Early in 1945, our b29s began full scale operations against japan. 1500 miles to target. And 1500 miles back from bases at sigh pan, tinia and guam. Here 21st Bomber Command concentrated the massive air power and planned the ultimate crushing defeat of japan, down to the last bomb. Here was the beginning of the end of the road to tokyo. After six months of reoccupation, there were few signs of war. Along the kawhiest summer shores of guam. The liberated chim orrans were back in her native villages. American citizens again. Smiling and friendly. Unaware that a miracle had happened around them. A miracle that moved mountains of material, equipment, and supplies across the pacific, that changed their dirt roads into broad highways, that manicured their jungles into black top airfields and nearby new communities of american citis have set up housekeeping with various types of selfservice. The latest labor saving devices, fuel laundry problems and no modern inconveniences. By midsummer, 21st Bomber Command was in business. Big business. Under general amays direction, the long arm of armor began punching with power, from guam and tinian and sigh pan, they increased the bombing weight 100 in twos. Behind this this expanding power was planning. The plan began on the ground with maintenance. Assembly line technique cut engine chain time from three days to less than half a day and shop and ground crews work day and night during the blitz weeks to keep more b29s on the line. By july, the la may Bomber Command is a well oiled, well drilled machine of destruction. Here is a vital cog of the machine. 11 men and a bomber. While they wind up for action. Lets find out where theyre going. And sp of tome of the things th going to do and why and with what. How do they set up the longest toughest Bombing Mission in history . It began about 12 hours ago in the war room at guam. With general la may and his staff receiving a report on tomorrows weather in japan. Tomes forecast is typical. The eight tenth cloud above the east and tokyo will be six tenths of 22,000 and three tenths at 14,000 feet and osaka and everything west is socked in. How will the general solve that one. His b29s are up against a blank wal except for a possible opening around tokyo. He considered every vital factor and makes a decision. Four wings will strike tokyo at 10 00, theyll go in under the weather and bomb at 12,000. Now it is a question of target selection. First priority in the tokyo area is number 573, intelligence informs the general that 573 is three quarters destroyed. At moment number 574 is still untouched would seem more important. Operations checks the tactical plans for 574. General la may orders the required changes and okayed the target and commenced details to his staff. Operations with his deputy chief of staff and project officer going to work setting up the changes. In that plans folder is a mountain of preparation by special sections of intelligence and operations. A thousand hours of research, cool ated facts and figures have been distilled in to practical plan 574. Aircraft will assemble with three groups of p51s and smoke markers will be dropped by lead planes to expedite the clusters. The balance of squadrons 500 and 1,000 gp bombs. Altitude of attack, 12,000 feet. Planes of 314th wing will carry capacity fuel loads of 7300 gallons per plane and airspeed of 210 Miles Per Hour flown by all aircraft on bombing line. Radar landfall, 34050 north to afford a good check point. The navy is requested to furnish the following facilities for air sea rec purposes. Three surface vehicles to proceed to position x and four submarines at positions y, two dumbbells to station z, four b29s will orbit as super dumbos at the following positions. Each section of the plan is double checked. To supervise certain aspects of planning, Lieutenant Colonel cannon was recently brought over to stov as project officer. This expensive combat experience helps to iron out operational kinks. Hell accompany this mission to observe new Smoke Signals at Assembly Point. A field order is now dispatched to the wings. Take off time is flashed to the controller. Who coordinated the vast network of communications gathered here at the heart and nerve center of command. Here in the control room, status panels and a Mission Board are maintained to show at a glance the countless up to the minute details of all daily operations. Prior to takeoff, each mission is set up on a board to afford a visual progress of the flight, from takeoff to target and return. Colored yarns, one for each wing, are laid out to indicate the flight lines. Which pass close to iwo jima, the half way point. And proceed as specified in the field order to the proper target. Other sim bombs are used to mark air sea rescue positions. A time table of statistics for each wing as recorded from our reports on the status. Beginning with takeoff time. To veteran crews, it is just another days work. One more 1500 mile haul up and down the rutty pacific. 15 thousands, 7,000 gallons, four engines and 11 guides. A water jump across 20 degrees of the globe. A content of ocean. Destination, tokyo. It is like taking off in mexico for targets in canada. The 314th is airborne, 145 planes one minute apart, 67 tons each. Those b29 takeoffs are a tough one. That first long moment is the worst. Some swear it takes luck, like a wifes stalking to beat it. At a hundred miles north, two more b29 wings prepare for takeoff. 134 aircraft from the 58th wing. 100 more from the 313th wing. At sigh pan, a few minutes later the veteran 73rd wing lines up for takeoff. 153 are added to the missions striking force. The last b29 is airborne at 1540. Sigh pan releases this information to the controller back at guam. First and last takeoff times of each wing are recorded here. And go to make up the first of a series of tabulated mission reports. Copies of these reports are dispatched to headquarters, washington. And posted on the control room report board. During that first hour, the b29s have settled down for the big. Saving precious gas. Cruising 1,000 feet off the water. Ability, experience, confidence ride in each plane. A plan of action for 11 men trained and tested to function as one. The navigator sets the course. Logging island checkpoints as they climb past peggan assumption, morgue, the paroles, after four hours of flight they pass close to iwo jima, the hot block, half way to hong chu. Eight square miles bought and paid for by our marines. We made some quick changes. Cutting away the sulfurous volcanic crust into one enormous flattop. Three big airstrips now launch our p51s for bomber escort over japan. General moore and his staff a seventh fighter command run the show and direct all air sea rescues in close with the Bomber Command. A lastminute briefing check to make sure the fighter escort knows all air sea rescue positions. The p51s are warming up for the longest flight on record. Seven hours and unengine, extra belly tanks, extra nerve and stamina in the cockpit. About the time our bomber wings are passing iwo jima, the p shooters are taking off. Scheduled to join them 3 and a half hours later off the shores of japan. After a rendezvous, they head for an Assembly Point led by p29s as navigator ships. Farther west they grind ahead on the last lap to the empire. Reports of the controller back at graham give their flight position which is kept up to the hour on the Mission Board. Still at low altitude, the b29s are approaching the bat weather belt when storms and kroeld fronts appear suddenly across the bomber course. Pilot and crew are going to start the climb. Check oxygen equipment. Tell mark he better get out to his dog house. As they begin their slow climb to altitude, they prepare for the vital business ahead. And from now on until they come off target and head home, it is all business. The central fire control system is warmed up. Superhuman brain power at the flick of a switch. Each gunner flexes his sites and tried the coordinating fire controls with a few short burst to clear the guns. After pushing up to altitude, the bombers arrive close to Assembly Point. Air in the pressurized cabin is comparable to 8,000 feet but oxygen masks are adjusted and ready for instant use. From the southeast, our fighter escort appears with the navigator ships which now turn off to wait for the fighters return at rally point. Mustangs take positions above the boxes of b29s. Lead bombers begin to circle. Dropping the new smoke markers for assembly. And project officer observes this part of the tactical plan and action. From various zone positions, the groups separate and form on their lead ships in nine or 11 plane waves. Which head for initial point. The big parade is on. Landfall is picked up. Along with the first enemy coastal batteries. Fujiamma marks the turn for official point. The flight is heavier and more accurate. And now the first jap snookers appear, diving head on into the formations. Some are suicide fighters trying to ram our bombers. Other fighter drop follow ferrous bombs set to explode in front of the oncoming b29s. Our p51s go out after them and know theyre tangling with experts. But b51 job is to protect the b29 but some meet the blast of bomber guns. [ sound of gunfire ] a tail gunner pleads with a nip fight tore come in a little closer. [ sound of gunfire ] from the turn at initial point the bomber moves steadily on and get ready for business. Flack and fighters fall off. But those clouds are beginning to close in and it looks worse ahead. Then just east of hatchy, the tokyo area breaks clear. The bombardiers and planes sit tight for the bombing run. Here is when we pay off. Two jap eric plants an an air drum, 12,000 feet below are about to receive 4,000 tons of destruction. The first waves of b29s have already found their objective. Succeeding bomber groups add their devastation to the smoking targets. Tactical plan 574 is now an accomplished fact. The bombers turn and go down wind, across the burned acres of tokyo. Closeup cameras show the scars of the spectacular fire strikes last march. 51 square miles of le pay treatment. Across the bay in tail wind speeds down the chibba peninsula, this is fighter country with the first call on the intercome mustangs peel off and go to work again. [ sound of gunfire ] with big bombers homeward bound, our p51s drop down for runs. Concentrating on definite objectives from here to the enemy coast, skimming along at maximum speed, they pair off and go to work cutting vital lifelines, blast ago way at communications, radio installations, power lines. Swooping down on enemy transportation, railroads, small suburban factories. [ sound of gunfire ] and airfields. Then on to shipping targets. Freighters, fisherman, trollers, harbor coastal, destroyer or lager, it is the same enemy. After scraping, our fighters get back to rally point and the navigator planes. With the first sight of iwo, fuel gauges are down close to empty. But fighter spirits begin to rise. They wind up and finish with a kick. Coming past soda batchy at speed and once over for each jap killed. After the last fighter groups are in, all hands sweat in the first limping b29s. That runway is a beautiful sight as they let down with engines out, low on gas, or beat up by flack and fighters. In three months nearly 2,000 cripples or gas shy b29s havened at iwo. You could understand why they blessed the marines and even named their planes after them. The lucky ones are fueled in depart for home bases in an hour. But iwo still has its hazards. Weather to turn this station into a homeless day. Fog and quick overcast often blacks out the airstrip during these crucial periods. That means orders to bail out. Or with luck a b29 might drop in for a coffee book ditching. From here you could see how the cloud cover up there smothers the runway and realize what one pilot went through. Sometimes a battle scarred bomber staggers back to iwo, only to flatten out at the last heartbreaking second. [ sirens ] by some mooek miracle the whole crew got away to safety before 2,000 gallons of flaming gass enveloped them. This, too, take courage beyond the line of duty. Most of the wings are nearing their bases. Exhausted crews wait out the last endless hour. When time seems to stop. Their position is radioed in. And the controller gets word of the approaching flight. At last the familiar planes appear on the horizon. The bombers fly across guam and turn into the landing pattern. 15 hours ago they left the other end of that runway. It is a pleasure to be back. A pleasure to roll on solid, familiar black top. Its good to feel a sudden humid heat. To be among the living. Swapping details with the ground crew. Flack, fighters, the close call, the one that got away. But some of those b29 crews wont be able to talk it over today. 11 men and a bomber that didnt quite make it. The rescue squads tear away the hot metal. Somehow in that burning wreckage a man has felt those hands. One life saved and ten lost. That is part of todays toll. And there were many other days and nights that took their toll of Young American lives and in the service of our relentless expanding air power. By the end of july, our b29s had all but obliterating the enemys ability to make war. A thousand plane missions were going to hit japan with twice the monthly tonnage that ever fell on germany. The question was, how much longer would a beaten japan hold out . In august we made a test that was never applied to germany. While great lands, sea and air forces gathered for the last invasion, our b29s dropped two atomic bombs. Which hastened the surrender of japan and saved untold thousands of american lives. So the mission of our air forces which began nearly four years ago was accomplished. Youre watching American History tv. Every weekend on cspan3, explore our nations past. Cspan3, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Weeknight this is month, were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of what is available every weekend on cspan3. Tonight a look at the uss indianapolis. On july 30th, 1945, two torpedos sunk and only a few survived. They were not rescued for several days. On the 75th anniversary of the ship sinking, congress awarded the entire crew the congressional gold medal, its highest civilian honor. Watch tonight beginning at 8 00 eastern and enjoy American History tv this week and every weekend on cspan3. This week, cspan the contenders looks at the live ofs of 14 men who ran for the presidency and lost but changed political history. Watch the contenders this week at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan, starting tonight, 1844 candidate henry clay. We continue now with the bombing of hiroshima, japan, that led to the end of world war ii. Next a 1945 universal news reel on how the atomic bomb evolved, both the science and the decision to use it. That is followed by a discussion on how president harry truman came to order the use of the atomic bomb