Honor Thy Father – Chapter 9

First and foremost, thank you to all who have read my past blog posts and my book, “Homey’s Adventures.” 

As promised, I am writing this book as a sequel to the happy ending of my first book. I recently started writing this book, and I have been inspired lately. I decided to share this with you. So, without delay here is Chapter 9 of my third book: 

Chapter 9 – The Island Queen 

On my dad’s ninth mission they bombed Nagoya. Nagoya is home to Toyota Motor Corporation and other manufacturers. Toyota built combat trucks for the Japanese army during World War II. The company was a private company started in 1937.  

Nagoya had a population of about 1,000,000 in 1945. 

Another reassuring letter?  

I have tried to imagine what my mom and Aunt Shorty thought when they receive this: 

 “Hey Shorty, I received another letter from Andy today.” 

My mom was smiling because she used dad’s nickname for my aunt. 

“Oh? And what does it say?” 

“They have bombed Tokyo and now it’s burnt up. They started bombing someplace call Nagoya. They only lost one plane out of 300.” 

“That sounds good sis. One plane is one too many though. I wish I had worked on Andy’s plane. I would have made sure every bolt and rivet were correct.” 

“He says the Island Queen is doing her job.” 

“Um, maybe if they took that floozy off the side of the plane, she might do even better.” 

They both giggle at Aunt Shorty’s complaint. 

I have noticed that dad stresses they bombed warehouses and they were direct hits. I think I know why he stresses this. Can you, my reader, guess why? 

Despite my dad’s reassurances, he knew the more missions he flew, the more likely his plane would be lost. The B29 missions over Japan lost an average of 1.38% of the plane flown. With every mission, my father’s chances of survival decreased. After 10 missions and assuming all missions had equal chance, he had a 13% (=1- .9862^10) chance of dying. My father was not trained in statistical calulation like I am, but he probably had a good idea of what his chances were. He was good at math and had good instincts. 

Not all his missions had the same chance of survival. He had a better chance with a night raid or when the weather was overcast. It looks like my father loved his Island Queen, but the B29 was notorious for mechanical failure. Four hundred and fourteen (414) B-29s were lost bombing Japan—147 of them to flak and Japanese fighters, 267 to engine fires, mechanical failures, takeoff crashes and other “operational losses.” 

The light-weight crankcases of the B29 engines were made from very flammable magnesium. When they went up like shooting stars, they could quickly burn right through a wing spar. 

However, no other plane in the Pacific theater of war could fly as high and as fast as the B29. After reading all my dad’s accounts, I think this gave him more comfort than anything else. I think he truly did love his Island Queen. 

End Of Chapter 9 

I recently started drafting my new book and I have a lot of research to do. I plan to share some of my work as time and resources allows. I am hoping by next Father’s Day, my new book will be completed and published.  

I encourage anyone who had a parent or grandparent who flew in the B29’s from Tinian Island in 1945 to contact me. Without these heroes protecting our freedoms, we would not be able to celebrate our country’s founding on Independence Day. 

Originally, I started this blog as an eclectic mix of what I was thinking during the week and book reviews. I will do some of this too. So, you do not want to miss what follows. Follow my blog to make sure you receive it. 

If you do not want to wait that long and you have not read my first book. I encourage you to go to my website, www.homeysadventures.com. You can read the first two chapters for free, and you can also buy it. Or you can buy it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other fine retailers. Just search for it using the words: Homey’s Adventures by Jim Wish. 

If you liked this blog post, please click on the like button at the bottom of this page. If you Love my work, then please donate to my future writing: 

I liken myself to the Vienna Violinist described in chapter 5 of Homey’s Adventures Too. I play (write) for your enjoyment and mine. God bless you all.