Miss Sandy

From: Batur Avgan
Subject: Miss Sandy

Dear Mrs. Miles-Holleman,

I am a historian studying on the 452nd Bomb Wing, 729th Bomb Squadron, where your father Melvin O. 'Mo' Miles served during Korean War. You can visit my website at http://www.452ndbombwing.org.

Regarding the B-26, which was named 'Miss Sandy', I have plenty of info about this aircraft. It was the most special B-26 used not only at the 729th BS, but also at the 452nd BW. I know its pilot, and also its crew chief, who is still in life. I would love to provide you all info about it.

If you get in contact with me, I will be glad to help you.

Regards,

Batur Avgan

History: The A-26, the last aircraft designated as an "attack bomber," was designed to replace the Douglas A-20 Havoc/Boston. It incorporated many improvements over the earlier Douglas designs. The first three XA-26 prototypes first flew in July 1942, and each was configured differently: Number One as a daylight bomber with a glass nose, Number Two as a gun-laden night-fighter, and Number Three as a ground-attack platform, with a 75-millimeter cannon in the nose. This final variant, eventually called the A-26B, was chosen for production.

Upon its delivery to the 9th Air Force in Europe in November 1944 (and the Pacific Theater shortly thereafter), the A-26 became the fastest US bomber of WWII. The A-26C, with slightly-modified armament, was introduced in 1945. The A-26s combat career was cut short by the end of the war, and because no other use could be found for them, many A-26s were converted to JD-1 target tugs for the US Navy.

A strange aircraft-designation swap occurred in 1948, when the Martin B-26 Marauder was deactivated and the Douglas A-26 was re-designated the B-26. (It kept this designation until 1962.) B-26s went on to serve extensively in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. In Vietnam, they were commonly used in the Counter-Insurgency (COIN) role, with very heavy armament and extra power. This version, the B-26K, was based in Thailand and was, to confuse things further, called the A-26 for political reasons. B-26s were also used for training, VIP transport, cargo, night reconnaissance, missile guidance and tracking, and as drone-control platforms.

Post-war uses of the airplane included luxurious executive transport (Smith Tempo I; Tempo II and Biscayne 26; LAS Super-26; Berry Silver-Sixty; Monarch-26; On-Mark Marketeer/Marksman), aerial surveying and, most notably, firefighting, a role in which it is still occasionally used today.

Nicknames: Unknown
Specifications (A-26B):
Engines: Two 2000hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-79 radial piston engines
Weight: Empty 22,370 lbs., Maximum Takeoff 35,000 lbs.
Wing Span: 70ft. 0in.
Length: 50ft. 9in.
Height: 18ft. 6in.
Performance:
Maximum Speed at 15,000 ft: 355 mph
Ceiling: 22,100 ft
Range: 1,400 miles
Armament:Six 12.7mm (0.5 in.) machine guns in nose
Two 12.7mm (0.5 in.) machine guns each in ventral and dorsal turrets
6000 lbs. of bombs
Eight 127mm (5-inch) rockets
Number Built: 2,446
Number Still Airworthy: 40

Dear Bette,

I was in the 452nd for 3 years including the time I was in the Reserve at Long Beach. At that time I lived in Whittier, CA.

I'm one of the older guys in the group, having been in WW II 4 years before the Korean War. I'm 87. I went with Group overseas in October of 1950. Since I was not a combat crewman I didn't get home until April of 1952.

I didn't know your Dad, but I knew Vic the Turk who rode it (Miss Sandy) down in North Korea.

Here I am as a Captain when I went to Korea in 1950. I'm afraid to send you any current pictures for fear they will scare you and you won't write to me anymore. (I did write back, of course!~BadMsM)

With kind regards,

Dave Lower

The story of the Red Cross Canteen and the coffee and infamous doughnuts wouldn't be complete without remembering the gals who made it all possible.

The only honor I received for my 20 months with the 452nd in the Korean War was presented to me by these girls for winning the ping pong tournament they staged.

The award was a corncob pipe---and me a non-smoker.

Dave

When I arrived in Korea at K-9 in 1951 those gals made me feel at home. Hot coffee doughnuts and a few cigarettes. They were doing a thankless job and it took guts for any women to volunteer to do the job.

- Vic Helming -

Dear Bette:

I'm sure you have a tough job trying to sort out those old photos. I looked at your nice website, but couldn't figure out how to answer you directly from there, so I'm using this 452nd group address for this response.

Although my records are incomplete, I may be able to shed some light on your research because I was the 729th's Maintenance Officer while Miss Sandy (B-26 44-35783) was assigned to the 729th Sqdn during that plane's rather short life. It was shot down and crashed in N. Korea on April 21, 1951 with all crew members being killed.

Each B-26 had a Maintenance Crew Chief and two (or more) assistants. Miss Sandy was assigned to the 729th during Aug/Sep of 1950 while we were stationed at George AFB near Victorville, CA. General Sweetser, our Wing Commander, who flew Miss Sandy to Japan, told me to assign TSG Sam Isaac to be that plane's Crew Chief.

Our planes and Maint Crews were assigned to four "flights", and my roster shows that TSG Sam Isaac was in "Flight A" as was your Dad SSG Miles. Crew Chief Sam Isaac was the riding mechanic who flew in Miss Sandy to Japan with the General who was the pilot.

I'm quite certain that Sam Isaac remained as Miss Sandy's Crew Chief at Itazuke and later at Miho. Although I can't recall your Dad, his name IS on my old, hand-written roster as an aircraft mechanic in "Flight A". Therefore, I assume that he was one of Sam Isaac's assistants on Miss Sandy. But while at Miho, Sam Isaac became ill and was sent to the hospital at Tokyo for a while. Therefore it is possible that your Dad was made Crew Chief on '783 during Sam's absence.....but I have no record of that detail at this point in time. (As Sqdn Maint Officer, I had 200 people under my command) Unfortunately my roster is merely a list of names without any mention of the planes that they worked on.

Incidentally, "Sandy" was the name of General Sweetser's daughter, hence he named his plane "Miss Sandy".

Anyway, Bette, I hope this information will be useful to you.

Best regards,
Ed Whaley

January 23, 1951
B-26C (44-35783) aka "Miss Sandy"

Summary of loss:
B-26C (44-35783) of 729th BS was hit by ground fire on January 23, 1951 on a mission to Taptone-ni, North Korea. 44-35783 received minor damage to the right nacelle and flap.

Crew:
Pilot: 1LT Robert "RQ" Old (Not Injured)
Navigator: 1LT John Russo (Not Injured)
Bombardier: 1LT Ernie Lindner (Not Injured)
Gunner: SGT Armando DeLuna (Not Injured)

Aside comment by Robert "RQ" Old:

"We were flying at about 8,000 feet in a four ship box formation making a bomb run. I was in the Number 4 position with Wally McDannel leading. When the burst hit, it knocked us out of the formation. Can't remember what happened with the bombs. Anyway, DeLuna had a close call with flak penetrating the gunner's compartment. One piece of shrapnel went through the corner of his goggles and another torn off the pencil pocket of his flight jacket. We found several pieces of shrapnel in this compartment. We made an emergency landing at Taegu AB (K-2), South Korea to check the a/c. The right tire had been hit and was flat, which I did not know until we touched down. The tire was replaced and the a/c deemed fit to fly so we flew it back to Miho the next day without incident."

Dear Bette,

My Dad, at the time Lt. Bill Tinkcom, flew with pilot Vic Erdonmez on Miss Sandy as the bomb/nav/observer on several missions. I have a few pictures of them together but they're on my old Windows 98 computer and I haven't gotten them transferred to this Windows XP computer yet. As soon as I can retrieve them, I'll send to you.

Best wishes,

Ken Tinkcom

Picture (left to right): Vic Erdonmez (the Turkish pilot who was KIA with "Miss Sandy") and Lt. Bill Tinkcom.

April 21, 1951
B-26C (44-35783) aka "Miss Sandy"

Summary of loss:
B-26C (44-35783) of 729th BS was part of six aircraft flight. Engine caught fire and wing fell off. Crashed approx 4 miles North east of Wonchang-ni (19 miles NE Sunchon, North Korea). No egress noted. (Note to readers: this means no one was seen exiting the plane.)

Crew:
Pilot: SrLT Muzaffer "Vic" Erdonmez; Turkish Air Force-Attached (Missing in Action)
Navigator: CPT Joseph Louis Farber (Missing in Action)
Gunner: SSG Robert Ervin Allred (Missing in Action)

Dear Bette,

I just found your "lens" about Miss Sandy and I am the nephew of Muzaffer "Vic" ERDONMEZ whom missing in action of Miss Sandy's last flight.

I appreciate your research and keep going! Do not keep the veterans who served for their countries or the ones gave their lives for peace just in our memories, let us spread their stories. Do not let them be forgotten.

Best Regards,

Serhat" --Serhat ERDONMEZ

Dear Bette,

I was a gunner in the 729th Bomb Squadron from November of 1950 and until August of 1951 and flew several missions in Miss Sandy. Originally Miss Sandy had four squadron colors on the tail and a star on the nose. This made it an excellent target because the enemy recognized that the plane represented a high ranking officer in our outfit, General Sweetser and therefore it was an extra special target. After it was recognized by our crews that it was a special target we got the extra squadron colors and star taken off for obvious reasons.

I just had an email and phone call from a gunner, Armand DeLuna who flew in the colored up Miss Sandy when they were the special target and were hit pretty bad and that helped on making the decision to remove all the extra do dad colors to make it look like just another 729th aircraft. The Pilot on that flight was Robert Old and the Navigator was John Russo.

I am sending a couple of pictures of a book cover and inside page of a book written by Wally McDannel, our operations officer. It gives a pretty good run down on the outfit and Page 116 has a picture of Miss Sandy with the four squadron color on the tail so you can see what I mentioned above that made it special.

Hope this is of some help.

Regards, Bill Brine

From Ed Whaley

Since you mentioned '783's (Miss Sandy's) multi-colored tail fin, perhaps you and others would like to know the background of that paint job and why Sam Isaac was the plane's Crew Chief.

Our newly refurbished B-26s were received rather rapidly at George AFB, and each Bomb Squadron received 16 planes consisting of 5 glass nosed and 11 hard nosed birds. Each Squadron was housed in its own hangar and the depth of the parking ramps caused each of our flight lines to occupy three rows. The attached photo is the front row of the 729th's flight line at George AFB and it is occupied by six of our "new" planes.

Anyway, one day when I was on the 729th's flight line near a plane with its engines running, I didn't hear General Sweetser's staff car arrive and park close behind me. A moment later the General said into my right ear, "Whaley -- I'm going to fly a B-26 to Japan and I've decided to take one of your 729th planes as my personal plane. I want you to select one of your glass noses that has the lowest total airframe and engines times and assign your Sgt Sam Isaac as its Crew Chief. Since I'm the Wing Commander of the 452nd's four Bomb squadrons, I want you to add color stripes of the other three squadrons next to your 729th's red color that's already there. Also, I'll be making some enroute political stops, and I'll be taking a lot of uniforms -- brown, white, blue, etc. So I want you to install a clothes pole in the gunner's compartment where I can hang my uniforms so they won't become wrinkled".

When I asked him why he wanted a glass nosed plane, he said that only the glass noses had autopilots, and -- "Make damn sure that my plane has a good-working autopilot in it".

So, I reviewed the records of our five glass noses and determined that '783 had the lowest flying time since it left the factory in 1944. Therefore, we went to work on the striped paint job which included the wing tips in addition to the vertical fin, and Sam did a good job of installing the clothes pole. We also flew the plane on a couple of extra test flights to ensure that the autopilot system was OK.

Since we initially had enough planes to easily meet our combat requirements at Itazuke, we didn't schedule '783 for combat duty as frequently as the other planes. But after we were operating out of Miho for a short while, we lost several planes and had to start regularly scheduling Miss Sandy for combat missions. On one of those days, General Sweetser flew his Miss Sandy on a morning combat mission. That afternoon while I was out in our hangar, in walked the General who said to me: "Whaley, all of those bright stripes on the wings and tail of my plane seem to really attract ground fire. So, immediately remove all of them except for your 729th's red color".

That's the whole story on Miss Sandy's striped paint job. Incidentally, Sam Isaac was not a Reservist as he had been one of the AF Regulars who had been maintaining the B-26s at Long Beach before the 452nd was called to AD, and was transferred into the 452nd at George AFB.

Regards.......-Ed-

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