Tinian was in the central Pacific Marianas, in sight of Saipan three miles away, only 1,450 miles from Tokyo. Since its capture by the Marines during July-August 1944, it had been turned into the largest airfield in the world with over 500 B-29s operating from there on daily missions. The 509th, with its aircraft identified by a distinctive insignia of a circled black arrow, ran more combat tra...
During the predawn hours, 279 B-29s, of 325 airborne, blast the Tokyo urban area with incendiaries, destroying 267,171 buildings, about one-fourth in the city, killing 83,793 and wounding 40,918 people and destroying 15.8 square miles (40.9 square km); this death total is the highest of any single day's action during the war, exceeding the...
In 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the "Manhattan Engineer District" for the purpose of developing an atomic bomb. By 1944 development of the bomb was under way and the B-29 bomber was selected to deliver the weapon. General Henry "Hap" Arnold, Commander Army Air Forces, named Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. to head the select team. Only Tibbets knew the missio...
11/29/2008
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