Delmar Stevens
B-29 Pilot
Artwork and Research By;
Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette
Aviation Art Store
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There are only 350 Limited Edition prints in this series.
Signed and numbered by the Artist and autographed by Captain Stevens.
Poster print price $17.95. Shipping Anywhere in USA, $5.00.
There were only 275 poster prints published in this series.
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This is my painting of "Battlin' Beauty". Painting size is 2x4 feet.
I met Delmar Stevens at a small air show in Keystone Heights, Florida in February 2009. I told him that I had not worked with a B-29 pilot and asked if he was interested. He said yes.
This is a great photo of Stevens bomber artwork.
This is Stevens and his crew with their B-29, "Superstitious Aloysious". This was his second B-29 he flew over Japan.
Airplane Commander, Delmar Stevens
Delmar Stevens was born in 1920 in Michigan. He graduated form
It was 1943 when Delmar arrived at Pratt Air
Field in
However, by the time they reached
As they were heading back to Pratt, Wilkinson and Stevens were going over procedures for landing. The bomber was all electrical operated by six generators. Three of the generators were on the dead engines and they worried if the remaining generators were able to operate the landing gear and the flaps at the same time. Wilkinson had Stevens lower the landing gear first and hold off on the flaps. This was a wise decision because they were running the risk of either the landing gear or the flaps but not both would work. As a consequence the flaps did not fully lower as the wheels hit the runway. Since the landing speed was faster than normal, both pilot and co-pilot stood on the brakes as they ran off the end of the runway into a snow bank. The right tire had blown and was on fire yet everyone was safe.
Other flights followed until the group was
ready for combat. They were then transferred to
Once in
Replacement crews were already filtering
into the squadrons replacing crews that had been lost in combat and accidents as
well as seriously injured personal were sent back to the States. Some crew
members were sent back to train new crews. New pilots were first sent on
missions as co-pilots with an experienced pilot and crew before they got their
own bomber with the crew they had trained with in the States. The pilot and crew
were trained together but the pilot had to gain experience first and then he
would be assigned a bomber manned by his crew. Unfortunately one of the new
pilots was shot down on a mission over
Stevens said that he was fortunate because
the crew he inherited were well trained and worked together as a team. Together
they flew thirty missions all over South East Asia with many missions over
I asked him to describe one aerial combat encounter. He said that the Japanese figured out that attacking the rear of the B-29 was suicidal so they would attack head on. During one mission as Stevens was concentrating on his bomb run over the Japanese Naval base, Kure, when a twin engine fighter attacked his bomber head on. With both aircraft racing towards each other the rate of closure was quick. At first Stevens was sure that the Japanese was going to forfeit his life and collide with his B-29. With Stevens sitting in the front row set he admitted he was anxious when at the last moment the twin engine fighter swerved sharply to the left and tore off the wing of his wing mans B-29 next to him sending the bomber and crew down. Yet the Japanese twin-engine fighter did damage the right aileron of Stevens bomber but not enough to hinder the flying capabilities of the bomber.
On two missions he had to land at Iwo Jima
after missions to
Mid-air collisions were
common during large bombing missions. Stevens recounted two episodes for me that
were way to close for comfort. On one mission over Japanese held Saigon, Stevens
and the formation of B-29’s found themselves flying into inclement weather.
They decided to approach the target in single file one at a time. As Stevens was
leaving the target another B-29 drifted right across his bombers path. Stevens
said that the other bomber was close enough to reach out and touch. Weather it
was a few feet or a few meters Stevens was lucky to have avoided a mid-air
collision.
During another mission the
group went into heavy anti-aircraft fire in a twelve plane formation. After the
lead bomber dropped his bombs he would usually bank away in a slow shallow turn
for all the other bombers to be able to follow while in formation. However the
lead bomber unexpectedly banked away too sharply banking up on his wing, flying
right through the entire group narrowly missing every bomber. Surely a
miscalculation on the behalf of the lead bomber pilots, yet these acts would
bring down quite a few Superfortresses
during the campaign.
The first raid on
After leaving the burning
city Stevens had his crew check the bomber over inside and out as best they
could to see if the aircraft suffered any damage from the extreme wind-sheer.
They found no popped rivets or buckling in the wings or fuselage proving that
the B-29 was truly a sturdy aircraft.
Stevens flew a total of
thirty-six missions. The first twenty missions were flown out of their airbase
in
Stevens’s last mission was
on July 4, 1945. As Stevens flew his last missions out of Tinian, the B-29 group that was commanded by Paul Tibbets was arriving for their
up-coming historic flight. Stevens said that there were plenty of rumors running
around about the secret mission Tibbets squadron was up-to, yet no one really
knew until the first atomic bombs were dropped.
When his tour ended his
commanding officer asked if he wanted to stay and serve on his staff but Stevens
had a baby daughter that he had not seen yet so he requested leave back to the
States.
During his service Stevens earned the Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with 4 Battle Stars and the Presidential Unit Citation.
This is Delmar autographing the painting of the "Battlin Beauty".
Here is Delmar and the Artist.
On July 5, 2010 I got a call from Delmar's family. They wanted to let me know that He had passed away the day before.
On July 4, 2010 I spent almost all day and into the night typing on my first book. I found the experience the most patriotic thing I had ever done. I spent hours and hours reading and writing about the bravest men that ever fought for our country under the most unusual conditions. Our Aviators. Even though I was not writing at the moment about Delmar the day he passed away, I do know that he served the United States of America with the cool-headed legionary assuredness that all American bomber pilot are known for.
Delmar always took his Superfortress and crew to the target and back. Incredible challenges from extreme weather conditions to Japanese fighters. Eight hour plus missions. Delmar Stevens passed away on July the Fourth, Two-Thousand and Ten.
Interesting B-29 facts;
That is incredible. This fairly much says that if your B-29 was shot down, you could pretty much kiss it all good-bye. However, each man held his own conviction that "it wouldn't happen to him." How stout the heart can be when the need arises.
I would like to add that I do not doubt the statistics but I do want to see this referenced in another book. The consequences are astounding. I was wondering why the Japanese did not make a better account of themselves, and apparently they did a great job of defending their island as best they could. The Japanese were simply overwhelmed by our numbers as were the Germans.
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Posted March 22, 2009