100th BURMA BRIDGE FOR 490th
'OFFICIALLY,' VETERAN B-25 OUTFIT'S SCORE HIGHER
The Bawgyo Railroad bridge, vital link in the Jap supply line, stands stout and firm in the picture on the
left. But after bridge-busting B-25's of the 490th Bomb Squadron paid a visit, the Nips were unappreciative of
the dunking given one of the spans as photographed, right.
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The Bawgyo Railroad Bridge, second most important bridge left to the Japanese in that portion of Burma
that they still hold, was destroyed recently by the 490th Medium Bombardment Squadron, 10th Air Force.
The bridge is the only rail link on the Mandalay-Lashio Railroad and its destruction put a serious
crimp in the Japs' line of communication into Northern Burma.
The 490th squadron called this its 100th bridge demolished. Actual records show the 490th to have
more than that number, and therein lies a story of modesty.
Official records give the 490th more than 100 bridges. Where holes were put in spans, where railroad
tracks on the bridges were torn up, and where the bridge itself was regarded as unserviceable, the official records
give the squadron credit for a bridge knocked out of commission. The 490th Squadron pilots, however, do not consider
that they have demolished a bridge unless they knock out at least one span completely into the river. One span of
the Bawygo bridge was bombed into the river, and since it was the 100th bridge to suffer that fate, this made the
century mark official.
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