Henry Eugene "Red" Erwin, Sr. is a recipient of the Medal of Honor which he earned aboard a heavy bomber whose design exceeded the cost of what?
Henry E. Erwin Henry Eugene "Red" Erwin, Sr., (May 8, 1921 – January 16, 2002) was a United States Army Air Forces airman and a recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II. He earned the award as a staff sergeant and radio operator aboard a B-29 Superfortress in the Asia-Pacific theater. During a 1945 bombing mission over Koriyama, Japan, a white phosphorus bomb prematurely ignited in his aircraft and seriously wounded him. As smoke filled the plane, he picked up the burning device and carried it through the aircraft to the cockpit where he tossed it out a window. Although he suffered severe burns, he successfully saved his plane and all crew members aboard by disposing of the incendiary/smoke-generating bomb.
Interstate Aircraft Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation was a small American aircraft manufacturer in production from April 1937 to 1945, based in El Segundo, California. In 1940 they developed the Cadet, a 2-seat monoplane. The Model S-1B was developed into the XO-63, later redesignated to the XL-6. A total of 259 of the XO-63/L-6/L-8 series were built for the US Army Air Forces. The company also manufactured a trainer for the US Navy which was developed in only nine months, from the first blueprints to first flight of the prototype. The company also manufactured bomb shackles, machine gun and cannon chargers, hydraulic actuators, and other aircraft components.