This snow accumulation did little to prevent us from rolling down the runway on our assigned missions. On occasion, it did complicate our getting home.

I can recall our returning from a mission in the dark of night, when we called in for a local visibility check prior to final letdown for landing. The tower operator told us “visibility is 16 feet.” Without further hesitation, we set sail for another USAF Air Base, further to the south, where the weather was more favorable for a safe landing. We returned later the next day, after catching up on some sleep and giving the weather some time to improve.

On the day we took this picture of Mount Fuji off our wingtip, with a carpet of clouds below, we were performing a test hop on a recently serviced aircraft. When we made our approach on GCA, in low visibility conditions, we found the runway very snow-covered and just barely discernable with the aid of flashing strobe lights. As we made a best guess as to the center of the runway and set the RB-29 down, we could just feel a giant puff of snow, much like an exploding feather pillow. As we sailed out of the cloud of snow and rolled to a stop, with runway underfoot confirmed, we had mixed feelings of relief and exhilaration from the magic and beauty of it all.

Now, as to emergency situations, due to mechanical failures — We had sharpened our skills and confidence in dealing with them during our chekout training at Randolph. The early history of the B-29 had been marred with engine cooling problems, engine fires, and an array of related problems resulting from rushing this new aircraft design into combat. By the time the B-29 became a part of our daily lives, many of these problems were ironed out. The conversion of the engines from carburetor fuel distribution to fuel injected directly into the cylinders was a major step foreward.

In spite of their increased reliability, these aircraft had a lot of miles under their belts and every mission, especially the takeoff, was an adventure waiting to unfold. The eyes, ears and sense of smell were on full alert for every crewmember during takeoff. Of special value, were the gunner/scanners who continuously observed the aircraft, from their point of view, at the side-window blisters. If there was trouble brewing, they were usually the first to observe a developing problem, alerting the entire crew.

In this sequence of three photographs we see the Aircraft Commander passing out instructions to the crew after being notified “fire on #3.” We had just broken ground at Yokota, the gear was coming up, and we were preparing to feather the #3 engine. With the failed engine shut down, prop feathered, we climbed to traffic pattern altitude and came around for a landing on three engines. Met by an array of fire trucks and personnel, the aircraft was parked and prepared for another flight on yet another day.

There were very few missions when there was not a failure of some part of one or more of the operating systems. Thorough preflight inspections and a constant team effort enabled ground and flight crews to carry out assigned missions with reasonable and predictable regularity.