506th FG Gazette
Mission notes, people, and progress—dispatches worth keeping.
LOCAL NEWS
IWO JIMA
Carl Molesworth "Very Long Range P-51 Mustang Units of the Pacific War"
28 May 1945 NEWS FLASH - first complete Japan mission accomplished this day by 506th FG!
This morning 53 aircraft of the 506th were airborne at 1007 • The rendezvous was made as planned and the Navigator B-29's delivered the Group to the departure point at 1340.
Capt. JJ Grant - Flight Leader - 462nd - Letters from Iwo Jima: The Air War
The site of land is a great morale builder add intervals along the route we saw American destroyers, American P61’s, American ships and each indication on the water whether friend or foe made you make a mental note of their position so if your motor starting acting up you could come down somewhere here. A place where you could be picked up by a B29.
We headed for the deck and we all followed at 2000 feet. We went under their motors and headed for the 20,000 feet altitude again then turned and headed for the target area.
Capt. John Benbow Diary - Flight Leader - 457th
Took off at 1010 for raid to Kasimagaura Airfield, Japan. Eng. missing on right mag before takeoff. Phil Alston piled up in front of me taking off.
Very tiring mission. Fairly successful. Everyone was too spread out and attack was uncoordinated. We left field flaming. One man lost over a second field.
Our flight – flak busters – was supposed to pull out at 4000’. I got a twin eng. plane in my sights and didn’t pull out til 2000’, too high to do any good. Ran into a few Tojos, one of which was shot down. Landed at 1715, got skonked on cold beer and whiskey. Sweet letter from Maggie waiting for me. Went to show, but got rained out. Alston, luckily, got out with only a head gash.
WORLD NEWS May 1945
- 8th: Victory in Europe Day: The ceasefire takes effect at one minute past midnight. : In accordance with Dönitz's orders, Colonel-General Carl Hilpert unconditionally surrenders his troops in the Courland Pocket. : Germany surrenders again unconditionally to the Soviet Union army but this time in a ceremony hosted by the Soviet Union. In accordance with orders from Dönitz, General Wilhelm Keitel signs for Germany. : The remaining members of President Jozef Tiso's pro-German Slovak Republic capitulates to the American General Walton Walker's XX Corps in Kremsmünster, Austria. : The Prague uprising ends with negotiated surrender with Czech resistance which allowed the Germans in Prague to leave the city. : In order to disarm the Japanese in Vietnam, the Allies divide the country in half at the 16th parallel. Chinese Nationalists will move in and disarm the Japanese north of the parallel while the British will move in and do the same in the south. During the conference, representatives from France request the return of all French pre-war colonies in Indochina. Their request is granted.
- 9th: The Soviet Union officially pronounces May 9 as Victory Day. : The Red Army enters Prague. : The German garrison in the Channel Islands agree to unconditional surrender. : German troops on Bornholm surrender to Soviet troops.
- 11th: The Soviets capture Prague, the last European capital to be liberated. Eisenhower stops Patton from participating in the liberation. : German Army Group Centre in Czechoslovakia surrenders. : War in New Guinea continues, with Australians attacking Wewak.
- 14th: Nagoya, Japan, is heavily bombed. : Fighting in the southern Philippines continues.
- 14-15th: The Battle of Poljana begins and ends.6: The Battle of the Malacca Strait took place ending in a British victory and the sinking of the Japanese cruiser Haguro. : The Georgian Uprising of Texel ends, concluding all World War II conflicts in the Netherlands.
- 21st: SS Commander Heinrich Himmler, attempting to pass with a forged identity as a common soldier, is arrested at a checkpoint manned by liberated Soviet POWs acting under command of British forces. He would be remanded to British custody on 23 May and there correctly identified. 23rd: British forces capture and arrest the members of what was left of the Flensburg government. This was the German government formed by Reich President Karl Dönitz after the suicides of both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. : Heavy bombing of Yokohama, an important port and naval base. : Heinrich Himmler, head of the notorious SS, dies of suicide via cyanide pill.
- 25th: The Battle of Odžak ends, concluding all World War II conflicts in Yugoslavia and Europe. 29th: Fighting breaks out in Syria and Lebanon, as nationalists demand freedom from French control.
June 1945
