The 315th Bomb Wing

    The 315th Bomb Wing was activated on 17 July 1944, at Peterson Field, Colorado Springs, Colorado as a Command and Control organization. The 315th Bomb Wing was under the command of Brigadier General Frank Armstrong. The bomb wing trained in Colorado while their 16th, 331st, 501st, and 502nd Bomb Groups were trained in Nebraska by the Second Air Force.

    The 315th Bomb Wing was equipped with the B-29B model, which was a limited production aircraft, built solely by Bell Aircraft at their Marietta, Georgia Factory. The limited production B-29B was designed to save weight by removing all of the guns and sighting equipment used on other B-29s, except the tail gun. The weight savings allowed the B-29B to fly higher and further. The B-29B aircraft also had two new radar units installed. One was the AN/APQ-7 Eagle Radar, used for bombing and navigation. The other type was the AN/APG-15B, used for aiming the tail gun. These two radar units gave the B-29B a distinctive shape as the AN/APQ-7 antenna appeared as a small wing under the fuselage, between the two bomb bay doors and the APG-15 added a ball shaped antenna to the tail, below the tail guns.
It had all but the tail defensive armament removed, since experience had shown that by 1944, the only significant attacks were coming from the rear. The tail gun was aimed and fired automatically by the new AN/APG-15B fire-control radar system that detected the approaching enemy plane and made all the necessary calculations. The elimination of the turrets and the computerized gun systems in crease the top speed of the B-29B to 364 MPH and made the B-29B suitable for fast, unescorted hit-and-run bombing raids and photographic missions.

    Training began with those crews who were at full strength. During the January, February and March months of 1945, training was shifted to Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico and Vernam Field, Jamaica because of the warmer weather conditions. This training consisted of long over-water missions with practice camera bombings of American cities. Gunnery missions included simulated enemy attacks from behind to test the radar controlled tail guns.

    The ground echelon personnel completed their training and departed Fort Lawton, Seattle, Washington, by ship 17 March, arriving at Northwest Field, Guam, 14 April, 1945. They spent the next five days working vigorously to ready the base for the arrival of the combat crews.

    In the Marianas,  the wing provided command and control to the 16th, 331st, 501st, and 502nd bomb groups. The 16th and 501st were the first to arrive in mid April of 1945, with the 331st and 502nd arriving in mid-May. The groups flew shakedown missions against Japanese targets on Moen Island, Truk, and other points in the Carolines and Marianas islands. The 16th and 501st began combat missions over Japan on 26 June with attacks on the Utsube oil refinery in Yokkaichi. The 315th and 502nd did not engage in combat until 1 August, with attacks on the Mitsubishi Havana oil refinery in Kawasaki. Japanese oil refineries were the 315th Wing's primary targets. 

    The missions essentially shut down the Japanese oil industry and halted their fuel supply. The wing flew their last combat missions on 14 August, when hostilities ended. Afterwards, the wing carried relief supplies to allied prisoner of war camps in Japan and Manchuria. 

    Due to the wing's late arrival in the pacific theater, the groups were demobilized late in the aftermath, not returning to the United States until April and May of 1946.