Thunderbolts over Japan

Flight Journal, Fall 2003 by Dorr, Robert F

The adversary wasn't always the enemy

In the last days of WW II, distance, weather and fate-rather than enemy guns-were the main threats to P-47N Thunderbolt pilots who participated in the final campaign against Japan.

Francis "Frank" W. Johnson, 86, of Washington, North Carolina, completed just two combat missions before the Pacific war ended. But although he had prepared for years before flying these missions, he recalls them as especially difficult. "We were flying from Iwo Jima," Johnson recalled during a series of interviews. "I was a P-47N pilot of the 413th Fighter Squadron, part of the 414th Fighter Group.

"The P-47N was, without a doubt, the greatest airplane I ever flew. The P-47 had more firepower-eight guns versus six on the P-5l-and we could carry 10, five-inch rockets.

"There were already two P-51 Mustang groups on Iwo Jima, and they had lost a lot of planes. The Japanese were knocking them out of the sky. They were losing so many that they told us that if we would fly 10 missions, we would be able to go home."

He became a very experienced fighter pilot during stateside assignments, but Johnson almost didn't reach the war zone.

Although eager for combat, once out of flight school, he drew an assignment at Maxwell Field, Alabama, as an instructor in BT-13 and BT-15 trainers. "That was not what I had signed up to do.

"After almost a year of teaching, they sent me to Chico, California, to instruct in the P-39 Airacobra and P-63 Kingcobra. I was hearing about the War from afar, even after they transferred me to Seymour Johnson Army Air Field, North Carolina, where the 414th Group was being formed. As a member of the Group, I made another move to Selfridge Army Air Field, Michigan, to train in the P-47. We were there for four months, with snow and ice on the ground the whole time. At last, we got orders for the Pacific."

As a captain, Johnson arrived on Iwo Jima on July 8, 1945. At the time, he didn't know that on Tinian, two B-29 missions were being prepared that would end the War barely a month later.

His first mission on August 1, 1945, was a painful introduction to the problems posed by weather and distance. "We had orders for airfield strafing with the first target being Okazaki. We carried two, 165-gallon external fuel tanks and flew with rpm and throttle reduced to conserve fuel. My wingman was a fine young lieutenant, Scott Coley. He couldn't stay with me when we entered thick clouds and went on instruments. When I finally got out of the clouds, he was nowhere to be seen. In fact, he was never seen again. We continued on to the target that day. They shot at us a little, but we didn't see any serious defenses even though we'd heard there were fighters in the area.

"On the second mission, with the primary target of Takamatsu, the weather was favorable. Again, the mission was airfield strafing.

"On approaching the Japanese coast, one of our young pilots broke formation and began to fly off by himself. At best, I was afraid he might get shot down and captured. Contrary to what I was supposed to do, I broke formation and went after him. He finally did a I8O-degree turn and was coming directly toward me. The Japanese had started building a plane we called the 'Frank' [Nakajima Ki-84], which looked very much like a P-47, so I thought there was now a good chance I was going to be shot down by one of our own. He didn't fire, thankfully." Others credit Johnson with saving the American pilot's life by breaking the rules and going after him when he left the reservation.

Strafing a target on the Japanese home islands proved almost anticlimactic compared with the challenges of getting there and returning home. "On the way back, my wingman, 2nd Lt. Frank Collyer, ran out of fuel and had to bail out. he was picked up by a destroyer and returned to Iwo two days later. The squadron commander, Maj. Paul Wignall, also had to bail out and was picked up by a submarine. The War was over when he returned." Following the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945, Johnson took command of the 531st Fighter Squadron, flying the P-5l. After the War, he served in the Air Force Reserve, flying a variety of aircraft that included the C-47 Skytrain and H-19 helicopter. He retired from the Reserve as a lieutenant colonel. He worked in finance and had a career as a bank vice president. He and his wife, Esther, live today in Washington, North Carolina, a few miles from his childhood home in Rocky Mount.

Robert F. Dorr is an Air Force veteran who served in Korea (1957 to 1960); he is also a retired diplomat (1964 to 1989). Currently, he is a columnist for the Air Force Times newspaper. His latest book is "Air Force One," and he is researching the history of P-47 Thunderbolt operations in Europe during WW II. He lives in Oakton, Virginia.