March 9 and 10, 1945 First Firebombing of Tokyo

[Valin]

Z SQUARE 7, A B-29 TRUE STORY

 

General Curtis LeMay initiated major changes in the bombing procedures of Japan switching to incendiary bombs, at low altitude, at night, wanting more accuracy and reducing the defensive firepower of the B-29 to increase the bomb load. It was decided to bomb the four principal Japanese cities, Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe and Nagoya, at night from altitudes between 4,000 feet and 9,000 feet. Up to now 25,000 feet had been considered dangerously low.

 

On March 9, 1945 a strong wind had been rattling the panes in the doors and windows all day. For the past few nights single B-29s had appeared over the sky, without dropping any bombs but flying very low and setting off the searchlights and anti-aircraft fire. A lot people on the ground had the uneasy feeling that something was due to happen.

 

 

 

The copilot of Z Square 8 of the 500th Bomb Group, Lt Robert Copeland, made this diary entry, “We briefed this morning for another trip to Tokyo. We'll take off at 1835 tonight and hit there in the morning at 0115 approx. We're going in at between 7,000 and 7,800 feet. 150 of the 250 ships taking part in the strike will be ahead of us so there should be some large fires when we get there. We're carrying 40 M-18 incendiary clusters. No guns will be carried.”

 

(Snip)