Operation Meetinghouse

 

On this date in 1945, the XXI Bomber Command, Twentieth Air Force, began launching 325 Boeing B-29 Superfortress from airfields on Guam and Saipan on a two-night incendiary bombing of Tokyo, the capital city of the Empire of Japan and the most populous city on Earth. Under Major General Curtis LeMay's command, the Superfortresses would bomb at low altitude at night. As the construction of Japanese cities made them vulnerable to fires, the bombers would carry incendiary bombs rather than high explosives. Operation Meetinghouse was the single deadliest and most destructive air attack in history. 279 airplanes reached Tokyo. 12 were shot down and 42 damaged with 96 crewmen either killed or missing in action.