1Lt Donald Edward Hardy (1920-1945) - Find A Grave Memorial

Enlisted as an Aviation Cadet in the Army Air Corps in April 1942 at New York.

Completed Primary and Basic flight training, and graduated with Advanced Pilot Class 42-? and received pilot wings at ????? Field, ?????.

Class 43-4-J at Roswell Army Flying School, New Mexico.

September 1943: B-17 Pilot transferred from Smoky Hill AAF to 777th BS, 462nd BG (H) at Walker AAF, Kansas.

October 1943: married to Miss Betty Kerr of Salina, Kansas.

Volunteered for the B-29 Program and underwent aircraft transition and combat crew training at Walker Army Air Field near Victoria, Kansas. November 1944: deployed from Mather Field, California to the Central Pacific Theatre of Operations and was assigned to 20th Air Force, XXI Bomber Command, 73rd Bomb Wing, 500th Bombardment Group (VH), 881st Bomb Squadron stationed at Isley Field on Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

10 April 1945: promoted to First Lieutenant.

During the night of 25-26 May 1945, he flew in the right seat as a Pilot aboard a Boeing B-29-60-BW Superfortress tail code Z-Square-13 (serial #44-69755).

It was one of 464 aircraft launched in a multi-group formation to bombard the Tokyo urban areas immediately south of the Imperial Palace. After the bomb-run, his aircraft sustained damage to the right wing resulting in a fire, and was seen to crash in the sea.

Donald Edward Hardy (1920-1945) - Find A Grave Memorial

Donald E Hardy