Posted: 1/26/2005 2:18:27 AM EDT
I'm reading abook on Operation Downfall and the figures and weapons available are mind boggling! This REALLY was going to be Armageddon!!! Andy Just some of the firepower available…… CW weapons Stockpiles 1945… 5,500,000 shells, 1,000,000+ bombs, 100,000+ spray tanks, 43,000 land mines 7,500 tons of gas bambs on Luzon, 16,000 on Okinawa, 8,500 tons afloat. Plans to spray jap crops in 1946 with 2-4-D using 1,500 aircraft on 25 sorties… and destroy 60% of jap rice production Napalm… 'many' millions of gallons available… BW weapons Anthrax plant with a capacity of filling 4lb bombs at the rate of 500,000 PER MONTH! 1,000,000 Anthrax bomblets availablle for use on Kyushu in November and 2 -3,000,000 Anthrax bomblets for Honshu in March 1946 Nuclear Weapons 15 Bombs to support the initial invasion in November 1945, with a production rate of 7 per month another 28 could have been ready for Honshu in March 1946. Attack plans for Honshu May 1946… For a period of 180 days the beachheads would be bombarded with air and naval units and JB-2's (V1's built in the US) and the beacheads to a distance of 5,000 yds inland sprayed with chemical defoliants. 216 specially designed T-92 240mm self propelled howitzers were to be landed in the initial assault to blast away defences with 360lb HE shells. Aircraft available from late 1945… @ 2,000 heavy bombers, B-29's and RAF Lancasters… 300-400 medium bombers, B-24's MANY thousands of fighters and light bombers Bomb loads on TACTICAL targets… September 1945 100,000 tons January 1946 170,000 tons March 1946 220,000 tons JB-2 flying bombs (German V1's built in the US) Monthly production of 5,000 per month by fall 1945. General Arnold planned to bombard Japan with 500 JB-2 missiles PER DAY by the start of 1946! Missiles to be ground launched and from specially modified LST and jeep carriers |
And that was just the PRE-invasion bombing! If Operation Downfall had gone ahead Admiral Halseys comment back in 1941… "before we're through with them, the Japanese language will be only spoken in hell" would have come true… ANdy |
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We were going to take Kyushu and turn the Island into one gigantic airbase for B-29's and everything including the kitchen sink. Honshu would be blasted beyond the stone age, what is really scary is if you think about the massive quanties of men, machine, and supply we had at the time. The 1,000 bomber raids seen over Germany would PALE in comparison to the onslaught to be delivered. I forget the order of Battle the UK would play, I don't know if they would supply its Lancaster (A beautiful aircraft) force in masse or not. The 617 Squadron and its Tallboy and Grand Slam delivery would sure have been a nice addition for hardened targets. All I know, any asshole who thinks the Atomic bomb drops were not justified to cause the Japs to surrender is a farking fool. The devastation that was to be unleashed in an invasion is almost beyond comprehension, we are almost talking the complete elimination of the Japanese race. They would have fought almost to the man, woman, and child to the death. |
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The British Bomber contribution was to be called "Tiger Force'. It was to consist of 3 Bomber Groups of 22 squadrons each flying Lancasters specially modified for Far East use, (more powerfull engines, .50 cal guns instead of .30's , a ventral turret and more fuel). The force was to operate from east India against SE Asia and from Okinawa against Japan. One group was RAF, another RCAF and the third group a mixed Commonwealth one. IIRC, initially some 150 Lancasters were to fly from Okinawa, rising to some 300 by years end. By the late 1945 the Lancasters were to have been replaced by the much more heavilly armed and faster AVRO Lincoln.  The AVRO Lincoln Mk I was initially called the Lancaster Mk IV And yes, 617 Squadron was to be part of the show along with a number of other squadrosn modified to carry the 12,000lb Tall Boy and 22,000lb Grand Slam bombs. A standard Lancaster carried a 7 to 9 ton bomb load… much heavier than a B17 or B24. ANdy |
A most beautiful bird!!!! The Lancaster was one of the first considerations for a aircraft to carry the Little Boy and Fat Man, but they decided on a American bird. The Lancaster and B-29 IMHO are the premier heavy bombers of the war. The Lancaster was the premier "precision" bomber of the day, at least the 617 Squadron use of Tallboys & Grandslams. |
Now here's a thing for you then…… The Lancaster begat the Lincoln… And the Lincoln begat the Shackleton Maritime Reconnaisance plane that flew on into the 90's in the AEW role… It was a Lancaster at heart!  The AVRO Shackleton, often referred to by the pilots as "ten thousand rivets flying in close formation"… Andy |
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Did some more research on TIGER FORCE. General Spaatz specifically requested that the RAF have two 'Tallboy' Squadrons of Lancasters operational on Okinawa by October 15 1945. He required them to attack specific targets on the Japanese mainland before the invasion of Kyushu on November 1 1945. He required them to take out several major bridges between Tokyo and Shimoniseki as well as the Kammon Tunnel linking Honshu and Kyushu using their 'Tallboy' and 'Grand Slam' bombs. No 9 and 617 Squadrons of RAF were selected for this task. 10 Squadrons of conventional Lancaster heavy bombers along with their Mosquito pathfinders were to be deployed to Okinawa also, rising to 20 squadrons by the years end. ANdy |
Good show, seems Gen Spaatz was pretty impressed with the Lanc and what the 617 Squadron did with the Tallboys and Grandslams - Hard not to be impressed!!!!! The Air Assets being prepared for the invasion of Japan, just boggles the mind!!!! The U.S. and U.K. were playing for keeps. |
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Establishing the Lancaster as the longest serving WW2 aeroplane, IIRC. I read a good article about when the Shack was retired. They kept trying to get the crews to talk about how much they would miss it when they switched over to jets, but the crews would have none of it. Apparently 10 hour missions over the North Sea during the winter in an unpressurized aeroplane isn't anything to get sentimental over. |
Man, I always thought the Lancaster was butt ugly. I have a thing for the B-24 Liberators. |
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Have to totally disagree with you on this one. The B-24 is the ugliest thing the US put into production. I have been in one, they are just as ugly from the inside. I think it was a better bomber than the famed B-17, but it was UGLY. (OK, maybe the Hudson was uglier) Early Brit bombers were no lookers either. Sterlings, now that was an ugly plane. |