Tinian and the 509th.

[ET2SN]

This runs about two hours, so make some popcorn and settle back.
A surprisingly good documentary about the B-29s flying from Tinian and the 509th composite group. Something that never added up when researching the 509th that was finally answered for me:

I had read that the other B-29 squadrons resented the 509th once they showed up. One of the beefs was that the 509th "stole" the tail markings from the other squadrons for their aircraft. This is the first time I heard that the 509th used their original tail marking (black circle with a black arrow) until "Tokyo Rose" announced their arrival on her radio show. That was when the tail markings were repainted using the marks of the other squadrons.

One other note, the University of Maine, Presque Isle is a very small college. Its also my first alma mater where I snagged an associates degree in math and science in the early 80's.

Edit- Crap. It doesn't embed here so either click the link or go to YouTube and load "v=_kLmk9MfT00".

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

This runs about two hours, so make some popcorn and settle back.
A surprisingly good documentary about the B-29s flying from Tinian and the 509th composite group. Something that never added up when researching the 509th that was finally answered for me:

I had read that the other B-29 squadrons resented the 509th once they showed up. One of the beefs was that the 509th "stole" the tail markings from the other squadrons for their aircraft. This is the first time I heard that the 509th used their original tail marking (black circle with a black arrow) until "Tokyo Rose" announced their arrival on her radio show. That was when the tail markings were repainted using the marks of the other squadrons.

One other note, the University of Maine, Presque Isle is a very small college. Its also my first alma mater where I snagged an associates degree in math and science in the early 80's.

Edit- Crap. It doesn't embed here so either click the link or go to YouTube and load "v=_kLmk9MfT00".

When I think of Tinian, I think of the U.S.S Indianapolis and the brave souls lost on her. As most know, " Indy " was delivering either the " Little Boy " atomic bomb or components of it. It was lost when a Japanese submarine torpedoed her. Of the 1,196 men, around 900 made it into the water. There they remained for 4 days. 879 crew members perished, including four who died despite being rescued from the water. That left only 317 survivors. Many died as the result of shark attacks.



" Quint " in the movie Jaws gives a harrowing description of the shark attacks. It's hard to listen to the recount of the shark attacks.



Quint goes into his description at 2:28

[mapuc]

For me it's a "Watch on yt" and when I click on it I'm transferred to yt homepage and the video.

Markus

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by mapuc

For me it's a "Watch on yt" and when I click on it I'm transferred to yt homepage and the video.

Markus

My apologies for the link not working, Markus. If you go to youtube and put in, " Jaws: The U.S.S. Indianapolis Speech " it will come right up.



Let me know if this works.

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

My apologies for the link not working, Markus. If you go to youtube and put in, " Jaws: The U.S.S. Indianapolis Speech " it will come right up.



Let me know if this works.

No no you misunderstood me-Below the text unavailable outside yt there's an another text "watch it on youtube" and when I click on this text a new windows opens and a few sec. later I'm on yt and the video you tried to put up here.

The owner hasn't forbidden people to watch it-They have only put it in
on-youtube-only category.

Edit
I'm talking about the documentary about Tinian and the 509
Edit

You video from the scene in JAWS is there to see

Markus

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by mapuc

No no you misunderstood me-Below the text unavailable outside yt there's an another text "watch it on youtube" and when I click on this text a new windows opens and a few sec. later I'm on yt and the video you tried to put up here.

The owner hasn't forbidden people to watch it-They have only put it in
on-youtube-only category.

Edit
I'm talking about the documentary about Tinian and the 509
Edit

You video from the scene in JAWS is there to see

Markus

Very good Markus. I did misunderstand. The late Robert Shaw turned in a great performance as Quint in this scene, certainly worthy of an Oscar. His account of the tragedy that was the Indy is chilling.

[les green01]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

When I think of Tinian, I think of the U.S.S Indianapolis and the brave souls lost on her. As most know, " Indy " was delivering either the " Little Boy " atomic bomb or components of it. It was lost when a Japanese submarine torpedoed her. Of the 1,196 men, around 900 made it into the water. There they remained for 4 days. 879 crew members perished, including four who died despite being rescued from the water. That left only 317 survivors. Many died as the result of shark attacks.



" Quint " in the movie Jaws gives a harrowing description of the shark attacks. It's hard to listen to the recount of the shark attacks.



Quint goes into his description at 2:28

in a way you can add Capt McVay to the list

[Buddahaid]

Perhaps a compliment to the 509th video. Greg is dispelling the myth that the AVRO Lancaster was seriously considered for the atomic bomb missions.

[ET2SN]

Yeah, I saw that and Mr. Felton made no sense at all.

One thing I didn't realize about the "Silver-plate" B-29's was that they also switched over to fuel injection vs carburetors. I thought that phased in on the later B-50.

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by les green01

in a way you can add Capt McVay to the list

Capt McVay can certainly be added to the list of causalities. McVay was stupidly and wrongfully the subject of a Court Martial after the sinking of the Indianapolis. Capt. McVay had asked for Destroyer escorts and was denied. Destroyer escorts might have been able to detect the submarine that sunk the Indy. The testimony of the Japanese Commander of the submarine that sunk Indy also exonerated McVay.

After a good number of years suffering from mental health problems, McVay took his own life at 70. Certainly, Capt McVay suffered terribly with the loss of his crew and how a good number of them perished. After many years of efforts by survivors and others to clear his name, McVay was posthumously exonerated by Congress and President Bill Clinton on October 30th, 2000. This was small consolation after the U.S essentially rode McVay to his death.

Quote: Paul Murphy, president of the USS Indianapolis Survivors Organization, said: "Captain McVay's court-martial was simply to divert attention from the terrible loss of life caused by procedural mistakes which never alerted anyone that we were missing."

In his book Abandon Ship, author Richard F. Newcomb posits a motive for Admiral King's ordering McVay's court-martial. According to Captain McVay III's father, Admiral Charles B McVay Jr., "'King never forgot a grudge". King had been a junior officer under the command of McVay's father when King and other officers snuck some women aboard a ship. Admiral McVay had a letter of reprimand placed in King's record for that. "Now," he raged, "King's used [my son] to get back at me."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_B._McVay_III

[les green01]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

Capt McVay can certainly be added to the list of causalities. McVay was stupidly and wrongly the subject of a Court Martial after the sinking of the Indianapolis. Capt. McVay had asked for Destroyer escorts and was denied. Destroyer escorts might have been able to detect the submarine that sunk the Indy. The testimony of the Japanese Commander of the submarine that sunk Indy also exonerated McVay.

After a good number of years suffering from mental health problems, McVay took his own life at 70. Certainly, Capt McVay suffered terribly with the loss of his crew and how a good number of them perished. After many years of efforts by survivors and others to clear his name, McVay was posthumously exonerated by Congress and President Bill Clinton on October 30th, 2000. This was small consolation after the U.S essentially rode McVay to his death.

Quote: Paul Murphy, president of the USS Indianapolis Survivors Organization, said: "Captain McVay's court-martial was simply to divert attention from the terrible loss of life caused by procedural mistakes which never alerted anyone that we were missing."

In his book Abandon Ship, author Richard F. Newcomb posits a motive for Admiral King's ordering McVay's court-martial. According to Captain McVay III's father, Admiral Charles B McVay Jr., "'King never forgot a grudge". King had been a junior officer under the command of McVay's father when King and other officers snuck some women aboard a ship. Admiral McVay had a letter of reprimand placed in King's record for that. "Now," he raged, "King's used [my son] to get back at me."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_B._McVay_III

Abandon Ship is a great read got the paperback here beside the desk also in harms way by staton also good can't forget the uss Juneau

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by les green01

Abandon Ship is a great read got the paperback here beside the desk also in harms way by staton also good can't forget the uss Juneau

Thanks for the recommendations on the books, les. I like reading military history books when I get a chance.




Edit. My apologies to ET2SN if we hijacked his thread.

[ET2SN]

Hijack away.

I wound up being a bit of a buff on 509th.
After the war ended, they retained their nuclear status and moved to ROSWELL AFB in New Mexico.
Yep, that was them in 1947. Weather balloons, crashed UFOs, and everything else.

They later moved to Pease AFB near Portsmouth, N.H. and traded up to the B-52 and, eventually, the FB-111. Along the way, they "found" a stuffed tiger at Diego Garcia, BIOT that agreed to become the squadron mascot.

They were then selected to be the only B-2 wing and moved to Whiteman AFB.

[Jimbuna]

[les green01]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

its not a bad movie but they have Cage acting like a fire control officer at the first but still better than the midway remake