B-29 losses in ww2?

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How many B-29 have been lost over Japan??What Japanese fighters were used to attack B-29 formations??Thanks for any help!

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RE: B-29 losses in ww2?

In B-29 Superfortress at War David Anderton gives the following stats:
B-29s carried out around 33,000 sorties with a loss rate of 1.38% which meant that about 450 aircraft were lost with all or part of their crew (how many were lost over Japan I cannot say). 11,026 fighter attacks reported over Japan. B-29s claimed 714 destroyed, 456 prob and 770 damaged

As I cannot tell a Zero from a pork chop I'll leave someone else to fill you in on the types involved.

Nitram

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RE: B-29 losses in ww2?

Hi Cromig,
The main problem the Japanese had with intercepting the Superforts was the altitude the B29's were operating at,usually well in excess of 20,000ft.There were relatively few fighters in the Japanese arsenal that could fight at these altitudes,and some would fail to reach them altogether.It's also quite a well known fact that Japanese fighters were quite lightly armed,so it was a question of finding fighters which could both reach the bombers and also carry enough punch to knock them down when they got amongst them.This meant that your average Oscar or Zero was out of the running for these missions.
Even those fighters such as the Mitsubishi J2M Raiden or the Kawasaki Ki84 Frank,which did have the right mixture of performance and punch, were still operating pretty close to thier cielings,which meant that they could be 'bounced' relatively easily by the fighter escort. There were also massive problems within the Japanese aviation industry,and one aircraft would not perform like another.Whereas one Raiden might be able to reach the bombers,another might shake and rattle it's way to 20,000ft and then refuse to go any further,the main reason for problems like this being the poor quality of the engines,somthing which affected most Japanese types toward wars end.
The Japanese also used a number of heavy fighters and night fighters against the American raids.One of the most successful B29 killers was the Nakajima Ki45 Toryu "Nick".This was originally designed as a twin-engined daylight heavy fighter,but it adapted well to the night fighter role aswell.Some were fitted with an array of upward firing canon in the fuselage,almost identical to the Schrage Musik installation on Luftwaffe night-fighters.There was no haven for the B29's in the darkness over Japan.
Although the Superforts are remembered today as the bombers which raised hell over Japan in the war's closing months,the earlier operations in 1944 were not always a great success,particularly those launched from China.The B29 was an immature aircraft at the time with a number of teething troubles,not least engine fires and failures.There were times when losses through mechanical failure outweighed those in combat.If you were one of these early B29 crewmen,you weren't expected to survive your tour,it was as simple that,and very few did.This would all have been easier to take if the raids that were being mounted were doing serious damage,but unfortunately they weren't doing that either.The bombers would drop thier loads from extremely high altitudes on these early missions,and bombing accuracy was accordingly abysmal.What wasn't appreciated at the time was that the bombers flying at such extreme altitudes were flying up in the jetstream,facing winds of incredible speeds which the bombsights couldn't compensate for,hence the woeful accuracy.It also put extra strain on the already dubious reliability of the B29, which contributed to the poor reliability these early 29's experienced.All this makes it very hard to come up with accurate figures for the number of bombers the Japanese brought down,and how many were lost,atleast in part,to mechanical failures.
Hope this is of some interest and help :)

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 38

RE: B-29 losses in ww2?

Phill,
Warbird History "B29 Superfortress" states that the 20th AirForce lost 414 bombers only 147 due to flak/fighters. 3015 aircrew were either dead, wounded or missing.
Andy

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My tentmate who finished his combat tour before me, came back to the states and went into B29's. He kept a diary of which I have a copy, he also wrote quite well.
He trained with a crew and went to the Pacific in mid 1944 as plane commander. His account of his missions was an eye opener, they sustained heavy losses from fighters,mechanical problems and long over water flights. He flew 18 missions and was shot down over Japan, he and his crew were all KIA.

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One would assume that many of the B-29 crew members that were able to successfully bail out over land were quickly executed by the Japanese.

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Ki-46-III "Dinah"

The Mitsubishi Ki-46-III "Dinah" (named "Kai") twin-engined recce aircraft was also modified with upward-firing 20 mm and 37 mm cannon for B-29 interceptions, but not with much success.

http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=1160

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Before Iwo Jima was won, subs generally cruised along tracks that the bombers flew , they were always on the lookout for airmen that bailed out or ditched.

One of the main reasons for invading Iwo was for it's airstrip

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Further to Ant's posting its interesting to note that the first B-29 group mounted some very long range missions from their bases in India, eg to Singapore and Palembang before they went to China.
Missions from there were to targets like Mukden & Formosa.
It's a tribute to the crews of these early B-29s that were the frontline of technology at the time that they achieved the results they did given the primitive conditions of their bases in the CBI. When they were in China all suppport had to be flown in over the "Hump".

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WINGS of FREEDOM ( B-17, B-24, B-25) Burbank, Ca. April 28- May 2 Friday- Tuesday
Bob Hope Airport Flight reservations 800-568-8924 (Flights are $425 for the 17s and 24s, but $325 and $400 for the 25s. (Tax Deductible Donations) $10 walk through adult

$425? Hmmm That's about what they paid me for flying them for 2 months.

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My friends diary states that high altitude missions were flown at 30,000 ft, He was shot down by an "Irving" zero, from his C.O.s letter home

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Phill,
Warbird History "B29 Superfortress" states that the 20th AirForce lost 414 bombers only 147 due to flak/fighters. 3015 aircrew were either dead, wounded or missing.
Andy

Here's a table agreeing with that total with a few more details, from the USAAF Statistical Digest, "Very Heavy Bomber" meaning B-29. Of enemy action losses 74 were to fighters, 54 to AAA, and 19 to a combination. That's known cases, some unknowns counted as "other" were probably due to the Japanese, that's obvious in some particular cases.
http://www.usaaf.net/digest/t165.htm

The B-29's were credited (same source) with 914 Japanese fighters destroyed in the air (others on ground). Non-scientifically sampling claims in US sources v. known Japanese fighter losses given in Henry Sakaida's "B-29 Hunters of the JAAAF" the real J fighter losses were roughly 1/3 of the bombers' destroyed claims. If so that's probably better than USAAF bomber claims in ETO, probably because the J's used ramming tactics, and those fighter losses were pretty certain!

The B-29's were not immune at night, suffered losses at night right from the early raids from China on Japan, but the loss rate to enemy action at night in general was never serious. The absolute numbers in the linked table don't scream that, but taking the fighter loss rate in general dropped to almost negligible as time went on. For example 549 sorties were flown in January (XXI BC, Marianas, only) for 14 fighter related losses 2.5%; 22 fighter related in April but 3489 sorties .63%, no fighter losses in 6464 sorties in July. The VII Fighter Command P-51's (and later P-47N's) from Iwo Jima flew only 13 escort missions, of around 270 B-29 missions in their period of operation (from April 45, though a larger % of sorties were escorted than that suggests). Most of their missions were fighter sweeps and a/f attacks which probably helped the bombers somewhat too, but escorts weren't of the same importance as for USAAF bombers over Germany; because of partial night tactics after March 45 (though many later missions were again in daylight), and the fact J fighters just couldn't inflict the same kind of losses day or night on B-29's as the German day and night fighters could against USAAF and RAF bombers in Europe.

Joe

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B-29 Websites

There is a website dedicated to B-29s in WW II and Korea....
http://b-29.org and there is a message board for B-29s in the www.armyairforces.com website.

There is a comprehensive compiling of all B-29s in Robert A. Mann's Book "The B-29 Superfortress , A Comprehensive Registry of the Planes and Their Missions"....tail markings, nose art, names, and disposition. (including the British "Washingtons").

Jim :-)

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20 years 6 months

Posts: 3,328

B-29

http://www.iga-younet.co.jp/news/synthesis/2005/08/050816_3.html
with QT and WMV video files of TV news report, and
http://backnumber.dailynews.yahoo.co.jp/?m=m20060528-009&e=pacific_war
http://dailynews.yahoo.co.jp/fc/domestic/pacific_war/
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20060528-00000007-maip-soci
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20060528-00000007-maip-soci.view-000
with photos, reported:

27 May 2006:
A mourning monument constructed at Shourenji Temple, Nabari City, Mie Prefecture, for 11 crew of USAAF B-29 shot down in WWII.

On 5 June 1945 (Shouwa 20), a flight of nine B-29 bombed Koube City, Hyougo Prefecture, and was returning to base, when Japanese fighters attacked them. About 08:40, one B-29 was shot down, and crashed on hill slope at or near Shourenji Temple.
Two crew burnt and killed. Nine parachuted, and reportedly captured and executed.

At first, residents disgreed with memorialising enemy soldiers, but the chief priest (Buddhist monk) explained now is 60 years after the war, and the war victims have neither an enemy nor an ally.
Debris of B-29 kept to educate peace to children.
Mourning monument constructed to remind crash site. Made of rock, height 1.5 m, width 20 cm, thick 15 cm.

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Two crew burnt and killed. Nine parachuted, and reportedly captured and executed.

I wonder if the school kids hear about that...or just the "aggression" of the Americans?

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Posts: 3,328

B-29

but not certain this B-29 was which B-29.

(Thanks to Thomas Britton, member of the 58th Bomb Wing Association, of which the 468th Bomb Group was a part.)

"B-29
Serial Number 44-69665
Unit Assignment was the 468th Bomb Group Tail Markings were Tri I 25
Mission was 188
Primary Target was Kobe Urban Area
Aircraft was attacked by Japanese fighters and crashed in [Shourenji], Nabari Town, Naga County, Mie Prefecture. Nine of the crew survived of which three were moved to Chubu Kempei-tai Headquarters in Osaka and either executed or died of wounds. The other six were taken to Tokai Army Headquarters and were behaded there on 24 July l945
The Missing Aircrew Report is 14390"

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5 May 1945

[If able to assist, suggest you contact Japanese embassy in US, US embassy in Japan, USAF, AGARA Kii Minpou newspaper that posted these articles, or the locals.]

http://www.agara.co.jp/modules/dailynews/article.php?storyid=124305
http://www.agara.co.jp/modules/dailynews/article.php?storyid=117076
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070605-00000005-agara-l30
http://map.yahoo.co.jp/pl?sc=7&lon=135.32.25.699&lat=33.53.25.173
reported:

5 May 1945:
B-29.
USAAF.
Crashed into mountain, Tonohara, Ryuujin Village, Tanabe City, central eastern Wakayama Prefecture.
11 crew. Seven killed. Four bailed out and captured.
The seven bodies buried. The four survivors fed by villagers, but later executed.

Every 5 May, memorial service at memorial monument for the crew.
After WWII, US military personnel visited the graves, but the crew's relatives never visited.
Now (2007), local historian Furukubo Ken (69) looking for the crew's relatives. His father was killed in action in China, and he understands relatives' desire to know the circumstances of soldiers' deaths.

AGARA Kii Minpou
http://www.agara.co.jp/modules/cnts/content/index.php?id=9
http://www.agara.co.jp/modules/liaise/?form_id=4
TEL: +81 (0)739 22 7171
FAX: +81 (0)739 26 0077

Tanabe City
http://www.city.tanabe.lg.jp/index.html
[email]webmaster@city.tanabe.lg.jp[/email]

Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau
http://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/index.html
[email]info@tb-kumano.jp[/email]
ADD: 24-1 Nakayashiki-Machi, Tanabe City, Wakayama Prefecture 646-0035
TEL: +81 (0)739 26 9025
FAX: +81 (0)739 26 5820

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B-29

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070813-00000913-san-soci
reported:

This summer, stone memorial monument built in Shouren Temple area, southern Nabari City, Mie Prefecture, Japan, for 11 crew of B-29 shot down and crashed on morning, 5 June 1945.
Height 80 cm, width 50 cm. 11 crew's names etched on monument, which is rare.
Two of 11 crew killed in crash. Other nine captured and executed.
Flowers offered at monument on 15 August 2007.