While the naval and land forces were island-hopping their way across the Pacific Ocean to Japan it was the job of the Army Air Force to find a way to bomb Japan. Since the Air Force had no planes that could reach Japan from Allied controlled territory the B-29 was rushed into production.
Raids from China
The first Superfortresses were finally ready for action in the spring of 1944. However, the only place within significant range of the Japanese islands was Chengtu, China, and even then major targets, like Tokyo, were still too far away. What was within range were mainly industrial targets on Kyushu. Many targets were not in Japan itself, but were in areas under Japanese control, such as Mukden and Nanking, China, or Bangkok, Thailand.
In preparation for this local Chinese laborers were called in to build air strips capable of handling loaded B-29s (the runways needed to be at least 7,000 feet long). This was all done by hand, as power equipment was not available.
The U.S. was already airlifting supplies from India over the Himalayas to support Chinese troops at this time so it was decided to deploy the 58th Bomb Wing to China. Since Chengtu was close to Japanese territory the 58th was actually based in India with airfields in China simply being a staging ground for raids against Japan. Bombing activity began in June 1944.
The B-29s and their crews would be involved in airlifting their own supplies "over the Hump" to China. These Hump missions were dangerous due to the altitudes the planes had to achieve to clear the mountains and many planes crashed along the airlift route. This alone took a toll on the effectiveness of the 58th Bomb Wing, and crews were awarded combat credit for these missions.
The 58th Bomb Wing also suffered from mechanical problems and inexperience in its early days of activity. The original bombing strategy was to fly at high altitudes so as to be above antiaircraft fire and fighter attack as much as possible, and drop bombs only on the targets of interest. The idea was to hit military targets with a minimum of collateral damage. Missions were plagued with planes failing to reach their primary target, many aborted due to engine failure, and poor bombing accuracy when bombs were released, whether over primary or secondary targets. The Japanese defenses were also effective, and losses were high for the 58th in spite of changes in strategy. This was made worse because the 58th had to fly over a lot of enemy controlled territory going to and from the target. Even more losses occurred when the Japanese bombed bases in Chengtu, damaging or destroying B-29s on the ground.
By the end of 1944 the 58th Bomb Wing had lost as many planes as it had started out with eight months earlier. They were causing a lot of damage to the enemy, but the cost in casualties and planes down was high.
Raids from the Marianas
June, 1944. At the same time the 58th was beginning to bomb Japanese territory from China, American forces were capturing Saipan. Saipan, Tinian, and Guam were important to the U.S. because they were large enough for B-29 air bases, they were only 1,500 miles from Japan (just within the B-29s operational range), and could be easily supplied by ship from the U.S. For the first time American bombers had the ability to destroy Japanese industry and their capability to make war.
The 73rd Bomb Wing
Saipan was first invaded on the south end of the island. While the fighting was still going on at the north end of Saipan the Sea Bees (the Navy's Construction Battalion) moved in to construct an air base with two 8,500 foot runways at the south end. Isley Field (named after Navy Commander Robert H. Isely who was killed while strafing the existing air field — the misspelling stuck) would become the home of the 73rd Bomb Wing with the first planes arriving in October.
As the 73rd built up strength they began conducting practice raids against nearby targets. From the start the 73rd began having some of the same problems the 58th was having from China — inexperience, engine trouble, and Japanese defenses. The 73rd also had to contend with poor weather conditions over the target. The first raid to Tokyo was postponed three days in a row due to cloud cover over the target before the 73rd finally took off on November 24. (The officers of the Star Duster crew participated in this raid. The enlisted men were en route to Saipan at this time.)
Another problem the 73rd faced were extreme winds at high altitudes over Tokyo and surrounding targets. These winds raced at speeds up to 150 MPH. Until this time no one knew of the existence of the jet stream. If the B-29s bombed downwind they would pass the target before the bombardier could take aim and release the bombs. Bombing upwind would slow the plane's ground speed to a crawl, making it an easy target for antiaircraft fire. Bombing crosswind allow the planes to achieve a normal speed, but the plane was weathervaned into the wind so much to stay on course the bomb sight could not be turned far enough to sight the target. Bombs could be aimed and dropped by radar, but this wasn't as accurate as visual bombing. Also, as the bombs fell they were buffeted by winds at different altitudes blowing at different speeds and directions causing them to drift off course and miss the intended target.
Japanese defenses were also very good at this time. The 73rd, flying without any fighter support lost many B-29s and their crews. For all the losses the results were not spectacular, and crews were beginning to wonder if they would live to complete their tours of duty.
The 313th Bomb Wing and New Management
The 73rd continued to bomb Japan from the Marianas alone until mid-January 1945 when the 313th Bomb Wing moved in next door on Tinian. Another change was the General Curtis LeMay was put in command of the XXIst Bomber Command to achieve better results.
One of the first things LeMay did was to change the maintenance program. There was an immediate improvement in engine performance. He also realized that high altitude, precision bombing simply wasn't working due to inexperience and weather and abandoned the idea. LeMay, realizing the crews needed more training, also started a crew training program. New bombing tactics would be put in place after the B-29s helped soften up Iwo Jima for invasion.
Fire Raids
When LeMay unveiled his new battle plan — they were to begin low altitude bombing missions at night — B-29 crews were understandably weary. The higher altitudes they had been using provided some measure of safety from antiaircraft guns and enemy planes. Flying lower meant flying closer to danger when losses were already high.
What made the new plan such a success from a military point of view was that LeMay changed what was targeted. He reasoned that if the B-29s under his command could not hit the industrial complexes they were sent to destroy due to so many factors outside human control, efforts should be refocused on bombing the urban areas around these factories. Bomb loads were changed to a mixture of incendiary explosives and napalm. Japanese houses of the day were mainly constructed of wood and paper which burned all too easily. Damage reports changed from estimating how much roof area of the target was destroyed in square feet to how much urban area was burned out in square miles.
The 314th Bomb Wing
The 314th Bomb Wing came to Guam just in time to participate in the fire raids bringing the bombing force to about 300 planes. On March 9-10 the center of Tokyo was destroyed. Nagoya was hit on March 11-12. Osaka was next on March 13-14, then Kobe on March 16-17. Nagoya was revisited on March 19-20. On the ground the death toll reached more than 120,000 after these five raids. More raids were ordered to continue at this rate, but they had simply run out of bombs for this type of mission. The B-29s switched to raids on Kyushu air strips in preparation for the invasion of Okinawa.
Fighter Escort and the 58th Relocates
The fire raids resumed in April after the B-29s were through helping with the Okinawa invasion and a sufficient stockpile of bombs had been built up. The 58th Bomb Wing, having done all it could do from China, moved to Tinian to continue operations against Japan from there. Bombing continued with a new intensity as some believed Japan could be defeated through air power alone, and much of Japan's industry had been destroyed by this time. Also, by this time the 15th and 21st Fighter Groups (consisting of P-51 Mustangs) had arrived on the newly captured Iwo Jima and began providing fighter escort for the B-29s.
The 315th Bomb Wing
By May the 315th had arrived on Guam, bringing the B-29 force to around 600 planes. The planes of this wing were unique as they were the B-29B variant, lacking a lot of the defensive armament of the B-29A, but having a higher resolution radar.
With much of the industry destroyed LeMay began to target oil refineries and fuel reserves. He also gave the 313th the task of mining Japanese harbors, which pretty much brought shipping in Japan to a halt (accounting for almost 10% of the total Japanese shipping losses).
By mid-June (just after the crew of the Star Duster had completed their tour of duty) all major targets in Japan had been destroyed, and the B-29s turned their attention to smaller cities. After a few weeks it was obvious Japan's capacity to make war had been destroyed, but the Japanese government rejected the call for their unconditional surrender by Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin in the Potsdam Declaration of July 26. A land invasion, planned to begin in November, which would carry the war well into 1946, appeared to be imminent.
Related Articles
- U.S. Involvement in the War
- Fighting on Two Fronts
- Island Hopping
- Bombing Raids against Japan
- The End of the War
Additional Resources
- The War, pages 370-372 (see book information on the books resources page).
- B-29 Superfortress, pages 30-51 (see book information on the books resources page).
- P-51 Mustang, pages 48-51 (see book information on the books resources page).
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