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176-527: The Jagdfaust design was based on the Schräge Musik , the manually triggered upward-firing air-to-air cannon extensively deployed with the Luftwaffe night fighter squadrons. The Komet was so fast that pilots found it difficult to fire enough cannon rounds to destroy a bomber in a single pass. The Jagdfaust was developed to address this problem. A 5 cm shell was mounted in a launch tube held in place by

352-421: A Schräge Musik -like surprise of its own, because of the design of its remote dorsal turret carrying a quartet of .50 caliber Browning M2 machine guns, that could elevate to a full 90° position. The Northrop F-89 Scorpion was originally designed to meet the 1945 United States Army Air Forces Army Air Technical Service Command specification ("Military Characteristics for All-Weather Fighting Aircraft") for

528-475: A United States Navy Grumman F9F Panther . In 1947, the United States Air Force tested a Schräge Musik gun installation on a Lockheed F-80A Shooting Star standard "day fighter" aircraft (s/n 44-85044) to study the ability to attack Soviet bombers from below. Twin 0.5 in (12.7 mm) machine guns were fixed in an oblique mount. A final attempt to exploit a fully traversing turret was found in

704-406: A contrast with SCHRÄGE MUSIK! Again the technique was to approach deliberately at a lower level, but this time all the night fighter pilot had to do was slow up a little, rise up below the bomber and hold formation. An NJG expert could follow his observer's directions, acquire the bomber visually, close and destroy it within 60 seconds. The firing position, with the bomber 65° to 70° above the fighter,

880-544: A jet-powered night fighter to replace the P-61 Black Widow. The N-24 company proposal was armed with four 20 mm (.79 in) cannon in a unique trainable nose turret that could rotate 360˚ with the guns able to elevate to 105˚. Ultimately, the F-89 design abandoned the swiveling nose turret in favor of a more standard front-firing cannon arrangement. A similar design – with .50 caliber machine guns – would also be tested on

1056-468: A lower level, below the Monica zone of coverage, until they could see the bomber above; then they pulled up into a climb with all front guns blazing. This demanded fine judgement, gave only a second or two of firing time and almost immediately brought the fighter up behind the bomber's tail turret. Schräge Musik produced devastating results, with its most successful deployment in the winter of 1943–1944. This

1232-409: A mirror above his head, parallel to a similar mirror placed behind the gunsight (where the eye would normally be), which was further to the rear, functioning together in the manner of a periscope . The Ju 88 G-6 was guided into position from sighting and final approach by commands from the radar operator, with the pilot only taking over when visual contact was made just prior to firing. What

1408-419: A new tactic to avoid the turret guns: instead of approaching directly from the rear they would approach about 1,500 ft (460 m) below the bomber, pull up sharply and start firing when the nose of the bomber appeared in the gunsight. As the fighter slowed and the bomber passed over them, its wings were sprayed with cannon or machine gun rounds. While effective, this manoeuvre was difficult to perform, there

1584-421: A pair of thin pins . Four such tubes were mounted vertically (to fire upward) in each wing. To ensure it would be fired at the correct time, the weapon featured a simple form of automated trigger in which an optical photocell detected the dark silhouette of an Allied bomber replacing bright blue sky and triggered the firing of the armed Jagdfaust guns. When the weapon fired, the force of the launch would break

1760-855: A potential United States invasion. In late 1943, the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff approved a proposal to begin the strategic air campaign against the Japanese home islands and East Asia by basing B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers in India and establishing forward airfields in China. This strategy, designated Operation Matterhorn , involved the construction of large airstrips near Chengdu in inland China which would be used to refuel B-29s traveling from bases in Bengal en route to targets in Japan. Chennault, by now

1936-549: A remotely controlled nose-mounted 40mm cannon that could be elevated for no-allowance [1] shooting. While turret fighters like the Boulton Paul Defiant and the naval Blackburn Roc addressed the same threat – enemy bombers attacking the UK – the approach was very different: upward-firing guns and no-allowance shooting are separate and distinct, and the equipment that can do the one can, generally speaking, be arranged so as to do

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2112-492: A result of combat or mechanical faults and a further 42 damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Following the attack on Tokyo, the Japanese government ordered the evacuation of all schoolchildren in the third to sixth grades from the main cities, and 87 percent of them had departed to the countryside by early April. XXI Bomber Command followed up the firebombing of Tokyo with similar raids against other major cities. On 11 March 310 B-29s were dispatched against Nagoya. The bombing

2288-513: A result, the B-29s were able to inflict severe damage on urban areas while suffering few losses. The Allied bombing campaign was one of the main factors which influenced the Japanese government's decision to surrender in mid-August 1945. However, there has been a long-running debate over the morality of the attacks on Japanese cities, and the use of atomic weapons is particularly controversial . The most commonly cited estimate of Japanese casualties from

2464-1043: A result, the forces were unable to react to a sudden air attack. Japanese cities were highly vulnerable to damage from firebombing due to their design and the weak state of the country's civil defense organization. Urban areas were typically congested, and most buildings were constructed from highly flammable materials such as paper and wood. In addition, industrial and military facilities in urban areas were normally surrounded by densely populated residential buildings. Despite this vulnerability, few cities had full-time professional firefighters and most relied on volunteers. Such firefighting forces that did exist lacked modern equipment and used outdated tactics. Air raid drills had been held in Tokyo and Osaka since 1928, however, and from 1937 local governments were required to provide civilians with manuals that explained how to respond to air attacks. Few air-raid shelters and other air defense facilities for civilians and industry were constructed prior to

2640-524: A scaled prototype . A Douglas Havoc , BD126 , was fitted with six upward-firing machine guns in the fuselage behind the cockpit. The guns could be controlled in elevation from 30–50 degrees and 15 degrees in the azimuth by the gunner in the nose. The aircraft was tested at the A&;AEE in 1941 and then by the GRU and Fighter Interception Unit. The American Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter could deliver

2816-506: A series of raids against the Kurils to suppress the Japanese air units stationed there. The first of these attacks was made against southern Shumshu and northern Paramushiru by eight B-25s on 10 July. The Kurils were attacked again on 18 July by six B-24 Liberator heavy bombers, and the unopposed liberation of Kiska ( Operation Cottage ) took place on 15 August. The Eleventh Air Force and US Navy units continued to make small-scale raids on

2992-525: A simple type of fuse instead of the more complex and expensive AZ 39 Safety Fuse. It was probably shipped pre-assembled and ready to install. The weapon system is credited with one kill: on April 10, 1945 Fritz Kelb downed an RAF Lancaster using it. Though initial results were promising, the war ended before it could see extensive deployment. It is believed only two aircraft were ever outfitted with it. Schr%C3%A4ge Musik Schräge Musik ( German pronunciation: [ˈʃʁɛːgə muˈziːk] )

3168-749: A small force of B-29s destroyed an airframe factory at Konan. XXI Bomber Command reached its full strength in April when the 58th and 315th Bombardment Wings arrived in the Marianas; at this time the command comprised five wings equipped with a total of 1,002 B-29s and was the most powerful air unit in the world. After being released from supporting the Okinawa campaign, XXI Bomber Command conducted an intensive firebombing campaign against Japan's main cities from mid-May. A force of 472 B-29s struck Nagoya by day on 13 May and destroyed 3.15 square miles (8.2 km ) of

3344-694: A stable gun platform for the Coventry Ordnance Works 37 mm autocannon produced by the Coventry Ordnance Works (COW). The COW gun had been developed in 1918 for use in aircraft and had been tested on the Airco DH.4. The cannon fired 23-ounce (0.65 kg) shells and was to be mounted at 45 deg or more above the horizontal. The tactic was to fly below the target bomber or airship and fire upwards into it. Gun firing trials with both types went well, with no detriment to airframe or performance, although

3520-506: A training program and improved the organization of the B-29 maintenance units during August and September. A raid against Ōmura on 25 October destroyed the city's small aircraft factory, though a follow-up raid on 11 November ended in failure. The city was attacked again by 61 B-29s on 21 November and by 17 bombers on 19 December. XX Bomber Command made its ninth and final raid on Japan on 6 January 1945 when 28 B-29s once again struck Ōmura. During

3696-541: A turret-mounted cannon armament: of three companies who tendered ( Armstrong Whitworth and Bristol ) had turrets that could only traverse through the forward hemisphere, as did Air Ministry specification F22/39, written around the Vickers Type 414 twin-engined fighter, which combined a streamlined monoplane two-seater fighter airframe with a remotely controlled 40mm cannon in the nose that could be elevated for no-allowance shooting. The Boulton Paul Defiant "turret fighter"

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3872-574: Is often translated as " slanting " or " oblique ", but its slang usage is often translated as "weird" or "strange". The first such systems were developed (though not widely employed) in World War I as anti- Zeppelin defenses by the French and British, in an era when fighters struggled to match the altitude capacity of the German airships and were forced to devise means to attack from below. The later resurrection of

4048-570: The Battle of Britain . With such high losses in day operations, the Defiant was transferred to night fighting and there the type achieved some success. Defiant night fighters typically attacked enemy bombers from below, in a similar manoeuvre to the later German Schräge Musik attacks, more often from slightly ahead or to one side, rather than from directly under the tail. During the Blitz on London of 1940–1941,

4224-403: The Battle of Iwo Jima . However, these attacks were frustrated by high winds and cloud cover and little damage was inflicted. A firebombing raid conducted against Tokyo by 172 B-29s on 25 February was considered successful as it burnt or damaged approximately one square mile of the city's urban area. This attack was a large-scale test of the effectiveness of firebombing. Several factors explain

4400-580: The Gloster G39 having its armament installed at an angle of +12° for 'no-allowance' firing – three dorsal 20mm cannon in the fuselage and two in the nose. While it was a promising aircraft in its own right, by the time that the second prototype was completed the conventionally-armed Bristol Beaufighter was already in production, so neither the G39 nor the subsequent Gloster Reaper were pursued. Similar logic lay behind Air Ministry specification F11/37, which specified

4576-500: The Home Ministry directed households in the major cities to build their own shelters, though these were normally only trenches . A small number of sophisticated shelters were constructed for air defense headquarters and to protect key telephone facilities. However, less than two percent of civilians had access to bombproof air-raid shelters, though tunnels and natural caves were also used to protect civilians from B-29 raids. Following

4752-534: The Nachtjagdgeschwadern (NJG, night fighter wings) were equipped with heavy fighters fitted with radar in the nose and a combination of front-firing and defensive weapons. In the standard interception, the fighter approached the target from the rear to get into a firing position, presenting the night fighter crew with a much smaller target, a problem compounded by the Royal Air Force bombers (such as

4928-514: The Nakajima C6N1-S "Myrt" single-engined, high-speed reconnaissance aircraft was used with a pair of 20 mm Type 99 cannons. One variant of the common A6M5 Zero single-seat fighter—the A6M5d-S—had a 20mm Type 99 cannon mounted just behind the pilot, firing upwards for night fighter combat. Air Ministry Specification F.9/37 led to the second, Rolls-Royce Peregrine powered, prototype of

5104-719: The Pacific War these attacks were limited to the Doolittle Raid in April 1942 and small-scale raids on military positions in the Kuril Islands from mid-1943. Strategic bombing raids began in June 1944 and continued until the end of the war in August 1945. Allied naval and land-based tactical air units also attacked Japan during 1945. The United States Army Air Forces campaign against Japan began in earnest in mid-1944 and intensified during

5280-545: The Ryukyu Islands also frequently struck targets in Japan during 1945 in preparation for the planned invasion of Japan scheduled for October 1945. During early August 1945, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were struck and mostly destroyed by atomic bombs . Japan's military and civil defenses were unable to stop the Allied attacks. The number of fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft guns assigned to defensive duties in

5456-465: The Whitley and Wellington medium bombers) first being fitted with twin-gun hydraulic tail turrets, later upgraded to four guns to fend off just such attacks. While the small .303 in (7.7 mm) calibre made these tail turret guns less effective than hoped, rear-gunners also maintained a watch for fighters and the pilot would make evasive manoeuvres such as corkscrews. Night-fighter pilots developed

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5632-507: The invasion of Okinawa , an island only a few hundred miles south of the home islands. Prior to the landings on 1 April, the Command bombed airfields in Kyushu at Ōita and Tachiarai as well as an aircraft plant at Ōmura on 27 March, and struck Ōita and Tachiarai again on the 31st of the month. No B-29s were lost in these raids. From 6 April the Japanese conducted large-scale kamikaze air raids on

5808-550: The 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine gun. Initially these were unofficial, but Mod 925 provided an official modification in aircraft not equipped with H2S bombing radar , which covered the turret location. Even in the last year of the war, 18 months after the Peenemunde Raid, Schräge Musik night fighters were still taking a heavy toll, for example on the Mitteland – Ems Canal Raid, 21 February 1945, On this particular night

5984-418: The 251 aircraft dispatched were shot down. B-29s also began to drop propaganda leaflets over Japan during March. These leaflets called on Japanese civilians to overthrow their government or face destruction. The USAAF assessed that the firebombing campaign had been highly successful, and noted that American losses during these attacks were much lower than those incurred during day precision raids. Accordingly,

6160-469: The Allied invasion fleet, during which suicide aircraft damaged or sank many warships and transports. As part of the Allied response to these attacks, XXI Bomber Command conducted major raids on airfields in Kyushu on 8 and 16 April, though the first of these attacks was diverted to strike residential areas in Kagoshima after the airfields were found to be covered by clouds. From 17 April until 11 May, when

6336-455: The Allied invasion of Japan, LeMay and some members of Arnold's staff believed that it alone would be sufficient to force the country's surrender. The Japanese government was concerned about the results of the March firebombing attacks as the raids had demonstrated that the Japanese military was unable to protect the nation's airspace. As well as the extensive physical damage in the targeted cities,

6512-633: The American B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberators operating in Europe (factory-equipped with ball turrets) typically bombed by day, thus experiencing far fewer encounters (and relative losses) from Schräge Musik . Later similar Japanese experiments with upward-firing cannons on their night fighters in 1944 (intended to target the American B-29 Superfortress fleet firebombing Japan by night ) were largely fruitless, owing to

6688-428: The B-29 force was intercepted by over 100 fighters. Twelve of the sixty-one Superfortresses that reached the target area were shot down, including one which was destroyed in a suicide ramming attack. Japanese government propaganda claimed that 100 bombers had been downed during this attack, and one of the crashed B-29s was placed on display in Tokyo. XX Bomber Command's performance improved after LeMay instituted

6864-476: The B-29's notably superior speed and altitude. In the initial stages of its operational use by German air crews, from mid-1943 to early 1944, many attacks using Schräge Musik achieved complete surprise while destroying many British bombers. The crews that survived such attacks, during this period, often believed that damage and casualties had been caused by ground-based anti-aircraft artillery (AA or AAA), rather than fighters, and much confusion resulted until

7040-498: The B-29s were released for other duties, about three-quarters of XXI Bomber Command's effort was devoted to attacking airfields and other targets in direct support of the Battle of Okinawa; this included 2,104 sorties flown against 17 airfields. These raids cost the Command 24 B-29s destroyed and 233 damaged and failed to completely suppress kamikaze attacks from the targeted airfields. A few attacks on Japanese cities were conducted during

7216-435: The B-29s' defensive guns removed; by reducing the weight of the aircraft in this way they were able to carry more bombs. These changes were not popular with XXI Bomber Command's aircrew, as they believed that it was safer to fly heavily armed aircraft at high altitude. The first firebombing attack in this campaign—codenamed Operation Meetinghouse —was carried out against Tokyo on the night of 9/10 March, and proved to be

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7392-504: The Baltic Sea coast through 1942. An angle between 60° and 75° was found to give best results, allowing a target turning at 8°/sec to be kept in the gunsight. Schönert was made CO of II./NJG 5, and an armourer serving with the Gruppe , Oberfeldwebel Mahle, developed a working arrangement with the unit's Messerschmitt Bf 110s , mounting a pair of MG FF/M 20 mm (0.79 in) cannon in

7568-749: The Battle of Okinawa. On 1 April, a night precision bombing raid was flown against the Nakajima engine factory in Tokyo by 121 B-29s and three similar attacks were conducted against engine factories in Shizuoka , Koizumi and Tachikawa on the night of 3 April. These raids were unsuccessful as XXI Bomber Command lacked the specialized equipment needed to strike targets accurately at night, and LeMay decided not to conduct similar operations. Small forces of B-29s also struck Tokyo and nearby Kawasaki on 4 April. Two successful large-scale precision bombing raids were flown against aircraft factories in Tokyo and Nagoya on 7 April;

7744-555: The Central Pacific during October and November in preparation for their first attack on Japan. On 1 November, an F-13 photo reconnaissance variant of the B-29 from the 3rd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron overflew Tokyo ; this was the first American aircraft to fly over the city since the Doolittle Raid. Further F-13 sorties were conducted during early November to gather intelligence on aircraft factories and port facilities in

7920-464: The Defiant equipped four squadrons, shooting down more enemy aircraft than any other type. The Defiant Mk II was fitted with AI.IV radar and a Merlin XX engine. A total of 207 Defiant Mk IIs were built but the Defiant was retired as radar-equipped Beaufighter and Mosquito night fighters entered service in 1941 and 1942. Turret fighters with four 20mm cannon were specified under F.11/37 but got no further than

8096-502: The Defiant into service in 1939, intending to use it against bombers, despite the bombers' numerous gun positions. However, the unexpected German territorial gains in France meant that bombers were escorted by fighters. Despite being utterly outclassed as a day fighter, when moved to the night-fighter role it had some success, typically attacking from below and slightly ahead of the bomber, well outside its field of defensive fire. Meanwhile, in

8272-474: The Doolittle Raiders had intended to land. This offensive achieved its objectives and resulted in the deaths of 250,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians; many of these civilian deaths were due to war crimes . The destruction of the airfields and heavy casualties badly damaged China's war effort. The IJA also began developing fire balloons capable of carrying incendiary and anti-personnel bombs from Japan to

8448-444: The FN.64 ventral turret but its sighting periscope provided an overly tight field of view that left the gunner blind, and the traverse speed was too slow, making it useless. A small number of Halifax and Lancaster bombers were fitted with a machine-gun mounted to fire through the hole where the turret would have been, normally of .303 in (7.70 mm) although Canadian units tended to use

8624-575: The Fourteenth Air Force from undertaking more effective operations against Japanese positions and shipping. The official history of the USAAF judged that the difficulty of transporting adequate supplies to India and China was the most important factor behind the failure of Operation Matterhorn, though technical problems with the B-29s and the inexperience of their crews also hindered the campaign. The adverse weather conditions common over Japan also limited

8800-488: The IJAAF and IJN formations in the home islands were training units which had only a limited ability to counter Allied attacks. The Army also operated a network of military and civilian observation posts to provide warning of air attack and was in the process of building radar stations. Command and control of the air defenses was fragmented, and the IJAAF and IJN did not coordinate their activities or communicate with each other. As

8976-460: The Japanese aircraft industry. Three months later Chennault told United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt that a force of 105 modern fighters and 40 bombers (including twelve heavy bombers) would be able to "accomplish the downfall of Japan" within six to twelve months. The USAAF's headquarters did not regard these claims as credible, and Chennault's requests for reinforcements were not granted. The Japanese government's pre-war plans to protect

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9152-555: The Joint Target Group (JTG), which was the Washington, D.C.-based organisation responsible for developing strategies for the air campaign against Japan, developed plans for a two-stage campaign against 22 Japanese cities. The JTG also recommended that precision bombing attacks on particularly important industrial facilities continue in parallel to the area raids, however. While this campaign was intended to form part of preparations for

9328-675: The Kuril Islands until the closing months of the war. The USAAF attacks were broken off for five months following a raid on 11 September 1943 when nine of the 20 B-24s and B-25s dispatched were lost, but raids by US Navy PBY Catalinas continued. In response to the American attacks, the IJN established the North-East Area Fleet in August 1943, and in November that year Japanese fighter strength in

9504-458: The Kurils and Hokkaidō peaked at 260 aircraft. The Eleventh Air Force resumed its offensive in February 1944 after it had been reinforced with two squadrons of P-38 Lightning escort fighters, and it continued to attack targets in the Kurils until June 1945. While these raids caused little damage, they caused the Japanese to divert large numbers of soldiers to defend their northern islands against

9680-786: The M-69 incendiary and packing 38 of them into the E-46 cluster bomb; these were shipped across the Pacific and stored for future use. Arnold and the Air Staff wanted to wait to use the incendiaries until a large-scale program of firebombing could be mounted, to overwhelm the Japanese city defenses. In light of the poor results of the precision bombing campaign and the success of the 25 February raid on Tokyo, and considering that many tons of incendiaries were now available to him, LeMay decided to begin firebombing attacks on Japan's main cities during early March 1945. This

9856-499: The MK 108s be removed and replaced by MG FF/Ms or the angle of the mounting be changed. Although He 219s continued to be delivered with the twin 30 mm mounted, these were removed by front line units. Using the Schräge Musik required precise timing and swift evasion; a fatally damaged bomber could fall on the night fighter if the fighter could not quickly turn away. The He 219 was particularly prone to this; its high wing loading left it at

10032-663: The Maritime Provinces' and American B-29s would have to be based far to the north of Vladivostok near the mouth of the Amur River in the Komsomolsk-Nikolaevsk area. It was decided to press for this at Yalta. At the Yalta Conference one year later, Stalin told Roosevelt that American B-29s would be based at the remote Komsomolsk-Nikolaevsk area. Antonov said that they would start preliminary base construction. However,

10208-539: The Me 163 were promising, with six operational aircraft modified. On 10 April 1945, a Halifax bomber was shot down by Fritz Kelb flying a Jägerfaust -equipped Me 163B, most probably from I. Gruppe / JG 400 operating from Brandis, Germany . As experimental aircraft were developed as night fighters, such as the Horten Ho 229 , a Schräge Musik system was incorporated from the start. The experimental Horten Ho 229 flying wing series

10384-621: The Pacific War. The Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) conducted a single attack on the Japanese home islands during the Second Sino-Japanese War . On 19 May 1938 two ROCAF Martin B-10 bombers dropped propaganda leaflets on Nagasaki , Fukuoka , Kurume , Saga , and other locations on Kyushu . These leaflets did not have any effect on Japanese civilians, but demonstrated that China could potentially conduct small scale air attacks on

10560-484: The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The 58th Bombardment Wing was XX Bomber Command's main combat unit, and its movement from Kansas to India took place between April and mid-May 1944. The Japanese military began transferring fighter aircraft to the home islands from China and the Pacific in early 1944 in anticipation of B-29 raids. Japanese intelligence detected the construction of B-29 bases in India and China, and

10736-740: The Soviet Union had declared war on Japan. In spring 1944, the Soviets asked for assistance in creating a long-range bombing force for Japan, with 300 (lend-lease) B-24s and 240 B-29s. In negotiations in July and August, the United States agreed to supply 200 B-24s (50 per month; probably via Abadan) and to train operational and maintenance crews. But with difficulties over the arrangements, the USSR announced on 29 September that they would forego American training in view of

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10912-476: The Soviet Union, though several crashed in Japanese-held territory after running out of fuel. Japanese casualties were 50 killed and over 400 wounded. About 200 houses were also destroyed. Although the Doolittle Raid caused little damage, it had important ramifications. The attack raised morale in the United States and its commander, Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle , was seen as a hero. The weak state of

11088-403: The Tokyo–Yokosuka area. The F-13s were generally able to evade the heavy anti-aircraft fire they attracted and the large numbers of Japanese fighters that were scrambled to intercept them as they flew at both high speed and high altitude. XXI Bomber Command's initial attacks against Japan were focused on the country's aircraft industry. The first attack, codenamed Operation San Antonio I ,

11264-419: The USAAF commander from criticism if the attacks were unsuccessful. The Twentieth Air Force's Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Lauris Norstad , was aware of the change in tactics though and provided support. The decision to use firebombing tactics represented a move away from the USAAF's previous focus on precision bombing, and was believed by senior officials in the military and US Government to be justified by

11440-420: The USAAF heavy bomber force in the Philippines was largely destroyed when Clark Air Base was attacked on 8 December 1941. The USAAF subsequently attempted to send thirteen heavy bombers to China in March and April 1942 to attack the Japanese home islands . These aircraft reached India, but remained there as the Japanese conquest of Burma caused logistics problems and Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek

11616-470: The United States and to avenge the attack on Pearl Harbor , 16 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers were carried from San Francisco to within range of Japan on the aircraft carrier USS  Hornet . These aircraft were launched on 18 April, and individually bombed targets in Tokyo, Yokohama , Yokosuka , Nagoya and Kobe . The Japanese air defense units were taken by surprise, and all the B-25s escaped without serious damage. The aircraft then continued to China and

11792-436: The United States, the twin-engine Bell YFM-1 Airacuda was designed as a "bomber-destroyer", touted as "a mobile anti-aircraft platform". Its armament included mainly forward-firing M4 37mm cannon , with an accompanying gunner mounted in a forward compartment of each of the two engine nacelles . Theoretically, the cannon could be slewed, aimed and fired at an oblique angle but flight tests and operational evaluation, disproved

11968-444: The Westland prototype displayed "alarming" handling characteristics. Neither the Type 161 nor its competitor, the Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter were ordered, and no more was heard of this use of the aerial COW gun. Similar logic lay behind the later Vickers Type 414 twin-engined fighter. This aircraft, which can be seen a natural successor to the Vickers COW gun fighter, combined a streamlined monoplane two-seater fighter airframe with

12144-502: The Zeppelin raiders of 1915–1916, hit on the idea of firing a mixture of explosive and incendiary bullets into the body of the airship from below . For this purpose a .303 in (7.7 mm) air-cooled Lewis gun was mounted in front of the pilot, firing upward. Exploitation of this led to the destruction of six German airships between September and December 1916. Later British night fighters were similarly armed with upward-firing guns. Several tractor-configured single-seat biplanes of

12320-408: The advantage that the bomber crew could not see them against the dark ground or sky, yet allowed the German crew to see the silhouette of the aircraft before they attacked. The optimum target for the night fighter was the wing fuel tanks, not the fuselage or bomb bay, because of the risk that exploding bombs would damage the attacker. "To overcome some of the problems, many NJG pilots closed the range at

12496-416: The area. The Japanese military later incorrectly concluded that the ROCAF had aircraft capable of mounting attacks at a range of 1,300 miles (2,100 km) from their bases, and took precautions against potential raids on western Japan when Chinese forces launched an offensive during 1939. USAAF aircraft bombed Japan for the first time in mid-April 1942. In an operation conducted primarily to raise morale in

12672-483: The arsenal district of Tokyo and destroyed 11.4 square miles (30 km ) of the city, including several armaments factories. On 15 April 303 Superfortresses attacked the Tokyo region and destroyed 6 square miles (16 km ) of Tokyo, 3.6 square miles (9.3 km ) of Kawasaki and 1.5 square miles (3.9 km ) of Yokohama for the loss of 12 bombers. On 24 April the Tachikawa aircraft engine factory at Yamato near Tokyo

12848-422: The attack on Yawata, and by October, 375 aircraft were assigned to the three air defense air divisions. These divisions remained at about this strength until March 1945. Arnold relieved XX Bomber Command's commander, Brigadier General Kenneth Wolfe, shortly after the raid on Yawata when he was unable to make follow-up attacks on Japan due to insufficient fuel stockpiles at the bases in China. Wolfe's replacement

13024-468: The attacks also caused increased absenteeism as civilians were afraid to leave their homes to work in factories which might be bombed. Japanese air defenses were reinforced in response to the firebombing raids, but remained inadequate; 450 fighters were assigned to defensive duties in April. The start of the major firebombing campaign was delayed as XXI Bomber Command was used to attack airfields in southern Japan from late March to mid-May in support of

13200-456: The bomber stream, to pick up radar emissions from the German night fighters. Wing Commander J. D. Pattinson of 429 "Bison" Squadron, recognized an unseen danger but to him, it "was all presumption, not fact". He ordered that the mid-upper turrets be removed and the "displaced gunner would lie on a mattress on the floor as an observer, looking through a perspex blister for night fighters coming up from below". Some early Lancaster B. IIs had retained

13376-467: The cause was successfully pinpointed. During World War I , pusher-configured fighter aircraft with flexibly-mounted forward-firing machine guns (especially the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2s ), enabled gunners to discover the principle of zero-deflection shooting. When firing upward at roughly a 45° elevation, when the attacking aircraft and its target are travelling at about the same speed and

13552-452: The city and its main factories. Moreover, while improved maintenance procedures implemented by LeMay reduced the number of B-29s that had to return to base during raids due to technical problems, the Command suffered a loss rate of 5.1% in these operations. From 19 February to 3 March, XXI Bomber Command conducted a series of precision bombing raids on aircraft factories that sought to tie down Japanese air units so they could not participate in

13728-465: The city was removed from XXI Bomber Command's target list. The Command's last major raid of May was a daylight incendiary attack on Yokohama on 29 May conducted by 517 B-29s escorted by 101 P-51s. This force was intercepted by 150 A6M Zero fighters, sparking an intense air battle in which five B-29s were shot down and another 175 damaged. In return, the P-51 pilots claimed 26 "kills" and 23 "probables" for

13904-502: The city's aircraft plants. The third raid was a daylight incendiary attack which was conducted after the Twentieth Air Force directed that 100 B-29s armed with M-69 bombs be dispatched against Nagoya to test the effectiveness of these weapons on a Japanese city. Hansell protested this order, as he believed that precision attacks were starting to produce results and moving to area bombardment would be counterproductive, but agreed to

14080-604: The city's central area, including the headquarters of several key government ministries and much of the Tokyo Imperial Palace ; the bomber crews had been briefed to not target the palace as the US Government did not want to risk killing Emperor Hirohito . The Japanese defenses were relatively successful on this occasion, and 26 Superfortresses were shot down and another 100 damaged. By the end of these raids just over half (50.8 percent) of Tokyo had been destroyed and

14256-418: The city's urban area. The Tokyo police force and fire department estimated that 83,793 people were killed during the air raid, another 40,918 were injured and just over a million lost their homes; postwar estimates of deaths in this attack have ranged from 80,000 to 100,000. Damage to Tokyo's war production was also substantial. Japanese opposition to this attack was relatively weak; 14 B-29s were destroyed as

14432-442: The city. The Japanese mounted a strong defense that downed two Superfortresses and damaged another 64; another eight B-29s were lost to other causes. The Americans claimed 18 Japanese fighter "kills" as well as another 30 "probables" and 16 damaged. Nagoya was attacked again by 457 B-29s on the night of 16 May, and the resulting fires destroyed 3.82 square miles (9.9 km ) of the city. Japanese defenses were much weaker by night, and

14608-525: The commander of the Fourteenth Air Force in China, advocated building the B-29 bases near Guilin , closer to Japan, but this area was judged too vulnerable to counterattack. However, the decision to build airstrips at Chengdu meant that Kyūshū was the only part of the home island chain within the B-29's 1,600-mile (2,600 km) combat radius . Construction of the airfields began in January 1944, and

14784-629: The concept by the Germans was inspired by observed weaknesses in the standard British night bomber aircraft of the WW2 era (the Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax ), which lacked ventral ball turrets in order to save weight, making them vulnerable to covert approaches and attacks from below under the cover of darkness. In keeping with the plans of the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive ,

14960-637: The continental United States. Following the Doolittle Raid, the next air attacks on Japan were made against the Kuril Islands in mid-1943. The liberation of Alaska's Attu Island in May 1943 during the Aleutian Islands Campaign provided the USAAF with bases within range of the Kurils. As part of the preparations for the liberation of Kiska Island in the Aleutians, the Eleventh Air Force conducted

15136-485: The country from air attack focused on neutralizing enemy air bases. Before the war it was believed that Soviet aircraft based in the Russian Far East posed the greatest threat. The Japanese military planned to destroy the air bases within range of the home islands if Japan and the Soviet Union ever went to war. When the Pacific War began, the Japanese government believed that the best way to prevent American air raids

15312-558: The country's air defenses greatly embarrassed the Japanese military leadership, and four fighter groups were transferred from the Pacific to defend the home islands. In an attempt to prevent further naval raids, the IJN launched an offensive in the Pacific Ocean which ended in defeat during the Battle of Midway . The Japanese Army also conducted the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign to capture the airfields in central China at which

15488-502: The country's air defenses. In response, the IJAAF and IJN stepped up their air attacks on B-29 bases in the Mariana Islands from 27 November; these raids continued until January 1945 and resulted in the destruction of 11 Superfortresses and damage to another 43 for the loss of probably 37 Japanese aircraft. The IJA also began launching Fu-Go balloon bombs against the United States during November. This campaign caused little damage and

15664-502: The countryside from December 1943, and a program of evacuating entire classes of schoolchildren was implemented. By August 1944, 330,000 schoolchildren had been evacuated in school groups and another 459,000 had moved to the countryside with their family. Little was done to disperse industrial facilities to make them less vulnerable to attack, however, as this was logistically difficult. XX Bomber Command began flying missions against Japan in mid-June 1944. The first raid took place on

15840-503: The early 1950s. Freeman Dyson , who was an analyst for Operations research of RAF Bomber Command in World War II, commented on the effectiveness of Schräge Musik : The cause of losses... killed novice and expert crews impartially. This result contradicted the official dogma... I blame the ORS and I blame myself in particular, for not taking this result seriously enough... If we had taken

16016-523: The edge of stalling speed when matching the Lancaster's cruising speed, and therefore quite unmaneuverable. The same was true to a lesser extent of other Luftwaffe types such as the Ju 88, which was considered quite a "hot ship" by its crews. This was also a problem during normal stern attacks at low closure rate, but it was even more exaggerated during Schräge Musik attacks, since the pilot could not even make use of

16192-561: The effectiveness of the Superfortresses, as crews that managed to reach their target were often unable to bomb accurately due to high winds or cloud cover. In 1944, the bombing of Japan from the Soviet Union by American aircraft with American or Soviet crews was considered. Following a request from Roosevelt at the Tehran Conference , Stalin agreed on 2 February 1944 that the United States could operate 1,000 bombers from Siberia after

16368-418: The end of World War I, and was delivered with a pair of .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis guns on a cross-tube connecting the upper wing spars. British ace Albert Ball in particular was a great exponent of this technique, The Germans copied the arrangement in 1917, when Gerhard Fieseler of Jasta 38 attached two machine guns to an Albatros D.V , pointing upwards and forwards. The Boulton Paul Bittern

16544-410: The end of the first phase of XXI Bomber Command's attack on Japan's cities. During May and June the bombers had destroyed much of the country's six largest cities, killing between 112,000 and 126,762 people and rendering millions homeless. The widespread destruction and high number of casualties from these raids caused many Japanese to realize that their country's military was no longer able to defend

16720-403: The evidence more seriously, we might have discovered Schräge Musik in time to respond with effective countermeasures. Air raids on Japan Second Sino-Japanese War During the Pacific War , Allied forces conducted air raids on Japan from 1942 to 1945, causing extensive destruction to the country's cities and killing between 241,000 and 900,000 people. During the first years of

16896-415: The firebombing campaign, and was attacked by 331 B-29s on the night of 16/17 March. The resulting firestorm destroyed 7 square miles (18 km ) of the city (equivalent to half its area), killed 8,000 people and rendered 650,000 homeless. Three B-29s were lost. Nagoya was attacked again on the night of 18/19 March, and the B-29s destroyed 2.95 square miles (7.6 km ) of buildings. Only one Superfortress

17072-548: The first day of the month 521 B-29s escorted by 148 P-51s were dispatched in a daylight raid against Osaka. While en route to the city the Mustangs flew through thick clouds, and 27 of the fighters were destroyed in collisions. Nevertheless, 458 heavy bombers and 27 P-51s reached the city and the bombardment killed 3,960 Japanese and destroyed 3.15 square miles (8.2 km ) of buildings. On 5 June 473 B-29s struck Kobe by day and destroyed 4.35 square miles (11.3 km ) of buildings for

17248-829: The four regional military districts (the Northern , Eastern , Central and Western districts) which reported directly to the Ministry of War . As a result, the GDC's functions were limited to coordinating communications between the Imperial General Headquarters —Japan's highest military decision-making body—and the military districts. In early 1942, forces allocated to the defense of Japan comprised 100 Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) and 200 Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) fighter aircraft, many of which were obsolete, as well as 500 Army-manned and 200 IJN anti-aircraft guns. Most of

17424-551: The gun and firing it with the "normal" trigger rather than the remote Bowden cable used for forward firing. These could then be used to attack enemy aircraft from the blind spot below the tail. Most notable of the airplanes used were the Nieuport 11 , 16 and 17 and 23 fighters from 1915 onwards, and the tactic was continued in British service, with the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5s and Sopwith Dolphin . That Dolphin entered service near

17600-620: The high costs of the B-29 program and also threatened their goal of demonstrating the effectiveness of independent air power. In 1943, USAAF planners began assessing the feasibility of a firebombing campaign against Japanese cities. Japan's main industrial facilities were vulnerable to such attacks as they were concentrated in several large cities and a high proportion of production took place in homes and small factories in urban areas. The planners estimated that incendiary bomb attacks on Japan's six largest cities could cause physical damage to almost 40 percent of industrial facilities and result in

17776-528: The home islands and return without refueling. Japanese aircraft made several attacks on the airfield at Saipan while it was under construction. The Twentieth Air Force's XXI Bomber Command began arriving in the Mariana Islands during October 1944. The Command was led by Brigadier General Haywood S. Hansell , who had also participated in Eighth Air Force operations against Germany. XXI Bomber Command B-29s flew six practice missions against targets in

17952-471: The home islands was inadequate, and most of these aircraft and guns had difficulty reaching the high altitudes at which B-29s often operated. Fuel shortages, inadequate pilot training, and a lack of coordination between units also constrained the effectiveness of the fighter force. Despite the vulnerability of Japanese cities to incendiary bombs , the firefighting services lacked training and equipment, and few air raid shelters were constructed for civilians. As

18128-424: The home islands. American losses were low compared to Japanese casualties; 136 B-29s were downed during the campaign. In Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, Kobe, and Kawasaki, "over 126,762 people were killed ... and a million and a half dwellings and over 105 square miles (270 km ) of urban space were destroyed." In Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, "the areas leveled (almost 100 square miles (260 km )) exceeded

18304-509: The idea of converting the Nakajima J1N (J1N1-C) Irving into a night fighter. On 21 May 1943, at about the same time as the Luftwaffe's Oberleutnant Schoenert had his first victory with Schräge Musik in Europe, the field-modified J1N1-C KAI shot down two B-17s of the 43rd Bomb Group who were attacking air bases around Rabaul. The Navy took immediate notice and placed orders with Nakajima, for

18480-600: The largest calibre autocannon used for Schräge Musik-type operations. It was mounted in a similar position in the fuselage as the Luftwaffe's night fighters. Operational deployment began in October 1944. One of the main Japanese fighters using this device was the Kawasaki Ki-45 "Nick". With the Schräge Musik installation on the Nakajima J1N1-S "Gekkō" (two or three 20mm cannons firing upwards, some had two firing downwards),

18656-420: The limited climb performance available at the edge of the flight envelope to avoid debris from the stricken target. Schräge Musik allowed German night fighters to attack undetected, using special ammunition with a faint glowing trail replacing the standard tracer, combined with a "lethal mixture of armour-piercing, explosive and incendiary ammunition". Approaching from below provided the night fighter crew with

18832-560: The loss of 11 bombers. A force of 409 B-29s attacked Osaka again on 7 June; during this attack 2.21 square miles (5.7 km ) of buildings were burnt out and the Americans did not suffer any losses. Osaka was bombed for the fourth time in the month on 15 June when 444 B-29s destroyed 1.9 square miles (4.9 km ) of the city and another 0.59 square miles (1.5 km ) of nearby Amagasaki ; 300,000 houses were destroyed in Osaka. This attack marked

19008-588: The loss of 7.6 million man-months of labor. It was also estimated that these attacks would kill over 500,000 people, render about 7.75 million homeless and force almost 3.5 million to be evacuated. The USAAF tested the effectiveness of incendiary bombs on Japanese-style buildings at Eglin Field and the " Japanese Village " at Dugway Proving Ground . The American military also attempted to develop " bat bombs ", using incendiary bombs attached to bats dropped by aircraft to attack Japanese cities, but this project

19184-561: The loss of three fighters. The 454 B-29s that reached Yokohama struck the city's main business district and destroyed 6.9 square miles (18 km ) of buildings; over 1000 Japanese were killed. Overall, the attacks in May destroyed 94 square miles (240 km ) of buildings, which was equivalent to one seventh of Japan's total urban area. The Minister of Home Affairs , Iwao Yamazaki , concluded after these raids that Japan's civil defense arrangements were "considered to be futile". The firebombing campaign against major cities ended in June. On

19360-513: The lower sides of bombers, was triggered by an optical device as the pilot passed beneath the target. This was tested on the Fw 190, and was destined for installation in the Messerschmitt Me 163 B and the Me 262B. The definitive night fighter version of the Messerschmitt Me 262 , the Me 262B-2, was also designed to carry such an installation but it did not work and was not used operationally. Trials with

19536-466: The majority of the losses were due to flying accidents. The attacks had a limited impact on Japanese civilian morale but forced the Japanese military to reinforce the home islands' air defenses at the expense of other areas. These results did not justify the large allocation of Allied resources to the operation, however. Moreover, the diversion of some supply aircraft flown between India and China to support XX Bomber Command's efforts may have prevented

19712-623: The military began to develop plans to counter air raids originating from China. The three IJAAF air brigades stationed in Honshū and Kyūshū were expanded to air divisions between March and June (these were designated the 10th , 11th and 12th Air Divisions ). By late June the air defense units in the home islands were assigned 260 fighters, and could draw on approximately 500 additional aircraft during emergencies. Additional anti-aircraft gun batteries and searchlight units were also established to protect major cities and military bases. The GDC's authority

19888-478: The more powerful 30 mm (1.2 in) calibre, short-barrelled MK 108 cannon , such as those fitted to the Heinkel He 219 , fully contained within the fuselage. By mid-1944, He 219 aircrew were critical of the MK 108 installation, because its low muzzle velocity and limited range, meant that the night fighter had to be close to the bomber to attack and be vulnerable to damage from debris. They demanded that either

20064-556: The naval attaché to the Embassy of the United States in Tokyo reported that Japan's civil defenses were weak, and proposals were made for American aircrew to volunteer for service with Chinese forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War . The first American Volunteer Group (the " Flying Tigers ") began operations as part of the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) in late 1941 using P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft. A second American Volunteer Group

20240-455: The need to rapidly bring the war to an end. To maximize the effectiveness of the firebombing attacks, LeMay ordered the B-29s to fly at the low altitude of 5,000 feet (1,500 m) and bomb by night; this represented a significant change from the Command's standard tactics, which focused on high-altitude daylight bombing. As Japan's night fighter force was weak and the anti-aircraft batteries were less effective at night, LeMay also had most of

20416-522: The newly designated J1N1-S night fighter design. This model was christened the Model 11 Gekkō (月光, Moonlight). It required only two crew and like the KAI, had a 20-millimetre (0.79 in)-calibre twinned pair of Type 99 Model 1 cannon firing upward and a second pair firing downward at a forward 30° angle, also placed in the fuselage behind the cabin. The Type 99 20mm calibre autocannon ordnance used by Japanese aircraft

20592-416: The night fighters were to score heavily. The ground radar stations responsible for initial guidance to the vicinity of the bombers did their job well, as did the airborne radar operators to whom fell the task of final location of individual targets. The path of the returning bomber stream was clearly marked by the pyres of numerous downed victims. NJG 4 was operating from Gutersloh (later an RAF base ) and in

20768-457: The night of 15/16 June when 75 B-29s were dispatched to attack the Imperial Iron and Steel Works at Yawata in northern Kyūshū. This attack caused little damage and cost seven B-29s, but received enthusiastic media coverage in the United States and indicated to Japanese civilians that the war was not going well. The Japanese military began expanding the fighter force in the home islands after

20944-459: The night of June 12/13, 1944 and were headed for base. In the tail gun turret I was searching in the dark for any enemy fighters who might be following us out of the target area. Suddenly I heard cannons barking loudly and saw lights flashing directly below. What the hell was that? I didn't see the fighter – just the flashing. We took evasive action and that was it. — Air Gunner Leonard J. Isaacson. Schräge Musik (or Schrägwaffen , as it

21120-446: The number of radar stations capable of providing early warning of raids was insufficient. The Japanese government also sought to improve the country's civil defenses in response to the Doolittle Raid and the threat of further attacks. The national government placed the burden of constructing civilian air-raid shelters on the prefectural governments . However, few shelters were built due to shortages of concrete and steel. In October 1943

21296-630: The operation after he was assured that it did not represent a general shift in tactics. Despite the change in armament, the 22 December raid was planned as a precision attack on an aircraft factory using only 78 bombers, and bad weather meant that little damage was caused. XXI Bomber Command raided the Musashino aircraft plant in Tokyo again on 27 December, but did not damage the facility. On 3 January 1945, 97 B-29s were dispatched to conduct an area bombing raid on Nagoya. This attack started several fires, but these were quickly brought under control. Arnold

21472-484: The original 1948 design of the Curtiss-Wright XF-87 Blackhawk all-weather jet fighter interceptor. Armament was to be a nose-mounted, powered turret containing four 20 mm (.79 in) cannon, but this installation was only fitted to the mock-up and never incorporated in the two prototypes. In the Soviet Union the concept lasted slightly longer, with elevatable guns being tested on a Mikoyan MiG-17 in

21648-462: The other (unless the fixed armament is automatically triggered, as in the photo-cell firing arrangements detailed below). On paper at least, the advantages of flexible aim and weight of fire from a two-seater were clear: the pilot is not overburdened, several fighters could be brought to bear on a target together, and there are two pairs of eyes per aircraft. However, the weight of a powered turret and air gunner imposed performance penalties. The RAF put

21824-525: The outbreak of war, the Home Ministry expanded the number of firefighters, though these generally remained volunteers who lacked adequate training and equipment. Civilians were also trained to fight fires and encouraged to swear an "air defense oath" to respond to attacks from incendiary or high explosive bombs. From autumn 1943 the Japanese government took further steps to prepare the country's major cities for air attacks. An air defense general headquarters

22000-514: The outbreak of war. Japanese successes during the opening months of the Pacific War nullified pre-war US plans for attacks against the Japanese homeland and a series of attempts to start a small-scale campaign from bases in China were unsuccessful. Before the outbreak of war, the USAAF had planned to bomb Japan from Wake Island , Guam , the Philippines and coastal areas in China. However, these areas were rapidly captured by Japanese forces, and

22176-443: The pins holding the tube in place and the heavy tube would be ejected downward to offset the momentum of the explosive force of the shell. As a result, the plane's flight was not affected. The Jagdfaust used a 5 cm Minengranate shell , whose thin walls traded fragmentation for additional explosives ; when detonated within an aircraft with sheet metal skin, the skin would be blown off to devastating effect. The entire weapon

22352-470: The poor results of XXI Bomber Command's precision bombing campaign. The most important of these was the weather; the American raiders frequently encountered cloudy conditions and high winds over Japan which made accurate bombing extremely difficult. Moreover, the bomber forces often had to pass through severe weather fronts between the Mariana Islands and Japan, which broke up formations and caused navigation problems. XXI Bomber Command's effectiveness

22528-478: The problems at XXI Bomber Command, and replaced Hansell with him. Hansell was informed of Arnold's decision on 6 January, but remained in his position until mid-January. During this period, XXI Bomber Command conducted unsuccessful precision bombing attacks on the Musashino aircraft plant in Tokyo and a Mitsubishi Aircraft Works factory in Nagoya on 9 and 14 January respectively. The last attack planned by Hansell

22704-611: The professional firefighting units were short-handed. Civilians were to observe a blackout from 10:00 pm. Japanese positions in the Bonin Islands were normally able to provide an hour's warning of American raids and air raid sirens were sounded in cities threatened by attack. The first attacks conducted under LeMay's leadership achieved mixed results. XXI Bomber Command flew six major missions between 23 January and 19 February with little success, though an incendiary raid against Kobe on 4 February caused significant damage to

22880-475: The project involved around 300,000 conscripted Chinese labourers and 75,000 contracted workers. XX Bomber Command was assigned responsibility for Operation Matterhorn, and its ground crew began to leave the United States for India during December 1943. The Twentieth Air Force was formed in April 1944 to oversee all B-29 operations. In an unprecedented move, the commander of the USAAF, General Henry H. Arnold , took personal command of this unit and ran it from

23056-665: The proposal subsequently lapsed. During the Mariana Islands campaign , US forces captured Japanese-held islands in the Battles of Guam , Saipan and Tinian between June and August 1944. USAAF and US Navy engineers subsequently constructed six airfields on the islands to accommodate hundreds of B-29s. These bases were more capable of supporting an intensive air campaign against Japan than those in China as they could be easily supplied by sea and were 1,500 miles (2,400 km) south of Tokyo, which allowed B-29s to strike most areas in

23232-613: The raid on Tokyo was the first to be escorted by Iwo Jima-based P-51 Mustang very-long-range fighters from the VII Fighter Command , and the Americans claimed to have shot down 101 Japanese aircraft for the loss of two P-51s and seven B-29s. Over 250 B-29s struck three different aircraft factories on 12 April; during this operation the 73rd Bombardment Wing inflicted heavy damage on the Musashino aircraft plant and fought off 185 Japanese fighters without loss. LeMay resumed night firebombing raids on 13 April when 327 B-29s attacked

23408-524: The raids is 333,000 killed and 473,000 wounded. Other estimates of total fatalities range from 241,000 to 900,000. In addition to the loss of mostly civilian life, the raids contributed to a large decline in industrial production. The United States Army Air Corps (which was subsumed by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in February 1942) began developing contingency plans for an air campaign against Japan during 1940. During that year

23584-487: The range is fairly short, the trajectory will appear straight. The bullets' true path is a parabola, but the movement forward of both aircraft, and the air passing the aircraft counter the tendency of the round to arc down after leaving the muzzle so it appears to follow a straight line, simplifying accurate sighting which then requires no deflection or leading of the target. The pilots of Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 night fighters, after trying various schemes for attacking

23760-486: The rear compartment of the upper fuselage, firing through twin holes in the canopy's glazing. Schönert used such a modified Bf 110 to shoot down a bomber in May 1943. From June 1943, an official conversion kit was produced for the Junkers Ju 88 and Dornier Do 217N fighters. Between August 1943 and the end of the year, Schönert achieved 18 kills with the new gun installation. Before the introduction of Schräge Musik in 1943,

23936-766: The same period the command conducted a number of attacks on targets in Manchuria , China and Formosa from its bases in China, as well as striking targets in Southeast Asia from India. The command flew its final mission from India, a raid on Singapore , on 29 March; its constituent units were then transferred to the Mariana Islands. Overall, Operation Matterhorn was not successful. The nine raids conducted against Japan via bases in China succeeded only in destroying Ōmura's aircraft factory. XX Bomber Command lost 125 B-29s during all of its operations from bases in India and China, though only 22 or 29 were destroyed by Japanese forces;

24112-476: The single most destructive air raid of the war. XXI Bomber Command mounted a maximum effort, and on the afternoon of 9 March 346 B-29s left the Marianas bound for Tokyo. They began to arrive over the city at 2:00 am Guam time on 10 March, and 279 bombers dropped 1,665 tons of bombs. The raid caused a massive conflagration that overwhelmed Tokyo's civil defenses and destroyed 16 square miles (41 km ) of buildings, representing seven percent of

24288-449: The space of 20 minutes, between 20.43 and 21.03, Schnaufer and his crew, using their upward firing cannons [from a Bf 110G night fighter], shot down seven Lancasters. As it was, on that black night, four night fighter crews accounted for 28 of the 62 bombers lost out of the 800 despatched. In 1943, Commander Yasuna Kozono of the 251st Kōkūtai , Imperial Japanese Navy in Rabaul came up with

24464-469: The theory: the type proved troublesome and except for initial flight testing in 1937, where full armament was carried, the nacelle cannon armament and the accompanying gunner–loaders were eliminated in the final development aircraft. Oberleutnant Rudolf Schoenert of 4./ NJG 2 decided to experiment with upward-firing guns in 1941 and began trying out upward-firing installations, amid scepticism from his superiors and fellow pilots. The first installation

24640-505: The third wave lost 29 of their 166 bombers, well over the 10 per cent losses considered "unsustainable". In this raid 40 aircraft were lost: 23 Lancasters, 15 Halifaxes and two Short Stirlings . Adoption of Schräge Musik began in late 1943 and by 1944, a third of all German night fighters carried upward-firing guns. Schräge Musik proved most successful in the Jumo 213 powered Ju 88 G-6. An increasing number of these installations used

24816-465: The threat of air attack as the country's industrial resources were unable to maintain offensive air forces in China and the Pacific as well as a defensive force in the home islands. Few air units or anti-aircraft batteries were stationed in the home islands during the early months of the Pacific War. The General Defense Command (GDC) had been formed in July 1941 to oversee the defense of the home islands, but all combat units in this area were assigned to

24992-671: The three bombers lost in this attack crashed due to mechanical problems. The two raids on Nagoya killed 3,866 Japanese and rendered another 472,701 homeless. On 19 May 318 B-29s conducted an unsuccessful precision bombing raid on the Tachikawa Aircraft Company . XXI Bomber Command made further large-scale firebombing attacks against Tokyo on the nights of 23 and 25 May. In the first of these raids 520 B-29s destroyed 5.3 square miles (14 km ) of southern Tokyo with 17 aircraft lost and 69 damaged. The second attack involved 502 B-29s and destroyed 16.8 square miles (44 km ) of

25168-473: The time featured machine guns mounted on the centre section of the top wing to fire over the radius of the propeller to bypass the need for synchronization gears ). Both the French mountings and the British Foster mounting allowed a machine gun to be tipped back to reload and whether by accident or design, this allowed the gun to be held at an intermediate angle (ideally about 45°) and fired upward, steadying

25344-637: The uncertainty over the B-24s. Stalin had agreed at the 1944 Moscow Conference to the United States having air bases near Vladivostok (where six or seven large aerodromes had been built and reserved ) and the use of Petropavlovsk ( Kamchatka ) as a base; he "virtually ignored" earlier proposals for a Soviet bombing force. However, despite an American team going to Moscow in December 1944 they failed to reach agreement. On 16 December 1944 General Antonov said that Soviet forces would need all their naval and air bases in

25520-416: The war's last months. While plans for attacks on Japan had been prepared prior to the Pacific War, these could not begin until the long-range Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber was ready for combat. From June 1944 until January 1945, B-29s stationed in India staged through bases in China to make a series of nine raids on targets in western Japan, but this effort proved ineffective. The strategic bombing campaign

25696-449: Was Major General Curtis LeMay , a veteran of Eighth Air Force bombing attacks against Germany. Subsequent B-29 raids staging through China generally did not meet their objectives. The second raid took place on 7 July when 17 B-29s attacked Sasebo, Ōmura and Tobata , causing little damage, and on the night of 10/11 August 24 Superfortresses attacked Nagasaki . Another unsuccessful raid was conducted against Yawata on 20 August in which

25872-477: Was a common name for the fitting of an upward-firing autocannon or machine gun , to an interceptor aircraft, such as a night fighter . The term was introduced by the German Luftwaffe during World War II . "Schräge Musik" was previously a German colloquialism , meaning music that featured an unusual tuning and/or time signature (e.g., jazz ). The standard usage of the adjective schräg

26048-624: Was a risk of collision and, if the bomb load exploded, it could destroy the night fighter. Systems similar to the original Schräge Musik , such as the Sondergerät 500 or Jägerfaust , were tested on day fighters and other airframes, with the largest-calibre upward-firing aerial ordnance in German service, based on the quintuple-launcher of the 21 cm Nebelwerfer infantry barrage rocket, the experimental heavy-bomber based Grosszerstörer (heavy destroyer) also under test. The Jägerfaust system, firing 50 mm (2 in) projectiles vertically into

26224-707: Was a time when Bomber Command losses became unsupportable: the RAF lost 78 of 823 bombers that attacked Leipzig on 19 February, and 96 of the 795 bombers that attacked Nuremberg on 30/31 March 1944. RAF Bomber Command was slow to react to the threat from Schräge Musik , with no reports from shot-down crews reporting the new tactic; the sudden increase in bomber losses had often been attributed to flak. Reports from air gunners of German night fighters stalking their prey from below had appeared as early as 1943 but had been discounted. A myth developed among RAF Bomber Command crews that "scarecrow shells" were encountered over Germany. The phenomenon

26400-497: Was a twin-engined night fighter (designed to Specification 27/24) with an armament of barbette mounted guns, that could be angled upwards for attack against bombers, without having to enter a climb. The first of two Bittern prototypes flew in 1927, though performance was poor and the development stopped. The Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter (1930) and Vickers Type 161 (1931) were designed in response to Air Ministry specification F.29/27. This called for an interceptor fighter operating as

26576-496: Was abandoned in 1944. During early 1945 the USAAF conducted raids against cities in Formosa to trial tactics which could be later used against Japanese urban areas. Napalm , used by the Americans for flamethrowers and incendiary bombs, was increased in production from 500,000 lb (230,000 kg) in 1943 to 8 million lb (3.6 kt) in 1944. Much of the napalm went from nine US factories to bomb-assembly plants making

26752-519: Was abandoned in March 1945. By this time 9,000 balloons had been dispatched but only 285 were reported to have reached the contiguous United States . The next American raids on Japan were not successful. XXI Bomber Command attacked Tokyo three times between 27 November and 3 December; two of these raids were made against the Musashino aircraft plant while the other targeted an industrial area using M-69 incendiary cluster bombs , specifically developed to damage Japanese urban areas. The aircraft plant

26928-462: Was also called) was first used operationally during Operation Hydra (the first instance of the Allied bombing of Peenemünde ) on the night of 17/18 August 1943. Three waves of aircraft bombed the area, and a diversion on Berlin by RAF Mosquitoes attracted the main Luftwaffe fighter effort, which meant that only the last of the three waves was met by many night fighters. Number 5 Group and 6 Group in

27104-491: Was also formed in late 1941 to attack Japan from bases in China using Hudson and A-20 Havoc medium bombers. The attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 led to open hostilities between the US and Japan and ended the need for covert operations, however, and this unit did not become active. The small number of Second Air Volunteer Group personnel who were dispatched from the United States in November 1941 were diverted to Australia upon

27280-442: Was also limited by poor B-29 maintenance practices and over-crowding at its airfields—these factors reduced the number of aircraft which were available for operations and complicated the process of launching and recovering the bombers. By March 1945 the USAAF's commanders were highly concerned about the failure of the campaigns mounted from China and the Mariana Islands, and believed that the results to date made it difficult to justify

27456-408: Was an almost ideal one. The fighter could see the bomber clearly, as a darker silhouette either blotting out the stars or against paler sky or high cloud. It presented the biggest possible target and reflected any light from searchlights, ground fires or TIs [target indicators]. With the two aircraft in close formation, there was an ideal no-deflection shot. And the fighter was perfectly safe, because it

27632-516: Was attacked on 27 November and 3 December and was only lightly damaged as high winds and clouds prevented accurate bombing. The incendiary raid conducted on the night of 29/30 November by 29 Superfortresses burnt out one tenth of a square mile, and was also judged to be unsuccessful by the Twentieth Air Force's headquarters. Four of XXI Bomber Command's next five raids were made against targets in Nagoya . The first two of these attacks on 13 and 18 December used precision bombing tactics, and damaged

27808-416: Was based on the drum-magazine fed Swiss Oerlikon FF ordnance which was itself the basis for the Germans' own MG FF weapon, used to pioneer Schräge Musik for the Luftwaffe. The Japanese Army Air Force Mitsubishi Ki-46 "Dinah" twin engined fighter was used to test the Schräge Musik armament format in its Ki-46 III KAI version in June 1943, using a 37 mm Ho-203 cannon with 200 rounds of ammunition,

27984-466: Was designed for economy. Because it was intended for short range use, the shell had an aerodynamically inefficient shape that could be easily forged or stamped. Its tolerances were loose, as its long-range accuracy was not an issue. Instead of a driving band, the shell flared at its base and was machined to engage the rifling . The launch tube was made of soft unalloyed steel since it would not need to keep its rifling over repeated firings. The shell used

28160-517: Was destroyed by 131 B-29s. An attack on the aircraft arsenal at Tachikawa six days later was aborted due to cloud cover; some of the heavy bombers attacked the city of Hamamatsu instead. Another precision raid was made against the Hiro Naval Aircraft Factory at Kure on 5 May when 148 B-29s inflicted heavy damage on the facility. Five days later B-29s successfully attacked oil storage facilities at Iwakuni , Ōshima and Toyama . On 11 May

28336-483: Was disappointed with what XXI Bomber Command had achieved, and wanted the Command to produce results quickly. In addition, Hansell's preference for precision bombing was no longer in accordance with the views of the Twentieth Air Force headquarters, which wanted a greater emphasis on area attacks. In late December 1944 Arnold decided to relieve Hansell of his command. Seeing LeMay's success in improving XX Bomber Command's performance, Arnold thought LeMay could solve

28512-462: Was established in November and a program of demolishing large numbers of buildings in major cities to create firebreaks began the next month. By the end of the war 614,000 housing units had been destroyed to clear firebreaks; these accounted for a fifth of all housing losses in Japan during the war and displaced 3.5 million people. The government also encouraged old people, children and women in cities that were believed likely to be attacked to move to

28688-650: Was greatly expanded from November 1944 when bases in the Mariana Islands became available as a result of the Mariana Islands Campaign . Initial attempts to target industrial facilities using high-altitude daylight "precision" bombing were largely ineffective. From February 1945, the bombers switched to low-altitude night firebombing against urban areas as much of the manufacturing process was carried out in small workshops and private homes: this approach resulted in large-scale urban damage and high civilian casualties. Aircraft flying from Allied aircraft carriers and

28864-496: Was in line with Arnold's targeting directive for XXI Bomber Command, which specified that urban areas were to be accorded the second-highest priority for attacks after aircraft factories. The directive also stated that firebombing raids should be conducted once M-69 bombs had been tested in combat and the number of B-29s available was sufficient to launch an intensive campaign. LeMay did not seek Arnold's specific approval before launching his firebombing campaign, however, to protect

29040-431: Was made against the Musashino aircraft plant in the outskirts of Tokyo on 24 November 1944. Only 24 of the 111 B-29s dispatched attacked the primary target, and the others bombed port facilities as well as industrial and urban areas. The Americans were intercepted by 125 Japanese fighters but only one B-29 was shot down. This attack caused some damage to the aircraft plant and further reduced Japanese civilians' confidence in

29216-563: Was made late in 1942, in a Dornier Do 17Z-10 that was also equipped with the early UHF-band version of the FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C radar. In July 1942, Schoenert discussed the results of his experiment with General Josef Kammhuber , who authorized the conversion of three Dornier Do 217J-1s , to add a vertical armament of four or six MG 151s . Further experiments were carried out by the Luftwaffe flight testing centre Erprobungsstelle ) at Tarnewitz on

29392-566: Was more successful, however: a force of 77 B-29s crippled a Kawasaki Aircraft Industries factory near Akashi on 19 January. During XXI Bomber Command's first three months of operations, it lost an average of 4.1% of aircraft dispatched in each raid. In late January 1945 the Imperial General Headquarters belatedly adopted a civil defense plan to counter the American air raids. This plan assigned responsibility for fighting fires to community councils and neighborhood groups as

29568-458: Was originally conceived under the F.9/35 specification for a "two-seat day and night fighter" to defend Great Britain against massed formations of unescorted enemy bombers. Regardless of the requirement, the use of its dorsal turret was based on the "broadside" fighter interception and combined fighter attack tactic of bomber interception. Attempts to take on single-seat fighters with Defiants led to catastrophic results in 1940 over France and during

29744-546: Was proposed for consideration, with a form of unusual upward-firing armament for testing on the V4 night fighter prototype, photoelectric fired vertically mounted rockets or recoilless guns , instead of cannon armament inspired by the Jagdfaust . In the Ju 88 G-6 night fighter, which was fast and manoeuvrable, the Revi 16N gunsight was modified to allow the pilot to aim at the target by placing

29920-687: Was reluctant to allow them to operate from territory under his control. A further 13 B-24 Liberator heavy bombers were dispatched from the United States to operate from China in May 1942 as the HALPRO force, but were re-tasked to support Allied operations in the Mediterranean. In July 1942, the commander of the American Volunteer Group, Colonel Claire Lee Chennault , sought a force of 100 P-47 Thunderbolt fighters and 30 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers, which he believed would be sufficient to "destroy"

30096-493: Was shot down during this attack, and all members of its crew were rescued after the aircraft ditched into the sea. This raid marked the end of the first firebombing campaign as XXI Bomber Command had exhausted its supplies of incendiary bombs. The Command's next major operation was an unsuccessful night precision attack on the Mitsubishi aircraft engine factory conducted on the night of 23/24 March; during this operation five of

30272-403: Was spread over a greater area than had been the case at Tokyo, and the attack caused less damage. Nevertheless, 2.05 square miles (5.3 km ) of buildings were burnt out and no B-29s were lost to the Japanese defenses. On the night of 13/14 March, 274 Superfortresses attacked Osaka and destroyed 8.1 square miles (21 km ) of the city for the loss of two aircraft. Kobe was the next target in

30448-595: Was strengthened when the army units in the Eastern, Central and Western military districts were placed under its command in May. The IJN defensive fighter units stationed at Kure , Sasebo and Yokosuka were also assigned to the GDC in July, but cooperation between the GDC's Army units and the much smaller number of naval units was poor. Despite these improvements, Japan's air defenses remained inadequate as few aircraft and anti-aircraft guns could effectively engage B-29s at their cruising altitude of 30,000 feet (9,100 m) and

30624-468: Was thought to be "AA shells simulating an exploding four-engined bomber and designed to damage morale. In many cases these were actual 'kills' by Luftwaffe night fighters... It was not for many months that evidence of these deadly attacks was accepted." A detailed analysis of the damage done to returning bombers clearly showed that the night fighters were firing from below. Defence against the attacks included mixing de Havilland Mosquito night fighters into

30800-453: Was to capture and hold the areas in China and the Pacific from which such attacks could be launched. It was expected that the Allies would not be able to re-capture these bases. However, the Japanese anticipated that the Allies might still make small-scale attacks against the home islands using naval aircraft flying from aircraft carriers . The government chose not to develop strong defenses to meet

30976-492: Was well below the Monica beam and could not be seen by any member of the bomber's crew. The only snag was that the Luftwaffe's guns were so effective that the night fighter usually had to get out of the way very fast. It was rather like 1916, except that a Lancaster with one wing blown off tumbled downwards and backwards faster than an ignited airship. We had dropped our bombs on a synthetic-oil plant in Gelsenkirchen, Germany

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