Oral History Interview with James Norman Price, May 2, 2001

Transcript of an oral interview with James Norman Price. He was born November 6, 1918 on a farm south of Bishop, Texas. He joined the Army Air Corps on November 1, 1941. He recalls spending 25 weeks training in BT-13s and AT-9s at Ontario, California as an Aviation Cadet, receiving his wings and commission followed by training in the B-17 at Seabring, Florida. He and his crew flew to Guadalcanal and to Espirato Santo, where they were assigned to the 11th Air Group. He was then assigned to the 431st Bomber Squadron as co-pilot on a new B-17E to fly reconnaisance and bomber missions for the Navy. He recalls that a journalist, Richard Tregaskis, accompanied them on a flight over Guadalcanal, even firing one of the machine guns. He recalls several of his 36 total missions flying out of Guadalcanal, including one in which his bomber sunk a Japanese cruiser. He recounts several humorous incidents during R&R in Auckland, New Zealand. He recalls that at the end of his duty he embarked on the SS Marmahawk for 18 days transit back to the US. He recounts his next assignment in Alexandria, Virginia training B-17 crews. He recalls next being assigned to the 509th Headquarters Group, 393rd Bomb Squadron, flying B-29s in support of the Manhattan Project training in B-29s under Colonel Paul Tibbets. The squadron soon relocated to Wendover, Utah where he recounts being present during a speech by Tibbets to all Squadron members who were told that they would be going on a mission that might end the war. The training involved dropping dummy atom bombs which were modeled after the Fat Boy. He recalls being at the officer's club bar in Wendover sitting near Earnest Lawrence, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1939. He recounts his crew flying to Tinian where he practiced bombing runs over the island of Truk. He had the assignment as Expediter to ensure that the Enola Gay and its five support planes launched on time for their flight to Hiroshima. He recounts later flying over Nagasaki after that bomb was dropped and observing total devastation. He recalls several other bombing missions between the time the atomic bomb was dropped and the Japanese surrender, and that he was recognized for dropping the last bomb of the war. Finally, he recalls flying his plane back to the US after the Japanese surrendered and being transferred to inactive duty in March 1946.

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