TARGET TOKYO

la [Applause] [Music] this is where it began here in the exact geographic center of the United States Grand Island Nebraska [Music] the men were brought here from every corner of the country and a few Corners outside the country they were a handpicked American mixture of draes and West pointers of butchers teachers and bankers of your sons husbands and fathers they were men like Kenneth Gibson of Salt Lake City who served in England in the Far East who enlisted as a private and was now a full Colonel John Van Trigg of Ottawa Illinois and the South Pacific Gordon Wong of Boise Idaho and Canton China Fred Montgomery a B24 Gunner from the uans Harry brand a B7 flight Chief decorated in the battles of guad Canam and [Music] Midway they were men who had flown in ports are liberators in all of the combat theaters but now they were introduced to a ship that was something else again she was the b29 the super fort with 2200 horsepower in each of four engines with a fuel capacity equal to that of a railroad tank car a tail that climbed two stories into the air a body longer than a Corvette designed to carry more destruction and car carry it higher faster farther than any bomber ever built before and to complete this Mission that's exactly what she was going to have to do the day they first took up a 29 the men felt like the right Brothers All Over Again better be good fella here goes a million bucks on the wing [Music] by the second flight they were in love with the ship and old hands and starting to get impatient but the Army told them nothing just kept them flying and kept them wondering they wondered about when they'd finally be off which way they'd go how they'd do and how long it would be before they'd be on their way home again well while they were wondering the big wheels decided almost the first the men knew about it it was 5: in the morning and they were on their way the chaplain gave each of the crews a St Christopher medal Christopher is the patron saint of Travelers he explained before he blessed them and if there's one thing you boys are going to do it's [Applause] travel the chaplain was right this was the takeoff for one of the greatest mass flights in history [Music] first lap from Grand Island 1,321 Mi Westward to Mather field California [Music] Mather field was their poae port of aial embarcation here the crews had to go through a final production line checkup then they were ready for the second lap from Mather field to Pearl Harbor 2,415 Mi further west when they passed over the Golden Gate Bridge it was like having a door shut in their faces soong California soong USA on this first overwater hop it was The Navigators who were on the spot with all their fancy equipment their minds still had to make the final calculations an error of 2° would wind their ship up over nothing but ocean with empty gas [Music] tanks diamond headit right on the noes good old Navigator the crews relaxed now they began to think about hoola girls and the beach at w [Music] Kei at Pearl Harbor however they found themselves restricted to the Airfield the only hoola girls they saw were painted on the doors of the PX for something much bigger was in the making in an office on that same field a new bomber command was being born the 21st Brigadier General Haywood Hansel commanding to include all the planes and all the crews that had left Nebraska Hansel conferred with Lieutenant General Millard Harmon General Arnold's Deputy for b29 activities in the Pacific and the details were set for the 21st bomber command's initial strike after briefing next morning General Hansel and the men left havai their final base was no longer a mystery 4,000 Mi farther west with only one refueling stop on the way lay the island of sien less than 4 months before it had still been in the hands of the Japanese that was something for the men to think about it was for them that the Battle of sipan was fought for a base big enough to hold their b-29s [Music] soldiers Sailors and Marines paid a price for that base afterward Aviation engineers and Service Group sweated over it that too was for the b-29s realizing it made every man anxious to get there there to make cpan pay off [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] well the the first element of the 21st bomber command has arrived when we've done some more fighting we'll do some more talking [Applause] thanks the cruise found Sian to be a paradise free from any of the discomforts borne by War oppressed civilians at home plenty of Aira Apartments nicely decorated adjoining showers no long lines at the local barber shop reasonably priced concerts private beach club and elegant Sund deck only trouble was their neighbors got a little noisy b-29s on cpan were like artillery pointed at the heart of Japan the nips made a desperate attempt to knock the base out they came over at night too they paid admission but they got some of [Music] ours the Japs might just as well have tried to stop Niagara Falls [Music] the 21st bomber command was ready to hit its first Target a target for today one of three of the nakima aircraft plants located 11 miles west of Tokyo the man had hoped the first one would be Tokyo and they were delighted but they weren't kidding themselves not even those who'd been over Berlin or pesti or vien London to Berlin and back was 1,000 Mi the Fest run 1150 Mi the fiia Vienna run 900 mil but Sian to Tokyo and back was over 3,000 mil no land-based planes had ever hit this target before crew chiefs and maintenance men worked right through the afternoon and night [Music] the ordinance men fuse the payload Dawn the coolness reminded them of that other Dawn not so long ago in Nebraska only now they were sweating it was kind of funny to think of themselves making [Music] [Music] history the lead ship was a square one dauntless Dy its pilot was Robert Morgan its bombarder Vince Evans remember them they were the pilot and Bombadier who flew 25 missions over Germany in a B7 called the Memphis Bell 5:00 back home You' have been turning over for another couple hours sleep or just coming in from a date [Music] each super Fort carried well over 7,000 gallons of gas more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition with their great load of 500lb general purpose bombs and incendiaries they weighed almost 70 tons a piece [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the barometer should have been falling in Tokyo this was the final lap of the long Mission over 10,000 mil almost halfway around the world to return a visit that had been paid to Pearl Harbor 3 years before Pearl Harbor was on their minds now the 2,000 American Dead Hickam field in Flames the Arizona and the Oklahoma and the Pennsylvania there were other things on their minds there was the triumphant feeling of being the first the advanced guard of a long procession of super fors that would smash Tokyo there was the Grim satisfaction of making the nepes high command eat its words Tokyo the Japanese High commanded broadcast is out of range of landbased American bombers there was the uncertainty the fear of the unknown 1,600 Mi lay between them and their target what kind of a defense would the Jabs put up how much Flack how accurate 1,600 Mi lay between the Target and getting back to San how many of them would get back they recalled very clearly the fate of the D little Flyers who had crashed in Japan and been captured [Music] [Music] 6 hours later through the clouds they saw it fujiama ancient symbol of Japan here comes some Modern symbols phosphorous bombs and Flack and [Music] Fighters inside a superp you can't see its guns you fire by remote control but the guns are [Music] there and now below them is [Music] Tokyo within a radius of 15 Mi of the Imperial Palace live 7 million Japanese a people we used to think of as small dainty polite concerning themselves only with floral arrangements and Rock Gardens and the cultivation of silk worms but it isn't silkworms and it isn't Imperial palaces these men are looking for in the suburbs of Tokyo is the huge Nakajima aircraft plant well bud what are you waiting for [Music] of the b-29s that had taken off at dawn all but two got back to Sian that night and that's where it ended the first Super Fortress mission to Tokyo but more than an ending it was a beginning as the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces put it no part of the Japanese empire is now out of our range no war Factory to remote to feel our bombs the battle for Japan is now underway with all Speed Ahead [Music]