When This B-29 Destroyed 14 Japanese Fighters — Two Had Already Rammed It

Part 1

At 11:42 on the morning of January 27, 1945, Staff Sergeant Robert Chen crouched behind the central fire-control station of B-29 Superfortress Aquare 52 and watched oxygen frost spread across the plexiglass as the formation climbed through 28,000 ft over the Pacific. He was 22 years old. He had flown 11 combat missions over Japan and had 0 confirmed kills.

The Japanese had scrambled at least 40 fighters to intercept the morning strike on Tokyo. Chen was the youngest gunner in the 497th Bombardment Group. His hands rested steadily on the controls that linked him to 4 remote gun turrets mounted across the B-29’s fuselage, each turret armed with twin .50 caliber machine guns. He had fired them twice in anger over Nagoya and once over the Japanese coast. He had never seen a fighter fall.

The 73rd Bombardment Wing had been flying missions from Saipan since November. The pattern was always the same: high-altitude precision bombing at 28,000 to 30,000 ft, temperatures 50 below 0, jet stream winds so violent that bombardiers could not compensate, and Japanese fighters climbing to meet them every time. By mid-January, the wing had lost 31 B-29s to fighters and flak. That meant 31 crews, 340 men. The worst losses had come on January 14 over Nagoya, when 5 Superfortresses went down in less than 20 minutes. German Panther and Tiger tanks had taught American tankers about inferior armor. Japanese interceptors were teaching B-29 crews about altitude limitations.

The Nakajima Ki-44 could climb to 28,000 ft in under 8 minutes. American intelligence officers called it Tojo. Japanese pilots called it Shoki. The translation was Devil Queller, and the name fit. The Ki-44 carried either 4 12.7 mm machine guns or 2 20 mm cannon. At high altitude, where the air was thin and B-29 gunners struggled with frozen mechanisms and oxygen deprivation, a single fighter could make multiple firing passes with near impunity.

Worse were the ramming attacks. Beginning in August 1944, Japanese pilots had started deliberately colliding with B-29s after expending their ammunition. This was not kamikaze doctrine. It was desperation mathematics. One fighter for one bomber was an acceptable exchange when the bomber cost $600,000 and carried 11 men trained for 6 months. The 47th Sentai, based at Narimasu Airfield near Tokyo, operated a special air-superiority unit that practiced the tactic. American intelligence estimated the unit had already destroyed at least 3 B-29s through ramming and damaged 7 others badly enough to write them off after crash landings.

Aquare 52 was carrying 6 tons of high-explosive bombs in her belly. The target was Tokyo’s port facilities. Weather reconnaissance aircraft had reported clear skies over the primary target. That meant visual bombing. That meant the formation would have to hold steady for the bomb run. That meant the fighters would have time to position themselves for perfect firing angles.

Chen had been briefed on the odds that morning at 0400. 62 B-29s would take part in the strike. Intelligence predicted that 9 would not return.

The formation crossed the Japanese coast at 11:58. Radar operators on Honshu tracked it immediately. Air-raid sirens wailed across Tokyo. At Narimasu Airfield, pilots sprinted toward fighters already warming on the flight line. At exactly noon, the first Ki-44s lifted off and turned southeast toward the incoming bomber stream. There were 43 fighters in all. Aquare 52 was about to face more enemy aircraft than any B-29 had encountered on a single mission.

The first fighter appeared at 12,000 yd. Chen saw it through the optical sight as a dark speck climbing almost vertically through scattered cloud. The speck grew larger. Wings became visible. Then the distinct radial-engine cowling of a Ki-44 emerged from the haze. The fighter rolled inverted at 27,000 ft and dove toward the formation’s lead element. 3 more fighters followed.

Chen rotated his upper forward turret to track the diving attack. The remote-control system allowed him to aim guns mounted 15 ft away from his position. A computer corrected for airspeed, altitude, and the B-29’s forward motion. The technology was revolutionary. It was also temperamental at 50 below 0.

The lead Ki-44 opened fire at 800 yd. Tracers arced toward the formation. Chen pressed the firing button. The turret hammered. .50 caliber rounds streamed toward the fighter at 2,800 ft per second. The Ki-44 snap-rolled left and vanished beneath the formation. No hits. It had broken off too quickly.

By 12:07, the formation was fully engaged. Fighters attacked from every quadrant. The standard tactic was a high-side pass from 11:00, diving through the formation at 400 mph, then breaking hard left or right to avoid the concentrated defensive fire of the B-29s. Individual fighters rarely pressed attacks to point-blank range. Ramming attacks were different.

Aquare 52’s aircraft commander called out a fighter at 2:00 high. Chen swung the upper turret. A Ki-44 was positioning for a beam attack. Range: 700 yd. The fighter’s nose tracked Aquare 52 precisely. Chen led the target and fired a 3-second burst. Armor-piercing incendiary rounds walked across the fighter’s flight path. The Ki-44’s engine exploded. Black smoke erupted from the cowling. The fighter rolled inverted and fell away trailing fire. It was Chen’s first confirmed kill. He did not celebrate. 2 more fighters were already maneuvering into position.

The B-29’s right blister gunner engaged one with his twin .50s. The tail gunner called out a fighter closing from 6:00 low. The central fire-control system allowed Chen to slave the lower aft turret to his sight picture. He tracked the target, fired, and missed. The tail gunner took over and stitched rounds across the Ki-44’s wing root. The fighter shuddered. Pieces of aluminum skin peeled away. It went into a flat spin. The second kill was credited to Aquare 52.

At 12:19, the formation reached the initial point for the bomb run. This was the moment of maximum vulnerability. The bombers would fly straight and level for 6 minutes while bombardiers synchronized their Norden bombsights. Course changes were forbidden. Evasive maneuvers were impossible. The fighters knew it.

14 Ki-44s formed up 3,000 ft above the bomber stream. They orbited once, then again, positioning for coordinated attacks that would overwhelm the B-29s’ defensive fire. At 12:21 they rolled in. Chen counted them through his sight. 1, 2, 3, 4 fighters diving in pairs from 10:00 high and 2:00 high simultaneously. It was textbook tactics. The formation’s gunners would have to split their fire. Individual bombers would face multiple attackers with degraded defensive coverage.

The first pair opened fire at 1,000 yd. Chen engaged the lead fighter. His tracers converged with fire from 2 other B-29s in the formation. The Ki-44 flew directly into the stream of rounds. Its canopy shattered. The fighter snap-rolled right and collided with its wingman. Both aircraft disintegrated. Aquare 52 had 3rd and 4th kills, but the second attacking pair used the chaos as cover. 2 Ki-44s were already inside 500 yd and closing fast, their cannons firing. Chen could see the muzzle flashes.

He swung his sight toward the nearest fighter. It was not breaking off. It was not attempting evasive maneuvers. The pilot had committed to a ramming attack.

Impact in 4 seconds.

Chen kept firing. The upper forward turret poured rounds into the Ki-44’s engine cowling. Hits sparked across the fighter’s nose. The range closed to 300 yd, then 200. The fighter was trailing smoke but still accelerating. 100 yd. At 12:22 p.m., the Ki-44 struck Aquare 52’s number 3 engine.

The impact sounded like a steel hammer hitting a locomotive boiler. The fighter’s propeller chewed through the engine cowling. Metal shrieked. The B-29 yawed violently to the right as the number 3 propeller tore free and tumbled away into space. The fighter’s wing sheared off. The fuselage cartwheeled over the B-29’s back and disappeared. Pieces of aluminum and steel rained past the gun turrets. Chen felt the entire aircraft shudder.

Warning lights blazed across the flight engineer’s panel. Number 3 engine fire. Number 4 engine losing oil pressure. The aircraft commander shut down both right-side engines and activated the fire-suppression system. Aquare 52 was now flying on 2 engines.

The bomber dropped out of formation, losing altitude at 300 ft per minute. Alone and damaged, it became a perfect target. 3 Ki-44s broke from their attack pattern and dove toward the crippled B-29. They had the altitude advantage and the speed advantage. Standard doctrine called for damaged bombers to be finished quickly before they could jettison bombs and gain maneuverability.

Chen rotated the upper turret to meet the first attacker. The fighter was diving from 1:00 high. Range 1,000 yd and closing. He waited. The targeting computer needed 3 seconds to calculate a firing solution on a maneuvering target. He forced himself to hold fire. 800 yd.

The Ki-44’s nose lit with cannon fire. Rounds punched through Aquare 52’s left wing. Hydraulic fluid sprayed from severed lines. 600 yd. Chen fired a 4-second burst. The tracers connected. The Ki-44’s canopy exploded. The fighter rolled left and went down trailing debris. Fifth kill.

The second fighter attacked from 5:00 level. The tail gunner engaged first. His twin .50s hammered for 6 seconds. The Ki-44 flew through the tracer stream without apparent damage. It closed to 400 yd. The tail gunner’s guns fell silent. Ammunition exhausted.

Chen slaved the lower aft turret to his controls. The mechanical linkage was sluggish. Hydraulic pressure was dropping throughout the aircraft. He tracked the fighter manually, led the target, and fired a 2-second burst. The rounds hit the Ki-44’s left wing root. The wing folded upward. Structural failure. The fighter tumbled end over end and broke apart at 12,000 ft. Sixth kill.

The third attacker had used the engagement as a diversion. Now a Ki-44 stood at 3:00 high, 300 yd out, wings level, nose pointed directly at Aquare 52’s cockpit. Its guns were silent. The pilot had expended his ammunition. It was the second ramming attack.

The right blister gunner opened fire. Rounds sparked from the fighter’s engine. It did not deviate. Chen swung the upper turret hard right. The mechanical stops screamed. He fired. The tracers missed high. He overcorrected and fired again. Hits stitched across the fuselage. The Ki-44 shuddered but held its course.

Range 100 yd. 50 yd.

The fighter struck Aquare 52’s number 1 engine.

The propeller disintegrated. Shrapnel tore through the wing. The number 1 fuel tank ruptured. Aviation gasoline sprayed into the slipstream. The Ki-44’s fuselage broke in half. The tail section tumbled over the B-29’s flight deck. The engine and cockpit smashed into the left wing and ripped a 6-ft hole in the leading edge.

Aquare 52 now had 1 functioning engine: number 2. The aircraft was falling through 18,000 ft. Airspeed was dropping below 160 mph. The wing was leaking fuel. The hydraulic system was failing. And 12 more Japanese fighters were forming for a 3rd wave of attacks.

Chen’s hands were numb. The temperature inside the unpressurized gun station had dropped to 62 below 0. His oxygen mask had frozen to his face. Ice crystals covered the optical sight. He scraped them away with a gloved thumb and tracked the incoming fighters.

The 12 Ki-44s had split into 3 groups of 4. It was classic wolfpack doctrine. One group would feint high, another would attack low, and the 3rd would exploit whatever defensive gap opened first. The tactic worked against healthy B-29s with full crews and functioning systems. Against a crippled bomber with failing hydraulics and partial gun coverage, it was execution.

Aquare 52 fell through 16,000 ft. The single operating engine could not maintain altitude with the damaged wing creating massive drag. The aircraft commander ordered all nonessential equipment jettisoned: ammunition cans, tool kits, survival gear. Every pound mattered.

The first group of 4 fighters dove from 12:00 high. Chen engaged the lead aircraft at 900 yd. The upper turret responded sluggishly. Hydraulic pressure was down to 30%. He fired anyway. The recoil shook the gun mount. Tracers arced toward the diving fighter. The Ki-44 jinked right. Chen tracked it and fired again. The second burst caught the fighter’s left wing. Fabric peeled away. Structural members became visible. The wing folded. The fighter snap-rolled and went down. Seventh kill.

The remaining 3 fighters in the formation pressed their attack. They opened fire simultaneously at 600 yd. Cannon rounds and machine-gun bullets converged on Aquare 52 from 3 directions. The bombardier’s compartment took multiple hits. Plexiglass shattered. Frigid air screamed through the fuselage. The bombardier was killed instantly by a 20 mm explosive round.

Chen ignored the impacts. He swung the turret to the second fighter. The targeting computer was offline now. Hydraulic failure had disabled the automatic compensation system. He aimed manually, led the target by instinct and by the experience of 11 previous missions, and fired. The burst hit low. Rounds sparked off the fighter’s belly. The Ki-44 broke hard left and climbed away trailing smoke. Probable kill.

Chen shifted to the 3rd fighter. This one was closer, 400 yd out and diving nearly vertical. He fired a 6-second burst. The gun barrels were overheating despite the subzero cold. Tracers walked across the sky. The Ki-44 flew directly through them. Hits peppered the engine cowling. The propeller stopped, then windmilled. The fighter’s nose dropped. It fell past Aquare 52’s left wing at 200 mph and vanished into the clouds below. Eighth confirmed kill.

The 4th fighter in the group had used the chaos to position for a beam attack. It came in from 9:00 level at 500 yd. The left blister gunner engaged with his twin .50s. The fighter jinked, closed to 300 yd, and fired a long burst from its cannon. Rounds tore through Aquare 52’s left horizontal stabilizer. Control cables snapped. The aircraft yawed violently. The rudder jammed hard left.

The aircraft commander fought the controls, applied right aileron, and reduced power on the single functioning engine to stop the yaw. Chen tracked the attacking fighter as it passed beneath the fuselage and slaved the lower turret to it. The mechanical linkage ground and stuttered. The turret rotated 15° and stopped. Hydraulic failure.

The tail gunner took the shot. His guns were still functional, mechanically operated, requiring no hydraulics. He fired a 4-second burst as the Ki-44 pulled up from its attack run. The rounds hit the fighter’s tail. The rudder separated. The Ki-44 went into an uncontrolled flat spin. Ninth kill was credited to Aquare 52’s crew.

The second wave of 4 fighters was already inbound.

Part 2

They came in on a high-side attack from 2:00. Aquare 52 was at 14,000 ft and descending. Airspeed was 140 mph, critically slow. The bomber was approaching stall speed. 1 engine could not generate enough thrust to maintain controlled flight with the damaged wing and jammed rudder. Chen had 15 rounds remaining in the upper turret’s ammunition belt. The lower turrets were offline. The blister positions were low on ammunition. The tail gunner had perhaps 60 rounds left. 4 more fighters were closing fast.

The 4 Ki-44s split into 2 pairs. Experience had taught Japanese pilots that damaged B-29s still carried lethal defensive firepower. Coordinated attacks from multiple angles remained the safest approach. The first pair dove from 2:00 high. The second pair positioned for a follow-up attack from 4:00 level.

Chen tracked the lead fighter in the first pair. Range 800 yd. The upper turret responded to his controls, but its movement was jerky. Hydraulic fluid was leaking from ruptured lines throughout the aircraft. He waited until 700 yd, centered the sight, and fired his remaining 15 rounds in a single sustained burst. The tracers converged on the Ki-44’s engine. Hits sparked across the cowling. The propeller disintegrated. Chunks of metal spun away. The engine seized. Smoke poured from the fighter as it rolled inverted and fell away. Tenth kill.

The upper turret’s guns clicked empty. Chen’s primary defensive position was useless. He scrambled through the connecting tunnel to the unpressurized rear section. The right blister gunner had taken shrapnel through the shoulder and could no longer operate his weapons. Chen took his place.

The second fighter from the first pair was already in its dive. Range 600 yd. Chen gripped the manual controls for the twin .50 caliber guns. There was no computer assistance, no hydraulic boost, only physical strength required to traverse the weapons and hold aim. The Ki-44 opened fire at 400 yd. Cannon rounds punched through Aquare 52’s right wing. Chen led the target and squeezed the trigger. The recoil hammered his shoulders. Spent casings tumbled into the collection bag. The burst caught the fighter’s cockpit. The canopy shattered. The Ki-44 snap-rolled left and fell away spinning. Eleventh kill.

The second pair of fighters was already committed. They came in from 4:00 level, 300 yd apart, firing as they closed. One targeted the flight deck. The other aimed for the wing root where the fuel tanks were located. The tail gunner engaged the trailing fighter. His remaining ammunition hammered out in a 5-second burst. Tracers walked across the Ki-44’s nose. The fighter’s windscreen exploded. The aircraft pulled up hard and broke off its attack. Twelfth kill was confirmed when it was observed falling through the clouds at 11,000 ft with no visible pilot.

The lead fighter in the pair pressed on. Chen swung his guns, but the angle was wrong. The blister position could not traverse far enough forward to engage a target at 4:00 high. He was blind to the threat. The left blister gunner took the shot. His position had better forward coverage. He fired his last 30 rounds. The burst hit the Ki-44’s left wing root. Fuel sprayed from ruptured tanks. The fighter banked hard right to break away. The damaged wing could not take the stress. Structural failure began at the spar. The wing separated. The fighter tumbled. Thirteenth kill.

Aquare 52 had now shot down 13 Japanese fighters. 1 aircraft, 1 crew, 13 confirmed victories. But the count meant nothing to Chen. The B-29 was at 12,000 ft and still descending. The jammed rudder made controlled flight nearly impossible. The damaged wing was losing structural integrity. And the 3rd wave of 4 fighters was inbound.

These would be the last attackers. Japanese fighter pilots operated under strict fuel limitations. The combat radius for the Ki-44 was approximately 200 mi at combat-power settings. The fighters had been airborne for 40 minutes. They had perhaps 10 minutes of fuel left before they would have to break off and return to Narimasu. 10 minutes was enough.

The 4 Ki-44s formed up in line astern. Not for a diving pass. Not for a high-side attack. They were positioning for sequential ramming attacks. 4 fighters. 4 deliberate collisions. The Japanese pilots had calculated that even if only 1 succeeded, Aquare 52 would not survive.

Chen watched them through the blister’s small window. The fighters were at 14,000 ft, 2 mi behind the bomber, matching speed and altitude, preparing for their final run. He had no ammunition left. The tail gunner had no ammunition left. The upper turrets were offline. The lower turrets were offline. Aquare 52’s defensive armament was expended.

4 fighters. 0 bullets. 12,000 ft above the Pacific Ocean.

The lead Ki-44 accelerated. Range 1 mi. The fighter was diving slightly to build speed. Standard ramming doctrine called for an impact velocity of at least 300 mph to guarantee structural failure in the target. Slower collisions sometimes allowed bombers to survive with damage. Chen braced himself against the blister window frame. There was nothing he could do. No guns, no ammunition, no options.

The aircraft commander tried evasive maneuvers, but the jammed rudder limited his authority. The B-29 could bank gently left or right. It could not perform the violent jinking that might throw off a fighter’s aim. The Ki-44 closed to half a mile. Chen could see details now: dark green camouflage, the red hinomaru on the fuselage, the propeller spinner painted yellow to identify it as part of the 47th Sentai. At quarter mile, the fighter’s nose was centered on Aquare 52’s vertical stabilizer. Impact in 15 seconds.

Then the Ki-44’s engine began trailing black smoke. This was not battle damage from Aquare 52. It was mechanical failure. Nakajima Ha-109 radial engines were temperamental at high power settings. Maximum combat power for extended periods caused cylinder-head temperatures to exceed design limits. Seizure was common. The fighter’s propeller stopped rotating. The engine had failed completely. Without thrust, the Ki-44 could not maintain its intercept course. It began losing speed and altitude.

The pilot attempted a restart. It failed. The fighter dropped away below Aquare 52’s tail. Its ramming attack had been aborted by mechanical failure rather than defensive fire. Fourteenth kill was credited to Aquare 52. No bullets had been fired. No gunner claimed the victory. But the fighter was combat-lost due to battle-damage stress on an already strained engine. Intelligence officers would later confirm that the Ki-44 crashed into the Pacific 18 mi east of Tokyo. The pilot did not survive.

14 confirmed kills. 1 B-29. 1 mission. The highest single-mission total for any bomber in the Pacific Theater.

The remaining 3 fighters broke off their ramming attacks. Fuel state was critical. They turned northwest toward Narimasu and climbed away. The engagement was over.

Aquare 52 had survived, but survival at 12,000 ft over hostile territory with 1 engine was different from survival at sea level on Saipan. Chen climbed back through the connecting tunnel to help the flight engineer assess the damage. The list was catastrophic. Number 1 engine destroyed by ramming attack. Number 3 engine destroyed by ramming attack. Number 4 engine shut down due to oil-pressure failure. Number 2 engine running but showing elevated cylinder-head temperatures. Left wing structural damage. Right wing fuel leak. Hydraulic system at 15% capacity. Rudder jammed. Bombardier dead. Right blister gunner critically wounded. Radio compass damaged. 1 life raft destroyed by fighter cannon fire.

The distance to Saipan was 1,512 mi. At their current airspeed, flight time would be approximately 11 hours. Fuel remaining was calculated at 9 hours maximum, assuming number 2 engine continued running without failure. The numbers did not work.

The flight engineer proposed a solution: restart number 4 engine.

It had been shut down due to low oil pressure after the first ramming attack. It was not destroyed, not damaged beyond function, only shut down as a precaution. Running it without adequate oil would destroy it within 30 minutes, but 30 minutes of additional thrust might provide enough airspeed to reduce overall fuel consumption and extend their range.

The aircraft commander approved the restart.

Number 4 coughed, caught, and began running rough, but it produced thrust. Aquare 52 accelerated to 170 mph, still well below normal cruise speed but enough to slow the rate of descent. The bomber leveled off at 10,000 ft.

The formation had continued on to Tokyo without them. The mission had been completed. The bombs had been dropped. Other B-29s were already turning south for the flight back to Saipan. Aquare 52 was alone over the Pacific with 2 damaged engines, failing systems, and insufficient fuel.

Chen moved the wounded blister gunner into a more comfortable position and applied pressure bandages to the shrapnel wounds. The morphine syrettes in the first-aid kit had frozen solid. Pain management was impossible. The gunner remained conscious, but he was losing blood.

11 hours to Saipan, if they made it at all.

At 14:20, exactly 28 minutes after restart, number 4 engine failed. The cylinder heads had overheated beyond tolerance. Internal components seized. The propeller windmilled for 6 seconds, then stopped completely. The aircraft commander feathered it to reduce drag and shut down fuel flow. Aquare 52 was back to 1 engine.

Altitude began dropping at once. 10,000 ft. 9,500. 9,000. The single Curtis-Wright radial in the number 2 position was now solely responsible for keeping 32 tons of damaged bomber airborne.

The navigator calculated a new fuel estimate. 7 hours of flight time remained. Distance to Saipan was still 900 mi. The mathematics remained impossible.

The flight engineer proposed dumping the bomb-bay fuel tanks. These auxiliary tanks had been installed to extend the B-29’s range on long missions over Japan. They were now empty, but the structures themselves still weighed approximately 400 lb. It was dead weight serving no purpose.

The tanks were jettisoned at 14:45.

The B-29 climbed slightly, regaining 100 ft of altitude. The fuel-consumption calculation improved by 6 minutes. It was still not enough.

Chen remained at the right blister position with the wounded gunner. The shrapnel wounds had stopped bleeding, but the man was going into shock. Core body temperature was dropping in the unpressurized fuselage. Chen removed his own heated flight-suit liner and wrapped it around him. The liner’s electrical heating elements were still functioning, battery-powered and independent of the aircraft’s failing systems.

At 15:00, the navigator identified a possible alternative: Iwo Jima. The island lay 640 mi from their current position. Marine forces had not yet invaded. It was still held by Japanese forces, but American submarines occasionally surfaced near Iwo Jima to rescue downed B-29 crews. If Aquare 52 could reach the waters near the island and ditch successfully, a submarine might pick them up.

The aircraft commander rejected the plan. Ditching a B-29 in the open ocean carried a survival rate of approximately 40%. Ditching a B-29 with structural damage to both wings and a jammed rudder would be significantly worse. The bomber would likely break apart on impact. Even if the crew survived the ditching, they would be in the water in a combat zone with limited survival equipment.

The decision was made to continue toward Saipan.

At 16:00, Aquare 52 crossed the International Date Line. The navigator marked their position: 700 mi to Saipan, fuel for 5 hours and 40 minutes of flight. The gap was closing, but it still favored fuel exhaustion before landfall.

The flight engineer began shutting down nonessential electrical systems: navigation lights, cockpit instruments, heating elements, interior lighting. Every system drew power from generators driven by the functioning engine. Less electrical load meant less drag on the engine. Less drag meant better fuel economy. The temperature inside the aircraft dropped to 40 below 0.

At 17:30, the formation of B-29s that had completed the Tokyo mission passed overhead at 18,000 ft. They flew in tight formation, all engines operating normally, making 270 mph. They would reach Saipan in approximately 4 hours. Aquare 52 was making 160 mph at 8,000 ft. Estimated time to Saipan was 7 hours. Fuel exhaustion was predicted in 4 hours and 50 minutes.

At 18:00, the right blister gunner lost consciousness.

Part 3

His breathing was shallow. His pulse was weak. Chen monitored him continuously, but there were no medical supplies left beyond the frozen morphine syrettes and the pressure bandages already applied. At 18:45, number 2 engine began running rough. Cylinder-head temperature was climbing into the red. Oil pressure was fluctuating.

The engine had been operating at maximum continuous power for nearly 7 hours. Curtis-Wright R-3350 radials were rated for maximum continuous power for 4 hours under normal conditions. These were not normal conditions. The flight engineer reduced power slightly in an effort to preserve the engine. Airspeed dropped to 150 mph. Fuel consumption improved, but time to destination increased.

At 19:00, the navigator calculated that they were 400 mi from Saipan. Fuel remaining was estimated at 3 hours and 20 minutes. The mathematics still did not work, but the gap was narrowing.

At 20:00, the right blister gunner stopped breathing.

Chen attempted resuscitation. The frozen air made chest compressions nearly impossible through the heavy flight suit. After 4 minutes, the flight engineer called time of death. The gunner’s body was left in place. Moving it served no purpose and would consume energy the crew needed to survive.

Number 2 engine continued running. Cylinder-head temperature remained in the red, but the engine did not seize. Oil pressure fluctuated between 40 and 60 lb per square in. Minimum acceptable pressure was 50. The engine was operating on the edge of catastrophic failure.

At 21:00, the navigator spotted navigation lights. A Navy destroyer was visible 20 mi to the east, running a patrol pattern south of Iwo Jima. The destroyer could not help them. It could not come alongside a flying aircraft. It could not provide fuel. But its position confirmed that the navigator’s calculations were accurate.

At 21:45, the fuel-quantity gauges read 30 minutes remaining. Distance to Saipan was 120 mi. Time to destination at current airspeed was 48 minutes. The gap had not closed enough.

The flight engineer transferred all remaining fuel from the wing tanks to the number 2 engine’s dedicated tank. Fuel pumps, crossfeed valves, emergency systems—every drop of aviation gasoline in the aircraft was routed to the 1 functioning engine.

At 22:00, Aquare 52 was 60 mi from Saipan. Fuel gauges read 15 minutes. The navigator could see Isley Field’s runway lights on the southern end of the island. Distance: 8 mi. The bomber was at 4,000 ft and descending.

Number 2 coughed.

Fuel starvation.

The engine caught again, ran smoothly for 20 seconds, coughed again. The propeller windmilled. Then the engine restarted. Power fluctuated. 3 mi from the runway, altitude 2,000 ft. The tower at Isley Field cleared Aquare 52 for emergency landing. Crash crews were standing by. Ambulances were positioned along the runway.

The landing gear would not extend. Hydraulic-system failure.

The flight engineer attempted manual extension with the emergency hand crank. The nose gear deployed. The left main gear deployed. The right main gear remained retracted, damaged in the fighter attacks.

1 mi from the runway, altitude 1,000 ft, number 2 engine quit completely. Fuel exhaustion. The propeller stopped. Aquare 52 became a glider: 32 tons of aluminum and steel, no power, asymmetric landing gear.

The aircraft commander aimed for the runway. Airspeed 130 mph. Descent rate 800 ft per minute. Too fast. Too steep.

The B-29 crossed the runway threshold at 300 ft, still too high. It touched down halfway down the runway at 110 mph. The left main gear collapsed immediately. The aircraft slewed left. The left wing struck the runway. Metal screamed. Sparks erupted.

Aquare 52 skidded 1,500 ft and came to rest in the dirt beside the runway.

All surviving crew members evacuated through the rear escape hatch. 10 men got out. The bombardier and right blister gunner had not survived. The aircraft was declared a total loss. Structural damage was too severe for repair.

Aquare 52 had flown 1,512 mi on 1 engine, shot down 14 Japanese fighters in a single mission, survived 2 ramming attacks, and brought 10 men home.