Right Blister Gunner: 33803255James M Pettit Cpl PA 10-3-1945 B-29 #42-65301

CPL James Milton Pettit (1925-1945) - Find a Grave Memorial

NOTE: When General LeMay took command of XXI Bomber Command, he changed the tactics from high-altitude fragmentation bombing to low-altitude incendiary bombings. During the night of 9-10 March 1945, a total of 334 B-29 bombers took off for Operation MEETINGHOUSE to fire-bomb Tokyo. Fifteen square miles of the Tokyo urban area are burned out; an estimated 83,793 Japanese are killed and 40,918 wounded. BLK-SQ-O-47 was one of the fourteen B-29 Superforts lost.

Ref: MACR 12975 (shot down by triple-A fire over Tokyo)

Boeing B-29-25-MO (Martin Omaha) Superfortress serial #42-65301 tail code: Black-Square O-47 assigned to the 52nd Bomber Squadron, 29th Bombardment Group (VH), 314th Bomb Wing, XXI Bomber Command, 20th Air Force stationed at North Field on Guam in the Mariana Islands; Pacific Theatre of Operations.