A DIFFICULT HEADING
There were no trees now, no jungle. Just the black sky as we flew toward Tsu. Please, I worried to myself, don't make any miscalculations. I didn't. We were now close to our target, Tsu.
We had descended to 8,000 feet to drop our payload. Immersed in cloud obliterating the city. Instead of fixing on the target using the Norden bombsight, Ed Wojtowicz became private secretary to our Radar Man, Dave Romanick. Dave dictated, sitting in a darkened compartment behind the bomb bays gazing into his scope. In the nose Ed adjusted and readjusted the bombsight as Dave refined.. The aiming point was a hill in center city. It flickered, a moving blip on Dave's radar screen, as he relayed information to Wojtowicz adjusted the angles on his bombsite according to the radar readings. The ground below was totally hidden from view.
The primitive hi-tech system worked. The moment arrived, the bombsight decided, and our bombs went away. As we veered rapidly away the clouds broke. Our departing view: an enormous conflagration set by us and others - and a smoke cloud arising from it, billowing almost to our height. Smoky convection currents were our only danger. No enemy weapons objected.
We climb back to our 25,000 feet cruising altitude and are on our way back to Guam. A glorious sunrise frames the clouds to our east. I wonder at the beauty as rays shoot from it pointing magnificently at the sky, at us, at the sea below. It is so serene alone here with the lulling steady drone of our engines. Years later I will think of the furor behind us. Not now.
We are to pass along side of Iwo Jima halfway between the Marianas and Japan. It was captured after a furious battle fought for fliers like us. Before its landing strip was wrested from the Japanese at horrendous cost to them and us a large number of B-29s were falling into the sea. Numerous mechanical problems with this advanced aircraft rushed into service too soon were the problem.
Our route was to take us next to the small island, or on to it if we experienced problems. We had none. But I did. I was now using dead reckoning and the sun to maintain our course. And our newly installed Loran device which I had just begun to use. But there was the radio direction finder too. The radio signals came on strong telling me Iwo Jima lay ahead to the south southwest. But my calculations and the new Loran instrument I was still unsure of told me Iwo Jima lay ahead equally distant off to the south southeast. We were required to fly within sighting distance or the tiny outpost. The choices: change course to either a 160 or to a 200 degree heading. Our fuel supply allowing a half hour of extra flying time before we were on empty didn't allow for a mistake. A wrong decision could lead to us having to ditch.
I look back on this as an important formative moment in the Polishing Tumbler which shaped my later life.
As usual on long flight legs the pilots were asleep. The plane on autopilot. I went forward and shook our captain awake. I still hear this, my saying Skipper, I have a problem – and then explaining my dilemma. Faye W. Hilbert, was a born leader. Cool and wise. He stirred, sat up, and after pause said "You're the navigator Bob." Not a word more as he relaxed again into his leather seat.
I returned to the desk, looked again at the calculations. And ruminated. Radio beams, I knew, were notorious for their bounce. Correct.. They bounce. So radio navigation was problematic because the signals were apt to reflect from clouds and provide incorrect information.
OK I thought, he's right. I am the navigator so I'm going to trust my calculations. There were huge puffy clouds hanging off in the distance. So beware of radio signals. Go with my calculations. I could have corrected the plane's heading myself using the console at my side which allowed me to adjust the autopilot for direction and altitude. Instead I used the intercom.. “Navigator to Pilot.” I wanted him to know the decision I had reached even if it disturbed his sleep
Soon after we crossed next to Iwo Jima. Thanks to Hilbert I had gained new confidence which carried over to the rest of my life. And of equal significance had experienced a lasting lesson in leadership.
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