bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Japan > US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force , © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 16 Dec 2023.
The Twentieth Air Force conducted the Strategic Air War against Japan, using Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombers to attack targets in the Japanese home islands.
The Twentieth Air Force conducted the Strategic Air War against Japan, using Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombers to attack targets in the Japanese home islands.
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, via advanced bases in southern China. This first phase, called Operation Matterhorn, was largely a waste.
- 24 November 1944-March 1945 - bombing of Japanese industrial targets.
- March-August 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 Big Pigeon's US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force:
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force:
Sources for Big Pigeon's US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force:
- 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 from Harrison Co. 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 - US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Dead 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 Saipan, Guam and Tinian in the Mariana islands.
- 482nd Bomb. Sqdn., 505th Bomb. Gp., 73rd Bomb. Wing, Twentieth Air Force; based at North Field, Tinian, Mariana Is.; Boeing B-29 Superfortress #42-6351 Pocahontas bombardier w/ aircraft commander John Kretzer; KIA 14 Apr 1945 over Honshu, Japan; aircraft lost, presumably to antiaircraft fire, on night bombing mission at 8,000 feet over arsenal area, Tokyo; crew of 11 all died; US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force; BNR.
- Crew #P-46, 62nd Bomb. Sqdn., 39th Bomb. Gp., XXI Bomber Cmd., Twentieth 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; US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force; BNR.
- 792nd Bomb. Sqdn., 468 Bomb. Gp., XX Bomber Cmd., Twentieth Air Force, based at Kalaikunda Army Air Field, 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 - US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force; BNR.
- 676th Bomb. Sqdn. 444th Bomb. Gp., XX Bomber Cmd., Twentieth Air Force, based at Dudhkundi Army Air Field, 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 - US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force.
- 869th Bomb. Sqdn., 497th Bomb. Gp, XXI Bomber Cmd., Twentieth Air Force, based at Isley Army Air Field, 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; US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force; BNR.
- 873 Bomb. Sqdn., 498th Bomb Gp., XXI Bomber Cmd., Twentieth Air Force, based on 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; US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force; BNR
- 873rd Bomb. Sqdn., 498th Bomb. Gp., XXI Bomber Cmd., Twentieth Air Force, based at Isley Army Air 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; US Air Force War w/ Japan > Twentieth Air Force.