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Health & Fitness

Northern Virginia, The War, "Fifi" and Me

With Father's Day approaching, the author of a World War II history reflects on an airplane, a book and history.

A portrait of a plane called "Fifi" is one of the illustrations in my book "Mission to Tokyo" about American B-29 Superfortress bomber crews in World War II.

"Fifi" is the world's only flying B-29. The Commemorative Air Force, a charity-with-wings that flies restored military planes, is the operator the big bomber. She's scheduled to appear at an event in Manassas on May 29. Details of the planned air show event are at this site: http://www.cafb29b24.org/

My book about B-29 crews, "Mission to Tokyo," is my attempt to capture the grit and grimness experienced by Americans during the final assault on the Japanese home islands. Although I tried to avoid being too graphic for young readers, "Mission to Tokyo" is about the hard, serious nature of war and it's meant to be more informative than entertaining. The book was inspired in part by my friendship with B-29 veteran George "Laddie" Wale, who lived near me in northern Virginia until his death in 1998.

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After 200 interviews and years of research, I tried to use the voices of the B-29 crews to narrate their lives — in everyday English, without the sentimentality of Stephen Ambrose's "Band of Brothers" and without kowtowing to Tom Brokaw's "greatest generation" pastiche.

"Fifi," the restored and airworthy B-29, belongs in the book because the Commemorative Air Force's bomber is today's only source for sights, sounds and smells nearly identical to those experienced by American airmen on Guam, Saipan and Tinian in the final months of the war.

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"Fifi" isn't a perfect fit for this mission: The Commemorative Air Force's B-29 is pristine and spotless, while B-29s in the Marianas were dirty and smeared with oil leaks. Thanks to dedicated mechanics and maintainers, "Fifi" plows through the air without a hitch, while wartime B-29s often fell prone to engine fires and hydraulics failures. "Fifi" speaks to us of the joy of aviation, while the B-29s in 1945 were ponderous war machines, their bellies crammed with bombs.

Anyway, because "Fifi" is the only flying B-29, and the closest thing we have to the World War II experience, a picture of FIFI by photographer Robert L. Burns appears in "Mission to Tokyo."

Do we need a book about B-29 crews?

With volumes in print about the air campaign against "The Empire" — the term used by U.S. airmen for the Japanese home islands — did we really need more? With so many books available about the B-29 campaign, the war, and the experiences of those on the ground under falling bombs, is "Mission to Tokyo" possibly one book too many?

I don't think so. Much has been written about the agony experienced by those on the ground, but not enough about the courage of Americans in the air. Not enough is understood about the March 10, 1945 firebomb mission to Tokyo, the most destructive bombing event in history, the mission that ignited the hottest fires ever to burn on the earth. The mission killed more people than both atomic bombs put together and transformed 16 square miles of the Japanese capital into a burnt-out, desert-like wasteland.

Many have heard of the gruff, cigar-chomping B-29 commander, Gen. Curtis LeMay, but did you know that the artist Yoko Ono was on the ground in Tokyo on March 10, 1945? Beatle John Lennon's widow was very gracious in being interviewed for this book.

Why "Mission to Tokyo"? I thought I had something to add about myths surrounding Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I thought it was time to tell the stories of men like Major Sammy Bakshas, a B-29 squadron commander.  He was the dashing young pilot who courted his wife Aldora in the 1930s with the gift of a biplane ride. When the air campaign in the skies above The Empire was going badly, Sammy thought it could be turned around. LeMay did, too. Sammy died over a burning Tokyo on March 10, 1945 but Aldora and I spoke as recently as 2011 — a gracious lady who lived a love story like few of us experience.

About me:

I live in Oakton with my wife and my Labrador retriever, not necessarily in that order. We have two grown sons. I'm an author (since 1955), an Air Force veteran who served in Korea (1957-60) and a retired Foreign Service officer (1964-89). I've published 75 books, most of which are out of print, and ten thousand magazine articles. I'm a real author. I write for publication all day, every day.

As a child in the Washington, D.C. area in the late 1940s, I climbed around inside "Enola Gay" — the B-29 that struck Hiroshima — when she was parked in high grass at Andrews Army Air Field, Maryland. Yes, I crawled inside the tunnel above the bomb bay. No, I didn't steal souvenirs or scribble graffiti. Today, of course, "Enola Gay" is displayed at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport.

As an author in the 1990s, I wrote two small books about B-29 crews, both now out of print. The proprietor of a now-defunct bookstore in Fair Oaks Mall refused to display one of the books because of an accurate cover painting by artist Iain Wyllie of a real wartime B-29 named "Fu-Kemal-Tu." The name of that aircraft — "Fifi," "Enola Gay" and "Fu-Kemal-Tu" are names, not nicknames —drew not a single complaint from any bookstore customer but that didn't matter.

Again, I write all day, every day. My small profits are channeled to a range of charities I support, including the Houston Wing of the Commemorative Air Force.

I would love to hear from northern Virginia friends and neighbors who are interested in what I'm doing, including my work on my next book. Contact me at robert.f.dorr@cox.net or (703) 264-8950. Nowadays, people don't pick up the phone as often as they used to. I'm here at my desk all day banging on the keyboard, my Labrador retriever at my feet, and I'm looking at the phone and waiting. Her name is Autumn, by the way, she has appeared in Patch before, and she likes dog treats.

As for "Fifi," I am glad that charitable donations and dedicated volunteers are keeping the world's only airworthy B-29 flying.

The curiosity in the eyes of a young person seeing "Fifi" for the first time is all the justification anyone needs. And we must all remember those who fought, especially those who did not finish the war and come home.

I'll be doing my next book signing for charity on Saturday May 18 at the UPS Store, 12587 Fair Lakes Circle, in Fairfax, where the owner is Mark Magliocchetti, tel. (703) 818-0877. This event is free and open to all. Stop by, visit, and chat between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

 

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