of a motherfucki-, he thought, just before the disintegrating B-29 slammed into the sea.
6 August 1945
B-29 Enola Gay
Over the Great Inland Sea, Japan
Robert Lewis was still angry. How dare that colonel displace him from his post as pilot of the Enola Gay?
His woes were soon to be replaced by much greater ones.
"Jap fighters!" Flight engineer Duzenbury was the first to raise the cry. FOUR Jap fighters, all heading straight for the group of B-29s. One of them went after Straight Flush, one after The Great Artiste, one after Necessary Evil. And one, horrifyingly, straight for his own Superfortress.
Bullets from the fighter's machine guns smashed through the cockpit windows. Duzenbury yelped in pain as one of them smashed through his hand. And one, or perhaps more than one, blew out the back of Colonel Tibbets' head. He slumped forward onto his control column. The B-29 started to dive, so Lewis grabbed Tibbets' body and hauled him off the control column. "Full power!" he yelled to Duzenbury. He didn't know if the flight engineer would be capable of it, but hey, at least he'd tried. And, wonder of wonders, the B-29's four engines did go up to full power. Then, two of them quite suddenly stopped providing power at all - the two engines on the right wing had both been hit by bullets from that damned Jap's machine guns.
Lewis turned the Enola Gay for home. She had about as much chance of finishing the mission as of the Japs making peace with the USA. One of the Japs' fighters started spurting dark smoke from its engine. Great, at least we hurt them a bit, he thought. Then he stared in horror. The Jap was aiming his damaged fighter straight for the Enola Gay's right wing root.
As he frantically tried to turn the massive bomber, the Jap's plane slammed into the wing root. The Enola Gay suddenly snapped into a tight barrel roll and plunged towards the earth, completely out of control.
Son of a motherfucki-, he thought, just before the disintegrating B-29 slammed into the sea.
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