The 73rd Bomb Wing

    The 73rd Heavy Bombardment Processing Headquarters was activated on 17 February, 1943. It was then re-designated as the Bombardment Operational Training Wing, Heavy (H), in August, 1943. It was deactivated on 15 October. It was then reactivated and re-designated at the Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy (VH), on 20 November, 1943, at Smoky Hill Army Airfield, Kansas. Brigadier General Emmett “Rosie” O’Donnell assumed command on 15 March, 1944.

    The bomb groups began training at Salina, Pratt, Great Bend, and Walker Army airfields. Each group was formed with four bomb squadrons, eventually dropping to just three. The crew training program was conducted until the airfield in Saipan was available. An air service group was assigned to each group but continued their training at Tinker Army Airfield, Oklahoma City. They were deployed to Saipan by ship, along with the group’s ground echelon. The trip required 60 days, arriving in Saipan in September, 1944. B-29s were checked out at Herington Army Airfield, Herington, Kansas. The first B-29 departed on 6 October. Stops were made at: Mather Army Airfield, California; John Rodgers Field, Oahu, Hawaii; and the Marshall Islands, Kwajalein Atoll. The last B-29 arrived at Isley Field, Saipan, on 30 October, 1944. One B-29 developed problems and made an emergency landing at Wichita, Kansas. The 6500-mile journey averaged 32 hours of flight time.

    The earliest members arrived in Saipan to find their living area had not yet been built. One of the first tasks was the construction of housing, mess halls, and field offices in carefully laid out sections of existing cane fields overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Once the huts and prefab buildings were completed, combat missions were started. The 73rd bomb wing flew its first mission to the main islands of Japan 24 November, 1944.

    Wing Commander O’Donnell flew the lead plane in their first Tokyo mission on 24 November. The 73rd Bomb Wing completed the earlier combat missions without any of the other wings being present until 4 February, 1945. They met heavy opposition and intense anti-aircraft fire during this early period. On 23 January, 1945, during the Nagoya mission, the wing lost 2 B-29s and was credited with 33 Japanese aircraft show down, with 22 more suspected of being shot down. 40 additional Japanese aircraft were seriously damaged. On 27 January, over a target west of Tokyo, 64 B-29s encountered 190 Japanese aircraft that completed 984 attacks on the bombers. The gunners were credited with 60 being shot down, 17 suspected of being shot down, and 39 seriously damaged. None of the bombers were lost on that mission.

    The initial raids against Japan had taken place as high altitudes in order to stay above anti-aircraft fire and the effective altitude of defending fighters. Beginning on 25 February and continuing until the end of the war, high-altitude daylight attacks were phased out and replaced with low-altitude, high-intensity incendiary raids at night. The wing assisted the assault on Okinawa in April, 1945, by bombing enemy airfields to reduce air attacks against the invasion force.

    In June, a major effort was initiated to the force the surrender and prevent a costly land invasion. Leaflets were dropped at major cities, warning to evacuate due to impending bombings. Leaflets were dropped in July and August with names of cities that were to be future targets of the impending bombs. 35 cities were notified that they would be bombed within the next few days. Bomber crews already had to deal with flak, anti-aircraft fire and Japanese aircraft. They were enthusiastic about risking their lives to drop leaflets notifying the citizens of identified targets.

    63 million leaflets were printed in Saipan by Japanese prisoners of war, in an effort to stop the war. Surrender was refused, even after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August, 1945. The second bomb on Nagasaki, 9 August, resulted in surrender and the greatest military achievement of all time.

    The 73rd Bomb Wing flew its last combat mission on 14 August, when hostilities ended. Following the Japanese surrender on 15 August, supplies to American POWs held in Japan and China were flown in and dropped until the camps could be liberated. They participated in the ‘show of force’ mission with 500 B-29s flying over the desk of the U.S.S. Missouri when the Japanese officially surrendered. The wing participated in the Air Offensive Japan, Western Pacific and Ryukyu campaigns.

    The wing was deactivated on 31 May, 1946.