1945 Japan–Washington flight
Videos
The 1945 Japan–Washington flight was a record-breaking air voyage made by three modified Boeing B-29 Superfortresses on September 18–19, 1945, from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō nonstop to
William "Butch" Blanchard pictured in China one year before the record-breaking flight.
B-29 Number 2 at Sapporo Air Base. Gun turrets are absent, replaced by smooth fairings.
Dumbo rescue aircraft stood by on alert.
Greeted upon arrival in Washington: Curtis LeMay (far left), Emmett O'Donnell and Barney Giles (far right) pose with "Hap" Arnold (in tie).
Curtis LeMay
Videos
Curtis Emerson LeMay was a US Air Force general who was a key American military commander during World War II and the Cold War, including the Korean War. He served as Chief of Staff of the United Stat
1945 Japan–Washington flight
…Washington, where each crewman was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, including the three pilots: Generals Barney M. Giles, Emmett O'Donnell Jr. and Curtis LeMay. The USAAF distance record was broken two months later, when another American aircrew flew a B-29 7,916 miles (12,740 km) from Guam to Washington, D.C…
Official portrait, c. 1950s
Lieutenant Curtis LeMay in 1929
In 1938, three B-17s (one navigated by Lt. LeMay) intercept the Italian liner SS Rex, 620 nm at sea.
Colonel Curtis LeMay officially congratulates a bomber crew of the 306th Bomb Group in front of their B-17 Flying Fortress at Chelveston Airfield, England, June 2, 1943.