AUGUST 30 1945

The dawn sky over Kyushu, southernmost island of the Japanese Home Islands, was clear on August 25, 1945, as Major Jack McClure of the 498th "Falcons" Bomb Squadron and Major Wendell Decker of the 499th "Bats Outta Hell" Bomb Squadron, who was flying in "Betty's Dream," orbited their B-25J Mitchell gunships.

The Pacific War had ended ten days earlier, but the crews were on the alert for possible attacks by Japanese who did not heed their Emperor's decision to surrender. This was perhaps the most important rendezvous of the Pacific War as the two bombers from the 345th "Air Apaches" Bomb Group waited to sight the aircraft carrying the official Japanese surrender delegation. Finally, Decker's top turret gunner spotted the white dots to the north. The white dots soon resolved themselves as two G4M1 "Betty" bombers, their camouflaged airframes quickly overpainted in white, the well-known Hinomaru “rising sun” national insignia replaced with green crosses, and four Zeros in similar markings. As the B-25s swung in to escort the Bettys, the Zeros turned away. It was an acknowledgment of their contribution to victory in the Pacific that aircraft of the Air Apaches had been chosen to escort the surrender delegation to the island of Ie Shima, near Okinawa.

At the airfield, aircrews and ground crews of the resident USAAF units, and any other Americans who could arrange to get there waited for the arrival of the four aircraft. As if putting on a show for the victors, the two Betty bombers made a low pass over the runway before landing. Once on the ground, American military police quickly established a perimeter around the aircraft and the Japanese government representatives were quickly escorted to a waiting C-54 transport for the flight to Manila where they would meet with General Douglas MacArthur and the other representatives of the victorious Allies to work out the concrete details of the surrender of the Empire of Japan

Once the C-54 was on its way, the MPs allowed the Americans on the field to surround the bombers, taking photographs of the planes and their crews, who seemed overwhelmed by the friendly response they received from those who they had been told would eat them if an invasion of the home islands had been necessary. As Major Vic Tatelman, pilot of “Dirty Dora II” and the only member of the Air Apaches to fly two tours, remembered, “It was certainly the biggest celebration I had ever been to.”

The C-54 returned on August 29, with two complete sets of original surrender documents to be conveyed back to Tokyo in the Bettys. While the surrender delegation had been in Manila, it had been discovered at Ie Shima that there was no fuel available of low enough octane for the Japanese aircraft to use for refueling. It was suggested that the higher-octane American fuel be mixed with the low octane fuel remaining in the aircraft, but this was at first rejected. Late that afternoon, the first Betty took off for the return flight to Tokyo, escorted again by two Mitchells from the 345th. Rather than land on Kyushu, which was the nearest of the Japanese home islands, the Betty flew on for Tokyo, despite the low fuel reserves. The bomber flew out over the Inland Sea, taking the most direct route to Tokyo. Over the water, the Betty finally ran out of fuel. The pilot attempted an emergency landing ashore, but the plane ended up short, going into the water and breaking up on impact.

There was now only one set of surrender documents in existence. The successful return of the second Betty to Japan had just become crucially important.

Next morning, August 30, the Japanese agreed to have American 100 octane fuel mixed with their 87 octane fuel in the remaining Betty. Once again, “Betty’s Dream” was the lead escort. This time, Major Tatelman, the top-ranking pilot in the group in terms of missions flown in two complete combat tours, managed to get himself assigned as copilot to his friend Wendell Decker. “After everything I had gone through in the Pacific, there was no way I was going to miss this,” he later recalled.

The two Mitchells and the Betty droned north-northeast toward the Home Islands. Decker and Tatelman had already determined that once they got over the islands, they would not allow the Japanese to fly over water until they reached Tokyo, and that if anything mechanical went wrong with the Betty, they would force it down at the first airfield they came across, to guarantee successful delivery of the precious cargo aboard.

As it turned out, the Betty had enough fuel to make the full return flight to Atsugi air base outside Tokyo. The Americans stayed with the plane until it touched down, at which point “We made the lowest pass I ever made over an enemy airfield,” as Tatelman recalled. Then they applied power and climbed back to altitude for the journey home.

For the crews of the 345th “Air Apaches” “Bomb Group, World War II in the Pacific was finally over.

Photo above: Allied POWs celebrate the end of the war.

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