War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1719 Tokyo Hot

At 3:9 p.m. on March 15, Wei Ran and Brad, who had changed into high-altitude flight suits, boarded the Dumbo bomber as a bombardier and a tail gunner respectively.

At the same time, Robert, the original tail gunner of the Dumbo crew, and Ryan, the bombardier, also changed into uniforms, each holding a Kodak Prize-winning camera given to them by Brad, and drove the jeep originally used by Brad and Wei Ran, and began to wait at the airport as reporters to shoot the bomber's takeoff.

This was agreed upon in advance; even the camera positions and angles for the shoot were not something Brad had trained on in advance.

In the cockpit of the Dumbo bomber, Wei Ran also took a photo of the captain and the co-pilot respectively, and then sat in the bombardier's position with the best view, holding the camera in one hand and ready.

At 35:314 p.m., at the order of Brigadier General Thomas Ball, commander of the 29th Bomb Wing, and with Ryan and Robert pressing the shutter buttons one after another, the first batch of B bombers took off from airports in Saipan or Guam with their engines roaring.

At 49 minutes, Dumbo began to glide on the runway under the control of Charles and Baker, and successfully took off amid the turbulence, with Wei Ran moving towards them and pressing the shutter respectively.

At the same time, in the tail turret, which had the same good field of view as the bombardier, Brad, with a cigar in his mouth, generously pressed the shutter again and again, taking pictures of the B29s waiting for takeoff at the airport, as well as the vaguely visible ground crew members waving at them.

In the faithful record of silver-salt photographic paper, the Dumbo was getting farther and farther away from Saipan, and finally rushed into the clouds.

Just as historical records have shown, this bombing did not require formation flying, which undoubtedly saved a lot of fuel, but also made the crew members worried.

"Have any of you ever been in a situation where you had to skydive?"

In the internal communication, wireless operator Jack started a topic that was not so appropriate.

"I've been there," said Arthur, the mechanic. "Twice."

"I've experienced that once," responded Co-pilot Baker.

“I experienced this once too.”

Captain Charles joined the conversation, "My parachute jump was successful, but I almost drowned because the parachute rope got entangled around my neck."

"I'm lucky. This has never happened to me before," said navigator Bob.

"Keep your records"

Baker said, "What about the other two?"

“I jumped twice”

Brad in the tail turret said, "I gave up parachuting on the third try, but I still survived."

"Your luck is better than Bob's. You must keep it up." Baker said happily.

If you knew his experience, you probably wouldn't say that.
Wei Ran curled his lips secretly, dispelling the memory of the English Channel, "I have never had that before."

"You won't experience that on Dumbo," Captain Charles said, "ever."

“Let’s change the subject.”

Mechanic Arthur suggested, "For example, when we reach the bombing area, should we increase the altitude to 10,000 feet?"

"The Guide at Twenty-Five Thousand Feet"

Navigator Bob warned, "If we climb so high, we will not only be noticed, but our bombs may also hit other crews, especially since our bombardier is a rookie."

"If we fly to 10,000 feet we will become the laughing stock of Saipan"

Charles chimed in, "I'd rather go skydiving again than disgrace my Dumbo."

"Bombardier, are you nervous?" Arthur asked worriedly.

"My dick is so excited that it's saluting General Li Mei," Wei Ran responded jokingly, "Don't worry, I won't make any mistakes."

"Victor"

Charles disconnected his headphones at this time, handed over a cigar amid the rumbling noise and shouted, "During the period before and after dropping the bomb, you are actually controlling the direction of the bomber, so you have to finish your work as soon as possible, and then we will return immediately. This is related to whether we can return alive, so we must not waste time."

"Don't worry," Wei Ran shouted in response, and took the cigar and lighter.

He bit off one end of the cigar and lit it, then handed the lighter to co-pilot Baker on the other side behind him.

A moment later, the pressurized cabin was gradually filled with thick cigar smoke.

"Do you mind if I take some photos here and there?" Wei Ran asked loudly, holding a cigar in his mouth.

"Of course, as long as you come back before the bombing." Captain Charles said casually.

Hearing this, Wei Ran smiled, took out the disposable handheld flash light he had prepared in advance and connected it to the camera, then walked over the cockpit, called the captain and co-pilot to turn around, and pressed the shutter button towards them.

After completing the first photo with the highlight provided by the flash bulb, he immediately replaced the flash bulb and took another photo of navigator Bob, mechanic Arthur and radio operator Jack.

After replacing the new flash bulb, he climbed up the aisle to the bomb bay with difficulty. However, he did not rush to take pictures of the cluster incendiary bombs filled with sincere greetings, but walked to the tail of the plane.

At this time, Brad was sitting in the tail gunner's position, covering his chest with one hand, holding the gold coin to his mouth with the other hand, and praying devoutly with his eyes closed.

Obviously, he was afraid that he would once again kill everyone on the crew and the bomber.

He chose an angle and pressed the shutter button towards the other person. The dazzling flash also startled Brad.

Turning his head to look at Wei Ran, Brad stuffed his lucky gold coin back into his neck with a bit of embarrassment, and explained in a pale tone, "This is my habit. I... um... I am a devout believer, yes, a devout believer."

"Believe in Lady Liberty or in the Philadelphia Mint?"

Wei Ran made a good-natured joke, then turned around, raised the camera with a new light bulb, and pressed the shutter towards the aerial camera fixed in the bomb bay and the cluster incendiary bombs that were filled with blessings.

Turning around again, he shook the large keychain with two ribbons towards Brad who had an embarrassed expression and said loudly, "Brad, we will all go back! Back to Saipan alive! I promised Robert and you that I would help you develop the film, so you don't have to be so nervous!"

"Thank you!" Brad responded with a forced smile. He seemed to become more nervous because of Wei Ran's words just now.

"While we still have time, why don't we go to the front and take some photos for everyone."

Wei Ran suggested, and then without waiting for the other party to agree, he raised the camera again, found the cluster incendiary bomb where he had written the traditional Chinese characters "I have an acquaintance in Tokyo" and took another close-up photo.

He climbed back to the cockpit and sat in the bombardier's seat again, then noticed Brad who was crawling over with him.

"Gentlemen, let me take a group photo of you!"

Brad, who was lying in the aisle, holding up his camera, said loudly, "So how about you all take a few seconds to look at me?"

The cigar-smoking crowd followed suit, and Brad shouted enthusiastically, "Danbo!"

"Damba!"

Amid the cheers of the crowd, the cabin was filled with the bright light of the flash at a certain moment, which also recorded everyone in the cockpit.

This was a combat mission after all, and Brad did not stay long. He climbed back immediately after taking the photos. The only sounds in the cockpit were the flickering cigar flames, the occasional chatter from everyone, and even the navigator Bob's order to correct the course.

Amid the rumbling noise, Brad in the tail turret was praying devoutly, while Wei Ran in the nose of the plane fell asleep amid the slightly noisy white noise.

After nearly five hours of flight, Baker woke Wei Ran up and said, "Victor, wake up. We are about to start."

"How long will it take?" Wei Ran asked, rubbing his face hard.

“Half an hour at most”

Navigator Bob answered this question in the internal communication, "The Pathfinder is almost here. The clouds over Tokyo are thin today, and the visibility is very high. The southeast gusts are 45 to 67 miles per hour. Generally speaking, it is a good weather for novices to drop bombs and take pictures."

“I’ll take a few more pictures.”

As Wei Ran spoke, he removed the flash from the camera and stuffed it into his arms, then replaced the film in the camera.

"I'll take a few more photos too," Brad in the tail turret promised in the intercom.

"We'll pick the best one and keep it as a souvenir," suggested Jack, the wireless operator, "and everyone will sign their names on it."

“It’s a good suggestion”

Arthur the mechanic agreed. “I’ll hang it in my living room, I mean, when I have my own house and it happens to have a living room.”

"You'll have a house with a living room," Baker responded with a smile.

In a new round of teasing, Dumbo, full of sincerity, is getting closer and closer to Tokyo, and wireless operator Jack also gives hints one after another.

"The guide has arrived at the target airspace"

Jack reminded loudly and clearly in the communication, "They are at 25000 feet, and the visibility on the surface is very high!"

"Pathfinders, prepare to enter! Bombardiers, get ready. Our target is the black area at three o'clock with the X-flame at 12 o'clock from our current heading!"

"Pathfinder enters!"

At 12:08, Jack yelled, "X-slash start! Maintain 5000 feet!"

"Get ready to enter!"

At 12:11, navigator Arthur shouted an order, "Arrived at the target airspace! Correct course, five degrees to starboard!"

"Bombardier!"

Charles, who had corrected his course, shouted.

"Roger that!"

Wei Ran, who had already put his eyes on the sight, responded.

At this moment, in the sight, he could clearly see two perpendicular crosses drawn by flames on the ground, and he could also see the smoke from the anti-aircraft guns exploding right below them.

"Hurry up! We have to leave here as soon as possible!" Charles urged.

"immediately!"

Wei Ran stared at the explosion point marked in the sight, while temporarily controlling the plane, and began to drop bombs along the right side of the X drawn by flames on the ground, along a track that could form an isosceles triangle with the two flames.

"The bombing is over!"

In just a few seconds, a total of 40 cluster incendiary bombs left Dumbo's bomb bay and broke into a total of 1520 M69 incendiary bombs at an altitude of feet above the ground!
In the night sky lit up by fire and flares, each M69 incendiary bomb released a one-meter-long cotton streamer to guide its descent after separating from its mother body, splashing beautiful ripples of flame on the surface of Tokyo.

Earlier, at the bomb bay drop port, as the technical bombs rushed toward the surface under the lure of gravity, Brad pressed the remote shutter, operating the Fairchild K18 aerial camera, and captured the entire process of the cluster bombs leaving the bomb bay and falling to the ground with the rapidly flashing shutter, finally drawing the hypotenuse of the flaming triangle.

As the bomb hatch closed, Brad immediately released the remote shutter, unbuckled his seat belt, and ran back to the tail turret skillfully and quickly.

He did not stop taking pictures, but like Wei Ran at this time, he raised their respective Kodak cameras and pressed the shutter again and again towards the ground from the two positions with the best view of the bomber.

I don't know who should be thanked for the luck, but from approaching, dropping bombs, circling and escaping, the Dumbo did not encounter any damage from enemy aircraft or anti-aircraft guns. This undoubtedly made everyone in the cockpit cheer, and also made Brad in the tail turret completely relieved and collapsed in place.

“I’m not a home run hitter.”

Brad was muttering absentmindedly as he looked at the flames rising from the tail of the plane, but he didn't notice Wei Ran who had run behind him at some point, and the camera he was holding up.

Taking eight photos as quickly as possible towards Tokyo, which was getting farther and farther away and hotter, Wei Ran leaned forward slightly, got close to Brad's ear, took off his communication headset and whispered into his ear, "Look, we all made it back alive. Those previous accidents were not caused by you. Brad, you may be the lucky charm for all of us."

Hearing this, Brad shuddered. When he looked up at Wei Ran, he was already in tears, repeating over and over again like a madman, "I'm not a home run, I'm not a home run."

"You're not, of course you're not."

Wei Ran patted the other person's shoulder and said, "I'm going to start changing the film, my friend. You'd better wipe your disgusting tears before I press the shutter button. This is a highlight moment worth recording. We, along with the Dumbo crew, successfully completed the low-altitude bombing of Tokyo without any damage!"

"Victor, you're an asshole!"

Brad quickly wiped his tears. When he looked at Wei Ran, he found that the other party had handed him a pair of sunglasses. "Put them on. Although there is no bright sunshine tonight, you will at least look much more handsome if you put them on."

"Thank you." Brad took the sunglasses that Wei Ran had just taken out of the gas mask bag and put them on, letting Wei Ran raise the Kodak camera with new film and flash, and pressed the shutter towards him and the increasingly bright Tokyo behind him.

"Okay, it's my turn! Take a picture for me quickly!" Wei Ran said as he handed the camera with the flash bulb replaced to Brad, and then pulled him up.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

"Why are you so excited?" Brad said, raising his camera towards Wei Ran.

"Today is a good day!" Wei Ran shouted happily, and allowed the other party to blind his eyes with a disposable flash bulb.

"You may be a natural bombardier!" Brad shouted as he returned the camera to Wei Ran.

"Is it because I'm very accurate in dropping bombs?" Wei Ran asked as he replaced the light bulb in his camera.

"It's really accurate!"

Brad pointed at the window of the tail turret and said, "The line drawn by the incendiary bombs you dropped almost blocked off that area! It's like playing a bingo game! That's an important move! Not many people inside can escape. They can only wait for more incendiary bombs to fall!"

"I'm very happy to hear you say that, really happy!" Wei Ran roared loudly.

“But many people will die!”

Brad followed up with, “You might have nightmares for the rest of your life!”

"I only regret not coming here more often," Wei Ran shouted almost subconsciously.

"That's why I said you are a natural bombardier!"

Brad didn't know what he was thinking about. He seemed to be in a trance for a moment, and then he shouted happily, "I almost forgot! Someone once said the same thing to me!"

"So you're a natural bombardier?"

Wei Ran asked loudly, but without delaying at all, he raised the camera with the flash removed and pressed the shutter again towards the flame that was only the size of his fist.

"You'll probably have nightmares for the rest of your life!" Brad exclaimed. "That's what I said."

"How did you answer?"

"I said I was only busy dropping bombs in my dreams!"

Brad seemed to be in a much better mood. He answered loudly, and at the same time he couldn't help but wipe his eyes that were blocked by the frog-eye glasses with his fingers.

"Next time you can try the job of bombardier!"

After finishing shooting another roll of film, Wei Ran finally gave up the position of the tail turret to Brad, "Let's see who of us can shoot more accurately!"

"How about the loser developing the film?" Brad asked loudly.

"Is this the only bet you have?"

"Because I don't know how to develop film!" Brad accidentally told the truth.

"What did you just say?!" Wei Ran looked at Brad in surprise who had sat back in the tail turret.

"I said I don't know how to develop film! My success rate is too low! There are always accidents of one kind or another!"

Brad said again, "So I just have to take pictures and have my friends or my brother Grant wash them for me!"

"You are such a talented photographer!" Wei Ran couldn't help but say, "Don't worry, I will help you develop it!"

"Thank you!" Brad said happily.

Wei Ran could see that he was indeed happy, but only because the plane did not have an accident and everyone survived.

After saying goodbye to Brad temporarily, Wei Ran walked through the empty bomb bay, gently patted the aerial camera, and then climbed back into the cockpit.

"Victor, did you take any good pictures?" radio operator Jack asked first.

"We'll know after they're developed," Wei Ran replied with a smile, "I'll develop the photos as soon as possible."

"We'll be ready for autographs, too," Arthur cheered loudly and expectantly, but his voice couldn't help but tremble.

"How many people do you think will be burned to death in Tokyo tonight?" navigator Bob asked abruptly.

"Maybe a few thousand or more," Baker replied.

“I thought I would be very happy”

"I should be happy, but I don't know why I feel guilty, like when I was a kid and realized I was in trouble," Bob said in the internal communication.

'This is war'

Charles joined the conversation. "We just have more efficient weapons. Bob, you should ask the soldiers who stayed on Saipan. I heard that when they attacked the island, those nuclear recruits ate people."

“I’ve heard of that, too.”

Radio operator Jack said, "Those who recruited nuclear weapons are crazy, man-eating lunatics. I won't feel guilty even if they all die."

“I also heard about what happened in Saipan”

Baker also joined the topic, "Speaking of this, have you heard of the legend of Saipan?"

"What legend?" demanded Arthur.

"The Reckless Marshall," Baker said, "Have you ever heard of him?"

"Oh! I've heard of it!"

Bob, who had just felt a little guilty, immediately said excitedly, "I heard from the ground staff in the club that a crazy engineer drove a bulldozer to crush hundreds of nuclear recruits and buried hundreds of others alive? Is that the legend?"

"Hundreds?"

Charles was stunned for a moment. "I heard there were more than a hundred people. But he buried six or seven hundred civilians alive, including children."

“I heard dozens.”

Baker said, "But I heard that he was later transferred to Guam and cooked and ate a nuclear recruit."

"This is disgusting!"

In the internal communication channel, everyone heard Jack swallow hard, "Will he be sent to a military court?"

"friends"

In the communication channel, Brad, who was hiding in the tail turret, reminded, "It seems that there is a Seabee medic from Guam on our plane, right?!"

"How could I have forgotten this!"

Charles exclaimed, patting Wei Ran's shoulder vigorously, "Hey! Victor! Is the legend of the reckless Marshall true? Did he really crush so many nuclear soldiers to death with a bulldozer, bury the nuclear civilians alive, and... eat people?"

"no"

Wei Ran came back to his senses, took out a pack of cigarettes, took out a cigarette and lit it, then said to himself in the internal communication, "He only crushed a dozen people to death and buried a few alive. Moreover, he did not eat anyone. He just threw a prisoner who shot his friend into an oil barrel and cooked him."

"How do you know so well?"

Baker asked curiously, "Have you seen that desperate Marshall?"

“It’s a small world”

Wei Ran smiled and said, "Marshall and I are friends. When he was in Guam, he also drove a bulldozer to crush and kill a dozen nuclear recruiting soldiers who launched a night attack. Otherwise, I would have died. I was also there when he boiled the nuclear recruiting soldier in an oil barrel.

That soldier was a man-eating demon. He hid in a cave and survived by eating the stinking corpses of his teammates. On the birthday of a pastor friend of mine and Marshall, that man-eating nuclear soldier, that Wendigo, shot and killed our pastor friend. "

"I'm sorry, I apologize for my stupid guilt just now." Navigator Bob said through gritted teeth, "Those Wendigos should not live in this world."

"So what does Wendigo mean?" Brad in the tail turret asked curiously.

It was Bob, not Wei Ran, who explained the "man-eating demon in Indian legend".

"How do you know about this?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

“My girlfriend is an Indian girl”

Bob said, "She was very gentle and always told us stories from her tribe."

"But she's an Indian," Brad said automatically.

"She's just a country girl, and white people are rare animals in their country."

Bob laughed and said, "I got together with her completely because of one accident after another."

"Friends, it will take us another five hours to get back."

Brad said in a teasing voice on the internal communication, "So no one would mind listening to the love story between Mr. Bob and his Indian girlfriend, right?"

“We’ve heard it at least 20 times.”

Jack smiled and said, "But we don't mind accompanying you two to listen to it again. At least their story should not contain the plot of cannibalism."

"I guess there must be," mechanic Arthur said faintly, and then both the cabin and the internal communication were filled with wanton laughter.

As for the brief bombing just now
It was hot in Tokyo that night, but that was about all.

(End of this chapter)