Word: 29s
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Army Air Forces revealed a little more about LeMay's power by identifying four wings of B-29s in his command, two on Tinian, one each on Saipan and Guam. The young brigadier generals in his all-star backfield are Roger M. Ramey, 58th Wing; Emmett ("Rosie") O'Donnell Jr., 73rd; John H. Davies, 313th; Thomas S. Power, 314th...
...just after midday, when thousands of Osaka workers had paused to bolt down meager lunches in the partly ruined Chicago of Japan. High in the heavy overcast the U.S. planes rode in-more than 400 B-29s and 150 escorting P-51 Mustang fighters. For three hours the planes were overhead. High-explosive bombs fell first, driving Japanese air-raid workers to the shelters. Then the fire bombs fell, destroying without interruption...
...doubt Tokyo would be bombed again, because it still contained inviting, if less concentrated, targets. And the same fate was in store for other Japanese cities. As LeMay spoke, his staff and the Japs were both computing the results of the B-29s' first smash at Yokohama-in which 450 planes dropped 3,200 tons of incendiaries. The 21st Bomber Command said 6.9 sq.mi. of the great seaport city was burned out; the Japs said 60,000 homes were destroyed. Next on the B-29s' list was industrial Kobe, which caught another 3,000-ton load...
Enemy opposition to the Superfort attacks, while still stout, has begun to show signs of weakening. Flak remains heavy, but not uniformly so; fighter opposition on most recent assaults has been light. But in the drive to knock out Japan's industry, the B-29s will now face a new enemy: weather. Between June and September, eastern Japan's rainiest season, the air will be warm, moist and thick with clouds. Inevitably, more bombing will have to be done by instruments and will be correspondingly less accurate, but there will be no lightening of the bomb loads...
Fire in the Wind. Less than 48 hours later, nearly 500 more B-29s returned. This time their target was farther north-the heart of modern Tokyo. While the fires from Thursday's raid still blazed, the planes dropped another 4,000 tons of gasoline jelly on the Marunouchi ("inside the castle walls") district. Said returning pilots: "Their searchlights picked us up at the coast, guided us in and took us right out to sea again . . . the toughest mission of my career. . . . Lots of Japanese came up at us right through their own flak. They were shooting down their...