Wednesday, September 11, 2019

"Ten Knights in a Bar Room" a B 17, and a B 24, and a B 29, all with a play on words name from the title of an 1850s book about what it's like inside a bar full of drunks





Above, a B 24, that was shot down after bombing Wewak. A single Ki-61 Tony attacked from the direction of the sun, and fired a momentary but accurate burst that hit the port wing of this bomber, causing it to explode in mid-air.

S/Sgt James W Cayten, tail gunner of B-24 "Blonde Bomber" witnessed: "the number two engine caught fire. Approximately 15 seconds after the engine was afire, flames broke out through the bomb bay, and waist windows. I saw three chutes open behind the plane. I also saw an object which might have been a man leave the ship, but no parachute was seen. I saw two parachutes float with the clouds, and watched the other until out of view.

The plane started losing altitude just after the engine was hit. After approximately a minute and half the plane went into a dive and started breaking apart”. S/Sgt Clarence Roper, right waist of B-24 "Blonde Bomber" witnessed: “Shortly after observing the fire in the waist, number two engine blew up and the wing came off, and as the plane started down the tail came off”.
https://b-24.weebly.com/beforeafter5.html



and this B 29 on Guam

http://lincolnlog1972.blogspot.com/2010/04/tropical-paradiseguam.html
https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Knights-Bar-Room-Southwest/dp/0813817366
http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/4341

10 comments:

  1. Holy crap, I cant beleive I just stumbled on this. Back in the 70s my parents used to be in local plays. One of them was called "Ten Nights in a Barroom". I hadn't thought about that play for many years, but yesterday for some reason I was thinking about it. Then today I see this!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The world is a crazy thing! Glad you're enjoying this blog!

      Delete
  2. The B-29 at the bottom of this post is my father-in-law, Robert G. Myers, aircraft. He was the flight engineer of the plane. They flew in the last mission over imperial japan 9 days after the nuclear attacks. He was a patriot and a wonderful man. We have always thought the caricature at the extreme left of the image was him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. wow! Cool! I hope you had some talks about his time in the Army Air Corps, WW2, etc. Did he have any cool souvenirs from his military time?

      Delete
  3. Mt dad was a machine gunner on this plane. "Billy Brooks" sadly, now diseased, picture of him on a 'Jap' Cannon while on Guam has always been my favorite... I'm hoping for anyone that might have a contribution about this plane and crew.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WOW! I wish I could help you more, but this post is all I have ever seen about it

      Delete
    2. If you want to send me a couple photos, and what you want to say or ask, I'll post all that to see if you can get some results from my readers

      Delete
  4. My great grandfather was on the WW2 bomber.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! That's cool! Have you been looking into that history, or did you grow up learning about it from your family?

      Delete
    2. wow! That's cool! Are you looking into the history of his time in the war? Or did you grow up learning about it from your family? Did he leave a diary, or notebook about his time on the bomber?

      Delete