1944 Battle of Kansas
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 เม.ย. 2023
- Over the period of February and March, 1944 the US Army Air force fought a desperate battle in extreme conditions that, while unlike many other battles of 1944, was nonetheless as significant as almost any of those battles.
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Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #WWII
In the introduction I mention Stalingrad. Of course the Battle of Stalingrad was in 1942/43, not 1944. However, I believe it emphasizes the point made by Hap Arnold that the Battle of Kansas was as critical a "must win" as Stalingrad.
Well, Operation Bagration in 1944 was arguably even more devastating for the German Army than Stalingrad.
EXCELLENT VIDEO and my thanks to THG🎀 ❣👀👍
With an incredible amount of respect, I believe you were mistaken when you said that LeMay changed the strategy to firebombing. He was ordered to firebomb...he was sent to the Marianas by Hap Arnold specifically because Arnold believed that he would follow orders and make firebombing work. Heywood Hansell was replaced because he was resistant to firebombing. Firebombing Japan was national policy, and was announced to the press by George Marshall himself in November of 1941...he specifically threatened that the USA would burn down Japan's wood and paper cities if they dared attack the US. Doolittle's Raiders each carried an incendiary cluster bomb as part of their payload, and when you look at the priorities of the Office of Scientific Research and Development and the National Defense Research Committee that came after it, incendiary weapons were considered to be of very high importance. Yes, LeMay was cold enough to push his planes and his men to maximum effort to make firebombing work, but his contribution was only tactical/operational...the strategy of firebombing goes back to well before the US and Japan were at war.
@@iKvetch558 in his book LeMay says it was his decision, necessitated by weather that made precision bombing ineffective.
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel That is true, but that was a tactical/operational level decision. The choice to firebomb was made long before LeMay went to the Marianas, and at a level way above his head. LeMay's bomb dumps in the Marianas were already filled with incendiaries when he arrived, he did not have to order them and wait for their arrival. As I noted, Marshall was committed to the use of firebombing at least as early as November 1941. The details of Marshall's announcement to the press are on page 109 of Michael Sherry's The Rise of American Airpower...at least it is page 109 of my paperback edition.✌
I realize it is not a distinction of monumental proportions, but it seems a somewhat important difference...that LeMay was ordered to make firebombing work, rather than making the choice to use that ordinance himself.
As retired USAF, I knew some of the this story, but not by half. Hap Arnold, for getting the B-29 out of the hangar, truly deserves to be remembered.
From what I hear here, Arnold barked orders, put Bailey in charge of sorting out the mess and got out of his way. So it seems to me that Bailey should get most of the credit.
My grandfather worked for Boeing during the war and was on one of the crews that did the test flights on the B29. I used to spend time with him in Kansas for summer vacations in the 60s. He would tell stories of the challenges, getting the planes ready for delivery, and some of them were covered in this video. He retired from Boeing in 1969. History Guy, I love your videos. Keep up the good work.
American ingenuity...
It's likely that your grandfather and my father worked together. My father was commissioned a 2nd Lt. in June of 1942, and spent the next year and a half working on aircraft maintenance and logistics at training bases from Atlanta to the Mississippi River. In the summer of 1944, we went to Kansas to work in the development of parts supply, maintenance facilities construction and operation, and overall logistics to support the B-29s in Kansas and then transfer those programs and knowledge for B-29 operations in combat in Asia. By the autumn, he was in Kharagpur, India, with two sets of orders, first to assure the best possible aircraft maintenance support for the B-29s in India, the operations across the "Hump", and missions from Chengdu in China; secondly, his job was to arrange the transfer of parts, tools, supplies, and maintenance personnel from mainland Asia to the Marianas as soon as bases could be developed.
He was told to be ready to move to Guam (where the 20th Air Force from India and the 21st Air Force being assembled and trained in the US would be combined for the bombing campaign against Japan) with 20th Air Force command personnel as most of the B-29s were moved to Saipan and Tinian but as the last B-29s were leaving for Clark Field, Philippines, he was told to stay where he was in India. After a few days, on April 2, 1945, he received orders to be on a C-54 leaving Kharagpur for Yontan airfield (called "Kita" by the Japanese) on Okinawa, he arrived on Yontan about 36 hours after the invasion of Okinawa bagan. Yontan was a Japanese airfield that was fully operational but the surrounding terrain made it unsuitable for much expansion. The plan was to make Yontan as useful as possible for interim use and continue the Japanese construction of a field about 5 miles away at Kadena for use as a B-29 "super-hub" field. (Kadena's use through today is another important story!)
His maintenance team on Yontan performed emergency repairs (exhaust stacks and propeller controllers) on Bock's Car as part of the diversion of the return flight of the second Atomic bomb raid on Nagasaki. He was transferred to the 8th Air Force as part of the never-finalized move of the 8th Air Force from Britain and Europe to Okinawa, then sent home in 1946 and released from service.
My dad was a Mechanic Instructor in 44 in Salinas KS. 20th AF
@Charles where did your grandfather live in Kansas. There were plants scattered all over Kansas and one was about 25 miles from where I grew up.
David, I'm not sure where grandpa lived during the war, possibly Newton or Whicita. All of my life, he lived in Wellington in the big house right across (northside) from the county courthouse and worked at the Whicita plant
I majored in Aeronautical Operations at San Jose State University in the 1980s. One of our propulsion professors, Mr. Ring, had been a B29 pilot during WW2. He was shot down near the end of the war over downtown Tokyo, and managed to bail out. He landed in the heart of the city and fractured his back upon landing in a street intersection. As he stood up, removing his parachute harness, he saw a horde of civilians with pitch forks, machete's, etc., coming down the street to capture and perhaps kill him. He started running, popping off shots from his 1911 .45 over his shoulder. Finally, he found some Japanese soldiers to surrender to. He spent the remainder of the war as a POW.
No wonder they wanted to kill him, the B-29s bombed civilian targets and murdered innocents by burning them alive. And somehow only the Japanese were tried for war crimes.
who cares.
When I was in high school, I had a geometry teacher who seemed older than Methuselah and just as deaf. It wasn't until midway through the year that we found out that he was a B17 pilot and did several missions over Germany. He lost some of his hearing when an anti-aircraft shell hit his plane. Some of his crew didn't make it but he still managed to land his plane. Props to him and his service in the military.
@@notlisted-cl5ls I care, I thought it was an interesting story.
I’m amazed he wasn’t shot by the soldiers
As a Kansan this is a great video. I just live a few miles from the old boeing & drive through it very often. It's Spirit now. I often wonder about the life & intensity of it during WW2. Once in a while I have the privilege of "Doc" flying over my house. They have a very distinctive sound.
Hi Rick, I work for a company that supplies Spirit Aviation. We're in the East Midlands of England, bordering on both "Robin Hood country" and Pilgrim Fathers country. We're "a long way from Kansas", but our airframe seals are sent all the way to Wichita.
Oh yeah. There's no mistaking "Doc" for anything else. You don't have to see it to know it.
hello neighbor!
I live 2 miles from Doc's hangar. It's a joy to see him pass over head.
@Simon Gleaden That's very cool Simon, I work just northeast of Spirit with the T-6 trainers.
My grandfather was a tail gunner in the B-29's he was in Kansas and participate in the Battle of Kansas as a wrench turner. He then went with the 29's to the CBI fly's Hump missions and Bombing missions. He as flew out of Tinian West field. He had a flow 30 missions. he stayed in the Airforce till retiring. Which he help with refueling the first non stop round the world flight of the Lucky Lady II. He had a interesting military career.
What was your grandfather's b29 named? my grandfather's was Gone with the wind
There were no tail gunners in B29. It was controlled by computer. B29 also did not fly the hump
@@tinindian7816 It was Snuffy Smith.
@@josephjackson7269 Bull Shit.
.
@@josephjackson7269 B-29s DID have tail gunners, just look at a picture of one. B-29s DID fly the hump from India into China from where they could reach Jap targets.
It staggers the imagination to know that the B29 program budget dwarfed that of the entire Manhattan Project. Thanks Again Lance for yet another edifying THG. installment
Strategic bombers were something like 40% of the entire Allied war effort. Someone really convinced the top leaders that they could win the war by themselves. After the war ended, they found out that most of the bombs missed. Because dropping a bomb from 5 miles away is really unlikely to hit what it's aimed at.
@@Heike--
Nope, more WW2 myths from revisionists who just want to act like authorities on subjects.
The Germans and Japanese both admitted after the war that USAAF strategic bombing severely hampered their war effort and dramatically shortened the war, every single time I come across someone who makes the claim that USAAF post war studies determined that the strategic bombing campaign was a failure or didn't make any difference I challenge them to name the report along with chapter and page where that claim is made and of course no one ever can because it simply isn't true.
As far as the claims that the bombers weren't accurate that's another myth where people make wild exaggerations and used highly biased math when making those claims, people who say things like "only 5% of bombs only hit within 5 miles of the target" are people who are doing nothing but passing around misinformation or just plain lies they make up, the fact is the Norden bombsight could consistently place a single bomb within 400 feet of it's aiming point from a B17 traveling 225 MPH at 25,000 ft, but the issue is that in Europe the majority of bombs dropped weren't aimed using the Norden bombsight instead they were aimed using the H2X ground scanning radar system, especially during the winter months when overcast skies prevented optical sighting, something like 65% of all the bombs dropped by the 8th Air Force in Europe were aimed using the H2X system in a "Pathfinder" lead plane that all the others in the formation toggled off their bombs on it's lead, also people like to include in the math bombs dropped on the wrong target due to the lead navigator of a mission flying an entire formation of bombers to the wrong target resulting in it getting bombed and recording it as a "zero bombs on target" result, even though the bombardiers plastered what they were actually aiming at.
Other things that skew the math is things like the Germans lighting off smoke pots to obscure visibility, them camouflaging targets and setting up decoys nearby along with a variety of other factors.
Even with those factors the results of the bombers accuracy were far greater than the wild claims like "only 5% of bombs landed within 5 miles of the target" that people like to throw around just for the sake of acting like experts on the subject, if that was all the more bombs that could hit their targets then people like FDR, Gen George Marshall and others would certainly have pulled the plug on strategic bombing and used the resources elsewhere.
@@dukecraig2402 Another worthy point is that even if bombs didn't hit their intended targets, they sure had a huge impact on morale, as psychological weapons. The V-1 Buzz Bomb, and V-2 ballistic missile which literally came down faster than you could hear it, were horribly inaccurate, but a few came down in populated areas and caused mass panic and fear. Likewise the cost to the enemy isn't just the damage the bombs themselves do, but the costs of trying to prevent such damage, such as the decoys, camouflage, smoke pots, and so on that you mention, plus the Luftwaffe and Flak air defenses, putting factories in caves or underground, and so on. All the disruptions to logistics caused by both the bombs themselves and efforts to be less vulnerable to them. The threat of a weapon can often be as damaging as the weapon itself.
@@dukecraig2402 You are Really informative. I wonder where you get your information. You seem credible, even Truthful, and your perspective really makes me wonder about all of the other prognosticators.
@@Heike-- My step-father-in-law flew the Eagle during the Gulf War (in fact, the footage of an airfield getting bombed from early on was taken by his co-pilot), and pretty much confirmed that guided ordnance is what made the air force relevant - so much so, in fact, that land forces became mostly obsolete from that point forward.
von Rosen tells of his Tiger group getting bombed for 2 hours at Normandy. It is a harrowing experience to read, but while the bombs knocked all of their sights off target, only one Tiger was lost and that was because the bombs flipped it upside down! The rest were actively fighting within hours, successfully knocking out a number of Shermans and Fireflies.
Allied air power was constantly a nuisance to the tank crews directly, but not much more than that. What it did really impact was their logistics and supply lines, which did end up substantially hindering the tankers. But the whole concept of precision strikes by air power to take out targets proved mostly ineffective.
My father worked in a grinding wheel factory. He said that from January 2, 1942, until mid-August they work twelve hours a day. Eight and a half months without a weekend, holiday, or any such thing. That was the workers war.
Which one? Norton? Cincinnati?
Several of the factory scenes shown were of the Bell Bomber Plant in Marietta Georgia. A large number of the B-29 production came from there and at the time the main assembly building was the largest air condition space in the world. The plant is still in operation today by Lockheed Martin.
Is that where they make the C-130?
Yes. I believe every C-130 has been made there. They also assembled the C-5A Galaxy in Marietta. They used to fly over my house in Atlanta on landing approach.
Martin also had a B-29 plant at Offutt Field in Omaha. The Enola Gay and Bockscar were built there. The “Building D” old giant hanger is still part of Offutt AFB today.
A friend of mine has a farm on the north side of Atlanta. His dad is the consummate old rancher. Blue jeans Dodge dually the works. I never really understood why there were all kinds of aerial photos of the farm hanging up. Then one day hand I got to talking and I learned that before he retired he was a test pilot at Lockheed in Marietta. So he was flying regularly and every once in a while he would come across over the farm and grab a quick picture.
Apparently he also buzzed the playground where my friend was in school a time or two😊
The plant in Ft. Worth has a similar pedigree. During WWII Consolidated built B-24s there. This was followed by the B-36, the B-58, F-111, F-16 and F-35. Of course the plant has gone from Consolidated to Convair to General Dynamics to now Lockheed-Martin. I worked there in 1975-77 on the F-16. The main factory building is one mile long. Raw materials enter the south end and completed airplanes rolled out the north end.
One of my earliest memories is watching B-29s by the dozen, or more (my math skills weren't all that good at age 4) Fly out of Wichita to go to the war. I was born and raised (till age 11) about 30 miles east of Wichita, in a little burg called Leon.
As a native of Salina KS, this was new to me. Great to see what a critical time in my hometown history laid out in a informative way.
Salina has a long aviation history that few people know. The airport has one of the longest runways in the country. In fact its so long that it was on the list for the space shuttle to land on.
I too am from Salina and thought I knew a lot about Shilling AFB (previously Smokey Hill), but I was not aware of most of this. Thanks for the history lesson.
I think the Smokey Hill Museum downtown has a section on the base's history.
more research indicates most of this "war" happened in Wichita not Salina??
@Rick Florke Is also used for Air Force One pilot training
I got to see the newly restored B-29 "Doc" take it's first flight from McConnell AFB. A beautiful sight. I grew up in a little farming town between Wichita and Salina. We went on a field trip in grade school to the Smokey Hill bombing range. Got to see fighters come in and strafe targets. Kansas wasn't a bad place to grow up at all. 😊
That I saw a video of. General Paul Tibbets son, was in the left seat and experienced B'29 FIFI pilot Charlie Tilghman in the right seat for assurance.
Charlie, when I knew and flew with him, was the Check Ride pilot for Southwest Airlines.
I've flown several times in FIFI with him.
Robert M. Bob Robbins, Boeing B-29 Test Pilot, was a.personal friend of mine. I am a historian, and have been honored to meet and be among many great men who contributed so much to our nation's war and peace time efforts.
11:37, you can see one these hangers, still standing at the Salina airport. If you go to Google maps, it is at the north end of the runway on the east side with its rusty white roof. The Kansas Army National Guard has a helicopter unit along the same Side of the runway. We still have one building that the General was in it is a little Base exchange along the flight line/ tarmac that pilots could make a quick run to get a Coke and a Hershey’s bar before taxiing to the runway. It stands empty and locked up, a silent witness to the Salina blitz.
“Infantry wins battles, logistics wins wars.” Army General John J. Pershing. I'd add "production" as well. It is also required to add 850 Tu-4 (as copy of the B-29). B-29 was another level in terms of production and in conception is first serial big-body multiengine modern aircraft
And "production", itself, is another, entirely separate, story of logistics. In order to produce, you need the steady stream of raw materials.
My uncle was an engineer and flew over Japan in B-29’s. He wrote a book about his experiences, saying that the engines were particularly finicky.
Finicky is a bit of an understatement. They had a bad habit of bursting into flames due to overheating and the flammability of their magnesium engine components.
@@jamesrogers47 "Overheating" was not helped because the engine nacelles had to be "streamlined" for reduced drag to meet the "impossible" promised range spec. The "atomic bomb" squadron received the best engines, planes, and other care possible to enable them to claw into the air (with all fingers crossed).
TurboCompound Engines. A plumbers and a mechanics nightmare.
Yep, the overheating issues were from poor cowling design on the B-29 to increase range. The Turbo Compound feature came out after WW2. The problems were worked out later, and they have a good track record for airliner use.
@@jamesrogers47
That's a myth, only some pre production B29's had alloy engine cases, all production B29's had forged steel cases despite all the incorrect online articles citing them having magnesium alloy one's.
The US entered the war while the Wright R3350 engine was still being developed, almost immediately magnesium was placed on a list of materials that were considered in short supply and war essential, since the tooling and production lines hadn't been set up yet for the R3350 engine it was decided to switch them to forged steel cases for all production engines.
The narrative that magnesium engine cases were a problem in aircraft engine's due to them burning through wings is just silly, it doesn't matter what an aircraft engine is made of once on fire and spewing out oil and fuel and being fanned by 200 MPH+ head winds it's going to burn through the aluminum wing of an aircraft no matter what.
And the association of B29 engine fires had nothing to do with the materials they were made from nor did they just "burst into flames from being hot", the problem with the B29 engines stemmed from a poorly designed supercharger inlet that caused induction (intake manifold) fires once an engine that'd been sitting in the heat of the Pacific on a plane waiting it's turn to take off would experience a backfire into the supercharged intake system from a cylinder running too lean, unlike the centrifugal superchargers of other aircraft engine's that were designed by General Electric the Wright company insisted on designing their own mechanical supercharger for the R3350 engine which had a tendency to pool fuel in it's poorly designed elbow, induction fires weren't unique or exclusive to Wright R3350 engine's just far more common with them due to their supercharger design.
It's because of their supercharger design that led to induction fires during take off is why the Wright R3350 engine was switched from having the single point fuel injection Bendix carburetor to direct injection to solve the problem.
And while the B29's supercharger system used a turbo for it's second stage for high altitude performance the turbo compounded engine's that 3 turbos were hydro coupled back to the engine's crank weren't developed until after the war and were never on B29's.
Proud MO resident, proud retired USAF, awesome story!
As a aircraft mechanic w/ 40+ years experience, I will testify that airports & flight fields have the worst of local weather! It seems they are hotter, colder, windier, more snow and wetter than the local area! 😮
My mom and I fly out of Rocky Mountain Metro airport (KBJC) in Broomfield, Colorado. It always seems like that airport has the craziest weather in the whole area, winds can be light everywhere else and howling there. I think it's because of where it was built, on top of a mesa, right where wind comes howling out of a canyon. I ponder the story of the airport's origins, if designers knew that when putting it there. The location seems pretty ideal, one of the few flat spots around, so until hanging out there for a little while you wouldn't realize the crazy winds. Perhaps this wasn't realized until construction began, by which time contracts were already signed. Or it was known before that, but the site seemed so ideal in other regards they decided to accept that compromise. Or maybe it wasn't as bad 60 years ago, I certainly think Colorado's weather has gotten even weirder over the past decade or two.
That's because they are such large open areas.
I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to fly in Fifi, one of only two operational B-29s, as the bombardier. Seeing how complex just the bomb controls were, it's no surprise to hear that the plane had some serious teething problems.
My grandfather was a bombardier on a B-29 and first flew with the 498th out of Saipan. He left Saipan to participate in Project Alberta where he flew in a Silverplate B-29.
I have his A-11 flight helmet and mask on display in my home office.
He loved the B-29 and was very proud that he was able to serve on one.
My friend's mom and dad talked about watching (when they were kids) the B-29s flying in and out of Great Bend (Ks) Army Air Field. They said that the 29s would make practice bombing runs over Cheyenne Bottoms.
Good morning from Ft Worth TX History Guy and everyone watching. Have a fun and safe weekend.
Excellent episode I had never heard of the " battle of Kansas City" before.
I moved from California to the Midwest, Missouri, and my first, now second WINTERS were BAD. KHOLD, I never got over the fact that my refrigerator was warmer than the outside.
I never knew thus about the B-29. It's amazing how important good logistics & program management can be to effectively wage war.
Consider feeding/replenishing a 2 front moving military during the war. The logistics behind that amazes me
My grandfather was an engineer for General Electric. He was sent to Kansas due to issues with the GE supplied relays in the bomb release system. He found that they had set up the production line on a wooden surface. As they went down the line, the wood debris would foul the relays. He had the line shut down and the surfaces covered with sheet metal. This solved the issue. He said the test at the end of the line was hitting the complete system with a hammer and the attached test light couldn't go out.
My brother was the president of the local EAA Chapter in Morris il years ago. He invited Fred Olivi who was the copilot on Bocks car, The B29 that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki to speak at the Chapter meeting. Fred was a retired Chicago Bridge tender after the war and was glad to come to Morris. My brother and I joined Fred and his wife Carol for dinner prior to his presentation. He had film pictures and about 2 hrs of stories about their mission. Amazing gentlemen and great evening.
Box Car*
@@bbeen40 it was called Bocks car
@@scottdunkirk8198 I just googled it and damn, I'm wrong. Thank you!
As a proud native Wichitan and WWII aircraft buff, I'm ashamed to admit I had never heard this story! Thank you for this video! 👍
Excited for this one.
Hi from Incheon!
Great video and thanks.
My father was an MP during the war and would often be detailed as security at the plant from his station at Jefferson Barracks. He would say it was both the worse and best job he had in the service. Worse detail was guarding the perimeter at the end of the runway because "Parts would be falling off those those planes like hailstones as they flew overhead out to the West coast. Best because they were built and crewed by women and they were always up for a fun time on a Saturday night."
...he would also go on to say "Every two or three days, one would crash into a field a half mile from the runway but two hours later, the next one would just fly through the smoke of the burning wreck on it's journey West." In his opinion, more were lost in that field than shot down over Japan.
Couldn't have said "Ad Astra per Aspera" any better than this video.
Some years ago I got the chance to get on the field of Walker KS Air Force base (retired) and walk around a B29 hanger. Very impressive
It is nice to see my home state in one of your videos. I have been to the airport north of Pratt where much of this work was done. A few of the original buildings still stand. Good job.
I've been aboard "Doc", one of the only air worthy B29s still in existence. So cool!
I'm from Salina, KS and am VERY impressed that you pronounced our city CORRECTLY! (Sal-EYE-na) Nearly all out-of-staters pronounce it "Sal-EE-na"!
Thank you! 😊
I was born in Salina, my family's farm just west of the Smoky Hill bombing range in Ellsworth county, and later I worked for one of the suppliers for the restoration of Doc... and I knew that family worked on the B29s when all this happened in Salina, but never realized just how much effort and how important it was. I also remember driving up K-141 across Kanopolis Dam as a kid and seeing the various aircraft come screaming up and over the bombing range... got to see a lot of amazing warbirds in the 70s and 80s growing up...
Very nice anecdote. My dad was a B29 pilot out of Saipan who told me a few harrowing stories about his round trips to Tokyo. In the early 70s I was stationed at McConnel AFB there in Wichita where the B29 was made.
My Dad Clarence Imel was in this. He was stationed at Pratt, Kansas. He and another man worked at a metal lathe turning out a larger oil fitting for every single engine of those planes. Thank You for sharing this forgotten piece of history.
Thanks HG! You deserve to be remembered! Love your work!
I knew an old guy, Mr. Arnold, who lived in Kansas. He served in WW2 in the navy. At some point everyone called him “Hap.”
Thank you Doctor. Not only a beautiful airplane but a most valuable addition to our arsenal.
EXCELLENT. Very well worth remembering. I can recall having lunch with a former UK submariner who had talked about his father, who about the age 17 was working 16 hours per day building obscure concrete constructions in out of the way locations. That Churchill had visited the site and said that they were the most important projects being produced now. These turned out to be the mulberry harbours used to offload the material onto the Normandy beaches. Its too easy to forget all of the effort in ensuring the from line troops are adequately equipped to do the job required.
Excellent program History Guy. I am from Kansas. Live in Wichita. The old Smoky Hill AFB in Salina is now dormant. The name changed some time in the 60's to Shilling
AFB. It was a Secondary land strip for the Space Shuttle when it flew. There is a runway there about 7 miles long.
NASA flies U2 flights out of there now. I can track them on flight aware climbing in 50 mile circles up to 60,000 feet then they're off radar.
Good stuff!! Thanks for that info, guys!
Runway 17-35 at the Salina Regional Airport (formerly Schilling AFB) is 12,300' long.
Wow! I grew up in Kansas, my Dad was in the USAAF, and I worked for several years at the Kansas Historical Society & I'd never heard of this.
My late father was a mechanic on the B29 and later the B17 during the end of the war. Philippines and Okinawa. Thanks for this video, well done.
I'm delighted to have had the honor of seeing in person the Enola Gay a few years back. What a magnificent achievement these bombers were, especially given the challenges our country faced at the time!
This shows what American can do WHEN she has good leaders in the right place, at the right time. Sadly, I don't think we have that type of "GET IT DONE" leadership today. Thank you for posting. One of the best, if not the best, channels on TH-cam.
It's not just lack of leadership. Our young are too busy on their cell phones, complaining about our government not giving out more in handouts. Patriotism is dead. Without that, there is no way to amass enough workers in such a short time to endure that kind of work ethic. Which is why we must maintain our military strength at the highest level, without the need to play catch up, as we did back then.
@@jimdavis6833 We don't need a huge military. They only get used to launch wars of aggression. Did you know we're occupying Syria right now, and stealing their oil? Yes, that's right, we're pumping it out of the ground and selling it and pocketing the money. Say, can anyone tell me why we're at war with Syria? I don't know and neither does anyone else.
The “leadership” gets the credit but is overrated for barking orders that would amount to nothing without the hard-working individuals that complete the necessary tasks.
How they put this complcated plane out so fast with no computers and most of the workforce with little experience...is really unbelievable.
you should look the up how they made the F17 Nighthawk then. They had to get one of the worlds first super computers JUST to calculate the placement and angles correctly of the stealth system. Some of it was even done by hand with Math.
No computers by your modern definition. There were several computers available at the time, massive things like the computers on warships that wanted firing Solutions, and the computers on the B-29 that computed lead four sights for defensive guns.
Computers are just tools that do some of the hard work so human Minds don't have to, and considerably more quickly! But the human minds of the engineers were and still are the greatest computers of all. The greatest advantage of modern computers is that they can show an engineer the result of their work much more quickly and cheaply then the old days with modeling and wind tunnels
There were actually computers...but just not in the sense of the computers we have been using the past 40 plus years.
There are many stories about the war related to the supply and manufacturing chain that are fascinating, most of which I'm sure are from this channel. There were great successes like the Liberty Ships, struggles like the B-29, and utter failures as well.
The type 14 torpedo debacle is one of the worst examples of an extended systematic failure of administration ever.
@@johnassal5838 That's what I was thinking of but couldn't remember the name!
Proud U.S. Citizen, Proud U.S. Navy retiree, and Proud Kansan here. Thank you for this episode.
I lived 25 years in Kansas and never knew this. Actually, 30 mins from Salina. Interesting.
Your videos are invaluable, HG! I remember my dear, late Dad pointing out a B29 as it flew over our house in Oak Park, IL, sometime in the mid to late 1940's...
I never knew, but now that i do it will not be forgotten
Thank you for this video. My dad went to the draft board to volunteer for the army and they refused saying his occupation was critical. He was a final line inspector at Boeing Wichita for many years and those years included the B-29 and B-52. He passed away when I was young, so I never heard this story, I wish I could have. On an aside, I volunteered for the Air Force in 67 and was sent to weather equipment repairman school. The radar we learned on was the AN/APQ-13, which was the ground version of the airborne bombing radar on the B-29. It was still in use at several air force bases in 1967, but was being replaced by the FPS-77. Thanks again, quite interesting what they had to do to get her up and flying missions.
The Battle of Kansas went on at other towns across Kansas at the time. These included airfields in Great Bend, Pratt, Liberal Dodge City and Garden City. But the largest modification site was in Salina, Kansas. About 90 miles north of Boeing Wichita factory. The Smokey Hills AFB did the most of this modification work. The airbase was renamed Shilling AFB. After it was closed in 1965. It became the Salina Municipal Airport. Today Kansas State's Aviation Tech Center is located there. Training new pilots and aviation mechanics for the future generations.
You are forgetting about Walker AAF, about 10 miles east of Hays, near Victoria. Lots of mod work done there as well.
IIRC, Dodge City was an advanced air crew training base for the B-26 in 1944, wasn't involved in the Battle of Kansas
@@bizjetfixr8352 Thank you for the information.
I enjoy all of THG's videos, but having grown up in Wichita this video is extra special. The story of the B-29 "Doc" warms my heart. "FIFI" is no longer the only B-29 flying, and Doc is polished aluminum! Often when visiting my parents in Wichita I would see Doc flying around. That's not something I get to see every day!
I was born at the Smoky Hill Air Base Salina, Kansas in 1948.
Throughout my life I have heard many stories about the B-29 Bombers.
As a boy growing up near Riverside, Calif. ( Home of March Field Air Force Base ) I remember seeing those huge airplanes flying over Bloomington, Calif.
I now live back in Kansas less that 50 miles south of Salina where Smoky Hill Air Force Base was located.
I have been on the massive runway where those giant planes took off and landed before being retired from service.
Due to the size of that runway it was designated as a backup landing site for the space shuttle.
I have learned that my father earned his wings in a B-29.
My mother saved and gave those wings to me after I returned home from Vietnam.
As a born Jayhawker I have always felt a sense of pride about my Kansas.
This video gave me a warm feeling as the story about the Battle Of Kansas was told.
My thanks to the History Guy.
Work Safe, Be Well
Enjoy Life
There was a crash at Pratt KS that almost burned down the only available B29 modification hangar during the winter. The entire base and town fire department turned out to push the wreckage away from the big wooden hangar
My family had direct involvement with the "Battle Of Kansas" and the B-29. Grandpa came down from the family farm just north of Salina to help with the work out on the tarmac while my dad was over in both India and China working as a flight lines commander waiting for said new bomber.
B29s also served in the RAF. they were employed until early 1950's as a stop gap until the V-bombers jet aircraft were delivered . In British service they were called Washingtons
George Gobel( Comedian) stated on the Tonight show with Johnny Carson, that he had been stationed in Kansas during the War, and that not one japanese plane made it further than Witchita while he was there!
Gobel was an instructor for the B-26 Marauder airplane.
George talks about WWII in OK at 18:30 mark. th-cam.com/video/K9lis3lCo9s/w-d-xo.html
Gobel was stationed in Altus, OK
@@frankdodgee Well, no Japanese planes attacked Altus, OK either.
My grandpa flew B-17s over Europe with the 8th Air Force and went on to fly some of the first B-29s in the Pacific then flew as a fighter pilot in Korea
Respect and gratitude to your grandpa.
Another huge shout out to Wright Patterson AFB, DAYTON , OHIO home to the National Museum of the U S Air Force.
Awesome museum.
another great video History Guy! it's always nice to see ones home state in a good light, and as a lifelong resident of Kansas I can attest to the chaotic and sometimes severe nature of our weather.
Outstanding! Great history story. I never knew this, and I've been lucky enough to have been around these beautiful giants as a mechanic. But that was years ago.
When I attended classes on Project Management I learned that Kelley Johnson is considered to be the father of Project Management. While he worked for Lockheed and was involved in running the soon to be created Skunkworks, I have to wonder if he was aware of the chaos that led to the Battle of Kansas. Seems contractors were tasked with not repeating the process failures from the development and roll out of the B29. This became very important as the US transitioned from WWII to the Cold War and technology accelerated at a fever pitch.
Dude I've been so interested in the pacific theater lately! Thank you! Love your videos
Absolutely fascinating episode THG&CREW, thank you Sir!!!🙏👌✈️❣️
Thank you THG ! This truly defines how important "The Home Front" was....and is.
I need to praise you for only including video of the B-29, unlike many channels that seem to think that there viewers are not knowledgeable enough to notice that the makers of there videos in include a wide variety of video clips that do not have anything to go with the subject
At time stamp 9:17 note the leaks under the Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone engines on the assembly line! This was a 'standard' feature with that engine design (the coffee can shown under the engine, became a necessary addition to the minimum equipment list). For all the problems the original design first had, it became a GREAT Airframe with the subsequent derivatives of the basic B-29, including the B-50; Boing 377 StatoCruiser; C97; KC-97 (tanker versions), and the SuperGuppy!! :{)
th-cam.com/video/bVSvGW_S948/w-d-xo.html
Can’t get enough of your work. Love these.
I really enjoy your presentation of these videos.
Watched from Jamaica. My grand mother lived near and operated a shop near Vernam Field and remember when the B-29's use to come their o training mission flying from Kansas. A number of them crashed on the base one even flew into a clowd and was never seen again. Most of these were from the 315th Heavy Bomber Wing and their stories are on line.
Teacher: Someone give me an example of an oxymoron...Johnny?
Johnny: High level precision bombing.
One of the best contemporary history channels on TH-cam
Aircraft in series production are usually built in similar but not identical batches, and it gets worse from there; different modifications and service histories have the effect of making each aircraft a distinct individual.
Just a shame we can't come together today like we were in Kansas back then......
Common sense has become highly uncommon.
In kansas, we still are a very tight-knit community. If you're in the aviation industry, you have friends in kansas
We can come together. The next time you hear someone spouting propaganda designed to divide us, call them on it. Don't just accept hating your fellow American as "patriotism."
This story is usually just a footnote in the story of the development of the B-29. Thank you, THG, for telling a more complete story.
My grandmother and my great aunt (twin sister) left the family dairy farm to go work at the plant during the war. My grandma was very proud of the fact that she was small enough to run the wiring in the wing and that she could get her arms in the small gaps in the landing gear, so that made her special and she didn't have to do "grunt work".
You needed to add that Great Bend Kansas was the training ground for the B-29. They have a very cool memorial at the airport. Please add to your notes on this important aircraft of WWII. Thank you History Guy
I used to drive past those enormous hangars in Salina on my way to work. Didn't know this history. Thank you
One of my favorite planes... another great one History Guy !
Excellent presentation as always. Please keep up the good work. You are much appreciated.
As a Kansan, and one who's hometown is Salina. Thank you for pronouncing it correctly!
I knew of the events of Shilling Army/Airforce base, but its always interesting to hear what events transpired.
Love the US81 rest stop north of town. A relatively peaceful place.
The air base at Salina, Kansas was later named Schilling Air Force Base. It was deactivated between 1965 and 1967. I remember when the air base was closed. Closing it really hurt the economy of Salina and the surrounding area. Smoky Hill Bombing Range continues to be used by Air Force units all over the US. My farm is on one of the low level flight paths used by planes coming in from the west. We live only 70 miles from Salina. I used to drive a school bus, and one of the most popular field trips was to the Smoky Hills Bombing Range ... well, at least for the boys. Excellent video. Thanks for recognizing the importance of Kansas and Salina in the war effort during WWII.
Boeing was located at Wichita, Kansas, and is only 90 miles away. Most of it's operations were later moved to Seattle, though some production is still carried on at Wichita, which used to be known as the Air Capital of the World. The helicopter was also invented in Kansas, and Amelia Earhart was from Kansas. For being a flat land, a lot of aviation history came out of Kansas.
Sheet metal mechanic in Wichita, KS, here. I worked in the same factory seen here. Amazing, beautiful history. Thank you, History Guy.
Could you imagine what a Kansas tornado would have done
April 26, 1991 The "Andover Tornado".
Crossed the McConnell AFB flight line a quarter mile or so south of a flightline packed with a Bomb wings worth of B-1 bombers
A really great story. Thank you.
This is such a cool story!! Never heard it before, and WOW!! Thanks, love your channel.
Fascinating as usual and thanks for sharing this information
Uncle Ken was a navigator on B-29’s. Pops was a weather man in the China Burma Theatre. Never miss a chance to see these awesome machines on the rare occasion one comes to central Florida.
JT
My parents next door neighbor is the reason I became a mechanical engineer. He is still alive and recently celebrated his 97th birthday. He was training to pilot a B29 but when the end of the war seem to be approaching, he and his buddies switched to gunnery school to get into the action before it was over. He was training as a tail gunner in the B29. He was a mechanical genius and would regale us of stories about the massively complex engines and the small spaces of the gun turrets. He never saw combat in a B29 but he was part of the occupation force in Italy. He was part of the greatest generation… and they are almost all gone.
It's always a personal pleasure to see you and your vids. Thank you for this one on the '29.
In the end, whatever the endeavor, it always take leadership doesn't it?
It’s been a long time since your videos have popped up in my feed. It’s good to see you again; I always enjoy your work.
Kansan here, thanks for doing this. Been at the old Naval Aviation Base in Olathe before it became New Century Air Center.
Excellent video! Thank you. My Great Uncle was there at Smoky Field KS as a Radio/Radar AAC technician with the 247th BU. Uncle Doug loved the bomb!
My mother worked at Boeing Wichita on number 1!! She was on the team that installed the leak proof fuel tanks. If anybody ever says that women can not do the job, tell em they are full of it.
And for a feminist, who just wants equality, being treated the same as everyone else is a painful slap in the face. Because men don't treat women poorly. We treat each other poorly, and we try to be nice to women. Acting like "one of the boys" is going to get you treated like "one of the boys". And we play rough.
@@Heike-- well said. "True equality is indifference"👍🏻
It is not so much that they cannot do the work, but rather wont do the work for which they demand equal pay. Construction, electrician, mechanical engineering, …………..must I go on?
That was a very interesting video. Thank you for your amazing history lessons
I appreciate you, thank you for making content.
Back when Wichita was the air capital of the world. It still has a good-sized aircraft industry, but nothing like it used to be.