To the Editor:

The B-29 Superfortress of World War II was the subject of a recent article in The Best Times (July, page 11) by Harold Davis, a frequent contributor and a good friend of mine. Harold covered well the story of the B-29 and its many problems, and also its ultimate part in ending World War II. However, there is one incident few people know about that also had a part in solving the reluctance of the heavy-bomber pilots to take the Superfortress into the air.

It is well known that The Enola Gay was the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb and that Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets was its pilot. The B-29 had been only three years in production and encountered many problems. Its tendency for the engines to catch fire on takeoff caused the pilots to be understandably reluctant to fly it. Tibbets was based at a heavy-bomber training base in Birmingham, Ala. He realized that the fear of most of the heavy-bomber pilots was holding back the potential of the B-29 to strike Japan. Tibbets had heard of the Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) and their success in flying every plane in the Air Force arsenal.

The WASPs were especially noted for their success with the B-26, a bomber with a wing span so short it was called "the flying prostitute" (because it had no visible means of support!). Tibbets had been impressed by the performance of the WASPs and he began to search bases in his vicinity where WASPs might be stationed. At Elgin Field in northern Florida, two of them, Dora Dougherty and Dorothea Johnson, were towing targets for live ammunition practice.

Thinking them likely prospects, Tibbets visited Elgin Field to propose his plan to use the WASPs for demonstration purposes. He wanted to show that if the B-29 were flown properly, its overheating problems could be overcome. The two WASPs enthusiastically agreed, and in a few days of training at the Birmingham base they were flying the plane without the problems the men had experienced.

The first demonstration was at a heavy-bomber base at Alamagordo, N.M. The bomber pilots and their crews stationed there were greatly impressed by the skill of the WASPs in overcoming the problems they had encountered. The two WASPS continued to fly around the state, both shaming and encouraging the men to overcome their misgivings about flying the Superfortress.

But back in Washington, Chief of Air Staff Maj. Gen. Barney B. Giles heard of the highly successful experiment and wired that the two WASPs must stop flying the B-29s immediately.

"To boost morale is one thing," Giles told Tibbets, but the two girls were "putting the big football players to shame."

The role the B-29 played in ending the war is unquestionable. As a WASP myself, though I never flew anything bigger than a B-25, I am so proud of the role the WASPs played. I know that this aspect of the B-29 training has been largely unknown. Of all the WASP stories that were forgotten, the one about the B-29 demonstration may be the least well known and one of my favorites.

—Marjorie Rees, Prairie Village

1 Kiel, Sally Van Wagenen, Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines (New York, Four Directions Press, 1979, 1990).