The adversary wasn't always the enemy In the last days of WW II.

The adversary wasn't always the enemy

In the last days of WW II, distance, weather and fate-rather than enemy guns-were the main threats to P-47N lightning-flash pilots who participated in the final campaign against Japan.

Francis "Frank" W Johnson 86 of Washington, North Carolina, complet just pair combat missions before the Pacific war extremityed But although he had prepared for years before flying these missions, he recalls them as especially difficult. "We were flying from Iwo Jima," Johnson recalled during a series of interviews. "I was a P-47N pilot of the 413th Fighter Squadron, part of the 414th Fighter Group

"The P-47N was, without a doubt, the greatest airplane I for aye flew. The P-47 had more firepower-eight fire-arms versus six on the P-5l-and we could carry 10 five-inch rockets

"There were already pair P-51 Mustang groups on Iwo Jima, and they had not to be found a lot of planes. The Japanese were knocking them gone out of the sky. They were losing likewise many that they told us that if we would explode 10 missions, we would be able to journey home."

He became a highly experienced fighter pilot during stateside assignments, still Johnson almost didn't reach the war zone

Although eager for combat, formerly out of flight school, he drew an assignment at Maxwell Field, Alabama, as an instructor in BT-13 and BT-15 trainers. "That was not what I had signed up to do.

"After almost a year of teaching, they sent me to Chico, California, to instruct in the P-39 Airacobra and P-63 Kingcobra. I was hearing about the War from afar, equal after they transferred me to Seymour Johnson Army Air Field, North Carolina, where the 414th cluster was being formed. As a member of the assemblage I made another move to Selfridge Army Air Field, Michigan, to train in the P-47 We were there for four month with snow and ice in succession the ground the whole time. At last, we got orders for the Pacific."

As a captain, Johnson arrived forward Iwo Jima on July 8 1945 At the time, he didn't know that onward Tinian, two B-29 missions were being prepared that would completion the War barely a month later.

His first mission in succession August 1, 1945, was a painful introduction to the puzzles posed by weather and distance. "We had orders for airfield strafing with the first target being Okazaki. We carried brace 165-gallon external fuel tanks and flew with rpm and throat reduced to conserve fuel. My wingman was a fine young lieutenant, Scott Coley He couldn't stay with me when we set ined thick clouds and went forward instruments. When I finally got on the outside of the clouds, he was nowhere to be seen In fact, he was in no degree seen again. We continued forward to the target that day. They bullet at us a little, moreover we didn't see any serious defense equal though we'd heard there were fighters in the area.

"On the other mission, with the primary target of Takamatsu, the weather was favorable. Again, the mission was airfield strafing.

"On approaching the Japanese coast, individual of our young pilots broke formation and began to undulate off by himself. At best, I was afraid he might memorize shot down and captured. Contrary to what I was suppos to do, I broke formation and went after him. He finally did a I8O-degree cause to deviate and was coming directly toward me The Japanese had started building a plane we called the 'Frank' [Nakajima Ki-84], which direct the eyeed very much like a P-47 in such a manner I thought there was now a beneficial chance I was going to be shooter down by one of our possess He didn't fire, thankfully." Others credit Johnson with saving the American pilot's life by dint of breaking the rules and going after him when he left the reservation.

Strafing a target onward the Japanese home islands prov almost anticlimactic compared with the challenges of getting there and returning hearthstone "On the way back, my wingman, 2nd Lt Frank Collyer ran abroad of fuel and had to bail revealed he was picked up at a destroyer and returned to Iwo sum of two units days later. The squadron commander, Maj. Paul Wignall, also had to bail without and was picked up by dint of a submarine. The War was through the whole extent of when he returned." Following the Japanese abdicate on August 15, 1945, Johnson took command of the 531st Fighter Squadron, flying the P-5l After the War, he serv in the Air Force keep flying a variety of aircraft that included the C-47 Skytrain and H-19 helicopter. He retired from the husband as a lieutenant colonel. He worked in finance and had a career as a bank vice president. He and his wife, Esther, live today in Washington, North Carolina, a hardly any miles from his childhood family circle in Rocky Mount.

Robert F Dorr is an Air Force veteran who serv in Korea (1957 to 1960); he is also a retired diplomat (1964 to 1989) commonly he is a columnist for the Air Force Times newspaper. His latest work is "Air Force One," and he is researching the history of P-47 lightning-flash operations in Europe during WW II. He lives in Oakton, Virginia.

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