Flying with the Bomb by Avi Heiligman

The Jewish Home | AUGUST 18, 2022 Forgotten Her es Flying with the Bomb

By Avi Heiligman

First Lieutenant Jacob Beser Some of the Enola Gay's crew Mushroom cloud over Nagasaki; photo taken by Charles Levy

One of the advantages that the United States had entering World War II was the heavy bombers that the Army Air Corps had in their arsenal. The B-17 Flying Fortress had been in service since 1938, and the B-24 Liberator had been incorporated into the United States Army Air Force in mid1941. Both of these proved versatile and were the mainstay of the bombing raids on German targets in Europe. However, the vast distances between islands and land masses in the Pacific proved too far for the range of the existing bombers. Boeing went back to the drawing board and, together with the Air Corps, agreed to a design that had a larger payload and had a range of 3,000 miles. The B-29 Superfortress would soon become the plane that delivered the atomic bomb and would end the war with Japan.

Previously, in 1942, land-based medium range B-25 bombers incredibly had been launched off a deck of an aircraft carrier and continued on to Tokyo. Called the Doolittle Raid, the planes could not land back on the carrier and went to China and Russia to land. Sending medium and heavy bombers off of carriers wasn’t a sustainable scenario, and the raid was carried out more to boost morale than to actually cause much damage to enemy targets. A long-range heavy bomber and within range airfields were needed. The B-29 could carry up to ten tons of bombs, could fly 350 mph, and could go as high as 31,850 feet, as well as having the longer range. The heavy bomber had

In addition to carrying both atomic bombs, the B-29 also went on many missions to bomb Japanese targets in cities like Tokyo. The B-29 did not see action over Europe and was first flown to American bases in China. These planes were flown over the Himalayan “Hump” and first saw combat in June 1944 against Japanese railroad targets in Thailand. On

While on the August 9 mission, Levy was the photographer and took the famous photo of the mushroom cloud over the city.

four engines, cabin pressurization, and most importantly had a range of over 3,000 miles. Between 10 and 14 crewmembers flew on combat missions with several gunners manning the array of up to 12 machine guns. Close to 4,000 B-29 bombers were built between 1943 and 1946, and they saw service up until their retirement in 1960. June 15, Superfortresses bombed mainland Japan for the first time since the Doolittle Raid more than two years earlier. Airfields for the bombers were built on the newly captured Pacific islands of Tinian, Saipan, and Guam. From these bases, they bombed Tokyo and other cities on a regular basis. In April 1945, the bombers laid minefields off the coast of Japan to further hamper their shipping lanes that were already being attacked by American submarines.

Sixty-five B-29s of the Silverplate series were modified to carry atomic bombs and were only armed with tail guns. Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets handpicked the particular planes that he wanted to carry the bombs. The plane named the Enola Gay piloted by Tibbets dropped the infamous atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and the Bockscar piloted by Major Charles Sweeney dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.

First Lieutenant Jacob Beser was the only person to have flown on both strike planes during the missions. The Jewish airman was with the 509th Composite Group through its training period as the officer in charge of the radar maintenance sections. During the atom bomb missions, he was the radar counter-measure observer and was there to make sure that the bombs didn’t explode too early. He had to ensure the Japanese “did not jam the bomb’s fuse frequencies and prematurely detonate the Fat Man” (the name given to the bomb that was sent on the Nagasaki mission). Beser was awarded the Silver Star for actions while on board

for the atomic missions.

Two other Jewish airmen flew on the atomic bomb missions. On board the Bockscar for the Nagasaki mission on August 9 was radio operator Sergeant Abe Spitzer from the Bronx. He had flown on the observation B-29 Great Artiste for the Hiroshima mission on August 6. First Lieutenant Charles Levy was the bombardier for the Great Artiste on the Nagasaki mission. While on the August 9 mission, Levy was the photographer and took the famous photo of the mushroom cloud over the city.

While the atomic bomb missions garnered a lot of press, other B-29 crews flew dozens of missions in the last year of the war without much fanfare. Brooklyn native 1st Lieutenant Bernard Greene graduated top in his class for bombardiers and navigators and was assigned to the 61st Squadron of the 39th Bomb Group. His crew named the B-29 they were assigned the “City of Cleveland” and flew 22 missions by war’s end. The Jewish bombardier even flew as a pilot on two missions after the former pilot had been reassigned and before a new pilot took his place.

As with many B-29 missions, they flew through heavy anti-aircraft fire called flak and one mission over an aircraft plant in Kobe, Japan. Greene’s plane took a heavy beating. An engine had been knocked out, while another was heavily damaged due to gunfire from an enemy fighter. Hydraulics to the bomb bay had been shot, and the electrics were damaged. This made it impossible to release the bombs or even close the bomb bay doors. Greene made his way to the bomb bay and manually released the bombs. The pilot had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid enemy fighter planes which made it more difficult for Greene to complete his job. The plane limped back to Iwo Jima for an emergency landing. Since their hydraulics were shot, rendering the brakes useless, they had to use parachutes to slow them down. For his actions that day, Greene, along with six other members of his crew, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

The missions that Greene’s crew flew lasted up to seventeen hours, and they even flew a mission over Kobe the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. On September 2, as the surrender was taking place on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, many B-29s, including Greene’s plane, circled during the ceremony. However, they ignored an order to return to base once someone noticed that they were experiencing trouble. Three Navy F6F Hellcats came over and motioned them to leave, and they did so reluctantly.

The men who flew missions in B-29 Superfortresses are remembered for their bravery in the air and for their part in ending World War II.

Bernard Greene’s yahrtzeit is on 22 Av; the author thanks his son Fredric for the information about him that is included in this article.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.

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