Nagoya (May 16, 1945)
Tonight we went back to Nagoya. Take off: 8:40 p.m., Bombs Away: 4:00 a.m., Land: 10:20.
— Joe Caner Swann
The target of this return trip to Nagoya was the Urban Area to the south of the city. This too was a large raid with 516 aircraft. This was an early morning attack (3:00-6:00 am). Each plane carried around 15,000 lbs. of bombs. A total of 3,600 tons of ordinance was dropped on the target. Visibility was poor due to clouds and smoke so the aircraft bombed by radar.
Twenty enemy aircraft were sighted which made eleven attacks. Two of these were shot down. Fourteen planes were damaged by flack.
Three aircraft did not return from this mission, and sixteen planes landed at Iwo Jima.
Additional Resources
- Read the complete journal kept by the Star Duster's right gunner, Joe Caner Swann.
- Resume of 20th Air Force Missions, (see book information on the books resources page).
- Mission resumes are also available on the Twentieth Air Force Association web site. This site is built with frames. To view the mission resumes click the "Missions" link in the top menu on the site's home page. This was mission 176.
Mission List
- Truk (October 30, 1944)
- Iwo Jima (November 8, 1944)
- Bonin Island (November 20, 1944)
- Tokyo (December 3, 1944)
- Tokyo (December 19, 1944)
- Pagan (December 30, 1944)
- Nagoya (January 3, 1945)
- Nagoya (January 14, 1945)
- Scheduled -- Grounded due to mechanical problems (January 19, 1945)
- Nagoya (January 23, 1945)
- Scheduled -- Grounded due to mechanical problems (January 27, 1945)
- Search (January 31, 1945)
- Weather Strike to Kobe (February 6, 1945)
- Incomplete (February 15, 1945)
- Tokyo (February 25, 1945)
- Tokyo (March 4, 1945)
- Tokyo (March 9, 1945)
- Nogoya (March 11, 1945)
- Kobe (March 16, 1945)
- Nagoya (March 18, 1945)
- Tachiarai (March 27, 1945)
- Dumbo (March 31, 1945)
- Tachikawa (April 3, 1945)
- Dumbo (April 7, 1945)
- Dumbo (April 13, 1945)
- Tachiarai (April 17, 1945)
- Tachikawa (April 24, 1945)
- Mayazaki (April 29, 1945)
- Fighter Escort to Tokyo (May 7, 1945)
- Tokayama (May 10, 1945)
- Nagoya (May 14, 1945)
- Nagoya (May 16, 1945)
- Tokyo (May 23, 1945)
- Tokyo (May 25, 1945)
- Yokahama (May 29, 1945)
- Fighter Escort to Osaka (June 1, 1945)
- Incomplete (June 7, 1945)
- Hitachi (June 10, 1945)
