B-29 "Mammy Yokum"

The B-29 bomber "Mammy Yokum" in China during WWII.

At one point this plane was piloted by Rolland Thomas Young, ASN #O684103, who was attached to 792nd Bombardment Squadron (H), 468th Bombardment Group, 58th Bombardment Wing, 20th Air Force on September 4, 1943, with rank of 2nd Lt. He was a captain in the Air National Guard (Indiana) after the war, and served in the Air Force during the Korean War. Rolland Thomas “Rollo” Young went by Tom Young in the military. Young was a native of Akron, Ohio. In later years he was active in CBI veteran groups and a member of American Legion Post 244. He was former president of Our Lady's Rosary Makers, in Louisville, Kentucky. He passed away on November 23, 1997 in Louisville, Kentucky, survived by a wife, daughter, and two grandchildren.

During his wartime service, Young flew as Co-pilot to Major Van Horne for a time, then at the end of October 1944, Young became a Pilot and was assigned a crew, being: Lt. W. Nebbin, Co-Pilot; Lt. Al Cherney, Navigator; Lt. Ed Fiedler, Bombardier; Lt. Rich Fenstermacher, Flight Engineer; T. McNamara, Senior Gunner; Malen Powell, Right Gunner; J. Stick (or "Stich"), Left gunner; Ernie Halco, Tail Gunner; J. Lenau (or "Lenan"), Radio; and John Kirkland, Radar. This crew had just lost their pilot, Capt. Harold W. Barber, who had tagged along with the crew of B-29"Gunga Din" for a checkout flight, after just arriving from the US with the new plane and crew, and that plane had crashed one minute after a night take-off from Chengdu, China, on October 25, 1944, all souls lost. Thus Lt. Young stepped into the challenging role of being a new pilot with a young, green crew that had been through the shocking trauma of unexpectedly losing their first pilot just days before.

This crew "did not have a Radar Man with them when they arrived from the States, so John Kirkland, a well-trained man with combat experience, was assigned to this Crew. Lenau replaced Cpl. Bryce Martin. Their first flight together was on instrument and Pilot checkout for Young by Major Humphrey. He left the plane after all went well with the instrument approach and normal landing." With Young now established as Pilot, with practice bombs aboard, the crew practiced bombing a target in the sea just off the coast of India.

According to Ernie Halco, as the war progressed, Tom Young went back to the States to train other crews, and he was replaced with the crew by Major Skelly.