Veteran brings WWII bomber experience to life

World War II came to life in Dr. Anthony Baltakis’ history class at LSUE when a former B-29 bomber crewman spoke about his experience.
David Fisher, a former professor at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, appeared at ease Tuesday speaking to the class about his role in the U.S. bombing campaign on Japan.
Thanked for his service, Fisher quickly responded, “I don’t feel like I’m anybody special,” he said. “I just grew up at a time, at a very special time in the history of the United States that was after the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor.”
Fisher said he was 15 years old when the Japanese bombed the Hawaii base on Dec. 7, 1941, and ignited the United States participation in World War II.
“I’m from Jennings, right down the road. I remember being in a movie theater that Sunday afternoon. After we got out, people were talking on the sidewalk everywhere that the Japanese had bombed Pearl. Nobody even knew where Pearl Harbor was.”
Fisher said, “It was a very different era. I don’t know whether we will ever see an era like that in our history again,” he said.
After graduating from high school, Fisher enlisted in the Army Aviation Cadet Program on Nov. 11, 1943, when he was 17 years old.
By the time he turned 18, Fisher was on his way to becoming a radio operator on the most modern bomber of its time, the B-29.
The B-29 had pressurized crew areas, remote-controlled defensive guns, a 20,000-pound bomb load and a top speed of 365 mph.
Fisher would fly missions from Guam on the B-29 Superfortress, mostly at night as the planes dropped incendiary devices on Japanese cities.
“There were missions that we flew where there were as many as 800 airplanes over the mainland of Japan on a given night or day, but that was unusual,” he said.
Fisher said he experienced fear with each mission that could last anywhere from 14 to 18 hours.
But he realized he was lucky compared to bomber crews flying missions into Germany.
“They weren’t as vicious as the Germans were,” he said of Japanese fighter attacks on the B-29s.
“You would get Jap planes challenging you. Some of our gunners got credit for shooting a couple of them down. I would have to say it was a lot worse in Europe than it was in Japan.”
But Fisher added, “They were up against a superior aircraft.”
The B-29s’ remote controlled guns were deadly accurate and when the bombers were in formation created a wall of protective fire.
And, the Japanese anti-aircraft fire was not as heavy as that encountered by allied bombers over Europe.
“When you got over the targets you got it,” he said of Japanese anti-aircraft fire.
“Those B-17s, they flew out of England crossing the Channel. As soon as they got over the mainland of Europe they had anti-aircraft,” Fisher said.
Fisher’s plane flew from Guam to Japan, which was about a 3,000-mile flight and mostly over water.
While there was danger from Japanese fighters and anti-aircraft fire, the greatest danger to the B-29 crews in World War II turned out to be its four 2,200-horsepower engines. The engines were prone to over-heating and catching fire.
Fisher kept a notebook of his missions to Japan and there are numerous references to engines being shutdown. For instance, on May 7, 1945, his first mission to bomb an oil refinery was aborted due to a cracked engine cylinder.
Fisher’s final combat mission was a nighttime incendiary bomb raid on Aug. 15, 1945.
“We had one bad engine going up to the target. Saw no enemy planes and little flak over target. Also saw flak after leaving target over town that we passed. Another engine started giving us trouble just after we left the target. Had to land at Iwo (Jima). Learned there about the war being over,” he wrote in his notes.
His final mission was on Sept. 1, 1945, to drop supplies to prisoners of war in a camp north of Tokyo.
“It was the most interesting mission we flew. We flew all the way to the camp at an altitude of about 1,500 feet. Got a birds-eye view of several large cities, a lot of small villages and the airfields. Land was laid out very pretty, especially the farms — neat as a pin. During the whole trip we only saw two automobiles and two trains,” he wrote.
While Fisher denies any claim to being special, he is. Out of the 11-man crew, he is one of only three living.
“I do have a pet peeve and I’ve shared it with World War II people. Whenever you hear the word B-29 the next thing you think about are the two atomic bombs that were dropped. I think it has been unfair. I’m not saying that should have not been done, but I’m telling you the traditional missions that we flew had dissipated Japan’s ability ...” he said.
Baltakis said bringing Fisher into the classroom brought history alive.
“This is somebody who was actually there,” Baltakis said of Fisher and World War II. “This is one of the major events that has taken place in the last 100 years.”
World War II was the last war that most Americans supported, Baltakis said.
“We knew who the bad guys were and the good guys. It was easier to define things,” he said.