Early in 1945, our b29s began fullscale operations against japan. 1,500 miles to targets. And 1,500 miles back. From bases in saipan, tinia, and guam. Here, 21st Bomber Command concentrated its massive airpower 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 quiet summer shores of guam. The liberated chimorans were back in their clean, 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 acres of blacktop airfields, and nearby new skmunt communities americans had set up housekeeping with various types of selfservice. The latest laborsaving 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 Bomber Command began punching the enemy with power, from guam, tinian, and saipan, they increased the bombing weight 100 in 2 months. Behind this this expanding power was planning. The amay plan began on the ground with maintenance. Assembly line technique cut engine chains time from three days to less than half a day. Shop and ground crews worked day and night during the blitz weeks to keep more b29s on the line. By july, lamays Bomber Command is an efficient, welloiled, welldrilled 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 some of the things theyre going to do and why and with what. How do they set up the longest toughest Bomber Mission in history . It began about 12 hours ago in the warroom at guam. With general lamay and his staff receiving a report on tomorrows weather in japan. The forecast is typical. Eight eighttenths cloud above the east and tokyo will be sixtenths at 22,000 and threetenths 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 that weather and bomb at 12,000. Now its a question of target selection. First priority in the tokyo area is number 573. Intelligence informs the general that 573 is already threequarters destroyed. At the moment number 574, still untouched, would seem more important. Operations checks the tactical plans for 574. General lamay orders the required changes, okays the target and commits all executive details to his staff. Operations with his deputy chief of staff and project officer goes 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, colated facts and figures have been distilled into tactical plan 574. Aircraft will assemble with three groups of p51s and smoke markers will be dropped by lead planes to expedite departure from Assembly Point. One squad of east wing will carry it. Altitude of attack, 12,000 feet. Planes of 314th wing will carry capacity fuel loads of approximately 7,300 gallons per plane. Calibrated air speed of 210 Miles Per Hour will be flown by all aircraft on bombing run. Radar landfall 3450 north and 140 east will be the same for all planes to afford a good land water contrast checkpoint. The navy is requested to furnish the following facilities for heir sea rescue purposes. Three vessels to proceed to position x. Four submarines at lifeguard duty at positions y. Two to orbit at 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 caton, was recently brought over to staff as project officer. This expansive 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. Takeoff time is flashed to the controller who coordinates 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 uptotheminute 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 halfway point. And proceed as specified in the field order to the proper target. Other symbols are used to mark air sea rescue positions. A timetable of statistics for each wing is planned and flown as recorded from hourly reports on the status panel. Beginning with takeoff time. To veteran crews, its just another days work. One more 1,500 mile haul up and down the pacific. 7,000 gallons. Four engines. 11 guides. A water jump across 20 degrees of the globe. A content of ocean. Destination, tokyo. Its like taking off in mexico for targets in canada. The 314th is airborne, 145 planes 1 minute apart, 67 tons each. Those b29 takeoffs are a tough sweat. That first long moment is the worst. Some swear it takes luck, like a wifes stocking, 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 more bombers are added to the missions striking force. The last b29 is airborne at 1540. The tower at saipan relays 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 grind. 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 the northern mari marionas, pagan, assumption, morgue, the paroles. After four hours of flight they pass close to iwo jima, the hot block, halfway to hong chu. Eight square miles bought and paid for by our marines. We made some quick changes. Cutting away the sulfurous volcanic crust and rolling surface into one enormous flattop. Three big airstrips now launch our p51s for bomber escort over japan. General moore and his staff, a 7th fighter command, run the show and direct all air sea rescues in close collaboration with 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 fighter flight on record. Seven hours and one engine, 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 1 2 hours later off the shores of japan. After a rendezvous, the p51s head for Assembly Point led by p29s as navigator ships. Farther west they grind ahead on the last lap to the empire. Reports to the controller back at guam give their flight position which is kept up to the hour on the Mission Board. Still at low altitude, the b29s are approaching the bad weather belt when storms and cold fronts appear suddenly across the bomber course. Pilot to crew, going to start the climb. Check oxygen equipment. Tell mark he better get out to his doghouse. As they begin their slow climb to altitude, the crews prepare for the vital business ahead and from now on until they come off target and head home, its all business. The central fire control system is warmed up. Superhuman brainpower at the flick of a switch. Each gunner flexes his sites and tries the coordinated fire controls, with a few short bursts 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. The mustangs climb in formation to take positions above the boxes of b29s. Lead bombers begin to circle. Dropping the new smoke markers for assembly. The project officer observes this part of the tactical plan in action. From various zone positions, the groups separate and form on their lead ships in 9 or 11 plane waves. Which head for initial point. The big parade is on. Landfall is picked up. Along with the first flak burst from enemy coastal batteries. Fujiama, the familiar white beacon, marks the return for initial point. Flight becomes heavier and more accurate. And now the first jap snoopers appear, diving headon into the formations. Some are suicide fighters trying to ram our bombers. Other jap fighters drop phosphorous bombs set to explode in front of the oncoming b29s. Our p51s go out after them and know theyre tangling with experts. The p51s job is to protect the b29s but some of those jap fighters filter through and meet the blast of bomber guns. A tail gunner pleads with a nip fighter to come in a little closer. From the turn at initial point, the tight bomber moves steadily on and gets ready for business. Flak and fighters fall off. But those clouds are beginning to close in and it looks worse ahead. Then just east, the tokyo area breaks clear. The bombardiers begin to draw a bead on 574. They sit tight for a bombing run. Heres where we pay off. Two jap aircraft plants and 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 downwind, across the burned acres of tokyo. Closeup cameras show the scars of those spectacular fire strikes last march. 51 square miles of lamay treatment. Across the bay in a tailwind speeds down the chiba peninsula, this is fighter country. With the first call on the intercom, mustangs peel off and go to work again. With big bombers homeward bound, our p51s drop down by strafing runs. Concentrating on definite objectives from here to the enemy coast. Skimming along at maximum speed, the fighters pair off and go to work cutting off vital jap lifelines. Blasting away at communications, radio installlations, power lines. Swooping down on enemy transportation, railroads, marshalling yards, small suburban factories. And airfields. Then on to shipping targets. Freighters, fisherman, trollers, harbor and coastal craft, destroyer or lugger, its the same enemy. After strafing, our fighters climb back to rally point and our awaiting 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 sonabatchi at whiplash speeds and once over for each jap killed. After the last fighter groups are in, all hands sweat in those first limping b29s. That runway is a beautiful sight as they let down with engines out, low on gas, or beat up by flak and fighters. In 3 months nearly 2,000 crippled or gas shy b29s havened at iwo. You could understand why those four fan boys blessed their marines and even named their planes after them. The lucky ones are fueled and depart for home bases in an hour. But iwo still has its hazards. Weather can 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 can see how the cloud cover up there smothers the runway and realize what one pilot went through. Sometimes a battlescarred bomber staggers back to iwo, only to flatten out at the last heartbreaking second. [ sirens ] by some miracle, the whole crew got away from the station to safety before 2,000 gallons of flaming gas envelope them. Firefighters risk their lives to save the ship. This, too, takes courage beyond the line of duty. Far to the south 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 marianas 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. Its a pleasure to be back. A pleasure to roll on solid, familiar, blacktop. Its good to feel a sudden humid heat. To be among the living. Swapping details with the ground crew. Flak, 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. [ sirens ] the rescue squads tear away the hot metal. Somehow in that burning wreckage, a man has felt those eager hands. One life saved and ten lost. Thats part of todays toll. And there were many other days and nights that took their toll of Young American lives and the service of our relentless, expanding, airpower. By the end of july, our b29s had all but obliterated the enemys ability to make war. Thousandplane 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 never was applied to germany. While great lands, sea, and air forces, gathered for the last invasion, our b29s dropped 2 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. Weeknights this month, were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan3. Tonight, a look at the u. S. S. Indianapolis. On july 30th, 1945, 2 japanese torpedos sunk the u. S. S. Indianapolis in sharkinfested waters. Only 317 out of 1,196 crew members survived. On the 75th anniversary of the ships 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, cspans the contenders, looks at the lives 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 president ial 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 newsreel on how the acomic bomb evolved. Both the science and the decision to use it. Thats followed by a discussion on how president harry truman came to order the use of the atomic bomb during world war ii. Part of what youll see every weekend during American History tv here on cspan3. During a series of meetings in pottstown, germany, the final doom of japan is settled by the big three and their advisers. Delivering an ultimatum of Unconditional Surrender to the warlords, the Prime Minister suffers the consequences. Swarms of b29s