Rare Operational B-29 FiFi Upclose

Recently, the B-29 "FiFi" made it's return to the Camarillo Airport's WWII Aviation Museum for a one week visit. The vintage bomber built in July 1945 was recently featured in the AMC drama Better Call Saul. It is one of two B-29's in the world that can still fly. 

 

For those who may not be familiar with this plane, it entered service too late for WWII. She served with the Navy was later slated to be used for target practice until she was recovered from China Lake in 1971. 

 

Using parts from other B-29 wrecks at China Lake, this B-29 was eventually brought back to life.

 And here's yours truly doing his best "Major Fudge Talbot" impression.

We are told that members of the cast of Better Call Saul made an appearance on Sunday April 23rd. If you have not seen the show, its about a shady lawyer who will stop at nothing to get new clients. In the following clip, we see Bob Odenkirk's character Jimmy McGill, (also known as Saul Goodman) films a commercial with a retiree posing as a WWII hero. While we do not in any way endorse STOLEN VALOR , this still made for great comedy and provided a spotlight for this amazing vintage aircraft. Please enjoy!

To learn more about this aircraft, visit FiFi on Wikipedia

President Obama Visits Hiroshima

In an event no one ever saw coming, President Obama became the first United States President to visit Hiroshima. It had been a long desire for him to do so and we at American Mishima are thankful that this historic moment has been made. Joined by Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, President Obama made the pilgrimage to Peace Memorial Park and laid a wreath for the the 125,000 people that died there from the Atomic Bomb dropped by the B-29 Enola Gay. This figure included mostly civilian men, women, children, a number of Koreans, and a dozen American POW's. This figure does not include the untold thousands that died later from radiation sickness. 

It is most poignant that for an American President to visit Hiroshima. Not to apologize, but to mourn those lives lost and speak of peace. We are pleased that the president met with three Hibakusha present and later spoke of the peace that was forged from this terrible weapon that unleashed its indescribable cruelty that was later repeated in Nagasaki. Japan and the United States have become the best of friends since those dark days near the end of WWII.

"That is why we come to this place. We stand here, in the middle of this city and force ourselves to imagine the moment the bomb fell. We force ourselves to feel the dread of children confused by what they see. We listen to a silent cry.

We remember all the innocents killed across the arc of that terrible war and the wars that came before and the wars that would follow. Mere words cannot give voice to such suffering, but we have a shared responsibility to look into the eye of history and ask what we must do differently to curb such suffering again.

Someday the voices of the Hibakusha will no longer be with us to bear witness, but the memory of the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, must never fade. That memory allows us to fight complacency. It fuels our moral imagination. It allows us to change. And since that fateful day, we have made choices that give us hope." - President Barrack Obama 2016.

Reflections: The Human Cost of War 71 Years Later

In this famous photo, a lone Japanese Soldier returns home to Hiroshima at the wars end only to find nothing of the home he left behind. It has been 71 years since the Japanese Surrender in 1945 and generations later, opinions and emotions vary. We often try to stay clear of the issue largely in part because there are some people out there born long after the war who maintain historical grudges. For them, there is nothing anyone can do. We find it pointless to get into how the war started or how it ended. What has happened has happened. It's the human cost that ultimately weighs past the butchers bill cut in gardens of stone. Generations will continue to look back and continue this debate long after we are gone. Those who have fought this war have all but left us now. It's up to the historians and those who care enough to know of this great tragedy, to retell the tales, and teach the lessons of total war so that they never be repeated. And while Japan has emerged from its catastrophic defeat into a modern nation, there are still those who fear the future as being the past. 

It is indeed surreal to see images of my fellow countrymen being shot out of the sky as this unfortunate crew of this B-29 seen in this photo. Surreal and sad as it is for those on the ground. How lucky for America that neither Japan or Nazi Germany had the technology or resources to bomb America's cities into the firestorms that killed so many civilians hiding in their bomb shelters experiencing a terror we shall never know. I think of the words of my dear friend John O'Hara who witnessed his home in Osaka being bombed by American B-29's. His eyes would light up as he recall the sounds of the explosions. He was only a boy but even today in his twilight years he can never forget the sounds of Osaka burning. There are so few people left who can tell you these tales. Only now has more film footage surfaced showing those last desperate battles in the sky over Japan. It is sad and heart wrenching to see both your fellow countrymen die and your tomodachi suffer. They say that is war and the only real winner is who is left. Those who ignore these lessons and sabre rattle are playing a dangerous game. Even now a new Cold War is an incident away from turning hot. Peace is always the best policy but to protect the peace we must always be on guard for the latter. How fortunate are we to live in the Heisei Era where America and Japan are the best of Allies. May we never be at war again.