Mission to Tokyo: The American Airmen Who Took the War to the Heart of Japan - Hardcover

 

“In this epic story, Robert F. Dorr expertly takes us along on one of the highest-stakes missions of World War II.”—Robert Gandt, author of The Twilight Warriors

 

 

From the Pacific island airfields of Guam, Saipan, and Tinian to Tokyo and back, Robert F. Dorr (Mission to Berlin) takes the reader on a bombing mission against Imperial Japan in World War II. Operation Meetinghouse, the Tokyo firebombing of March 9–10, 1945, is estimated by many to be the most destructive bombing assault in history. Told largely in the veterans’ own words, Mission to Tokyo covers all the men in a B-29 Superfortress mission, including pilots and other aircrew, ground crew, and the escort fighter pilots that accompanied the bombers to Japan. In addition to placing the reader in the middle of the planning and execution of Meetinghouse, Mission to Tokyo provides a broad overview of the bombing campaign against Japan—from the retaliatory Doolittle Raid in 1942 through the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through extensive interviews and access to personal journals of those involved, Dorr weaves together a compelling narrative of young men in battle, played out against the backdrop of the strategies of the officers running the war and trying to achieve victory in the Pacific. Robert F. Dorr is an Air Force veteran (Korea, 1957–1960), a retired senior American diplomat (1964–1989), and the author of seventy books and thousands of magazine articles and newspaper columns about the Air Force and air warfare. Bob has written for Air and Space Smithsonian, Flight Journal, Air Forces Monthly, Air Power History, and many other publications. He is a columnist for the Air Force Times newspaper and writes the Washington Watch feature for Aerospace America magazine. His book Air Force One, a history of presidential aircraft and air travel, has been praised by critics, and the Air Force Times said his last book, Mission to Berlin, “puts you in the freezing-cold cockpit for a white knuckle mission over heavily fortified enemy territory.” Bob is also the coauthor of Hell Hawks! He lives in Oakton, Virginia, with his family and Labrador retriever.

 

March 9, 1945: Operation Meetinghouse. While the Allies struggle to prepare for amphibious landings in the Japanese home islands—“the Empire,” as it was called by troops—Maj. Gen. Curtis E. LeMay devises a new strategy. Taking advantage of the traditional wood-and-paper construction of many Tokyo buildings, high-altitude raids with general purpose bombs would be replaced by low-altitude raids with incendiary bombs. Japan’s largest city, with a densely packed population of about six million and only a token fire department, was particularly vulnerable to fire. An incendiary raid on February 25 resulted in the destruction of approximately one square mile of Tokyo. LeMay’s plan is to double the number of planes and increase the number of bombs per plane by cutting guns, ammo, and gunners. Flying low would increase accuracy and decrease the amount of fuel needed, saving weight to allow for still more bombs. The result: a devastating firestorm  raging through Tokyo, laying waste to sixteen square miles and killing at least one hundred thousand Japanese, perhaps far more. The death toll exceeded that of the firebombing of Dresden or the immediate deaths caused by the upcoming atomic bombings of Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Ultimately, Mission to Tokyo is about the young airmen who found themselves in these bombers on those deadly raids, serving their part in bringing the war to the Empire while simply trying to get back home, one mission at a time.