506th FG Gazette — Masthead

LOCAL NEWS

IWO JIMA

Carl Molesworth "Very Long Range P-51 Mustang Units of the Pacific War"

05 July 45

Number 28 [FC Mission #218] 5 July 45

Mission: VLR Fighter Strike against airfields in the Tokyo area, 100 Mustangs of the 15th and 506th Groups taking part.

Results: Five enemy aircraft destroyed and eleven damaged on the ground by the 15th Group.

Again adverse weather conditions reduced to a near minimum the effectiveness of this mission. The 506th Group failed to reach either its primary or its secondary target, and the 15th Group had difficulty in locating targets, although successful attacks were made on Shimodate, Yatabe and Naruto airfields after finding holes in the clouds through which the planes could go.

Capt. JJ Grant 462nd

06 July 45

Number 2 (FC Mission #220) 6 July 45

Mission: VLR Fighter Strike against Tokyo airfields by 110 planes of the 21st and 506th Groups.

Results: Seven enemy aircraft destroyed and twenty-five damaged.

Claims against the enemy: 1 probably destroyed and 2 damaged in air; 7 destroyed and 15 damaged on the ground

Our losses: One P-51 shot down over Kasumigaura with pilot missing. Nine aircraft were damaged, seven by enemy flak, and two as the result of a Japanese plane exploding on the ground. None of the pilots was injured.

The success of this mission was again handicapped by poor weather conditions over target areas. The 21st Group found its target closed in and observations of other airfields in the area showed only a few planes visible. Tokorozawa was attacked with moderately successful results and Irumigawa was strafed. The 506th Group operating east and northeast of Tokyo where cloud conditions were much improved, struck Katori, its primary target, with very modest results, and strafed Yachimata and Miyakawa. Dummy and inoperative aircraft were the principal sightings. In all, twelve to fifteen airfields were observed by pilots of the 506th Group and only forty of the estimated 1200 aircraft reported to be based in this vicinity were sighted.

During this mission, only nine aircraft were encountered in the air, one of which was destroyed and six damaged. Many of the planes sighted on the ground were so well camouflaged and dispersed in revetments, under the trees, and in areas one to two miles from the airfields that from a practical standpoint it was only possible to bring a relatively few of the sum total under fire. Again it was found that many operational aircraft on the ground had been drained of their gasoline supply. One plane of the 21st Group was hit by enemy flak and the pilot bailed out and was seen to enter a motor launch dropped to him. However, the pilot is still missing and it seems probable that he was captured by the enemy.

WORLD NEWS July 1945

1: Australian troops land at Balikpapan, Borneo in the Western Allies' last major land operation of the war.

5: General Douglas MacArthur announces that the Philippines have been liberated.

6: Norway declares war on Japan.

14: Italy declares war on Japan.

16: The U.S. conducts the Trinity test at Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first test of a nuclear weapon.

17: The Potsdam Conference begins under British Prime Minister Churchill, Soviet Prime Minister Stalin and U.S. President Truman. The Allied leaders agree to insist upon the unconditional surrender of Japan.

22: America and Japan engage in a small skirmish in the Battle of Tokyo Bay. The Japanese take slight losses

24: Truman hints at the Potsdam Conference that the United States has nuclear weapons. : British and Americans commence the Bombing of Kure.

26: The Labour Party win the British general election by a landslide. Clement Attlee replaces Churchill as British Prime Minister and immediately flies to the negotiating table at Potsdam. The Potsdam Declaration is issued.

28: The Japanese battleships Haruna and Ise are sunk by aircraft from US Task Force 38 while in shallow anchorage at Kure Naval Base.

30: The USS Indianapolis is sunk shortly after midnight by a Japanese submarine after having delivered atomic bomb material to Tinian. Because of poor communications, the ship's whereabouts are unknown for some time and many of its men drown or are attacked by sharks in the next four days.

31: U.S. conducts air attacks on the cities of Kobe and Nagoya in Japan.

July 1945

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