Mission
Date:
15 and 17 May 1945
Both
of the strikes that followed the one to Kawanishi were at the
city of Nagoya. The first was a daylight incendiary mission,
while the second was night burn job.
Two
reasons were behind the Bomber Command's decision to hit Nagoya
by daylight. In the first place, it was felt that an alternative
plan was necessary in order to carry out the incendiary attacks
in the event the loss rate from the night strikes should become
excessive. It was believed that would offer the best chance
of initial success while the problems incident to this type
of attack were being investigated. Secondly, because of the
area burned out in the city of by two previous fire attacks,
the main points of impact selected would be extremely difficult
to hit at night and bombs falling short or over would be ineffective.
The
39th dispatched thirty-three B-29s on this day mission and thirty
were effective against the target. The average bombing altitude
was 18,440 feet.
Enemy
fighter opposition was surprisingly weak and flak was ineffective
in spite of clear weather over the target.
The
second Nagoya strike, which followed on the heels of the daylight
one, was a night attack. Twenty-eight of the thirty-two aircraft
that were sent were listed as bombing on target. Enemy air opposition
weak, with only seven fighters being reported and flak was not
too effective.
Total
damage to Nagoya from these two attacks was estimated from photos
as 194,000,000 square feet (6.97 square miles) or 13.7% of the
entire city. This figure brought the total damage to Nagoya
as of that date to 345,000,000 square feet (12.7 square miles)
or 24.4% of the whole place.