Some 7th AF documentation of fighter escort for B29's over Japan.

Peter Gunn · Nov 18, 2020

Mike Williams said:
Escort B-29s to Tokyo. Mission Report 7 April 1945, 45th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group.

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45th Fighter Squadron at Iwo Jima:
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I find this an interesting shot, and trust me Mike, I DO NOT doubt you that this is what it is stated to be. I just find it interesting that the ground crews seem to be dressed rather heavily for the stifling heat of Iwo Jima. Granted though, I know nothing of the actual climate there so I was curious if this was a stateside shot before deployment or just a cool morning on Iwo? The markings are certainly 45th FS.

Mike Williams · Nov 18, 2020

Peter Gunn said:
I find this an interesting shot, and trust me Mike, I DO NOT doubt you that this is what it is stated to be. I just find it interesting that the ground crews seem to be dressed rather heavily for the stifling heat of Iwo Jima. Granted though, I know nothing of the actual climate there so I was curious if this was a stateside shot before deployment or just a cool morning on Iwo? The markings are certainly 45th FS.

Hello Peter, good observation. It did get cold on Iwo Jima. The 45ths Unit History for April 1945 noted that "the weather was miserably cold at night and chokingly hot and dusty during the day". Take-off for the 7 April 1945 mission was 0700.

Here's a photo of the pilots of the 47th after the 7 April 45 mission to Tokyo:

Also check out some of the photos here:
342-FH-3A-42170-70296AC 45th fs p 71 mary beth 67 tom cat 463433

And see various photos from Lambert's The Pineapple Air Force, Pearl Harbor to Tokyo and also Lambert's The Long Campaign, The History of the 15th Fighter Group in World War II.

Conslaw · Nov 18, 2020

fubar57 said:
Great one here, Mike. My observations here

First page, gull wing aircraft: maybe something from the Aichi family

Second page, Zeke (A6m) or Oscar (Ki.43) painted black and red: very interested in this one.

Second page, three Tojo's (Ki.44) firing rockets: was not aware they were rocket capable

Third page, black Nicks (Ki.45): These and #2 aircraft very dark green perhaps

Fourth page, Oscar and Nick firing rockets: again, unaware they were capable

Lots to digest here

I also could not find any confirmation that any Ki-43 "Oscar" model was rocket-capable. At least some Ki-44 "Tojo" models were though, and A6M-5c and A6M-6c Zeros are listed as rocket-capable, but very small quantities were built, under 100 for the A6M-5c and "a small number" for A6M-6c.

Peter Gunn · Nov 19, 2020

Conslaw said:
I also could not find any confirmation that any Ki-43 "Oscar" model was rocket-capable. At least some Ki-44 "Tojo" models were though, and A6M-5c and A6M-6c Zeros are listed as rocket-capable, but very small quantities were built, under 100 for the A6M-5c and "a small number" for A6M-6c.

And while we're on the subject, which Japanese interceptors were capable of rocket attacks? My uncle's diary mentions several occasions of rocket attacks on B-29's.

Escuadrilla Azul · Feb 9, 2021

pinehilljoe said:
Wings/Airpower did a very good article in January 1977. I found my copy. Sentry Publications Copyright. If I'm violating the forum protocol by posting two pages, would one of the moderators please delete. It was a long article, if it is ok, I'll post the remainder.

Could you post the whole article?

B Barrett did such a great job there (as usual) that the couple of pages left me eager for the whole!

MIflyer · Feb 10, 2021

There is a painting in the Pentagon showing a B-29 over Japan during a night air raid with a Baka Bomb/Ohka headed toward it. I thought this sounded very unlikely, since the Ohkas were air launched and intended to be anti-ship weapons - but in fact I later read where a B-29 crew did report an Ohka attack.

Peter Gunn · Feb 11, 2021

MIflyer said:
There is a painting in the Pentagon showing a B-29 over Japan during a night air raid with a Baka Bomb/Ohka headed toward it. I though this sounded very unlikely, since the Ohkas were air launched and intended to be anti-ship weapons - but in fact I later read where a B-29 crew did report an Ohka attack.
View attachment 612168

Interesting, I was wondering about my uncles diary mentioning "rocket attacks", I just thought perhaps a Japanese night fighter had launched some .5 type unguided rockets but do you think it could have been an Baka/Ohka attack?

MIflyer · Feb 11, 2021

I would think it is more likely that the B-29 crews saw some rockets fired at them and thought it was a Baka, but I do not know. I know that the Japanese tried dropping bombs on bombers from above and since they could produce SRMs I would think air to air rockets would be likely, but I know of no cases.

Peter Gunn · Feb 11, 2021

MIflyer said:
I would think it is more likely that the B-29 crews saw some rockets fired at them and thought it was a Baka, but I do not know. I know that the Japanese tried dropping bombs on bombers from above and since they could produce SRMs I would think air to air rockets would be likely, but I know of no cases.

Good food for thought, thanks for the info, got a four day weekend starting tonight at 4:00 pm, I'm going to spend a little time with Uncle Mel's war diary and see if I can glean any other info about this. Wish I could have talked to him directly but I never knew about these rocket attacks until after his passing and I got his diary.

Cheers

MIflyer · Feb 11, 2021

I just looked at Greens little book on Japanese fighters and while some have have bombs listed as an armament option, none list rockets. Rockets are listed as an option on Soviet and German aircraft. But that is not an exhaustive study.

MIflyer · Feb 11, 2021

Well, this intelligence report from April 1945 says that the Japanese had 8 inch ground launched rockets. So I guess they could have been launched at low flying aircraft. The report also describes some fire fighting efforts by the Japanese.

Peter Gunn · Feb 11, 2021

MIflyer said:
Well, this intelligence report from April 1945 says that the Japanese had 8 inch ground launched rockets. So I guess they could have been launched at low flying aircraft. The report also describes some fire fighting efforts by the Japanese.

Great find, thanks! I bet that could have been what he was talking about, now I'm curious to see if he mentions whether he thought they originated from the ground or airborne, my bet would be from the ground.

Thanks again.

Some 7th AF documentation of fighter escort for B29's over Japan.

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