Dauntless Dotty
Dauntless Dotty | |
---|---|
869th Bomb Squadron B-29, 42-24592, Dauntless Dotty. Shown is Major Robert Morgan, pilot of the aircraft. | |
Type | Boeing B-29-40-BW Superfortress
|
Manufacturer | Boeing Airplane Company
|
Construction number | 4253 |
Serial | 42-24592 |
First flight | ca. Jan 1944 |
Owners and operators | United States Army Air Force
|
In service | 1944 – 6 June 1945 |
Flights | 53 missions [1] |
Total hours | 880 combat hours [2] |
Total distance | 176,000 combat miles [3] |
Fate | Crashed on takeoff, 6 June 1945, Kwajalein
|
Dauntless Dotty is the nickname of a
Combat history
The B-29 that became Dauntless Dotty is a block 40 airframe, manufactured by Boeing at the Wichita, Kansas plant which was built specifically for Superfortress production, and was the twenty-second of a hundred block 40-BWs constructed. It was assigned Army Air Forces serial number 42-24592, and Boeing-Wichita constructors number (c/n) 4253.[4]
The future Dotty was assigned to the
Robert Morgan
Major
Return to Tokyo
Promoted to
On 24 November 1944, Morgan had led 111 aircraft of the 73rd Bomb Wing to
"The city was 1,500 miles from the Marianas. Brigadier-General Emmett O’Donnell flying the Dauntless Dotty led 111 B-29s against the Musashima [sic] engine factory. The planes dropped their bombs from 30,000 feet and came across the first of a number of problems – accuracy. The B-29’s were fitted with an excellent bomb aimer – the Norden – but it could not make out its target through low cloud. Also flying at 30,000 feet meant that the planes frequently flew in a jet stream wind that was between 100 and 200 mph which further complicated bomb aiming. Of the 111 planes on the raid, only 24 found the target."[9]
Dotty also participated in another significant Tokyo raid on 9/10 March 1945, when it flew the first night, low level altitude,
Demise
Dauntless Dotty departed
The wreckage of Dotty and the remains of the ten men who were trapped inside her when she sank have never been located. The wreckage is believed to be at a depth of approximately 6,000 feet.[16] A search for the lost airframe by the National Underwater and Marine Agency Australia has been proposed.[17]
References
- ^ "Dauntless Dotty". Archived from the original on 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
- ^ "Dauntless Dotty". Archived from the original on 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
- ^ "Dauntless Dotty". Archived from the original on 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
- ^ "1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-001 to 42-30031)". Archived from the original on 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
- ^ "Hell's Angels vs Memphis Belle." Archived 2013-09-23 at the Wayback Machine 303rdbg.com. Retrieved: 21 September 2011.
- ^ "Boeing B-17F-25-BO "Hell’s Angels". National Museum of the United States Air Force, 25 June 2009. Retrieved: 12 July 2017.
- ^ "B-17 Flying Fortress". United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 2012-07-19. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ "869th Bombing Squadron". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
- ^ "The Fire Raids on Japan". Archived from the original on 2014-02-23. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
- ^ "March 9, 1945: Burning the Heart Out of the Enemy". Wired. Condé Nast Digital. 9 March 2011. Archived from the original on 15 March 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ^ Tech. Staff Sgt. Steven Wilson (25 February 2010). "This Month in History: The Firebombing of Dresden". 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs, United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
- ^ Laurence M. Vance (14 August 2009). "Bombings Worse than Nagasaki and Hiroshima". The Future of Freedom Foundation. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ^ Joseph Coleman (10 March 2005). "1945 Tokyo Firebombing Left Legacy of Terror, Pain". CommonDreams.org. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ^ "44-24529 – B-29-40-B – "Dauntless Dotty" : Warbird-Central.com". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
- ^ "Dauntless Dotty Story". Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
- ^ "June 1945". Archived from the original on 2013-01-23. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
- ^ "Press Release – Search for Dauntless Dotty". Archived from the original on 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2014-02-06.