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First things, first. This is my baby picture. I am getting weighed, in my hanger at the Boeing - Wichita plant, Wichita, Kansas, where I was "born." Photo was taken on I have a name -- "Spirit of Lincoln"! For the full story June 6, 1943. I was known as YB-29-BW about my naming see the Lincoln High School History. My serial number was 41-36954 (136954 This photo was probably taken at Wright Field, Dayton, was on my tail.) Ohio, after November 1943. I have new engines.
In 1940, the war in Europe was not going well for the British. America knew it was only a matter of time before it was drawn into the conflict. In February 1940, four companies received an official letter from the US Government titled "Request for Data R-40B and Specifications XC-218." The letter was an ambitious proposal, calling for a bomber with a range of 5333 miles yet with a bigger bomb load and higher speed of the B-17 (the famous "Flying Fortress".) Fortunately, one of the companies receiving the letter, Boeing, was already prepared to submit plans for a new bomber. They had the original drawings from a 1934 XB-15, a plane which never went into production. Very long story short, Boeing and Lockheed both submitted impressive designs and on June 4, 1940, were asked by General "Hap" Arnold and the Army Air Corps (AAC) to produce mock-ups of their designs for wind-tunnel tests and to deliver prototypes to the Wright Field Testing Center in Dayton, Ohio, for evaluation. Lockheed eventually dropped out of the competition and Boeing was awarded the full contract for Model 345 (first name.) Such was the preparedness of the Boeing Company, it had completed all necessary designs for Model 345. The AAC designated the new plane XB-29 and officially contracted Boeing for two prototypes at a cost of $3,615,095 on September 6, 1940, to be built at their plant in Seattle, Washington. The XB-29 was very advanced and almost revolutionary. There were many problems, some the engineers who designed the plane had not anticipated. The AAC had chosen the favored R-3350 engine from the Wright Aeronautical Corporation. This engine had been designed and tested in 1937, but it never went into production until the XB-29 came to be. In fact, I was told there was only one R-3350 engine in existence in 1940 when my brother the first XB-29 was being built. The first production article YB-29's (ME!) were built at the Boeing-Wichita plant, Kansas. A contract signed in June 1941, provided for production of 14 YB- 29's at a cost of $1,403,623.86 each. All future B-29's were written under my original contract W535-AC-19673, with just minor supplements. The YB-29's were to be used as "service planes" or "service test planes." When I came off of the production line I had a full General Electric armament system, complete with the first ever on-board plane computer. My brothers and I were given four upgraded R-3550 Series 21 engines driven by three-bladed Hamilton Standard propellers. The original engines used in the prototypes (XB-29's) were responsible for the grounding of the first plane due to an engine fire and the second plane's catastrophic fire and subsequent loss of over 30 persons, including its flight crew in a crash onto a building within the city limits of Seattle earlier in the year (1943.) This crash had been covered up by the government and information from "informed sources" alluded the crash may have been a commercial airline. This cover-up showed how secret the B-29 program was. (To further emphasis the secret nature General Curtis LeMay, who was to take command of all B-29's in the Pacific Theater, knew nothing of the program.) I was delivered to the Army Air Force (USAAF) painted in camouflage. My engines where kept in special "bags" if they were not being worked on or I was not being prepared for a test run. I also had armed guards with machine guns. My first test flight was on June 26, 1943, at Wichita, Kansas. "I FLEW!" The USAAF accepted delivery of me in July 1943. I have to explain what a "service plane" is. We were to be used for training pilots, carrying materials, show and tell and that such stuff. There were B-29's coming off the production lines. These were the planes going into combat. Only one of my group of 14 went overseas to Europe and this was just to scare the Germans, not to fight. (All B-29's were sent to the Pacific Theater) The plane ended up at an Allied airbase in India. Now this is where my memory gets fuzzy. Between July and November 1943, I was re-designated XB-39. I became an experimental plane assigned to the USAAF but under a sub-contract to General Motors (Fisher Body) in Cleveland, Ohio. The original engines were taken out of me and eventually 4- 24 cylinder Allison V-3420-11 liquid-cooled engines (untested) were installed. Now the part that is important to all of you. When the students of Lincoln High School were conducting their War Bond drive, I was in the newly built Cleveland Bomber Plant and Fisher Body Plant No. 2 was working on my engines. There was talk about me getting a name. I remember the day, not the date, well. I was in the hanger and some person was calling me a "Hanger Queen" as a form of introduction. Then I noticed them: Four teenagers, so nervous but yet excited. I wondered what they were doing here. All of a sudden, there were persons in uniforms - those I was used to. Two men rolled up a service ladder next to my nose and two young girls, Fifi Kappas and Doris Ruder, climbed up on the ladder. Then the unimaginable happened. Each girl had a handful of red rose petals and they gently dropped them on and over my nose section. One or both girls said I was now christened the "'Spirit of Lincoln' on behalf of the students of Lincoln High School." If I had a heart, it would have grown to be so big and beat so fast at that very moment. Then an older gentleman, Mr. Bryan, principal of Lincoln High School said this, "May the 'Spirit of Lincoln', when it enters into combat, make effective from the skies over Europe the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln, after whom our school and this bomber was named, 'No man is good enough to govern another without that person's consent.'" If I had a heart, it would have broken at that very moment. No one told these kids and their principal there was a very good chance I would never go into combat. They would never see my picture in the paper, read of my accomplishments nor know my crew They were told the Army demanded I be kept a secret, but I don't think that meant a lot to them. I wonder if they would have sold $1,428,500 worth of War Bonds in less than three months if they knew no one could know about what they did. (Probably) The Air Force accepted delivery of me as an XB-39 in January 1944. The remainder of my life as I knew it up to 1946, was spent at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana being taken apart and put back together like a "Tinker Toy." The Air Force did not order any more of my kind. The original engines in the B-29's were still a big problem, but they worked some of the time. If you see my pictures, like the one upper right, my new engines are in place being a different color than the rest of me. The war ended in September 1945, but my engines were still being reconfigured and retested in 1946. On February 21, 1946, one of my engines caught fire while on a test flight at Wright Field. I am not sure what happened to me after that. Once the wars were over, the B-29 was just a memory. There were 2242 B-29's in the USAAF's inventory. Its worth now would be in scrap metal to build those 1947 automobiles everyone wanted. The scrap metal value of a B-29 (me included) was assessed at $509,465 each. The government was hesitant to give us up. Some of my brothers were sent to China Lake, California for storage, others to various cities, some used in the Korean Conflict but most have been lost to time and neglect. I would rather be a memory than a 1947 Chevy. There it is Cleveland. If I could undo a "maybe" wrong and give those Lincoln students recognition, I would. Know this. What they did, they did because they wanted to and should be remembered for their contribution to a war effort which had a favorable outcome for all of you. So this is it for now. Spirit of Lincoln, signing off. Sources: Pimlott, John, B-29 Superfortress. Secaicis (NJ), Chartwell Books, Inc. 1980. LeMay, Curtis E. (General) and Bill Yenne, Superfortress--The B-29 and American Air Power. New York, McGraw Book Co., 1988 Freeman, Roger A. and David A. Anderton, B-17 Fortress/B-29 Superfortress at War. Hong Kong, The Promotional Reprint Company, Ltd., 1996. Lloyd, Alwyn T., B-29--Superfortress, Part I. Blue Ridge Summit (PA), Tab Books, Inc. 1986. Gurney, Gene (Major, USAF), Journey of the Giants. New York Coward-McCoure, Inc., 1961. Morrison, Wilbur H., Birds from Hell: History of the B-29. Central Point (OR), Hellgate Press, 2001. Lincoln Log, student newspaper of Lincoln High School, Cleveland, Ohio, November 1943. National Museum of the USAF (Official museum of the United States Air Force), with fact sheet available on the XB-39. An email from William T. Larkins, Noivember 2006. See also, Lincoln High School, World War II Chronology. Interview with Doris Ruder, December 2006. Department of the Air Force, Air Force Historical Research Agency, February 2007. |
Harbor on December 7, 1941, the name was changed to "War Bonds." The bonds were set to yield 2.9% after a ten year maturity date and could be purchased at 75% of their value. An example: A 25.00 bond would be purchased for $18.75. Bonds came in the following denominations: $10, $25, $50, $75, $100, $200, $500, $1,000, $10,000 and $100,000. A person was encouraged to have a specific amount of money set aside from his paycheck to go towards the purchase of a bond. If one could not afford a Bond, then a War Stamp could be purchased for as little as 10 cents until enough would add up to a bond's worth. It is interesting to note the minimum wage in the early to mid-1940's was 40 cents per hour. Millions of Americans were not covered by the Minimum Wage Act. Many persons made 15 cents or less an hour. If you worked in a defense plant you could bring home almost $40.00 per week if you were a man. Billions of dollars of War Bonds and Stamps were sold from 1942-1945. Americans were bombarded with advertising and messages on the importance of being "war-minded" and purchasing a War Bond was your opportunity to do something for the war effort. |
| The "Spirit of Lincoln" photo provided by and with permission from William T. Larkins http://home.earthlink.net/~wtl Photo taken at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, January 1946. This may be the last known photo of the "Spirit of Lincoln" On February 21, 1946, Spirit had an engine fire and may have been permanently grounded. Update, February 26, 2007: On August 5, 1946, the "Spirit of Lincoln" was decommissioned and sold as scrape metal. |
In 1943 and 1944, in addition to contributing to the War Bond Drive sponsored by Lincoln High School students, private persons, area businesses and churches on the Southside were also collecting money to be used for a monument to honor men and women from the area who were serving in the Armed Services during World War II. The monument was dedicated on June 11, 1944. Made of wood, it lasted only a few years and then had to be torn down because of damage caused by weather and possibly vandals. A list of individuals who were named on the monument is not available at this time. Shown below are the following: Contribution poster (with reverse side), a photo of the monument and the front page of the dedication ceremony handout, a list of persons responsible and sponsors/patrons of the Honor Roll in Lincoln Park and a newspaper article from the Cleveland Press, June 11, 1944. Sources: Cleveland Public Library, multiple departments and collections. Cleveland Press Tremont Civic Association papers, in a private collection Pulaski Post #30 |
"The Tremont area's new Honor Roll gleamed white against the green of Lincoln Park today, a monument to the 3160 men and women in the armed forces from Selective Service Board No. 7." "A parade preceded the unveiling. "Following the invocation by the Very Rev. Joseph P. Hanulya, pastor of the Holy Ghost Greek Catholic Church, they heard speeches by Mayor Lausche, Councilman Paul T. Betley of Ward 7, Lieut. Com. R. H Dombey, officer in charge of Navy recruiting here; Capt. Edward T. Fogo, representing state selective service headquarters, and Louis B. Seltzer, editor of the Press. "School children who helped make the honor roll possible are: Dorothy Jarmusik of 2226 W. 11th street and Joan Drabik of 1510 Brainard avenue of St. John Cantius School; Dorothy Van Alt of 2106 Barber avenue, Jean Flackgarten of 2772 W. 16th street of St. Augustine's School; Irene Miller of 1425 Corwin avenue and John Mihalko of 1421 Fairfield avenue of Our Lady of Mercy School; and, Eddie Sunyak of 2513 W. Sixth street and Eli Manos of 2239 W. 11th street of Tremont School." |
| Under Construction |
| Persons killed in action or dying from their wounds during World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam Conflict (War). These individuals had a street address on the Southside listed as their Home of Record. Information is provided by Bob Camburn of the Greater Cleveland Veterans' Memorial (GCVM). Go to this website for more information on any person you find in the list. The Cuyahoga County Recorder's Office has a link on its website to find Veterans' Grave Sites. The Cleveland Public LIbrary's Necrology File may have an obituary. Check out all of these sites. |
| Persons in the Armed Forces during World War II, from St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Church, Cleveland, Ohio. List includes Killed in Action (KIA) and active duty women and men. |
| Cleveland's Southside |
| Today's Tremont Neighborhood |
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