History
The Strategic Bombing of Japan October 1944 - August 1945 Â
On June 15, 1944, the first B-29 raid flew from China to strike at a factory in Japan. This was the precision target bombing that the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) had practiced for years.
This policy would be abandoned for area bombing of civilian targets. It would represent a major shift from the doctrine practiced in Europe and the policy that had cost so many American lives over German cities. The B-29 was arguably the finest bomber of the war. It could carry 20,000 pounds of bombs for 2,000 miles round-trip, and had remotely controlled turrets for defense. It incorporated many of the lessons of the air war in Europe, including pressurized cabins and heavy defensive armament.
The B-29s were being massed in daylight raids on precision targets, like their counterparts in Europe had done. The British had abandoned daylight bombing as too costly, preferring area bombing at night. The around the clock bombing raids had amounted to a second front, with thousands of men and machines held in Germany and away from battlefronts in Russia, Africa, Italy and France.
When Curtiss LeMay arrived and took command in January 1945, he ordered a switch from high altitude high explosive precision daylight attacks to night area bombing with a mixture of incendiaries and antipersonnel weapons. This prevented the firefighters from putting out the fires, which spread wildly over the Japanese cities.
From March 1945 through the end of the war, many Japanese cities were subjected to area bombing with incendiaries. Tokyo, Osaka, and many other cities were burned out by firestorms that reached over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The bombings may have killed as many as 500,000 people.
The B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was the largest bomber to enter service in World War II. B-29's played a major part in the overall bombing campaign in the Far East and two B29 Superfortress bombers ('Enola Gay' and 'Bockscar') took part in the atomic bomb raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
Battle Elements and Event Schedule
• The Beginning of the End
• Fight to the Last
• The Last Bomb
Each frame starts at 8pm in the UK, 9pm in France/Germany, 10pm in Finland/Estonia and 3pm EST. The planned length of a single frame is 2 hours.
“The Last Bomb†on YouTube
1 of 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH-toQZPAog
2of 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P7SQJjLpTY
3 of 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nnf6_ROisQ
4 of 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osgxcfLCs-Y
Frame 3 Background
March 9th 1945
On this day, U.S. warplanes launch a new bombing offensive against Japan, dropping 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo over the course of the next 48 hours. Almost 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital were incinerated, and between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians were killed in the worst single firestorm in recorded history. Early on March 9, Air Force crews met on the Mariana Islands of Tinian and Saipan for a military briefing. They were planning a low-level bombing attack on Tokyo that would begin that evening, but with a twist: Their planes would be stripped of all guns except for the tail turret. The decrease in weight would increase the speed of each Superfortress bomber-and would also increase its bomb load capacity by 65 percent, making each plane able to carry more than seven tons. Speed would be crucial, and the crews were warned that if they were shot down, all haste was to be made for the water, which would increase their chances of being picked up by American rescue crews. Should they land within Japanese territory, they could only expect the very worst treatment by civilians, as the mission that night was going to entail the deaths of tens of thousands of those very same civilians. "You're going to deliver the biggest firecracker the Japanese have ever seen," said U.S. Gen. Curtis LeMay.
The cluster bombing of the downtown Tokyo suburb of toejamamachi had been approved only a few hours earlier. toejamamachi was composed of roughly 750,000 people living in cramped quarters in wooden-frame buildings. Setting ablaze this "paper city" was a kind of experiment in the effects of firebombing; it would also destroy the light industries, called "shadow factories," that produced prefabricated war materials destined for Japanese aircraft factories.
The denizens of toejamamachi never had a chance of defending themselves. Their fire brigades were hopelessly undermanned, poorly trained, and poorly equipped. At 5:34 p.m., Superfortress B-29 bombers took off from Saipan and Tinian, reaching their target at 12:15 a.m. on March 10. Three hundred and thirty-four bombers, flying at a mere 500 feet, dropped their loads, creating a giant bonfire fanned by 30-knot winds that helped raze toejamamachi and spread the flames throughout Tokyo. Masses of panicked and terrified Japanese civilians scrambled to escape the inferno, most unsuccessfully. The human carnage was so great that the blood-red mists and stench of burning flesh that wafted up sickened the bomber pilots, forcing them to grab oxygen masks to keep from vomiting. The raid lasted slightly longer than three hours. "In the black Sumida River, countless bodies were floating, clothed bodies, naked bodies, all black as charcoal. It was unreal," recorded one doctor at the scene. Only 243 American airmen were lost-considered acceptable losses.
MISSION SUMMARY
Mission Number 24
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1.   Date: 27 January 1945
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2.   Code Name: Enkindle # 3
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3.   Target: Tokyo (357) - Nakajima A/C Plant, Musashino
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4.   Participating Unit: 73rd BW
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5.   Number A/C Airborne: 74
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6.   % A/C Bombing Primary: 0 (0 Primary, 56 Secondary, 6 Last Resort and Opportunity)
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7.   Time Over Primary: 271504K - 271558K
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8.   Altitude of Attack: 24,500 - 29,600
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9.   Weather Over Target: 10/10
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10.   Total A/C Lost: 9
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11.   Resume of Mission: Mission planned for either Musashino (357) or Mitsubishi engine Factory (193) at Nagoya or if weather was bad, urban areas of Tokyo or Nagoya were to be bombed by radar. Two aircraft were dispatched early as weather reconnaissance and reported that 357 would be Target. Complete under-cast necessitated radar run on urban Tokyo. Bombing results unobserved. Twelve early returns. Five aircraft lost to enemy action, two aircraft ditched on return, one aircraft crash-landed on return to base and one aircraft lost to survey. Enemy fighter opposition of unparalleled intensity - 984 attacks.  Enemy aircraft destroyed sixty, probably destroyed seventeen and thirty-nine damaged. Many ramming attempts. AA heavy, moderate to intense, inaccurate to accurate. Average bomb load: 6,000 lbs. Average gas reserve: 1,059 gallons.
Allies
Aircraft: (Skin Selections)
B-29……. (6th BG, 40th BS and 24th BS)
P-51D….. (506th FG, 457th FS)
P-47N….. (318th FG, 333rd FS and 19th FS)
P-38L…... (475th FG)
Orders
This is Operation "Burning Skillet", the strategic night bombing campaign against mainland Japanese targets. Two separate targets are to be bombed "Nagoya" and "Tokyo". All B-29s will launch from A125 N to target locations 12,10,7 and 16,11,7 then RTB as possible. Fighter support will be provided by P-51Ds, P-47Ns, and P-38Ls from A125 launching on N runway to provide close escort. Plan your flights accordingly with the appropriate fuel and ordnance to complete the job.
Restrictions
All bombers must release their ordnance on primary target Nagoya no lower than 14 thousand ft. AGL. The bomber formation will then drop below 8 thousand feet to bomb secondary target Tokyo.
Axis
Aircraft: (Skin Selection)
A6M5b…… (302nd NAG)
Ki-45(BF110C-4b)... (Default)
Ki-61……… (*Default)
Ki-84……… (73rd Sentai)
N1K2-J…….. (343 NAG and 201 NFG)
Orders
All Imperial Japanese pilots will intercept the incoming raid. All aircraft will launch from field A2.
Restrictions
None
Victory Conditions:
*Note – If the Japanese interceptors are able to destroy fifteen or more bombers the frame will go to the Axis.
*Note - If the American bomber force exceeds 500 objects destroyed. The Axis will concede the victory to the Allies.
Frame 3 - Arena Setting:
1. Terrain – Japan (Latest Map)
2. Icon Range - short
3. Wind – 15 kts W
4. Time – Start time 2200
5. Fighter and Bomber Warning Range - 36,960 about 7 miles
6. Enemy Collisions - On
7. External view for bombers (F3) - On
8. Visibility - 15
9. Friendly Collisions - Off
10. Fuel – 1.5
11. Ack - .3
12. Kill Shooter - off
13. Tower Range – 36,960 for display to match the above setting.
14. Radar – On
Designer Notes:
This is a single life event.
SEC Event Designer and Host
Redtail7