Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:03 | B-29 Pilot Gene Frazier flew fifteen combat missions in the Pacific, but he had many more search and rescue missions and ferry flights. On one of these, he nearly lost his life when his flight flew into a huge storm front, in which the entire aircraft was bathed in St. Elmo's fire.
Keywords : Gene Frazier Search and Rescue B-29 weather storm St. Elmo's Fire wind shear
Gene Frazier was from the High Plains of Kansas. At the University of Kansas on Dec 7, 1941, his landlady asked if he and his roommates had heard the radio. When they tuned in, the three of them high-fived and pledged to enlist. All three became pilots.
Pilot trainee Gene Frazier took his first plane ride at Fargo, ND and dropped his first bomb there, a two pound sack of flour. At his next stop in California, actor Robert Cummings was his tough but fair instructor. After he got his wings, they made him an instructor, which was the last thing he wanted. Everyone else was going off to fly fighters! But two years after soloing in a 65 HP Piper Cub, he became the pilot of a 22,000 HP B-29 and prepared to deploy to the Pacific.
It was a surprise. When B-29 pilot Gene Frazier went to the briefing room, he was told the guns had been removed from his plane along with some of the crew. Not only that but the altitude for the mission was now five thousand feet instead of twenty five thousand feet. Many in the huge operation felt like it was a suicide mission. He says it was the scariest mission of the war for him.
The B-29 had twelve 50 cal machine guns and a 20 mm cannon with central fire control. Enemy fighter pilots learned to stay away. Pilot Gene Frazier discusses tactics of the enemy over Japan and relates the tale of two leaders with a strange relationship, Admiral Chester Nimitz and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
It was a RADAR bombing mission over Japan with total cloud cover and targeting by instruments. When he got back to the briefing room, B-29 Pilot Gene Frazier found out that his bombs had totally missed the target, but he was relieved to find out it was not his fault.
There was a secret unit on Tinian at the air base. B-29 pilot Gene Frazier recalls how he was instructed to stay away from their operations, and how one night, all the crews were rousted and trucked to the other end of the island, then almost immediately returned to their barracks. He later found out the unit had loaded the Enola Gay and the midnight move was for his own safety.
Gene Frazier had been part of the huge mission on March 9-10, 1945 when a large part of Tokyo was firebombed and approximately 100,000 Japanese people were killed. On the ground was an eleven year old boy, who would miraculously survive and meet the B-29 pilot years later.
The nose art on World War II era planes is fondly remembered by the crews, but B-29 pilot Gene Frazier was put on the spot by his five year old granddaughter when she asked a question about those ladies in the paintings.
After the war, B-29 pilot Gene Frazier had a supply drop over a POW camp in Korea. Unable to locate the camp, he headed back and dropped his barrels over Hiroshima, his secondary supply target. Leukemia deaths after the war made some of the crew wonder, had they been exposed to radiation?
In preparation for his interview, B-29 pilot Gene Frazier wrote down some thoughts about his role in the war as compared with his friends who fought and, in some cases, died. He feels he had it easy. He then reveals the technology link between himself and the modern pilot that is unchanged by the decades between.
Unlike the airmen in Europe, who were over enemy territory most of the time, the men in the Pacific who were bombing Japan were over enemy territory for a fraction of flight time. B-29 Pilot Gene Frazier points out that most missing planes were lost to the vast Pacific Ocean rather than enemy action. Another big danger was crashing on take off.
When B-29 pilot Gene Frazier got to the Pacific theater, he joined the 58th Bomb Wing, the original B-29 unit. It was just as Gen. Curtis LeMay was changing tactics in the campaign to bomb Japan. At a briefing for a Tokyo mission, the men were told they would be going in at 7000 ft. "You mean 27, 000 ft., right?" For Frazier, it was the scariest mission he ever had, but it was effective.
Why was their ground speed so low? B-29 pilot Gene Frazier thought he may have to abort the mission when he figured out they were in the jet stream. If you could catch it just right on the way back, you could really make time. They saw many kamikazes in the distance and had to evade one themselves. Considering the date, that would have been really unfortunate.
B-29 pilot Gene Frazier tells the story of a secret war crimes trial held on Guam in 1946. It concerned atrocities on the island of Chichi-jima, where his cousin Glenn Frazier was captured. The incident was documented by author James Bradley in the book Flyboys.
The B-29 was pressurized, like modern airliners, which allowed the crew to fly at 30,000 ft. without oxygen. Pilot Gene Frazier says they had to depressurize over the target because a hit would explode the plane. To relieve boredom on the long flights, they played bridge.
As officers, each man was issued a bottle of whiskey every week. B-29 pilot Gene Frazier didn't drink, so he traded his accumulated bottles to the sailors for all manner of goods. After the war ended, he was selected to ferry some planes to the Philippines where he acquired a small plane and had fun flying all over the area, except for the occasional potshot by Communist rebels. He turned down a chance to fly for the Chinese Nationalists, and he mailed home a parachute to his fiance, who put it to good use.
Pilot Gene Frazier recalls the mistakes he made during training and his first solo flight. His instructor was actor Robert Cummings who had a unique method of preparing his students for their solo. His next instructor had flown in the Spanish Civil War. He was angry at being stuck as an instructor, so he took it out on the cadets, which made them the best pilots there.
Asked if he lost many friends in the war, B-29 pilot Gene Frazier remarks that he did not lose many in the planes. It was his friends from high school and others he met in training who were sent to much more dangerous circumstances and paid the ultimate price.
