Iwo Jima
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 Iwo Jima 1945 The Marines Raise the Flag on Mount Suribachi by Derrick  US $16.95
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When Winston Churchill learned of Dresden's fire bombing, whose many thousands of deaths included refugees and Allied POW's, he said, "Our objective is to make the enemy burn and bleed in every way."
This destruction from the air would have an ironic consequence: those who levied this destruction from the air would themselves suffer a far higher casualty rate than their fellow combatants on battlefields on the ground. The British Bomber Command lost 55,573 of their air crews, incidentally, with the loss of Great Britain's elite male population, an even greater slaughter rate than England's elite suffered during World War I. Similarly high losses were experienced by the US and German air crews.
As for the war with Japan, from the very beginning, FDR wanted Tokyo destroyed from the air. It was this objective that set off a series of battles that resulted in the taking of the Mariana Islands, including Guam, Saipan and Tinian. All these actions were predicated upon using the new Boeing B-29 Superfortress to fulfill FDR's goal. The Marianas were within the vaunted bomber's range to Japan.
Boeing's acknowledged success with its B-17 Flying Fortress gave the US Air Force confidence that the company would come up with an equally successful plane that could conquer the vast distances in the Pacific Theatre. Its pressurized cabin. a first among planes of that time, provided the plane's air crews relative comfort during the long hours aloft.
The first B-29 prototype, built in 1939, was a bad omen; it crashed, kiilling the crew and several ground personnel. President Roosevelt was among many who wanted to end the program right then, but Air Force General ("Hap") Henry Arnold's judgment prevailed; he had viewed the B-29 as his pet project.
Another prototype model, produced in 1940, was deemed satisfactory. Boeing was now on a fast track. The Air Force ordered 250 planes even before testing had been completed; the purchase order arrived at Boeing's Seattle plant in 1941 before the first B-29 production model would fly in 1942.
In order to make sure that nothing would interfere with factory operations, the Air Force set up Modification Centers in several locations around the country so that changes. including extensive rebuilds, could be made to the planes when delivered to the Centers. They were then flown to staging areas for delivery to the flight crews. The Air Force was now complicit in the disastrous engineering decisions involving the plane.
It was now obvious that the B-29 was a trouble-plagued plane and would be so throughout the war. There were rudder control problems. Improperly placed cowl flaps caused flutter and vibrations at certain speeds. The gunner station blisters would sometimes blow out when the planes were pressurized at high altitudes.
But most serious were the "runaway" engines which overheated, causing fires to break out in one or more engines, destroying the wing assembly. (In an extraordinary lapse of design, the engine crankcase of early models were made of a flammable alloy of magnesium.)
The big plane's problems were the subject of investigation by Senator Truman, then chairman of the committee organized to investigate waste and inefficiencies in the war effort. The committee determined that the engine manufacturer, Wright Aeronautical, "was at fault for letting quality go by the boards in favor of quality." (In biting sarcasm, the air crews called it the "wrong" engine.) In an ironic twist, President Truman would order B-29s to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
It may be idle to speculate now, after so many years, whether there was collusion between the US Air Force procurement agents and Boeing, a type of abuse not unusual in wartime. (Does Halliburton come to mind?). But the Air Force's highly unusual and frantic efforts to correct Boeing's production problems, with Modification Centers, may have been a way of preventing any additional investigations into the plane's deficiencies, investigations that might have disclosed conflicts of interest.
The B-29 would force Japan to the surrender ceremony on the deck of the USS Missouri, but not before thousands of the lousy plane's air crews would die in crashes at sea, in the 3,500 mile round trip between Tinian and Tokyo. Its toll of US lives was not yet over: the battle of Iwo Jima was deemed necessary to provide the plane's air crews a safe haven during the trip between Tinian and Japan. Iwo Jima would cost America 26,000 casualties, including 7,000 dead.
Leon Cooper has had a varied work career in civilian life: inventor, with patented products used throughout the world, including a product used by all air lines that tests for the proper operation of fire alarm systems aboard their commercial airplanes; CEO of his own computer company, CFO of major corporations; now a successful writer, including co-author of an award-winning screenplay.
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Iwo Jima $16.99 Iwo Jima |
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Iwo Jima In Colour $13.99 Iwo Jima In Colour |
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Letters From Iwo Jima $6.99 Letters From Iwo Jima |
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The Sands Of Iwo Jima $5.99 The Sands Of Iwo Jima |
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Sands of Iwo Jima $19.99 Sands of Iwo Jima - Poster |
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Iwo Jima, 1945 $39.99 Iwo Jima, 1945 - Photo |
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Iwo Jima-Flag Raising $19.99 Iwo Jima-Flag Raising - Poster |
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The Iwo Jima Statue $24.99 The Iwo Jima Statue - Photographic Print |
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Letters from Iwo Jima $19.99 Letters from Iwo Jima - Poster |
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War Bonds Iwo Jima $11.99 War Bonds Iwo Jima - Tin Sign |
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Silhouette of the Iwo Jima Statue $24.99 Silhouette of the Iwo Jima Statue - Photographic Print |
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American Flag at Iwo Jima $49.99 American Flag at Iwo Jima - Lamina Framed Poster |
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Flag Raising on Iwo Jima $359.99 Joe Rosenthal Flag Raising on Iwo Jima - Framed Art Print |
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Monument to the Battle of Iwo Jima $24.99 Whitney & Irma Sevin Monument to the Battle of Iwo Jima - Photographic Print |
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View of the Iwo Jima Monument $39.99 Kenneth Garrett View of the Iwo Jima Monument - Photographic Print |
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Iwo Jima - Now All Together $6.99 Iwo Jima - Now All Together - Poster |
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Quality Inn Iwo Jima $71.99 The Quality Inn Iwo Jima is conveniently located close to many downtown Washington D |
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Flag Raising on Iwo Jima, c.1945 $14.99 Joe Rosenthal Flag Raising on Iwo Jima, c.1945 - Art Print |
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The Iwo Jima Memorial, at Arlington, Virginia $39.99 Brian Gordon Green The Iwo Jima Memorial, at Arlington, Virginia - Photographic Print |
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Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington, VA $24.99 Jeff Greenberg Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington, VA - Photographic Print |
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Iwo Jima Memorial, Washington DC $24.99 Matthew Borkoski Iwo Jima Memorial, Washington DC - Photographic Print |
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Silhouette of the Iwo Jima Monument at Twilight $39.99 Kenneth Garrett Silhouette of the Iwo Jima Monument at Twilight - Photographic Print |
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Iwo Jima Statue, Washington DC $24.99 Chris Minerva Iwo Jima Statue, Washington DC - Photographic Print |
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Iwo Jima Collection $7.99 Synopsis: Step back in time with the sailors, soldiers and airmen who were at Iwo Jima and relive one of the most famous battles of WWII. Format: DVD Rating: Not Rated Genre: Documentary Year: 2006 Release Date: 2006-09-19 |
