With most major urban areas having already been devastated by maximum effort incendiary bombing raids, XXI Bomber Command’s strategic air campaign in Japan shifted to smaller-scale incendiary attacks on smaller cities as well as precision attacks against certain war industry targets. In Osaka’s case, this resulted in three significant B-29 precision attacks on industry which commenced on June 26, 1945.
On this day, 75 years ago, 510 B-29s and 148 P-51s flew missions against the empire, in nine separate attacks. For Osaka it was a double strike, two precision targets in the metro area were hit. Mission 223 saw 64 B-29s of the 58th Bomb Wing with P-51 escort hit the Sumitomo light metal industry on the western side of the city. The B-29s hit the target between 1026K and 1202K; they dropped 382 tons of bombs by radar from between 19,600 and 25,300 feet through a 10/10 cloud deck.
The Superfortresses employed large high explosive bombs, AN-M56 4000-lb large capacity bombs with instantaneous nose and non-delay tail fuses. Due to the weather and use of radar the desired precision was not attained and only about 11 percent of the Sumitomo roof area was destroyed or damaged. Defending anti-aircraft fire was heavy caliber, meager to moderate in intensity and inaccurate to accurate. With an escort of P-51s, including one formation observed in target area, enemy aerial opposition was not a problem. The B-29s saw five enemy aircraft make five ineffectual attacks.
Head Office of The Osaka North Harbour (Sumitomo Sohoten annex, former Teikokuza theater) [Sumitomo Historical Archives]The larger effort was expended on Osaka Army Arsenal in mission 224 which saw 179 B-29’s of the 73rd Bomb Wing attack Imperial Japan’s largest Army arsenal. Here the B-29s attacked from 1018K to 1116K and dropped 758 tons of AN-M66 2000-lb general purpose bombs with 1/40 second delay fusing in nose and tail positions from between 17,400 to 29,060 feet. But the weather frustrated the attack, a solid 10/10 deck beneath blanketing Osaka. The B-29s were unable to discern the arsenal well in radar and scattered bombs in the general area in the north and east parts of the city causing no appreciable damage to the arsenal itself. Flak reported was heavy caliber, meager in intensity and inaccurate. A number of P-51s were seen in the target area by B-29 crews, which sighted 12 enemy aircraft which made seven attacks, with bomber gunners claiming one destroyed and one probable.
This aerial photograph was taken 27 February 1945. It shows the vast Osaka Army Arsenal complex immediately to the East (right) and North (above) the Osaka Castle grounds and moats to the left in the picture. It was the Imperial Japanese Army’s largest arsenal. (US Army, via Fold3)
One B-29 was lost when serial number 44-69655 of the 499th Bomb Group (V square or large V tail markings), 877th Bomb Squadron (Newell crew) was shot down by Japanese fighter over Miyama Village in Hidaka County, Wakayama Prefecture after bombing Osaka Army Arsenal. (See MACR 14911). The aircraft was supposed to lead the second combat squadron of the group, but the formation was impacted by instrument flight conditions at the assembly point so never organized as planned. The aircraft wasn’t observed by others in the group and last heard from by VHF radio asking for instructions at the assembly point.
The Newell crew of the 877th Bomb Squadron, lost on the 26 June 1945 mission against the Osaka Army Arsenal. (via Fold3, colorized by SePennartz; image also in Find-a-Grave)
Two of the crew were killed in the shootdown, and nine captured and taken to the Kempeitai headquarters in Osaka. None of the captured airmen survived their captivity, however, and all were executed.
Kempei (Imperial Japanese Army’s Military Policeman) NCOs seen prewar, circa November 1935 wearing their distinctive armband (Wikipedia)
Seven are listed as executed with day unspecified in the mission summary at link below, with one killed on August 5th and the last man of the crew, 1st Lt. Harold Cobb, killed at Sanadayama Military Cemetery in Osaka City on the last day of the war, 15 August 1945. The fallen crew left five wives behind in addition to their family of origin members.
P-51s escorting the Osaka attack and also Nagoya, claimed 2 Japanese aircraft shot down and five damaged for the loss of one P-51 – the pilot ran low on fuel, bailed out and was picked up by a rescue submarine. Kawanishi N1K “George” Navy fighters were reported in at least two of the escort’s aerial encounters, one of which is described in a 504th Fighter Group summary: “During this entire operation, encounters with enemy fighters were extremely meager, on the blind alley run to Osaka, a couple of bandits were sighted out of range by the 462nd (Fighter Squadron). Since our job was to stick with the bombers, pursuit of the distant enemy was not undertaken. A bit later on the same course, 2 Georges offered themselves for sacrifice about 1500′ below our formation.
Box art from the Hasegawa 1/32 scale N1K2 plastic model kit. (Via Hobby Search)
Capt Norman Miller’s flight pounced for the kill. Hits on one of the Georges — the other having fled into the clouds — were scored by Capt Miller and Lt Colley; the Nip disappeared straight down, smoking.” In general though, Japanese fighter opposition was insignificant: “Commenting on the mission, the Fighter Command, shaking its heed ruefully, observed that, “The reluctance of the enemy to send up his fighters when an overcast is present over the target area was again demonstrated.””
Eight and 14, respectively, of the B-29s from the double strike recovered at Iwo Jima on the way back to their bases in the Mariana Islands.
In summary, these intended precision attacks were not very precision due to the weather. But damage was done, including some 5,351 buildings destroyed, of which only about three percent were industrial. However, the lack of damage to the intended targets meant that the B-29s would once again visit Osaka. And these would not be the only Allied aircraft to visit the Osaka metro area in the remainder of the war, also a tale yet to be told here.
Funny how a photo can trigger a flashback, in this case, from a series of photos posted by Mr. Randy Malmstrom, relative of Col. Einar A. Malmstrom of USAF aviation fame and for whom Malmstrom AFB in Montana is named after. Randy has a web log showcasing hundreds of photos of individual military aircraft on display in museums in the greater Pacific Northwest. He recently posted a photo album on his web log featuring the B-29 Superfortress bomber at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, known a T-Square 54. See Randy’s B-29 album at: https://randallmalmstrom.wordpress.com/2020/06/20/boeing-b-29-60-bw-t-square-54/
Boeing B-29-60-BW Superfortress serial number 44-69729 at the Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA (Courtesy Randy Malmstrom)
The picture reminded me of my connection to this aircraft, dating to 1987 when working with other volunteers to restore the aircraft for non-flying static display at the Lowry Heritage Museum at the old Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado.
Author in the aircraft commander’s seat of T-Square 54 then under restoration to static display at at the Lowry AFB Heritage Museum in Denver, Colorado, early 1987.
This aircraft, Boeing B-29-60-BW Superfortress serial number 44-69729, was reportedly the first B-29 to land on the island of Saipan (per Philip Webster) and was assigned to the 875th Bomb Squadron, 498th Bomb Group, 73rd Bomb Wing where she was assigned the T-Square 54 code. This B-29 flew and survived 37 combat missions over the Empire during the war, and in 1949 was converted as a tanker; she eventually became a target on the ground at the China Lake Range in California, before being retrieved for restoration to non-flying static display at Lowry in 1986. You can see some of the early restoration work here: https://user.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/b29.html
T-Square 54 at Lowry AFB, CO, circa 1986 (T-Square 54: The Last B-29)
Going through USAF technical training at Lowry, in early 1987 I joined in on the restoration work by volunteers. I still remember stripping off the postwar-applied aluminum paint from around the cockpit area, and the awe of discovering beneath the paint the World War II combat mission symbols etched into the aircraft’s metal skin. I didn’t know at the time of where she had flown in the war, only later discovering she had flown at least a couple of missions to Osaka, the focus of this web log. These included the first two of the seven major B-29 raids against Osaka (the first two maximum effort area bombing raids, 13 March (night) and 1 June 1945 (day)).
T-Square 54 in her earlier markings dropping 500-lb HE bombs on a target in Japan during the USAAF’s strategic bombing campaign against the Japanese Empire, 1944-1945 (T-Square 54: The Last B-29)
T-Square 54’s basic restoration was completed after I left Lowry, still missing many internal parts, and she was dedicated in October 1987. But after Lowry AFB was closed in the 1990s, a new home had to be found and the Museum of Flight in Seattle was permitted by the USAF to take her. There she received extensive TLC that resulted in the restoration seen in Randy Malmstrom’s photos. It was truly wonderful to see her again in 2017 when I had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Amazing what can happen in 30 years!
T-Square 54 as seen again with my own eyes 30 years later in November, 2017 (Author’s collection)
So, take a gander at the most excellent photos Randy Malmstrom kindly shares with us, of a B-29 Superfortress combat veteran, T-Square 54, one that participated in raids on Osaka during World War II. Lest we forget…
As the B-29s took off for the Empire on the morning of June 15, the bloodiest battle between the US and Japan during the Pacific War, the Battle for Okinawa, was in its final stage. Japanese defenders were on their last defense line on the Kiyan Peninsula, with the end of the battle a week away.
U.S. Marines battling for control of a ridge near Naha, Okinawa, May 1945. (U.S. Department of Defense, via Encyclopedia Brittanica)
It was also the one-year anniversary of the first B-29 attack against the Japanese Home Islands, the raid on Yawata in northern Kyushu from forward bases in Chengdu, China.
B-29 of 468th BG over Yawata during 1944 raid (worldwarphotos.info)
Of note, the Commander of the US Army Air Forces, General Hap Arnold, was visiting West Field on Tinian on this day. There the 40th Bomb Group of the 58th Bomb Wing was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for s series of missions flown in May, 1945.
General Henry Arnold pins medals on 58th bombing wing troop’s uniform in Tinian
Of the 511 B-29s of the 58th BW, 73rd BW, 313th BW and 314th BW that made it airborne for Mission 203, one crashed off the end of a runway. Another was lost shortly after takeoff, when at 0300K (Marianas time) a B-29A serial number 42-93928 named City of Hartford, Connecticut, of the 29th Bomb Group (Black Square O), 43rd Bomb Squadron, Victor number 21 with the Heyke crew of 11 aboard crashed into the ocean. An eyewitness, 1st Lt. Raymond E. Vertal was 12 miles north of Guam when he saw a B-29 cross his flight path perpendicularly, about 300 feet lower than his and with its landing lights on. The weather had a ceiling of 800 feet, broken, with visibility of two miles amidst scattered showers. Shortly thereafter, the aircraft observed made a steep bank to the left, some 80 degrees and crashed into the water – no explosion was seen.
Patrolling off the coast for the purpose of rescue was an LCI, the crew of which saw the B-29 crash. It and a sister craft it hailed proceeded immediately to the site and search the area until late in the morning. No survivors or remains were recovered, just five flying jackets, one life raft, one gas tank and one navigator kit. Two Dumbo rescue aircraft also joined in the search but only reported seeing an oil slick. This information was recorded in MACR 14625. The crewmen left behind five wives (Helen, Janet, Elizabeth, Norma and Helene), their parents, and are remembered in the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.
Henry Adolph Heyke was the Aircraft Commander and pilot of the “City of Hartford” oon its fatal mission of 15 June 1945 ( Find-a-Grave)
Weather over the target area was a solid undercast, 10/10, and so there were no strike photos of the attack. Of the B-29s that made it to Japan, 444 attacked their briefed targets and another 25 hit targets of opportunity. The bomber stream dropped on Osaka between 0944K and 1155K time, from altitudes ranging between 16, 300 feet and 26,900 feet. There was no fighter opposition noted and flak encountered was heavy caliber, meager, and generally inaccurate.
The bombers that struck the primary target area carried an average of over 13,000-lbs of bombs and dropped 3,157 tons of incendiary bombs on it, using AN-M17 A1 and E46, 500-lb. incendiary clusters set to open 5,000′ above target and AN-M47A2 100-lb. incendiary bombs with instantaneous nose fuses.
A B-29 bomb bay full of 100-lb M-47 type incendiary bombs (B-29 Photo Museum)
Due to the damage from the first three area attacks, on June 15 the attack was divided between southern and southeaster (mostly residential, with some older home-industries) and northern and northwestern (classified industrial) portions of the city and inflicted much damage on adjacent Amagasaki City (industrial) on the north side. Another two and a half square miles of the city were burned, as well as a half square mile area of Amagasaki. Some 2,927 casualties were inflicted upon those on the ground including 475 dead, 56 missing and 1, 371 wounded. Over 53,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged and over 173,000 people de-housed.
Postwar ruins of Osaka show devastation from the four area attacks with incendiary bombs (US National Archives via ww2db.com)
There are many aspects to the impact of the damage inflicted in the four area attacks from March through June 1945. The United States Strategic Bombing Survey investigates these in detail at the reference below. One aspect to highlight would be the effect of the raids on Japan’s transportation system, especially the railroad system. As coastal ship traffic was greatly affected by the aerial mining of Japanese waters, more of a load was placed on Japan’s railroad system.
Although the area attacks caused little direct damage to rail facilities and right of way problems were never serious, railroad communications and signaling equipment were destroyed which affected efficiency as many freight cars sat idle. Also, repair shops were hit which contributed to a bottleneck in operations affecting the region. It also impacted efforts by Japanese industry to disperse and relocate to continue war production. The significance of this is considered in that as the war ended, B-29s had begun to attack Japan’s transportation system directly, and as limited comparted to other countries as it was to begin with, with many geographical constraints, compounded by the damage from area attacks, it is likely that rail traffic in Japan would have been paralyzed in short order Had the war continued, with great impact on military operations, especially aimed at reinforcing Kyushu where invasion was expected, as well as the civilian population.
On the way back to the Marianas, 43 B-29s set down at Iwo Jima for various reasons, again showing the value of seizing that rugged island in the costly battle earlier in 1945.
A B-29 Supertortress flies over Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima (worldwarphotos.info)
This was the last area attack flown against Osaka during the war. These four area attacks were devastating to the city, though the industry it contained continued war production as best it could, which would draw attention and result in three further smaller scale B-29 precision attacks as the war continued.
In addition to these seven major B-29 attacks, B-29s also dropped mines into the waters on the approaches to Osaka harbor. In addition, fighter sweeps by carrier-based naval aircraft and USAAF fighters on Iwo Jima were carried out in the Osaka area. Although these raids did not drop any significant bomb tonnage on Osaka like the B-29s did, they caused air raid alarms and disrupted life and industrial war production activity in Osaka.
Osaka enjoyed a respite of about 11 days before the B-29s returned, this time to begin a series of “precision attacks.”
This was Mission 189 for the B-29s. It was the third mission against Osaka, barely a week after the previous one flown on 1 June. It was also the third area attack against the city.
B-29s of the 29th Bombardment Group on the roll at North Field Guam 1945 (Wikipedia)
Some 409 XXI BC B-29’s escorted by 138 VII Fighter Command P-51’s attacked the east central section of the city which contained industrial and transportation targets and the Osaka Army Arsenal (the largest in Japan). Three B-29 wings carried incendiaries and one with HE bombs targeted the Osaka Army Arsenal area specifically, surrounded by transportation, munitions and industrial targets. Despite being forced to bomb by radar because of heavy undercast, the B-29’s burnt out over two square miles of the city and over 1,000 industrial buildings. Nine B-29s attacked other targets. The fighter escort claimed 2-0-1 Japanese aircraft – heavy low clouds seemed to keep most Japanese fighters on the ground. Two B-29’s and one P-51 were lost. One source (Lardas) indicates 11 B-29s were damaged by flak but none were shot down.
Of note, this 7 June Osaka mission was noted (see Lardas) as the last B-29 maximum effort mission of the area bombing campaign against Japan. By this point, six of Japan’s 10 largest cities had been burnt out to the point where there were no remaining contiguous unburned areas worth attacking with a four B-29 wing maximum level effort. Smaller-scale area attacks still took place afterward, including one more against Osaka on 15 June 1945. (Lardas) Of note, the 15 June attack actually included more aircraft and a greater tonnage of incendiary bombs that struck Osaka and adjacent Amagasaki City. Why this was not considered a maximum effort area attack against Osaka by Lardas is unknown, perhaps because Amagasaki City was also struck by a portion of the force.
One B-29 crewman, Lee Florence, noted in his diary: “T .0. 0502 for incind raid on Osaka. Bombed at 1314 through clouds. Alt. 20,700′. Meager flak. One fighter attacked as if ramming from the nose. He put three shells through the right fuel cells and one through the #4 props. No trouble coming home. No losses in group.” (56 Years Ago)
Results of the mission were summarized postwar as follows:
Number of planes_________________409 (20,500 altitude)
“An area of 2.2 square miles — mostly in the northern sector — was affected by the…attack of 2,592 tons, in which 2.059 persons were killed among total casualties of 8,873 and 56,576 structures of all types were destroyed or damaged. This was the only area attack including a sizeable amount of high-explosive bombs.” (Source USSBS Effects of Air Attack on Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto)
It happened on the second B-29 mission to Osaka, June 1, 1945, which the first day mission of the seven B-29 raids flown against the city during the war. It was called “Black Friday” by members of the 506th Fighter Group for good reason. The P-51 Mustang fighter escort was mauled that day, not by the forces of the Empire, but by some unexpectedly severe weather enroute to Osaka. According to noted aviation historian Roger A. Freeman, it was the largest single-mission loss of Mustangs in Europe or the Pacific during World War II, with 27 Mustangs and 24 P-51 pilots lost. It’s also been called the largest single weather loss of USAAF aircraft of the war, and included some B-29s also.
Iwo-Jima-based P-51 Mustangs of the VII Fighter Command flew Very Long Range (VLR) missions escorting B-29s over Japan (506FG.org)
It was planned as another “area attack” like the first Osaka raid on the night of March 13th, with incendiary bombs, and over 475 B-29s from bases in the Marianas were sent up along with a fighter escort of 148 P-51s from the 15th, 21st and 506th fighter groups from Iwo Jima. The weather front between the bases and Japan was predicted but the pressure was high from leadership to keep the pressure on Japan and so the mission, already delayed a day, and despite the Iwo Jima weather officer’s recommendation not to fly the mission it was directed to proceed with hopes for the best to be able to penetrate the weather front and continue on to Osaka.
Thought to have been taken at Motoyama Airfield No. 2, largest of the three airstrips on crowded Iwo Jima, this overhead view shows P-51 Mustangs preparing for missions against Japan. U. S. Air Force photo (ww2live.com)
The 506th FG flew towards Osaka at 10,000 ft; the 15th Fighter Group was stacked 500 ft. higher the left and the 21st Fighter Group 500 ft. lower to the right. Each group had a lead B-29 for navigation assistance. An overly optimistic and inexperienced P-51 pilot aboard a weather recon B-29 ahead reported the front could be overflown above at 10,000 feet. The three groups soon found that was not the case. As the fighters and navigational B-29s approached the weather front it could clearly be seen, a massive towering of cumulonimbus up to 50,000 feet or more.
P-51 Mustang fighters of the 21st Fighter Group accompany a B-29 over the Pacific in 1945. The fighters were based on Iwo Jima from which they conducted Very Long Range operations against Japan’s Home Islands. (Courtesy Defense Media Network)
The fighters looked for breaks to try and press in, and ultimately, a senior fighter leader decided to try and proceed when a small break was sighted. But as volatile as the front was, the break was an illusion and when the P-51s hit the weather front chaos ensued. Aircraft lost visibility and were buffeted by the winds – mid-air collisions occurred; Extreme forces set upon airframes as formations were broken and scattered all over inside the cloudy roiling weather mass. Icing occurred that played havoc on aircraft handling characteristics. Radios were intermittently working in the stormy electrical conditions encountered, and when they did work were jammed with desperate efforts to communicate by many disoriented pilots. The sheer terror of the experience is described in many individual accounts by 506th Fighter Group pilots, 11 of whom were MIA and three who were rescued, which are posted on a 506th Fighter Group webpage at: http://www.506thfightergroup.org/missionjune1blackfriday.asp
Most aircraft and pilots who survived the front returned to Iwo Jima shaken. Two returning pilots happened across a P-61 on Combat Air Patrol and the Black Widow night fighter led them back to Iwo Jima. Of the three pilots recovered from the water, one almost made it back to base and bailed out 10 miles off Iwo Jima. Another P-51 pilot was spotted in the water and rescued by a PBY Catalina.
And one Mustang pilot, 2nd Lt. Arthur A. Burry of the 45th Fighter Squadron, was rescued after spending six days in his dinghy and surviving a typhoon, far far away from homebase, from waters about 300 miles north northwest of Iwo Jima.
Verlinden 1/35 US Navy Pilot in Dinghy Vignette in Pacific War WWII [Resin] 241 (Ebay)Lookouts aboard the US Navy submarine USS Trutta (SS-421), which was surfaced at the time and headed for its lifeguard duty station off Japan, miraculously spotted his yellow dinghy and were pleasantly surprised to find it occupied by Lt. Burry and rescued him. No doubt Lt. Burry was happier than they were!
USS Trutta (SS-421) seen in her World War II configuration in the 1940s (NavSource)
The few Mustang pilots that spit out of the front on the other side continued the mission as best they could. These 27 P-51s could not provide the fighter escort needed for the force on a day when Japanese fighter opposition over Osaka was at its highest level of the war.
And the mission did continue with 458 B-29s dropping 2,707 tons of incendiary bombs and 81 tons of high explosive bombs on the city from 24,000 feet altitude (16 B-29s bombed other targets). The bombing burned out a gross area of 3.1 square miles of the city, causing over 14,000 casualties including over 3,100 dead, and de-housing over 218,000 people. Almost 67,000 structures were destroyed or seriously damaged.
Phosphorous bombs burst near B-29s of the 21st Bomber Command during their 1 June 1945 attack on Osaka, Japan’s second largest city. Thousands of incendiary bombs set fire to the congested industrial areas of the city. Here fires are seen in the port area. (USAAF via Fold3)
Lt. Dufford, a crewman on B-29 Superfortress “T Square 54” of the 875th Bomb Squadron, 498th Bomb Group, an aircraft now preserved at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, wrote the following about the mission in his diary: “Mission #23: …Osaka urban manufacturing area along Yodo river w/ factories, docks, warehouses, & petroleum dumps. 18,000′ to 28,500′ incendiary w/ fighter escort. Flack heavy & enemy fighters aggressive. St. Tonnies said flak was “… accurate. First time I could hear flak burst. Too close for comfort.”
Ten B-29s were lost on the mission, including two in a mid-air collision between the giant aircraft at the pre-attack assembly area off the coast of Honshu and another that went missing on return in the weather front enroute to Iwo Jima. Two losses could be attributed to fighters and three due to destruction/battle damage from anti-aircraft fire.
One of those lost to flak was the B-29 “Abroad with Eleven Yanks,” a 499th BG, 877th BS ship, 44-70083, MACR 14596, with the Wilkinson Crew – all 11 crew members were killed in action. They left behind five wives among families directly affected by their loss…
The Wilkinson crew and their aircraft “Abroad with Eleven Yanks” flown on the fateful 1 June 1945 mission to Osaka (Galax Gazette)
“While over the target area at an altitude of 20,000 feet, the nose of his aircraft was hit with flak by anti-aircraft guns from a Japanese warship in Osaka Bay and crashed, with no parachutes seen opening.”
The last moments of the Wilkinson crew and “Abroad with Eleven Yanks are captured in this picture as the aircraft is seen climbing to the right after being hit by flak, in the distance beneath of the B-29 in the center of the picture. (Galax Gazette)
The MACR reported the aircraft was hit by a burst of heavy flak just forward of the bomb bay at 1301 hours, about 15-30 seconds before bombs away. The aircraft pulled up and to the right to avoid collision with the aircraft on its right wing then fell off into its final dive. The nose section burned off on the way down and no parachutes were seen.
A Japanese newspaper photographer caught this stunning view of “Abroad with Eleven Yanks” falling from the skies over Osaka Bay. The two white cloudbursts with octopus-like tentacles are white Phosphorous explosives of the kind seen in the target area image above. (Galax Gazette)
Several bodies of the crew were eventually found and repatriated, with funeral ceremonies in 1949. Seven of the Airmen were buried together in a single grave at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, there on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Seven of the 11-man crew of “Abroad with Eleven Yanks” share a grave at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri (Find-a-Grave)
As things turned out, this was the roughest reception Osaka ever gave to the USAAF, with very active fighter and anti-aircraft artillery opposition. Fortunately the scarcity of escort did not allow higher losses to occur. One might further discuss the battle from the Japanese side but this web log writer doesn’t have such sources or perspectives for this particular mission. The losses due to the weather, the Mustang massacre of 27 ships and perhaps three or more of the ten B -29s, certainly did not help. It was a mission few if any had a desire to repeat. Fortunately, of the next five missions to Osaka, none would be anywhere near as costly as the 1 June 1945 mission.
Ōsaka kūshū 