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The Disappearing B-29 Bomber Saga
at China Lake
Each year
China Lake put on an air show for folks in the area. There were always fly bys
and displays of various weapons, both static and live fire. I flew a F-8 in the
1967 show but thought that show lacked a 'something.' I was asked to help with
the script for 1968. Bingo!
We needed a
target for live air-to-ground weapons and China Lake had a bunch of B-29s used
to test warheads on aircraft structures. They towed a B-29 out to the target
area, several thousand feet from the viewing stands, and packed it with mucho,
mucho 'expended' ordinance and put a few thousand gallons of contaminated jet
fuel in barrels under the wings. It was going to be very big. The ordinance folks rigged
wires to detonators and ran the cables over a mile to a safe place for use the
next day.
The game plan
was simple: VX-5, a tenant command for testing Fleet weapons, supplied 4 pilots
for air-to-ground stuff including rockets and small bombs. After all the fly
bys, VX-5 was to make their runs and the remote detonators were to set off the
B-29. Unfortunately critters had destroyed the remote cables and there was no
way to set the explosives off remotely. The first VX-5 run missed the whole
thing, ditto #2, #3 and #4. Four tactical attack pilots could not hit a B-29 -
141+ foot wing span!
China Lake's
LT Pete Ferrintino, a carrier veteran in the A-1, was to make the last run. He
was carrying four 1000# bombs. Pete rolled in on a very steep run and put all
four bombs exactly bullseye, slam dunk, dead center in the middle of the B-29.
The explosion was stunning: absolutely stunning. In addition to Pete's stuff
there was the jet fuel and expended ordinance. The shock wave came over the
desert and rolled across the bleachers. You could see the large tower windows
flex under the loads. The fireball was visible for many miles and the smoke
plume looked just like a small nuke. Stunning: absolutely stunning. Here's a few
shots of the results
link.
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