XXI Bomber Command Mission 187 was scheduled as a Maximum Effort
with all available aircraft from all four Wings to be in the air.
The 73rd Bomb Wing contributed 158, with 34 coming from the 497th
Bomb Group.
There was heavy and accurate flak in the area of the target with
15 B-29s of the 497th being hit.
A-16 was flown by Lt Franklin W Crowe and one of his engines was hit
and caught on fire.
He left the formation and was not seen again.
Erroneous initial reports had him ditching 90 miles out to sea.
The B-29 crashed near Mount Sanjo ( Mount Omine )
with four of the crew surviving and seven died in the crash.
Below the Google map are three tracking charts.
The first two are from the 73rd Bomb Wing and show the
navigation route from a far away and a close in view.
The third track is from one of the formations from the 869th Bomb
Squadron.
There are 18 B-29s in the formation and A-16 is located by the blue
arrow.
Their B-29 may have dropped its bombs before being hit and leaving
the formation.
At the bottom of the page is the Mission Blackboard
for the 497th Bomb Group.
Its call sign is HAPPY and each aircraft will be
identifed as being in this group by the designation V606
Lt Crowe's B-29 shows up as 16V606 in reports in Page 2.
There are two B-29s in the far right column with the words
DITCHED or POSSIBLE DITCHING.
The latter is 16V606.
This information was based upon the incorrect communication mentioned
above.
The source of these Mission Reports is Jim Bowman.
He scanned all the 497th and 73rd BW reports at the National Archives,
College Park, Maryland
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