bigpigeon.us webpage WWII - Japan > Japan Overpowered > Strategic Air War - Japan , updated by RAC 18 May 2022.
The Strategic Air War against Japan used Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft. These very heavy bombers attacked targets in the Japanese home islands and did much to bring Japan to its knees. I view this part of the US War with Japan as fought in four phases. The final three phases used bases on the Mariana Islands of Guam, Saipan, and Tinian approximately 1,500 miles south of Tokyo.
The Strategic Air War against Japan used Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft. These very heavy bombers attacked targets in the Japanese home islands and did much to bring Japan to its knees. I view this part of the US War with Japan as fought in four phases. The final three phases used bases on the Mariana Islands of Guam, Saipan, and Tinian approximately 1,500 miles south of Tokyo.
- 15 June 1944 - January 1945 - From bases near Calcutta in eastern India, using advanced bases in southern China.
- 24 November 1944 - March 1945 - bombing of Japanese industrial targets.
- March - July 1945 - incendiary area bombing of Japanese cities.
- August 1945 - atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Phase 1 - June 1944 - January 1945 - from the China-Burma-India Theater
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In early 1944, thousands of Indian laborers constructed airbases suitable for very heavy aircraft in West Bengal west of Calcutta. Meanwhile, over 100,000 Chinese laborers built by manual labor airfields near Chengtu, China, northwest of Chungking.
These rear and advanced airfields were used by the US XX Bomber Command during Operation Matterhorn, the first bombing raids against Japan by the new Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber. As the accompanying map shows, B-29s could fly the less-mountainous Low Hump route between their main bases in India and their staging fields in China. The bombing missions over Japan were then round-trip from the staging fields back to the staging fields. |
Routes Between Operation Matterhorn Bases
Operation Matterhorn was a failure. The costs of supporting by airlift the advanced staging bases in China far exceeded the damages inflected on the Japanese home islands during the Matterhorn raids.
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Phases 2, 3, and 4 - November 1944 - August 1945 - from the Mariana Islands
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The accompanying low-resolution maps show the Mariana Islands airfields used for the strategic bombing of Japan. I suspect that the Guam airfields were lesser used as they were further from the Japanese home islands.
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 XXI Bomber Command Mariana Islands Airfields
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Will add more content here later.
Sources for the Strategic Air War - Japan webpage:
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - Strategic Air War - Japan webpage:
Sources for the Strategic Air War - Japan webpage:
- The webpage header image, B-29 Pacific Union is courtesy of worldwarphotos.info. The bomber's nose art is derived from the logo of the Union Pacific Railroad, which is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, location of one of the four B-29 assembly plants. Elvin Hansen died when the Pacific Union ditched on a mission to Japan.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Japan - a long, thorough, well-written and accurate article.
- The Routes Between Operation Matterhorn Bases map is courtesy of https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/OR-Forum-A-Glimpse-at-an-Operation-Analyst%27s-World-Green-Green/f3d21c4558aa19435fc76749fd32b53cbaa01728/figure/0.
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - Strategic Air War - Japan webpage:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.
- Deaths herein are due to the June 1944 - August 1945 US aerial bombing campaign against the Japanese Home Islands using B-29 very heavy bombers.
- Deaths include both the initial Operation Matterhorn B-29 raids from eastern India using advanced bases in China and the later and larger B-29 raids from Guam and Tinian in the Mariana islands.
- Crew #P-46, 62nd Bomb. Sqdn., 39th Bomb. Gp., XXI Bomber Cmd., 20th Air Force, based at North Field, Guam, Mariana Is.; Boeing B-29 Superfortress #44-69889 The Slic Chic right gunner w/ aircraft commander Edgar B. Grear; KIA 29 May 1945, 120 miles NE of Tori-Shima, S of Tokyo; aircraft hit by flak over Yokohama and ditched, four dead, eight survivors; Japan Overpowered > Strategic Air War - Japan; BNR.
- 792nd Bomb. Sqdn., 468 Bomb. Gp., XX Bomber Cmd., 20th Air Force, based at Kalaikunda AAF, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India; Boeing B-29 Superfortress #42-6230 Limber Duggan tail gunner w/ aircraft commander Dushan V. Ivanovic, staging from Pengshan, near Chengdu, China; KIA 15 Jun 1944, near Yawata, Kyushu, Japan; plane was part of the first B-29 raid on Japan; mission consisted of 68 aircraft included 11 correspondents; plane damaged over target & exploded; all eleven crew and Newsweek correspondent William T. Shenkel died; this was the first B-29 lost over Japan, however three other B-29s on this mission went down returning to base; Operation Matterhorn - Japan Overpowered > Strategic Air War - Japan; BNR.
- 676th Bomb. Sqdn. 444th Bomb. Gp., XX Bomber Cmd., 20th Air Force, based at Dudhkundi AAF, near Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, staging from Kwanghan AAF, near Chengdu, China; Boeing B-29 Superfortress #42-6330 Come-In-23982 flight engineer w/ aircraft commander Charles E. Hansen; KIA 20 Aug 1944 near Chengdu, Sichuan, China; aircraft hit cliff while landing after bombing Yawata Iron Works on Kyushu Is., Japan; eleven dead, one survivor; Operation Matterhorn - Japan Overpowered > Strategic Air War - Japan.
- 869th Bomb. Sqdn., 497th Bomb. Gp, XXI Bomber Cmd., 20th Air Force, based at Isley AAF, Saipan, Mariana Is.; Boeing B-29 Superfortress #42-24595 Pacific Union bombardier w/ aircraft commander Leonard L. Cox; KIA 14 Jan 1945 NW of Saipan on a mission to Nagoya, Japan, after leaving base, #3 engine caught fire and Captain Cox decided to ditch; plane exploded when ditching; seven dead, four rescued by destroyer; Japan Overpowered > Strategic Air War - Japan; BNR.
- 873 Bomb. Sqdn., 498th Bomb Gp., XXI Bomber Cmd., 20th Air Force, based at Tinian, Mariana Is.; Boeing B-29 #42-24614 Joltin' Josie radio operator w/ pilot Wilson C. Currier Jr.; KIA 1 Apr 1945, aircraft exploded after takeoff and crashed into Magicienne Bay on nearby Saipan, crew of eleven all died; Japan Overpowered > Strategic Air War - Japan; BNR
- 873rd Bomb. Sqdn., 498th Bomb. Gp., XXI Bomber Cmd., 20th Air Force based at Isley Field, Saipan, Mariana Is.; Boeing B-29 Superfortress #42-65295 co-pilot w/ pilot Marvel L. Geer; KIA 29 Apr 1945 Kagoshima Prefecture, southern Kyushu, Japan on a mission to bomb Nyakonojo Airfield, Kyushu; aircraft was attacked by fighters, hit, exploded, and crashed on land, crew of eleven all died; Japan Overpowered > Strategic Air War - Japan.