The existence of the high altitude "jet stream" was a military surprise discovered by B-29 crews during the bombing of Japan in 1944-45. Winds encountered at the B-29's designed bombing altitude of 30,000 ft reached 300 mph, fully disrupting bombing accuracy and even causing negative ground speed under full throttle.
4000 lb bombs were so huge B-29's could only carry three of them. The planes dramatically jumped upward on their release and about a minute later felt the concussion wave of the bomb's horrific explosion three miles below. The bombing raid on the Kawasaki Aircraft Plant in June 1945 with 4000 lb bombs proved ineffective because the B-29 formation was forced to bomb by radar, missing the aircraft plant by 3000 ft!
From the start of our training at Grand Island, Nebraska to our shake-down missions from Tinian, all operations were aimed at high altitude, precision bombing. Our B-29’s were designed for the same thing. Starting with the 58th Wing’s first raid on the Japanese homeland from China and continuing with the huge effort from the Marianas Islands, the high-altitude bombing strategy was a failure.
At Kempi Tai I was reunited with most of my crew and placed in an 8x11 ½ foot cell which held sixteen captives. That was the last time I saw daylight until after the atomic bomb was dropped.
[This article is an excerpt from Sgt. Creek’s military memoirs Short Stories of World War II.] It tells the story of a B-29 that caught fire due to being hit by flak. Half the crew bailed out thinking the plane was going down. They were caught by the Japanese and spent months at Kempei Tai HQ Prison as described in the B-29 POW page.
Measured against all other bombing missions flown in WW II, prior to Aug. 6, the most devastating were the two largest low level “firestorm” missions over Tokyo on the nights of May 24 and 26 in which 15 square miles of the city were completely destroyed. On May 30, 1945 Lt. Charles Scholsser wrote a letter to his wife about this mission
Read about why the Japanese feared the 6th Bomb Group. Read an original account from Sergeant Virgil Morgan, B-29 Engineer assigned to the 6th Bomb Group based on Tinian Island in the Marianas during the Pacific War. He flew 19 long range combat missions over Japan.
The 6th Bomb group has just added an important article to it’s LESSONS OF WAR category. It is the entire text of a Report entitled, “United States Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report, an Official U.S. Government Pacific War Document.” This is a concise and extremely accurate overview of what happened and why.
Lessons of War: The Home Front Was Critical To Winning WWII. Written by Edgar L. Vincent, B-29 Aircraft Commander. "World War II veterans are happy to believe that the war was won on the battle front. I disagree"
Ralph C. Wilson was the aircraft commander of the Wilson Crew (Crew #4007) of the 40th Bomb Squadron, who flew the Superfortress “White Mistress,” The path to becoming a B-29 pilot was challenging especially when your instructor falls 4,000 feet out of the airplane. Read more about this fascinating account.
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