Copyright 2010 * All rights reserved
J.C. (Jim) Tumblin, OD, DOS
3604 Kesterwood Drive, East
Knoxville, Tennessee 37918-2557
(865) 687-1948

Part I  

Eponym: "They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint." (Isaiah 40:31)  

In the 1940s the Central High School Yearbook often contained that traditional year book feature--the Class Will. “Bud” Mynatt submitted this bequest for the 1942 annual: “Being of sound mind and body (I) do hereby bequeath my undivided heart to Carolyn Cruze.”

In fulfillment of that promise, Bud and Carolyn were married in First Baptist Church, Knoxville by Dr. Fred Brown on Dec. 16, 1944. By that date, Lt. Mynatt had joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and flown many missions over Belgium, France, Germany and Poland.

Now, many years later, following very successful careers, the Mynatts live in retirement in the Deane Hill subdivision in West Knoxville tending their beautiful lawn and garden. Their showplace has many exotic plants and is so spectacular that it is a featured Open Garden during the Dogwood Arts Festival each year.

James Dewey “Bud” Mynatt Jr. was born on April 18, 1924, the second of the three children of James D. Mynatt Sr. (1898-1976) and Ada Best Mynatt (1906-1984). He attended Fountain City Grammar School and graduated from Central High School in 1942.

In the early 1940s, the Mynatt family home at 744 Maple Drive was a beehive of activity with three active teen-agers, but the ominous portents of World War II cast a cloud over the future of that generation that Tom Brokaw would later call “The Greatest Generation.”

Soon after his graduation from high school, Bud Mynatt joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was sent to the Classification Center in Nashville where more than four weeks of extensive physical and psychological testing determined his aptitude for one of the Air Corps specialties.

He qualified for training for the premier assignment as a pilot and was sent to Maxwell Air Force Base at Montgomery, Ala. for three months of pre-flight training. In a typical armed forces “crash” course, he pursued the customary college liberal arts curriculum, plus meteorology, celestial navigation, Morse code, history of the Air Corps and numerous other courses.

His next assignment was for Primary Flight Training at Carlstrom Field in Arcadia, Fla. The Air Force had contracted with the Riddle Aeronautical Institute there in early 1941 to provide flight training. Civilian instructors, some of them crusty veterans of the early barnstorming days, conducted the training. During his two and one-half months at Carlstrom, Mynatt soloed in a bi-plane trainer and learned the basics of flying, including control of the aircraft during loops, rolls, spins, hammerheads and Immelmann turns.

Then he was assigned to the Bainbridge Army Airfield Base near Bainbridge, Ga. for two months training in Vultee’s Stearman BT-13 Vibrator, a heavier single- engine plane much more powerful than the primary bi-plane trainer. It required the student pilot to use two way radio communications with the ground and to operate landing flaps and a two-position variable pitch propeller. It did not, however, have retractable landing gear or a hydraulic system and the large flaps were operated by a basic crank-and-cable system.

Cadet Mynatt was then sent to Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Ga. for advanced twin-engine training. This Phase III program was designed to train cadets to fly transports and bombers. Flying the Beech AT-10 Wichita was quite a challenge, but Mynatt earned his wings and a commission as a second lieutenant.

In November 1943 at only 19 1/2 years of age, he was assigned to Salt Lake City, Utah, where the ten-man B-24 crews were assembled. The crews would train as a unit and remain intact for overseas assignment. Lt. Mynatt and his crew were in Squadron 848, one of the four squadrons in the 490^th Bombardment Group. Each squadron had 12 planes at full strength, therefore 48 planes constituted a Bombardment Group.

In late December, the 490^th was reassigned to Mountain Home Army Air Field 40 miles southeast of Boise near Mountain Home, Idaho, where they were introduced to their four-engine B-24H Liberator planes for the first time. In April 1944; after four very intensive months of training in formation flying, defensive tactics, and high altitude flight and night navigation, they were ready to be sent overseas.

When compared to the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 was a more modern design with a higher top speed, greater range and a heavier bomb load. It was also more difficult to fly, requiring heavier exercise of the controls and had poor formation-flying characteristics. Eventually the B-24 was the most produced aircraft during World War II (more than 18,000), thanks to efficient assembly lines and the harnessing of American industry.

Stephen Ambrose, author of “The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany” described the B-24 Liberator:

The Liberator comes by its neglected treatment in history, and its earned reputation as an ugly duckling quite fairly, as the following description of conditions in the plane attests. "Steering the four-engined airplane was difficult and exhausting, as there was no power except the pilot's muscles. It had no windshield wipers, so the pilot had to stick his head out the side window to see (taxi) during a rain...there was no heat, despite temperatures that at 20,000 feet and higher got as low as 40 or 50 degrees below zero...the seats were not padded, could not be reclined, and were cramped into so small a space that a man had almost no chance to stretch and none whatsoever to relax. Absolutely nothing was done to make it comfortable for the pilot, co-pilot, or the other eight men in the crew..." Yet, as with all ugly ducklings, it had its day and earned its admirers.

 Ambrose said, "It would be an exaggeration to say that the B-24 won the war for the Allies. But don't ask how they could have won the war without it."

Next month’s article will discuss Lt. Mynatt’s assignment to Great Britain where he became a part of the Mighty Eighth Air Force and would eventually fly 35 missions, earning four Air Medals, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and his unit, the 490^th Bombardment Group, would be awarded a Presidential Citation.

Author’s Note: Thanks to James D. “Bud” and Carolyn (Cruze) Mynatt for their assistance with the text and photographs for this article. Additional tables and photographs may be found at http://www.fountaincitytnhistory.info/  

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