Operational History:
The first assignment of the B-32 began when General George Kenney the commander of Allied air forces in the South West Pacific Area, and commander of the U.S. Fifth Air Force, travelled to Washington D.C. to request B-29s. Since needs were higher elsewhere in the Pacific Theatre, Kenney’s request was denied. After that, he requested the B-32. Following a demonstration, the Army General Staff agreed that he could conduct a combat evaluation, and a test schedule of eleven missions was set up. If successful, the B-32 would replace all B-24s in the Pacific. The plan was to convert the 312th Bombardment Group (Light), a Douglas A-20 Havoc outfit, to B-32s. Special crews took three B-32s to Clark Field, Luzon, Philippine Islands in mid-May 1945, and after a month of minor shakedown flights, the test period was completed on the 17 June. The test crews were impressed with its unique reversible-pitch inboard propellers and the Davis wing which gave it excellent landing performance. However, they found the cockpit had an extremely high noise level, poor instrument layout, the bombardier's vision was poor, it was overweight and the nacelle design resulted in frequent engine fires.
Three B-32s were assigned to the 386th Bomb Squadron of the 312th Bomb Group of the Kenney’s 5th Air Force. On 1945 May 29, the first mission was flown against a supply depot at Antatet in the Philippines. On the 15 June 1944 two B-32's dropped sixteen 2,000 pound (907 kg) bombs on a sugar mill at Taito, Formosa. On the 22 June 1944 one of two B-32s bombed an alcohol plant at Heito, Formsoa with 500 pound bombs (227 kg) but the second B-32 missed flak positions with its 260-pound (118 kg) fragmentation bombs. The last mission was flown on June 25 against bridges near Kiirun in Taiwan. The testing missions were mostly successful, and the B-32 was set up to replace the B-24. In July the 386th Bomb Squadron completed the transition. It flew six combat missions using the B-32 before the war ended. On the 13 August 1945 the 386th moved from Luzon to Yontan airstrip on Okinawa and flew mostly photographic reconnaissance missions. On August 17 the 386th Squadron conducted a mission over Japan, and was attacked by flak and fighters. Despite the Japanese surrender on August 15, on August 18 a formation of 14 Japanese Imperial Navy A6M2 Zero's and Army Ki44 Tojo fighters attacked a pair of B-32's conducting aerial photography of the Japanese Islands. The B-32-CO Dominator "Hobo Queen II" (s/n 42-108532) suffered extensive damage during the attack. Three photographers in "Hobo Queen II", Sergeant Anthony J. Marchione, SSgt. Joseph M. Lacharite, and Sgt. John T. Houston were at the camera hatch at the rear of the aircraft when that section of the plane was riddled with gunfire. Despite his own wounds, SSgt. Lacharite began administering first aid to the badly wounded Sgt. Marchione, but a second fighter pass wounded Marchione again. Despite continuing efforts from his crewmates to keep him alive, Sgt. Marchione died on the aircraft. This was the last confirmed aerial engagement of the Second World War, and Sgt. Marchione was the last confirmed Allied combat casuality of the war. "Hobo Queen II" claimed two confirmed Zeros destroyed in the action as well as a probable Tojo. Following this incident U.S. servicemen would be ordered to cut the propellers off any Japanese aircraft they found.
