Richard Baile was born in December 1920 on a farm in Missouri east of Kansas City near the town of Washburn. They had a rough time during the depression. The depression brought on other problems in addition to the financial problems. They had a benefit living on a farm in that they could produce their own food. Baile's dad was a very strong individual. Every Sunday they went to Sunday school and church in their old Studebaker Erskine. Later on his father distinguished himself as a county judge. His grandfather owned several farms and planned to put his sons on them as farmers. His grandfather had ten children but one of them died young. There were two girls and seven boys. Two of them decided that they did not want to be farmers so they moved to California to make their own way. When Baile got out of the service his father told him that he wanted to buy 200 acres to add to the 440 they already had so Baile could make a good living on it but he told his father that he was not going to farm. It was too tough. Baile went to college and graduated from a teachers college in Washburn. He graduated with a degree in mathematics with a minor in physics in 1942. In December 1941 when the attack on Pearl Harbor took place he was in the frat house with about 15 other guys. After hearing the news, nearly every one of them went to Kansas City and enlisted in the various services. Baile went to the Navy. He wanted to be a naval aviator. When the old chief had him read numbers out of a book it was discovered that he was color blind. Baile had already taken the Civilian Pilot Training Program and was rated to fly from zero to 80. He had passed the color blindness test there by matching pieces of yarn that were the same color but the chief turned him down anyway because he had read the wrong numbers. The chief suggested that he try the Army Air Force which he did. The sergeant there gave him the yarn test he had passed before. He passed it and became an aviation cadet. He was told to go back to school and that he would be called when they needed him. This was in late January or early February [Annotator's Note: 1942]. Baile returned to college and completed his degree that summer then went to work for Proctor and Gamble on a soap sampling crew. He worked in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. When he got home in the fall of 1942 he got the call and was ordered to report to Kelly Air Force Base [Annotator's Note: Kelly Field, Texas].

Richard Baile was given a rigid physical which was going well until they gave him the color blind test again. This time is was the same book the Navy used and he failed the test. He was washed out of the cadet program but remained in the Army Air Force as a private. He was put to work teaching cadets elementary physics. He was promoted to buck sergeant. One day he saw an advertisement for non-flying cadets. He signed up and was accepted. He became the cadet commander of the base. Baile had to take another physical. A doctor was going down the line listening to their heart beats. The doctor detected a heart murmur in Baile so he was sent to see a specialist who concurred. Baile protested to his colonel and was sent to see another doctor who cleared him for duty. Baile went to the school of engineering at Yale. He got his second lieutenant bars at Yale. From there he was sent to Seattle to learn to work on B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber]. He spent quite a bit of time at the plant where the planes were being built. Baile was rated a flight engineer and sent to Denver, Colorado to put what he had learned into practice on B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. He had a great time in Denver. He had afternoons off and played a lot of golf. From Denver Baile was sent to McCook, Nebraska where he trained in B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. McCook was on the main line of the Northern Pacific [Annotator's Note: the Northern Pacific Railroad] and every Saturday night the train would stop and a named band would get off and perform. Local girls went to the base and they would have dances.

[Annotator's Note: Richard Baile served in the USAAF and as a flight engineer on B-29 bombers.] Finally, they got their B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] and their crew was put together. After picking up the plane they flew to Sacramento then from there to Hickam Field in Hawaii. They carried an extra engine in the bomb bay which was a good thing because they lost an engine during the flight to Hawaii. It took about two weeks for the engine to be replaced and during that time the crew was able to travel all over Oahu. They flew from Hawaii to Kwajalein. Accommodations on Kwajalein were minimal. After refueling on Kwajalein they flew to Tinian. This was in late January [Annotator's Note: January 1945]. They did some training to prepare for combat. The runways there were made of crushed coral. When they first got there the crews lived in pup tents and ate K rations. To get from their pup tents to the flight line they rode in six by six trucks. The Navy Seabees of the construction battalions arrived on Tinian. They paved the roads and runways and built Quonset huts and mess halls. They did this almost overnight. They were very fast and very efficient. The Seabees had fresh eggs for breakfast whereas the air crews were eating Spam but the airmen had access to whiskey so they would swap with the Seabees for food. The Seabees made things out of the shells they found. Baile began flying combat missions. A terrible thing happened on their eighth mission. Their plane, the Big Wheel, was scheduled to go out that night. That afternoon one of Baile's friends suggested that they go swimming which they did. They were playing around in the water and Baile took off one of his shoes and threw it into the water. Baile's friend decided to swim down and get it. The water was 15 or 20 feet deep where they were. His friend retrieved the shoe but busted something in his ear in the process. He went to see the flight surgeon and they discovered that he had busted his ear drum. Another crew took the Big Wheel up that night. Upon take off the plane lost an engine. The pilot was able to get the plane in the air but he did not have enough electrical power to jettison the bomb load. The plane then lost a second engine. When the pilot headed back he crashed about a quarter of a mile from the end of the runway. The crash killed everyone aboard except the tail gunner. Baile often wonders if things would have been different if his crew had been aboard.

To fill personnel losses resulting from accidents and combat, Richard Baile's crew was broken up. He was made the squadron flight engineer then group flight engineer and was promoted to first lieutenant. His job was to fly with the replacement crews to make sure the flight engineers knew what they were doing. Some of those flights were more dangerous than combat missions he had been flying. One day an interesting thing happened. They were flying at 30,000 to 35,000 feet waiting for the other planes to get into formation. By the time they get everyone into position and started heading for the target they were running low on fuel. A lot of guys said that they could not make it back if they went. They dropped their bombs in the ocean and returned to base. They were carrying 10,000 gallons of gas in the bomb bays in addition to the bomb load. The fuel and bombs together brought the total weight of the airplane to over 170,000 pounds. Another mission Baile and his crew took part in was the 9 March [Annotator's Note: 1945] incendiary raid on Tokyo. Baile cannot believe how horrible it was. General Curtis LeMay took over and made some changes. He ordered that the bomb bay tanks be removed so they can carry more bombs. He also ordered that the planes were to attack individually and not in formation and they were to do so at low altitude. These tactics were very effective. On the 9 March raid they put more than 100 planes over the target. Baile's aircraft was to go over the target around three in the morning. The fires burning in Tokyo were so intense that they could see them from many miles away. When they got over the target the turbulence was so bad that it took both pilots to control the plane. They got to the target and dropped their bombs then turned around and headed back to Tinian. The fires had been so bright that Baile could have read a newspaper in the cockpit of the plane. They had destroyed about 16 square miles of Tokyo and killed more than 100,000 civilians. They did this because of Japan's cottage industry. Parts were manufactured and assembled in many different locations around the city. Baile believes that the fire bombing of Tokyo was worse than Hiroshima [Annotator's Note: he is referring to the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945]. Baile had seen the Enola Gay parked on Tinian. They were told that the Enola Gay was being used to conduct experiments. On the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima they were in the air and heard about it on the radio. Baile's crew flew a power display mission during which about 500 B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] flew up and down the coast of Japan at low altitude. They flew over Hiroshima and Baile was able to see the destruction that had resulted from the atomic bomb's detonation. They had prepared themselves for an invasion of Japan but that was not necessary because of what the B-29s did.

[Annotator's Note: Richard Baile served in the USAAF as a flight engineer on B-29 bombers in the 9th Bombardment Group, 20th Air Force based on Tinian.] The B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] was a wonderful piece of equipment. It was pressurized so they could fly at very high altitude. It was manned by a crew of 11. Their missions averaged 12 hours. The B-29s could carry a huge bomb load and had a huge range. Hap Arnold [Annotator's Note: USAAF General Henry H. Arnold] was in charge of the air force at that time and he told the president that a long range bomber was needed. Boeing turned out 4,000 of them. Baile liked a lot of things about the B-29. It was a bigger and better airplane. Baile had an interesting experience one day. A call was received from Guam stating that General Doolittle [Annotator's Note: General James H. Doolittle] needed a crew to fly him back to Washington DC. Baile was selected to be the flight engineer. His commander told them that they were to fly the general home then load up the airplane with supplies because many of the troops there were going to be there for a while. They left Guam and flew to Kwajalein then from there to Hickam [Annotator's Note: Hickam Field in Hawaii]. From Hickam they flew to Sacramento. It was a little more than four hours from Hickam to Sacramento. During that leg of the flight an engine went out. They feathered it and continued the flight. They refueled in Sacramento then flew on to Tinker [Annotator's Note: now Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma] then from there to National Airport in Washington DC. They were put up at the Mayflower Hotel. Baile left the hotel early the next morning and bumped into Doolittle who was about to take off in a B-25 [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber]. Doolittle is the one who had taken off from a carrier and showed Japan that they were not invulnerable. They checked out and were all set to fly home [Annotator's Note: back to Tinian] when a sergeant told them that he had seen their records and that they all had enough points to get discharged. They made their way back to Sacramento where they were discharged. Baile was a first lieutenant. When he was being discharged the sergeant told him that if he wanted to stay in the service he would receive the permanent rank of Master Sergeant. Baile declined. He was ready to get back into the civilian world.

The military taught Richard Baile discipline. It also gave him another education. The combination of his college education and military service put him in good shape. He went home and was offered a job through his college placement office teaching high school math in Nevada, Missouri at 200 dollars per month for nine months. He decided to go to Tulsa to look for work. He went to Tulsa because his aunt was a well known teacher there. Baile thought about getting into marketing but Tulsa was not a marketing town. He decided to go back to Kansas City but, before he left, his aunt suggested that he call a guy named Chris Van Horn [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] who worked for a company called Stanolind. He did so and Van Horn gave him the name of the company's head geophysicist, Wendell Hawks. Baile went to see Hawks and was hired on the spot. He was sent to Texarkana, Texas where he trained in geophysics. The pay was about 200 or 225 dollars per month. Between the time he was hired and the time he reported to Texarkana he took some time off and went home. There he ran into a friend and asked about a girl he went to school with named Francis Fricke [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. The two started dating and got married six months later and settled down in Alexandria, Louisiana. They had five children but lost their oldest son about a year before this interview.

The Civilian Pilot Training Program was offered in college and students would receive one credit hour. Richard Baile took part in it. Baile has always liked the idea of flying. When he was a child on the farm an old Ford trimotor aircraft landed near his house. The pilot of that plane was offering short rides for one dollar his father let him fly in it. He signed up for the Civilian Pilot Training Program. Their airfield was nothing more than a cow pasture. They flew Porterfields, Piper Cubs, and Taylorcraft airplanes. They were all single engine simple planes. Baile soloed and made his cross country flight. He hit all his points and got his license. Baile feels that had he not been color blind he could have become a bomber pilot. That class, 43G [Annotator's Note: Class 43G graduated in July 1943], was sent to B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liebrator heavy bomber]. They were sent to Naples, Italy then flew from there to Romania to bomb Ploesti. The bomber force suffered 50 percent casualties. Baile wonders if he would have been one of them. He also counts himself lucky that his friend McNeil punctured his ear drum and got the whole crew grounded [Annotator's Note: when the crew was grounded another crew took their plane up and it crashed killing everyone aboard except the tail gunner]. He seemed to always be in the right place and feels he was spared for a reason. Finding Francis [Annotator's Note: his wife] also had a major impact on his life. The flight engineer sat behind the pilot and aircraft commander and copilot and checked all of the functions of the plane. When Baile was commissioned he was commissioned as a line engineering officer. Baile's crew all thought alike. They were optimistic. None of them thought they would be shot down.

Richard Baile's crew all thought alike. They were optimistic. None of them thought they would be shot down. Baile does not remember feeling much fear. He did during the firebombing raid [Annotator's Note: the firebombing raid on Tokyo, Japan on 12 March 1945]. The turbulence was unbelievable. In 1966 Baile went to Hiroshima. The town was brand new and busy as could be. MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General Douglas MacArthur] did a great job of helping Japan get back on its feet. The host insisted that Baile go through the city's war museum which he did. He did not tell them that he had been a B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber] crewman. There was no point in that. He was treated very well. Japan rebuilt beautifully. Baile was sorry to see what happened to MacArthur later in life. He was an ego maniac but he was a good and strong general. MacArthur told Truman [Annotator's Note: President Harry S. Truman] that they should go fight China. Truman flew to Korea and fired MacArthur. Truman was the one who made the decision to drop the bomb [Annotator's Note: the atomic bombs]. He was a country boy from Kansas City. There were certain events that happened to allow Truman to be in the position he was in. He was almost added to the ballot as an afterthought when Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: President Franklin D. Roosevelt] was running for his fourth term. When Roosevelt died, Truman took over and turned out to be a heck of a president. Baile finds it interesting how great men become great.

Richard Baile and other airmen who took part in the nighttime firebombing raid on Tokyo still have reunions. At one the reunions a Japanese film crew was allowed to film and interview some of the veterans. One of the Japanese asked Baile if he felt any guilt about bombing Tokyo and killing all of those people. He replied that he did not because he was a soldier and did what he was told to do. He is sorry that those people lost their lives but feels no regret for doing his job. Baile believes that the peace the United States enjoys to this day is a result of the atomic bomb. He also believes that the agreement between the United States and Russia to reduce their nuclear arsenals is a great thing. Baile believes that with the fossil fuels beneath the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Middle Eastern countries like Iran could be starved out and Venezuela's rush to communism could be slowed a bit. Obama should be given time to see if he can resolve the rift between the United States and Iran.

Richard Baile feels that it is important to teach young people about World War 2 but feels that teaching young people ethics is even more important. They need to be taught what is right. Congress is having big problems now. Politics has become a profession. The different branches of government need to communicate more efficiently. The EPA and other agencies should not be able to do as they please. They should be responsible to the congress and the president. Baile loves museums. He feels that they are a great way to educate kids. There is a geophysical museum in Tulsa that did not have many visitors until they began running high school groups through it. The Museum of Fine Art in Houston and The National WWII Museum in New Orleans are great museums. The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa is another wonderful museum showcasing Native American folklore. Baile's message to future generations is that citizens of any country have to respond to their government. People need to get out and vote. The riots that accompany elections in other countries bother Baile. This country does not need that. To his family Baile says that he is thankful for all of them. His daughters have all become very accomplished. His son lives in Austin and builds middle class homes. He is very happy with his family and feels that they should keep doing what they are doing.