by Charles R. Reyher (Author)
"Memoirs of a B-29 Pilot" chronicles the author's wartime experiences leading up to and as a B-29 Superfortress Aircraft Commander.. He was engaged in the Air Offensive-Japan from the Marianas Islands in the South Pacific. He looks back at those experiences from the professional view of a retired airline captain, having flown over 35 years of service with Trans World Airlines. After graduation as a pilot cadet, he became a bomb approach pilot at a bombardier training base for one year. Then, rated as a B-17 Flying Fortress 1st Pilot, he spent six months duty as a B-17 instructor pilot at an airbase training new B-17 crews as replacements for the 8th Air Force in England. Many months of training to be a B-29 Aircraft Commander followed. He arrived at newly constructed Northwest Field, Guam, in early June 1945. 125 factory-new B-29B Superfortresses made up the new 315th Very Heavy Bomb Wing. He and his crew flew 13 missions before the end of the war, all against oil targets. In addition to covering his wartime service, the author concludes the book with several chapters detailing various aspects of the air war against Japan and how he believes attacking Japan's oil refineries and supplies could have ended the war even without the use of the atomic bombs. 183 photographs, documents, drawings and illustrations. A Merriam Press World War 2 Memoir.