1Lt Clifford J. Anderson (1917-1945) - Find a Grave Memorial

Clifford John Anderson

O-804130Clifford J Anderson 1Lt NY 1-6-1945 B-29 #42-24524 TRI-N-17

Enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 13 May 1942 at Fort Jay on Governors Island in New York Harbor. Completed Primary and Basic Flight Training; then commissioned a 2nd Lt in the USAAF. Underwent B-29 aircraft operational training at Smoky Hill Army Air Field near Salina, Kansas.

Deployed to the China-Burma-India theatre as part of 20th Air Force Operation Matterhorn to bomb Japan using staging bases around the Chengdu airdrome complex in China.

Subsequently redeployed to the central pacific theatre of operations and was assigned to XXI Bomber Command, 58th Bomb Wing, 444th Bombardment Group (VH), 676th Bomber Squadron stationed at West Field on Tinian in the Mariana Islands.

On 1 June 1945, he flew in the left seat as the Airplane Command Pilot aboard a Boeing B-29 Superfortress nicknamed "Super Mouse" (serial # 42-24524) tail code Triangle-N-17.

www.444thbg.org - 676th Squadron

It was one of 458 aircraft launched in a multi-wing multi-group formation to bombard the urban manufacturing area at Osaka on the island of Honshu, Japan. On the way to the target, the group formation was attacked by Japanese fighter planes. His B-29 was attacked by a single-engine fighter which damaged the forward compartment instrument panels and caused loss of cabin pressurization.

The aircraft stayed in formation, but after the bomb run; it was noted that the fuel gages, tachometers, compass, radar, and upper forward gun turret were all inoperative; with hydraulic fluid leaking onto the floor. Approximately 117 nautical miles south of Osaka Bay, he was killed when the aircraft went into a violent left bank and exploded into a fireball over the ocean.

MACR 14598

There was only one survivor, the Tail Gunner, TSgt Daniel J. Serritello, ASN: 16001685 https://www.fold3.com/page/84329476-daniel-j-serritello