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This was a night incendiary mission involving 29 planes from the 6th Bomb Group:

Yokkaichi was next on the list of secondary industrial cities scheduled for the same incendiary raids which had virtually eliminated large cities such as Tokyo as B-29 targets.  The city of Yokkaichi, lying twenty miles southwest of Nagoya, was attacked on the night of 17-18 June with twenty-nine planes bombing individually and dropping a total of 231 tons of incendiaries.  Enemy opposition was negligible with no fighter attacks and anti-aircraft fire from automatic weapons only.  Photographs later showed 59 per cent of the city’s built-up area burned out by 313th Wing raiders.

 

[Pirate’s Log, p. 47]

 

20th AF Mission 209

 

Date: 17 June 1945
Target:Yokkaichi Urban Area (90.20)
Participating Units: 313th BW
Number of A/C Airborne: 94
% A/C Bombing Primary:92.56% (89 aircraft)
Type of Bombs and Fuzes:AN-M17A1
E-46 (500lb. clusters set to open at 5,000ft. above target)
AN-M47A2 (100-lb. incendiary bombs, instantaneous nose)
Tons of Bombs Dropped:709.8 tons on Primary and 12.7 tons on Opportunity.
Time Over Primary:141255K - 141319K
Altitude of Attack:15,800 - 18,500
Weather Over Target:0/10 - 5/10
Total A/C Lost:0
Resume of Mission:Strike photos showed excellent results, with numerous hits on the target. All bombing was visual. Five A/C were non-effective. P-38s and P-47s gave support. Flak was heavy, moderate, generally accurate and continuously pointed. Forty B-29s landed at Iwo Jima and 1 at Okinawa. Average bomb load: 14,370 lbs. Average fuel reserve: 596 gallons.