Dead Stick Landing on Iwo

[MIflyer]

One day in 1945 in Iwo Jima the crew of Hogan's Goat went out to their aircraft, a PB4Y-2 Privateer, which had previously been used by another crew. A fuel truck was there and the plane captain said that since the other crew had already fueled the airplane there was no need to dip the tanks to measure the quantity on board. But in reality once the tanks had been filled you needed to let the airplane sit for a while and allow the fuel to make its way into all of the tanks before topping it off; that had not been done. As a result, the airplane was a couple of hundred gallons low on fuel.

It was night and Hogan's Goat was on it way back to Iwo when one engine quit due to fuel starvation; they still had about 100 miles to go. Next another engine quit, followed by a third. They only had one engine left to keep them in the air.

Then they got word that their airfield on Iwo had lost power. No lights! The pilot called the field and told them to clear the strip; he could land without lights. But the fighter strip on Iwo called, saying they could provide lights, and the sky over the runway exploded with flares.

Hogan's Goat headed for the fighter strip, only one engine running - and then that last one quit. They were in a four-engined glider. Robert Berry, one of the radio operators, stood behind the pilot, ready to start the APU engine to provide power after the last engine shut down. The pilot dove the big bomber very steeply, almost straight down. The fighter strip control tower called, yelling, "You're too steep!" But the Hogan's Goat pilot continued their steep dive, flared at the last second and slapped the Privateer down on the fighter strip.

They had made it, down safe.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Holy crap!

 

[Gnomey]

Quite the landing!

 

[MIflyer]

I spent the last couple of days helping Robert Berry get an amplified phone that he can hear better. He told me that on one island base the coral surface was really chewing up the PB4Y-2's tires. No new tires were available and the crews were getting worried about blowouts. The plane captain said he was going to see what he could do about the situation. Then one day as Berry sat in their airplane on plane watch, a USAAF truck pulled up. "Is this plane number such and such?" they asked. Berry replied that it was. The USAAF team then proceeded to use the jacks they brought with them to raise the Privateer and then replaced both the main gear tires. Then they said. "We have some new .50 caliber machine gun barrels for you, too. Where do you want them?" Berry told them to put then in the rear of the airplane. Then the USAAF team departed leaving Berry to wonder what kind of deal the plane captain had worked out. He still wonders about that to this day; the plane captain refused to say and took the secret to his grave.

 

[25Kingman49]

Greetings all,
This topic may be obvious to others inclined toward the USN but it required me to hunt a little, being more of an AAF guy.

If correct this Iwo story is connected to PB4Y-2, BuNo 59515, serving with VPB-109, squadron history available (13 MB) here:

https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=ww_reg_his

Cropped image of Crew 7 complement, sorry it did not reproduce clearer.

 

[MIflyer]

Yes, that is true. I wrote an article for Aviation History about VPB-109 and Hogan's Goat as well as another PB4Y-2 from that unit, Blind Bomber, a while back. Here is the artwork the magazine had done for it. Hogan's Goat got shot up that day whicle being attacked by 12 George II fighters but the two Privateers claimed two fighters and made it back to Okinawa with wounded crewmen but none killed.

Another Privateer unit had an interesting experience several months earlier. One of their aircraft w as swarmed by Zeros based on Iwo Jima and shot down. In response they sent out three of their Privateers, literally looking for revenge. Once again they were attacked by Zeros out Iwo, but they were ready for them. The three Privateers got down low on the water, worked together, and shot down Zero after Zero, until the Japanese gave up. They were never bothered by Japanese fighters in that area again.

Of course, George II's were much more formidable than Zeros. The copilot of Blind Bomber admitted decades later that when he saw what type the fighters were he
thought his heart had stopped.

 

[Skyediamonds]

Mlflyer, Gnomey, & fellow members:

Good afternoon everyone. That's a great story! I couldn't stop reading until I read every-single-last post. I truly believe the part about the captain literally diving that Privateer to the runway. I'm only a private pilot (retired from flying two years ago), but I have a multi-engine rating. One day while flying at altitude, my instructor & I decided how the Piper Aztec would react if we pulled back the throttles to idle in a simulation of dual engine failure. We both calmly watched the VSI (Vertical Speed Indicator) point straight down to over 2,000 feet per minute while maintaining best glide & wings level. I can only imagine the captain's thoughts when he had all four engines failed in a heavy bomber aircraft.

 

[Skyediamonds]

Just saw an advertisement of a book entitled "Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." Excellent book backed up with research, photos, & documents. Fast-paced reading. Cannot put this one down.

 

[MIflyer]

It was VPB-109 that "invented" the drag chute. One of the unit's Privateers was badly shot up, the pilot badly wounded, and they knew they were coming back to their base with no brakes, with the runway was too short for that situation. The plane captain told the tail gunner to strap his parachute to the rear of the turret and then when they hit the runway to pull the ripcord so the chute would unfurl and slow them down.

The tail gunner did as instructed. The chute popped open - and pulled the whole tail turret off the airplane! It probably did slow them down a bit, though.

 

[Skyediamonds]

Mlfkyer,
Sorry to say this, but that was funny. Good idea of using the parachute, though. I could only imagine a semi-spherical object bouncing down the runway after the plane. Hopefully there were no guns or at least the gunner removed the bullet belts.

 

[P-39 Expert]

Why did the Privateer have a single tail?

 

[GrauGeist]

Why did the Privateer have a single tail?

The single tail on the PB4Y provided increased flight stability at lower altitudes.

 

[MIflyer]

The last version of the B-24 that was to be built, the B-24N, was to have a single tail as well; it was canclled before it went into production. And the B-32 progressed from twin tails to a single tail as well.