John Joseph "Jack" Berning

12 Aug 1943 graduates from the USAAF Navigation School at Hondo Field, Texas.

Jack underwent B-29 aircraft transition and combat crew training at Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas.

In 1944, his crew staged thru Herington, Kansas and deployed from Mather Field, California (with re-fueling stops at Hawaii and Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands) to the Pacific Theatre of Operations (PTO) and was assigned to 20th Air Force, XXI Bomber Command, 73rd Bomb Wing, 497th Bombardment Group, 870th Bomber Squadron stationed at Isely Field on Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

Bomb-Nav: O-741445John J Berning 1Lt AZ 14-1-1945 #42-24807

John J. Berning (unknown-1946) - Find a Grave Memorial

On 14 January 1945, he flew as the Bombardier (MOS 1035) aboard a Boeing B-29-50-BW (Boeing Wichita) Superfortress serial #42-24807 tail code: A-Square-26 (2nd).

Note: the first B-29 "Lucky Irish" A-SQ-26 (1) was rammed over Tokyo on 24 Nov 1944.

A-SQ-26 (2nd) was one of 73 aircraft launched in a multi-group formation to bombard the Mitsubishi Aircraft Factory near Nagoya, Honshu, Japan. After a flight of approximately seven hours and some 1,200 nautical miles, his aircraft reached their check-point above Mount Fuji on the main island of Honshu, and began their bomb-run towards Nagoya.

During the bomb run, his B-29 was hit with anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) fire; causing engine failure. The crew could not feather the prop. Subsequently, the prop windmilled off and the B29 lost a second engine. Last radio contact was with A-SQ-21 and A-SQ-24 when the crew signaled their intention to ditch over the Southwest Pacific.

There was no eye-witness account of the ditching. The crew was initially declared MIA, and then KIA one year later on 15 Jan 1946.

Ref: MACR 11223