Timeline of Strategic Aviation

Second World War

1945

6 JANUARY 1945

CS USAAF LTG Lauris Norstad arrives on Guam to officially relieve CG XXI BC (20AF) MG Haywood S. Hansell, Jr. of command.  Hansell is to be replaced by CG XX BC (20AF) MG Curtis E. LeMay, who arrives some two weeks later.  Despite a vigorous written protest, Hansell’s rather-cold dismissal is assuaged only by an offer to remain as LeMay’s XO.  The offer is refused.  LeMay is bluntly told to achieve results or face his predecessor’s fate.  BG Roger M. Ramey assumes command of XX BC until it is transferred to the Marianas Islands, after which the two commands will be formally dissolved.  XX BC flies their last mission in the CBI Theater on 29 March.

Hansell’s insistence at 8AF-style tactics with the Boeing B-29 had not gone well.  The winds of the Pacific jet stream hampered bombing accuracy and caused undue strain on the B-29s’ already over-taxed engines.  While Hansell implemented several programs to lighten the weight of the bombers, he faced criticism from above and below for not making more drastic efforts.  The truth was that, as the single most expensive US investment of the war, the B-29 program needed results to justify its cost.  Thus far, the 20AF had little to show for its heavy losses – the fact that these losses were overwhelmingly due to operational causes, rather than combat, was inexcusable.

CG USAAF GA Henry H. Arnold suffers his fourth heart attack of the war.  This heart attack is rather serious in comparison to his previous three and steps are immediately taken to lighten Arnold’s workload – which up to this point has been considerable.

Though strategically sound, Arnold’s decision to command Boeing B-29 operations directly from Washington, DC proved problematic.  Arnold was characteristically impatient with CG XXI BC MG Haywood S. Hansell, Jr., culminating in Hansell’s relief on 6 January.  Hansell was a model officer and a major figure in the prewar planning, as such, his relief and subsequent protests were not well handled.  Likewise, XO 20AF LTG Millard F. Harmon, Jr. - Arnold’s proxy in the field - is by this time revealed as a poor choice.  Also serving as the senior airman under CINC POA FADM Chester W. Nimitz, Harmon's natural conflict-of-interest resulted in him regularly butting heads with subordinates (which certainly did not help Hansell's situation).  When Harmon disappears on 26 February en route to Washington, DC , the tragedy is quickly taken advantage of.  Arnold’s XO, LTG Barney M. Giles, takes Harmon’s place on 4 March, and the ever-capable LTG Ira C. Eaker, CG MAAF, is named Arnold’s new deputy commander on 30 April.

Arnold is placed under nine days of supervised recovery at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, FL.  Upon recovery, Arnold undergoes an inspection trip of B-29 operations in the Pacific.  MG Curtis E. LeMay (Hansell’s replacement) drastically alters 20AF operations by this point, the success of which has a notable effect on Arnold’s health.

As per Operation THUNDERCLAP, the US 8AF launches 1,003 Boeing B-17s and 434 Consolidated B-24s, escorted by 44 Republic P-47s and 904 North American P-51s, against the railyards of Berlin and the BRABAG refineries of Magdeburg.  The 1AD is led by S-3 91BG LTC Marvin D. Lord aboard "R-Roger" (42-97632) and the 3AD by CO 418BS MAJ Robert Rosenthal aboard "J-Jig" (44-8379, 100BG).  While the 1AD drops visually, the 3AD is forced to drop using H2X.  In accordance with previously established policy, the B-24s of the 2AD bomb the Magdeburg refineries rather than overfly Berlin.

THUNDERCLAP originated with the failure of Operation CROSSBOW – the bombing of V-weapon launch sites – the previous year.  While British PM the Rt. Hon. Winston L. Spencer-Churchill (CP) pushed for massive reprisal operations, CAS MRAF Sir Charles F. A. Portal argued to delay such operations until such time as to have a decisive effect on the war.  THUNDERCLAP was officially approved on 3 August 1944.  With the Soviet Union renewing its offensive on 12 January 1945 and the Yalta Conference (ARGONAUT) beginning on 4 February, THUNDERCLAP is now renewed as a means of supporting the Soviet advance.

Despite using railyards as fig leaf, THUNDERCLAP is in actuality the first US 8AF strike to actively target urban areas with a psychological goal rather than an economic/logistical one.  CG 8AF LTG Jimmy H. Doolittle bitterly contests the operation but is rebuked by CG USSTAF GEN Carl A. Spaatz, as the operation is fully endorsed by CG SHAEF GA Dwight D. Eisenhower.  No German fighter interceptions take place, and the government quarter of Berlin is heavily damaged.  While THUNDERCLAP is unsuccessful in generating a political collapse, follow-ups on eastern German cities continue throughout the next month, with the 1,329-strong attack of 18 March being the largest strike on the German capital of the war.  (2,893 killed)

As per Operation MIDDLEMAN, US XXI BC (20AF) launches 112 Boeing B-29s against Kōbe, Japan.  Upon the suggestion of CS USAAF LTG Lauris Norstad, a third of the ordnance carried this day are incendiary bombs.  Incendiaries proved frightfully effective against mock Japanese dwellings in Dugway, UT and, as a result, Norstad pressured former CG XXI BC, MG Haywood S. Hansell, Jr. to adopt an area-bombing strategy using incendiaries.  While Hansell resisted this, his replacement, MG Curtis E. LeMay, witnessed the effectiveness of incendiaries against Asian targets in a strike against Hànkǒu, China on 18 December 1944.  As such, LeMay was somewhat more willing to firebomb Japan.

LeMay’s first month of command in the Marianas fared little better than his predecessor.  Hansell’s last planned operation, a precision strike against the Kawasaki Kokuki Kogyo (Kawasaki Aircraft Industries) plant of Akashi on 19 January, went uncharacteristically well, and LeMay followed suit without success.  The losses incurred attempting to follow Hansell’s model did not justify the results and in the end, incendiary strikes - such as this day’s attack on Kōbe - prove far more efficient.

The US V Amphibious Corps (MajGen Harry Schmidt) initiates Operation DETACHMENT and begins the invasion of Iwo Jima.  The island is slated to be used as a staging area for further operations against Japan and the 20AF is keen to use the island for bombers unable to return to the Marianas.  More importantly, Iwo Jima is destined to serve as a home for long-range fighters of the 7AF (MG Robert W. Douglass, Jr.) assigned to provide escort to 20AF Boeing B-29s.  The island’s location and volcanic topography ultimately make the island useless to naval and land forces, though its three airfields are refurbished to make way for the 7AF.  Similar to their strategy in the Marianas but on a far larger scale, the Japanese use a complex tunnel system to slowly bleed the invading forces.  The fanaticism of the Japanese defenders takes a heavy toll and the island is not deemed secure until 16 March 1945.

Chichi Jima, an island nearby, is bypassed, instead being bombed into submission.  Ten US airmen are shot down over the island, with nine of them ultimately being murdered and eaten by their Japanese captors.  Thirty of the Japanese servicemen stationed on Chichi Jima are tried for war crimes after the war, with four being hanged and the others serving a short prison sentence.  The horrific fate of the POWs on Chichi Jima are indicative of Japanese hostility toward American bomber crews and many similar incidents follow in the coming months over mainland Japan.

US XXI BC (20AF) launches 194 Boeing B-29s against the Nakajima Hikōki Kabushiki Kaisha (Nakajima Aircraft Co., Ltd.) in Tokyo, Japan.  Due to bad weather the bombers go on to strike targets-of-opportunity.  This is the last of twenty attempts toward a sustained precision bombing campaign against Japan, eight of which were launched under CG XXI BC MG Curtis E. LeMay.

During the operation, Dinah Might (42-65286, 9BG) is forced to make an emergency landing at South Field on Iwo Jima.  While the Battle for Iwo Jima is still raging at this time, the bomber is able to be serviced and refueled before departing.  The presence of Dinah Might antagonizes the Japanese defenders, who rashly abandon their tunnels to get to the bomber the night before her departure.  The island is deemed secure just over a week later.  Dinah Might is the first of 2,251 B-29 landings on Iwo Jima – a fact often brought up in justifying the taking of Iwo Jima as, in the end, approximately three airmen are saved for every Marine killed taking the island.

Despite said declaration, Iwo Jima suffers from the same issue as the occupied Marianas - intermittent surprise attacks by hidden Japanese.  On 26 March, for example, the newly arrived 318FG earns the distinction of supposedly being the only USAAF unit to engage in ground combat.  15 AAF servicemen are killed quelling a Japanese attack on the unit's tent sleeping area.

The US 8AF launches 457 Boeing B-17s and 227 Consolidated B-24s, escorted by 452 North American P-51s, against the port of Świnoujście, Poland.  The strike was requested by Soviet Premier Joseph V. J. Stalin three days prior to aid in slowing Operation HANNIBAL - the German evacuation of East Prussia, by now almost surrounded.  With the city choked with refugees, civilian casualties are unusually high, leading to the strike becoming historiographically controversial with claims that the bombers purposely dropped fragmentation bombs and strafed civilians.  While it is true that the bombers dropped via radar (typical in overcast operations), primary sources show the bombers did not carry fragmentation bombs.  Likewise, it is unlikely that US fighters strafed the city's civilians.  Records show that fighter pilots were strictly instructed to avoid strafing so close to Soviet lines, and it is worth noting that doing so would have been impossible during the bombardment and unlikely afterward due to the smoke.  It is more likely that the reports of strafing refer to Soviet tactical aircraft also in the vicinity.  (Approx. 4,500 killed)

Despite being targeted via radar, accuracy over the target is good and the 2AD (which leads the strike) is officially commended for not accidentally hitting Soviet lines, just miles away.

The US 15AF launches 170 Boeing B-17s and 527 Consolidated B-24s, escorted by 105 Lockheed P-38s and 289 North American P-51s, against the Daimler-Benz plant of Berlin, the railyards of Budweis (České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia), and the airfields of Neuburg an der Donau and Munich, Germany.  This 1,600 mi operation earns the distinction of being the longest bomber strike launched in the ETO.

This operation is often prominently featured in histories of the 332FG - the so-called "Tuskegee Airmen."  An all-black unit trained at Tuskegee University, a series of myths have arisen regarding their combat record, particularly in regard to this operation.  First, the idea that they were somehow requested for escort-duty makes no sense.  As is typical, the 332FG is one of a host of fighter units flying escort duty this day.  The myth seems to stem from two origins: a poor-weather grounding of a few B-24s at Ramitelli Field (the 332FG's base) and COL Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. having named his P-51 By Request (a reference to civil rights efforts to form the unit).  Second, the claim that the 332FG never lost a bomber to enemy action is patently false as, for example, this day's strike sees the 332FG lose three of their wards to fighter interception.  Lastly, the argument that the Tuskegee Airmen are one the first units to engage German jet fighters is misleading.  US 8AF units were engaged with jet fighters for nearly a year by this point, and while three 332FG pilots claim jet victories this day, it should be noted that this is the third time 15AF airmen had done so.

It is also prudent to note that these myths largely originate not from the airmen themselves, but from the American press.   Before the war even ended, articles by black-activist writers like V. L. "Roi" Ottley and publications like the Chicago Defender exaggerated the 332FG's accomplishments, tainting an honorable combat record for political gain.  In fact, this very day sees the Chicago Defender repeat the 'never lost a bomber' claim in one of its articles.  An attempt to form a Tuskegee bomber unit, the 477BG, fails when its officers stage a mutiny at Freeman Field near Seymour, IN over racially segregated officers clubs.

While the Luftwaffe jet inceptor unit this day - JG7 - only records four operational losses, US victory claims against the Me-262 Schwalbe jet fighter total 11.   Of these 11, six are made by aerial gunners of the 483BG, whose Big Yank (44-6405, 483BG) becomes a minor celebrity.  Big Yank's gunners claim a whopping three jets kills - two via tail gunner SSGT Lincoln F. Broyhill and one via ball turret gunner SSGT Cecil E. Shellabarger.  If this is true, Big Yank has the highest number of jet kills of any bomber until the Boeing B-29 Command Decision (44-87657, 19BG) claims of five MiG-15 Fagots on 27 October 1951.

With the last remaining bomb wing (the 58BW) having already moved its HQ, US XX BC (20AF) launches its 49th and final combat operation out of East Asia before being absorbed into the XX BC (20AF) in the Marianas.  This night sees 29 Boeing B-29s strike the oil storage facilities of Pulau Bukom, off the coast of Singapore.

Four days later, CO 505BG COL Robert A. Ping issues a directive on the subject of nose-art.  It reads:

Group commanders will see that all pictures of women are removed from aircraft in their group. . . . 

2.  It is with deep regret that I receive and must of course, carry out the above order.  I realize what it means to those concerned to remove the ‘women’ from their airplanes; they have somehow become part of the missions that have been flown.  Some of you have spent hard-earned ‘cash’ for these ‘women.’  All this I realize, but they must go.  

3.  General Arnold and commanders on down the chain of command somehow feel that the B-29 is a cut above the ordinary airplane, and being so, is not to be placed in the common class by pictures of nude women. 

4.  Insignia of sponsors . . . may be retained, however, they are to go only on the right side of the nose section…

Despite coming directly from CG USAAF GA Henry H. Arnold, the attempt to censor B-29 nose-art is barely followed.  The 73BW and 313BW both adopt nose-art templates which crews can use, following the directive mentioned above, while the 314BW goes a step further, requiring all custom names come from US cities.  The remaining bomb wings - the 58BW and 315BW - simply ignore the order.  73BW veterans blame the directive on First Lady A. Eleanor Roosevelt (D-NY), who was apparently disgusted while on an inspection tour of US airbases.  In the end, most bombardment groups skirt the issue by ensuring their aircraft are given artwork on both sides of the nose: a normal side for aircrews and a clean side for photographers.

US XXI BC (20AF) launches 152 Boeing B-29s against the Kyushu Hikōki (Aircraft) works of Tachiarai and the airfields of Oita and Omura, Japan.  Due to unusually good weather, the bombing results this day are superb.  A portion of this day's strike is broadcast over the radio on 7 April in the United States.  An attempt at real-time combat reporting, sound engineers from various combat theaters submit segments to ABC's Blue Network, which are then punctuated with relevant interviews.  The recording from this day's strike is a ten minute segment recorded by SSGT Hal Brown aboard City of Muncie (42-65350, 29BG).  The segment, recorded during the bomb run with Brown quietly recounting what he sees, is followed by live interviews with families of the crew.  Unknown to the families, the City of Muncie is rammed by a Japanese interceptor, killing all but three, on the day of said interview.

Click hear to listen to the Fighting AAF Broadcast of 7 April 19

The US 8AF launches 452 Boeing B-17s and 207 Consolidated B-24s, escorted by 39 Republic P-47s and 627 North American P-51s, against the railyards of Leipzig and Halle, Germany.   Due to poor weather all targets are attacked via radar.  This strike sees MSGT Hewitt T. Dunn complete his 100th combat mission, flying as togglier aboard The Great McGinty (43-38663, 390BG).  An aerial gunner who flew his first mission on 29 January 1944, Dunn was the most decorated airman of the 8AF and is believed to have flown more heavy bomber operations than any American airman in the Second World War.  Staying despite having completed three tours-of-duty, Dunn flies four more missions before the war’s end.

Despite these accolades, Dunn’s achievements are quickly forgotten due to the circumstances of his postwar death at age 41.  On 15 June 1961, Dunn and his wife got into a drunken argument at their Castle AFB home near Atwater CA.  Beating his wife Peggy and throwing her in the yard, Dunn’s son Craig, age 13, came to the defense of his mother with a .22 rifle and killed Dunn with five shots to the torso.

US XXI BC (20AF) launches 306 Boeing B-29s against the Nakajima Hikōki (Nakajima Aircraft) plant of Tokyo and the Mitsubishi Jukogyo (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) plant of Nagoya, Japan.  This day sees the first use of fighter escorts for the B-29s, with 108 North American P-51s being launched from their newly-settled bases on Iwo Jima.  The P-51s are part of the 7AF and are equipped with 165 gallon droptanks rather than the standard 108 gallon tanks previously in use.

Unfortunately, the deployment of fighter escorts for the 20AF proves to be a mistake.  The long-distances involved are taxing on fighter pilots and makeshift hot springs are set up for airmen so stiff that they have to be physically removed from their aircraft; due to these conditions, fighter pilots begin to rotate out after a mere 15 combat missions.  Japanese resistance is pitifully weak and most fighter sorties resort to strafing of targets-of-opportunity.

This day also sees the one and only use of Ki-46 Dinahs in the interceptor role, being adopted for their high service ceiling.  The Dinahs drop 110 lb cluster bombs over US formations, successfully downing B-29 "Victor-Square-25" (42-24674, 499BG).  The converted reconnaissance-fighters prove easy prey to escorting P-51s, as five are shot down in quick succession, prompting their hasty retirement.

Lastly, the US 8AF launches 974 Boeing B-17s and 340 Consolidated B-24s, escorted by 55 Republic P-47s and 843 North American P-51s, against the airfields of Kaltenkirchen, Parchim, Westendorf, and Amelinghausen, the oil depots of Buchen and Hitzacker, and the munitions depots of Güstrow, Haren, and Krümmel, Germany.  This strike sees the one and only combat deployment of Luftwaffe Sonderkommando (Special Command) Elbe as per Operation WERWOLF (Werewolf).  A last ditch effort to turn the tide of the Allied bombing campaign, the unit is specially trained to ram US bombers, bailing out just before impact.  B-24L Palace of Dallas (44-49254, 389BG) is the first hit when a Bf-109 piloted by Uffz Heinrich Rosner careens threw the aircraft and into nearby "P-Peter" (44-49533, 389BG).  While 15 bombers are rammed this day, only eight are destroyed and the program is brought to a halt mere days after.

*45 of this days' 49 Luftwaffe losses are from Sonderkommando Elbe.

The US 20AF launches 178 Boeing B-29s against the Kure Kaigun Kosho (Kure Naval Arsenal) while another 65 strike the airfields of Ōita, Tachiarai, Kanoya, and Chīrān, Japan.  The bombers are escorted by North American P-51s of the 7AF.  One of the bombers assigned to bomb Tachiarai, 42-65305 (29BG), is rammed by a N1K George flown by Suiheichō Kinzou Kasuya.   While Japanese treatment of POWs - particularly airmen - was always shockingly cruel, the fate of this particular aircrew bears consideration as they are subjected to one of the most horrific massacres in military history.

All 12 airmen aboard 42-65305 successfully bail out, though one is killed when his parachute is entangled by a passing Japanese fighter.  Upon landing, another is hacked to death by civilians, with one crewmen committing suicide rather than endure the same fate.  The pilot is taken away for interrogation while the others, heavily wounded, are taken by local authorities to Kyūshū Daigaku (Kyushu University).  These remaining eight airmen are placed on display in a lecture hall before students and special guests, where they are dissected fully-conscious and without painkillers.  Some of the more printable experiments include injecting one airmen with seawater, and drilling a hole in the skull of another to watch his body respond to the twisting of the knife.  Various portions of these airmen are afterward preserved and eaten - a surprisingly common fate of Allied POWs in Japanese custody.

After the war, some 30 people are arrested for the Kyushu vivisection, 23 of which are convicted of war crimes (though charges of cannibalism are dropped due to lack of physical evidence).  Five are sentenced to death, including head surgeon Ishiyama Fukujirō, and another four are given life-in-prison. In a shameful attempt at mending national relations, GA Douglas MacArthur (commanding Japan's postwar occupation) commutes the sentences of all those convicted in 1950.

The US 20AF launches 522 Boeing B-29s against Nagoya while another 31 mine the Shimonoseki straits.  One of the bombers, Thumper (42-24623, 497BG), flies her 40th and final mission this night, returning to the US for a war bond tour days later.  While Thumper was assigned two combat crews, her publicity tour is flown by an ad hoc collection of airmen who had completed their tours-of-duty, led by CO 870BS LTC Robert E. Haynes.  Haynes piloted Thumper on the 27 January strike against the Nakajima Hikōki (Nakajima Aircraft) Tokyo plant, where her gunners claimed an unlikely six Ki-61 Tonys.  

Considering the B-29's infamous engine troubles, the fact that Thumper was able to complete 40 missions at all is a testament to the efforts of her ground crew and flight engineers.  In fact, all three of this night's losses are aircraft who suffered engine failures.

Ford terminates production of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator with the completion of its eighth B-24N.  Ford’s Willow Run plant long experimented with single-tail variants of the B-24, first testing a prototype, the B-24K, on 9 September 1943.  It was the success of these tests that led to the full-scale implementation of single-tail B-24s with the Army B-24N and Navy PB4Y-2.  However, the end of the war in Europe negates any further requirements for the B-24 and future production is altered solely toward the PB4Y-2 and new B-32 Dominator – the latter of which sees limited service.

This day also sees the first Avro Lancasters of RAF Tiger Force cross the Atlantic. Formally titled the "Very Long Range Bomber Force," Tiger Force is due to join the US 20AF and still-in-transit 8AF in bombing operations against Japan.  These bombers are to undergo modifications in Canada, which include white paint to reflect the Pacific heat and the installation of Flight Refueling Ltd.'s grappled-line, looped hose aerial refueling system.  Developed before the war by Sir Alan J. Cobham as a means of easing takeoff weights of British flying boats, this refueling system had seen limited use in 1939.  Now it is hoped that old B-24s converted as tankers might extend the range of the Lancasters and upcoming Avro Lincolns should Okinawa's proximity to Japan (once secured) not be enough.  No Tiger Force units make it to the Pacific and some 141 Lancasters are modified in Moncton, Canada by 15 August.

The US 20AF launches this night 35 Boeing B-29s against the Utsube River Oil Refinery of Yokkaichi, Japan.  The strike is led by CG 315BW BG Frank A. Armstrong, Jr. aboard Fluffy Fuz III.  This is the first combat operation of the 315BW.  Due to inexperience with Japan’s jet stream, accuracy is poor.

The 315BW is primarily composed of B-29Bs, a variant produced exclusively by Bell Aircraft.  These bombers are noteworthy for their unusual radar complement.  The B-29 came standard with radar and as part of the ongoing effort to improve the accuracy of radar bombing, the APQ-13 radar (an improved H2X) was increasingly linked to the C-1 autopilot via the APQ-23, automating what was a laborious process.  Typically, radar guided strikes calculated the point-of-drop by locating landmarks on the radar scope and triangulating them against the target.  The poor resolution of the H2X/APQ-13 however made this process difficult against almost anything but coastal targets.  The APQ-7 EAGLE, used on the B-29B, is designed not as a navigational aid but strictly for bombing purposes, narrowing the band to the 60 degrees directly ahead of the aircraft, the result being a far greater resolution.  The 315BW is to serve as a testbed for this potential replacement.  As crews become more accustomed to combat, accuracy using the EAGLE system grows shockingly impressive.

The B-29B is easily distinguished by the EAGLE’s large antenna array under the fuselage, as well as its ball-shaped APG-15 tail radar.  The APG-15 is a miniature gun laying radar with a 2500 MHz frequency, mounted on the tail turret assembly and moving in unison with it.  Accounting for the Japanese difficulty in reaching the B-29’s operational altitudes, this tail gun is the only defensive armament present on the B-29B.

Under Operation TRINITY, the plutonium-based nuclear weapon Gadget is detonated near Socorro, NM.  The nuclear age has begun.

The US nuclear weapons program originated in a 1939 letter drafted by Hungarian physicists Leo Szilard and Eugene P. Wigner, and endorsed by German physicist Albert Einstein, which warned Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (D-NY) of the German nuclear weapon development .  In response, the US nuclear weapons program, unofficially known as the "Manhattan Project," was approved on 8 October 1941, being directed by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer but under the management of Army engineer BG Leslie R. Groves, Jr.  Employing over 130,000 people at a budget of nearly $2 billion, this nationwide effort was overshadowed only by the costly development of the Boeing B-29.  Within hours of this first successful test at Los Alamos the cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) departs San Francisco, CA with a uranium-based nuclear weapon for the US 20AF in the Marianas.  As an extra security precaution, the materials for a plutonium-based nuclear weapon are airlifted rather than shipped to the same destination

This day also sees CG USAAF GA Henry H. Arnold give command of the 20AF to LTG Nathan F. Twining (former CG 15AF).  This is the first step in establishing the new US Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific (USASTAF) under GEN Carl A. Spaatz, formally created 2 July.  Just as had been done in Europe, the XX and XXI BC are formally eliminated, the 8AF and 20AF becoming de facto bomber commands themselves.  LTG Barney M. Giles is made Spaatz’s XO and MG Curtis E. LeMay, formerly CG XXI BC, is made Spaatz’s CS.  This order-of-battle remains in place for the rest of the war even though, in reality, no 8AF units are combat ready nor are Spaatz’s headquarters fully established by the time of Japan’s surrender.

Three Boeing B-29s of the 509BG fly their first combat mission, bombing the city of Kōriyama, Japan.  The 509BG (Composite) is an independent unit commanded by COL Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. and is specially trained as history's first nuclear strike force, reporting directly to CG USASTAF GEN Carl A. Spaatz.

Trained at Wendover, UT and working closely with Manhattan Project engineers in Los Alamos, NM, the unit is equipped with specially-altered B-29s by Martin-Omaha for increased high-altitude performance.  These modifications are painfully necessary.  The airmen are warned that dropping a nuclear weapon at 30,000 ft gives them some 43 seconds before detonation, requiring a minimum safe distance of eight miles for the bomber to survive.  Acknowledging that said altitude already gives them some 5.5 miles leverage, the bomber is required to make a sharp, diving turn away from the explosion area to make up the remaining distance.  This maneuver, once standardized, is known as a Post Target Turn (PTT).

The engineers at Los Alamos  built replica-casings for the air crews to practice with which, because of their shape and color, became colloquially known as “pumpkins.”  Tibbets ordered practice flights be expanded to include sorties over Japan itself, partially to harden his crews but also to desensitize the Japanese to seeing single-aircraft B-29 sorties.  Filled with 6,300 lbs of explosives, this is the first of 14 strikes against Japanese cities practicing for an actual nuclear detonation.  Some 49 pumpkins are dropped on Japan with surprising effectiveness, the last being dropped on 14 August 1945 against Nagoya.  Pumpkins are the largest conventional bombs dropped by the USAAF in the Second World War.

Two US 5AF Consolidated B-32s out of Okinawa are attacked by 14 A6M Zeros and three N1K Georges while on a reconnaissance flight over Tokyo, Japan.  This is the second incident this week where B-32s are attacked despite the surrender declaration.  Their intransigence made clear, particularly through by taunting US bombers, the US demands that Japanese airbases remove the propellers from their operational aircraft.  Among the wounded airmen is 19 year-old photographer's assistant SSGT Anthony J. Marchione, flying aboard the B-32A Hobo Queen II (42-108532, 312BG).  Like her Boeing B-29 cousin - Hobo Queen (41-36963) - Hobo Queen II was originally used to tour US bases so as to familiarize airmen with the new bomber.  Now transferred to combat duty, Hobo Queen II's legacy becomes far more somber:

Marchinoe dies from his wounds on the long flight home and is the last American airman to die in the Second World War.

The Second World War's Pacific Theater of Operations comes to a close after 13 years, 11 months, and 16 days.  Under the authorization of Emperor Hirohito Showa, Japan formally surrenders to Allied forces through Gaimu Daijin (Minister of Foreign Affairs) Mamoru Shigemitsu and Taishō Yoshijirō Umezu aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63), anchored in Tokyo Bay.  Thus ends the bloodiest conflict in human history.  Approximately 70 million people lost their lives in the conflict, with some 25 million dying in military service and another 14 million under the genocidal efforts of the German, Japanese, and Soviet governments.  The true and exact figures may never be known.

Click here to read the Japanese Instrument of Surrender.

Pres. Harry S Truman (D-MO) actively worked against allowing the Soviet Union to gain a foothold in Japan akin to Eastern Europe, going so far as to tell Premier Joseph V. J. Stalin as much.  Not content with this arrangement, Stalin's representative aboard the Missouri, Generál-Lejtenánt Kuzma N. Derevyanko is instructed to push MacArthur toward dividing Japan into zones-of-occupation, a la Germany, and to obtain intelligence on the effects of the Little Boy and Fat Man nuclear weapons.  MacArthur flatly refuses this request, and while Derevyanko spends a great deal of time in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he later dies of radiation poisoning in 1954 at the age of 50.

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