Bill Ridenour was a B-29 'Superfortress' commander who flew 35 missions over Tokyo, and was a wingman for General Curtis E LeMay. He joined the US Army Air Corp, on 28 Sep 1939 – well before the US commitment to World War II. In an Air Force career spanning 2 decades, Bill would earn the Distinguished Flying Cross several times, and attain the rank of Major. (NOTE: Research on his service career is ongoing, and not yet fully confirmed…)

Wilfred Neville "Bill" Ridenour, born 18 Aug 1921, in Akron, Ohio, was the oldest of three sons of 'Great War' US Army veteran Charles Harper "Dutch" Ridenour. By mid 1930 the family had moved to Sarasota, Florida, where Charles was a celery farmer. The Ridenours had a long tradition of US military service, dating back generations to when their great-grandfathers had been militiamen in the American Revolution. Later, two of Charles' uncles (his father's oldest brothers) were Maryland infantry volunteers, who answered the call to fight for the Union in the Civil War. More recently – in addition to Charles' WWI service – his brother, who faked his age to join the Marines at 15, died of pneumonia while serving in the Corps. The family's younger sons, Charles Leroy, and Elmer Bert "Pat" followed their big brother into WWII when hostilities broke out; in fact, the youngest, Pat, was in three different brances of military service, and took part in THREE major conflicts (Navy, then Army in WWII, and Air Force during Korea & Vietnam) throughout his career.

Well into the war, Bill graduated from Army Air Forces Advanced Flying School, in June 1943, and earned the rank of First Lieutenant. He was honed for a job flying the AAF's newest, and most advanced long-range very heavy bombers, and deployed with the 879th Bombardment Squadron, 499th Bomb Group (VH) (73rd Bomber Wing, XXI Bomber Command, 20th Air Force) when it was sent to the Pacific around September of 1944. The squadron was outfitted with the new B-29 "Superfortress", and stationed, along with the rest of the 73rd Wing, at Isley Field on Saipan (upper Mariana Islands, near Guam) – that was over 1,500 miles from the Japanese mainland (…meaning each 12-16 hour roundtrip mission would cover more than 3000 miles!). They had spent most of the previous year, after activation in Nov. 1943, training in Kansas with B-17s, and working the bugs out of early model B-29s. The mission of the 20th Air Force was the strategic bombardment of the Japanese home Islands and the destruction of its war-making capability. This was primarily accomplished through low-altitude night raids that attacked major urban areas using wide-area firebombing (magnesium, phosphorus, and napalm incendiaries), of course, while facing a whithering onslaught of anti-aircraft fire. This strategy was maintained up to the ending days of the war in July & August of 1945. Bill was initially the pilot of the Thorburn crew, but took command at some point; he is shown standing at top left, next to his pilot John Adams in an existing crew photo, in front of B-29-45-BW, s/n 42-24677 "Doris Anne" (c/n 4438, tail code V Square 46). That aircraft is recorded as being assigned to the 879th, and survived the war, but was scrapped at Pyote AFB, Texas, on 2 April 1951.

Bill stayed with the Air Force after WWII, and it is assumed that he served at some capacity as a bomber pilot, or commander in the Korean Conflict. By 1953, then a captain, he was stationed in Scotland, flying an SB-29 rescue plane (converted bomber), with the 67th AR Squadron of the USAF Air Rescue Service. In December of 1953, he received official commendation for successfully putting his aircraft down in a nighttime emergency crash landing that saved the lives of all onboard. Bill brought the plane in on its belly, with instruments illuminated by a flashlight, after a prop broke loose, which ripped out two engines, tore a hole in the fuselage, and compromised the plane's electrical system.

By the late 1950s he was stationed at Westover AFB, in Chicopee, Massachusetts. He retired from service at the rank of Major, with Command Pilot status, on 30 Nov 1959.

Following his service career, Bill and wife, Alice, ran an antiques shop for many years on the commons of Belchertown, Mass.. He died after a long illness, on 15 February 2010, at age 88, and was buried with military honors at the Massachusetts Veterans' Memorial Cemetery, in Agawam, Massachusetts.

(Submitted by cousin GF Ridenour; January 2015; gfr revised 5/16/15.)