MISSION SUMMARY

Mission Number 319

 

  1. Date: 8 August 1945
     
  2. Target: Yawata Urban Area
     
  3. Participating Units: 58th, 73rd, and 313th BW's
     
  4. Number A/C Airborne: 245
     
  5. % A/C Bombing Primary: 90.20% (221 Primary and 6 Opportunity)
     
  6. Type of Bombs and Fuzes: M17 and M19, 500# incendiary clusters set to open 5,000 feet over the Target. 
     
  7. Tons of Bombs Dropped: 1,301.9 tons on Primary and 37.3 tons on Opportunity. 
     
  8. Time Over Primary: 081101K - 081136K
     
  9. Altitude of Attack: 19,000 - 24,300
     
  10. Weather Over Target: 4/10 - 6/10
     
  11. Total A/C Lost: 4
  1. Resume of Mission: Results reported by crews were unobserved to excellent.  Smoke column rose above 20,000 feet.  73rd BW photos show good results, with numerous fires in the center of the built-up area, and that 21% of the city had been destroyed.  Fighter cover was provided by P-47s and P-51's in the Target area.  Eighteen A/C were non-effective.  Sixty to 70 E/A sighted made 53 attacks and shot down one B-29.  Flak was meager to moderate and damaged 20 B-29s.  The 58th wing only got off 35 of 131 scheduled A/C due to runways being blocked by wrecked A/C. Eighty-five A/C sighted their Targets and 136 bombed by radar.  Three A/C were lost to mechanical reasons.  Claims were 2-0-2.  One-hundred (100) B-29s landed at Iwo Jima.  Average bomb load: 11,268 lbs. Average fuel reserve: 545 gallons.  E/A damaged 3 B-29s. 

 

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