The date is 1944, and the war in Europe has
finally begun to turn against Nazi Germany. Over in the Pacific, the United States has
also finally turned the tide against the Japanese onslaught across the South Pacific region,
and a bloody island hopping campaign has driven the Japanese closer and closer to home. The empire of the rising sun however still
has a stranglehold on China, and as long as they do they'll be able to continue feeding
the homelands with vital war supplies. The US Army has been largely responsible for
aiding the Chinese war against the Japanese, though American ground forces are few on the
ground. Instead millions of tons of supplies stream
steadily into China, courtesy of the United States, as the Chinese people fight to reclaim
their conquered homeland. The US Army's Air Corps however can make a
much more significant contribution to the war effort here in China, thanks to several
airfields hastily constructed by the Chinese people. Strung along these rough dirt airfields are
right now several columns of shiny new aircraft, all emblazoned with the logo of the US Army
Air Corps. These aircraft represent the state of the
art for modern bomber design, and are the culmination of a top secret bomber program
began by the United States even before the war began. At almost twice the cost of the Manhattan
Project which would eventually produce the atomic bomb, it is also the most expensive
weapons program of all World War II. Four engines roar to life on each aircraft. Their designation is the B-29, the older brother
of the B-17 Flying Fortress. Her crews call her the Superfortress, and
not without reason. These massive beasts are outfitted with thick
armor plating, are nearly 100 feet long (30 meters), with a wingspan of 141 feet (44 meters). Four turbosupercharged engines, amongst the
most powerful in the world, deliver a whopping 2,200 horsepower each, making the big planes
capable of lifting up to 120,000 lbs (54431 kg) to a height of nearly 34,000 feet. The Superfortress flies so high, and so far-
with a range of 3,250 miles (5230 km)- that it's impossible to provide it with a fighter
escort. That doesn't bother the crews of the big planes
much though, as they are more than capable of defending themselves thanks to twelve fifty
caliber machine guns that ring the aircraft. The name 'Superfortress' is definitely well
earned. More engines roar to life as eighty eight
superfortresses prepare for takeoff. The sound is almost unbearable, an incredible
cacophony of war roaring to life as the planes begin to taxi and then lift up into the air. Each aircraft carries 20,000 pounds of bombs
(9072 kgs), and yet the four powerful engines have no problem lifting the giant planes into
the air. Today, the planes aren't headed to bomb japanese
targets on the mainland. They're going after the much bigger prize
that only these state of the art planes can hit- they're going after the Japanese islands
themselves. The Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, sovereign
American territory, with impunity, and have been striking deep into the many nations of
the South Pacific for years. Now, the US returns the favor, and the untouchable
Japanese are finally learning the consequences of their actions. War has finally come home to Japan. The planes plot a course east towards the
Pacific. Towards the end of the 1930s, the US Army
identified the B-17 as the primary bomber for any war in Europe against Nazi Germany,
but hostilities with Japan had long been simmering. For the vast expanses of the Pacific theater,
the B17 simply wouldn't do, and thus the B29 project was fast tracked. One of the top requirements for the B29 would
be the ability to fly far and hit hard when it got there, and one of the keys to executing
that mission successfully was the ability to fly extremely high. At higher altitudes planes could fly more
efficiently, and thus use less gas which increased their range. However, the B29 was designed to fly higher
than any other bomber before it, so high in fact that enemy fighters would never reach
it. Fully loaded each B29 could reach nearly 34,000
feet, which put it just above the maximum ceiling for most of the Axis power's fighters. However flying so high presented a whole slew
of new problems for the crew, and in order to preserve the ability for the 11 man crew
to fly long endurance missions, the B29 made a revolutionary change: it would have completely
pressurized and climate controlled crew spaces. As the planes fly east, the crew settles into
their compartments. The pressurized compartments are far more
comfortable than the freezing cold crew spaces of the B-17 and other bombers, and means that
the crew doesn't have to constantly wear bulky and restrictive oxygen masks. For the men that fly these state of the art
bombers on missions that can be over twelve hours long, the pressurized compartments are
a godsend. By flying east the B29s avoid many of the
ground-based Japanese fighter bases. While the B29s are flying high enough that
fighters are more a nuisance than a threat, ground anti-air artillery is still capable
of reaching their cruising altitude, and there'll be plenty of it to face over the Japanese
home islands. No sense in giving the enemy more target practice
than necessary. A few hours into the flight, the planes turn
north, with a slight eastern heading. From here on out it's a straight shot to the
home islands. Incredibly the route is largely undefended,
even now Japanese carriers are fighting a losing war against the American navy, and
very quickly becoming a rapidly diminishing resource. Any japanese destroyers or cruisers which
might threaten the bombers with anti-air artillery are busy fighting a joint Australian and American
force around the Philippines. Plus the constant pressure from American subs
has taken a huge toll on the Japanese surface fleet. Soon, the planes are approaching the Japanese
island of Kyushu. Their target lies on the main island of Honshu-
the decision to strike deeper in Japanese territory is not only riskier, but also meant
to drive the message home to the Japanese people: the war has turned against you, and
you are no longer safe on your island. Still, it is a risky move. Overflying the city of Fukuoka, Japanese Zeros
are the first to respond. The planes are surprisingly quick and agile,
at the start of the war they were the best fighters in the world and absolutely decimated
allied pilots with a whopping 12 to 1 kill ratio. However, soon Allied designs caught up and
then surpassed those of Japanese engineers, and the Zero now is more a liability than
a threat against modern American and British fighters. That however doesn't make it any less deadly
against big, lumbering bombers. The Zeros zoom up into the sky, pulling into
almost vertical ascents as they close the distance to the flock of American bombers. The pilots are clearly inexperienced- though
a direct ascent seems the fastest and shortest route to their target, the B29s are flying
so high, just over the Zero's maximum ceiling, that the planes quickly stall out and lose
power in the steep ascent. A more experienced pilot would've flown a
much more gradual ascent, though in truth, this would still have left him with little
time to engage the B29s before also losing power and stalling out. The B29s simply fly too high to be threatened
for long by the Japanese fighters- but some of the planes are experiencing various mechanical
issues. The B29s is so new that not all of its bugs
have been worked out. These planes are forced to fly lower than
normal, and are definitely in range of the incoming Zeroes. Aboard a low-flying B29, the defensive turret
gunners quickly get to work. Unlike a normal bomber aircraft, these gunners
don't manually fire their guns from behind a thick glass bubble, instead they rely on
a state of the art fire control system that remotely links the guns to sighting stations
all around the plane. The gunners are thus able to remain in the
pressurized spaces and still fire guns placed anywhere on the plane Soon 12 machine guns are filling the sky around
the B29 with .50 caliber bullets. Each gunner can operate multiple turrets at
the same time, allowing the gunner with the best vantage point to create deadly crossfires. A Japanese zero strays too close and finds
itself in the midst of one of these crossfires, the big .50 caliber rounds chewing the fighter
to pieces. Another zero however approaches from behind,
but is spotted by the rear gunner. Twin machine guns open up just as the Zero
itself fires on the B29. Thick armor plating on the rear of the bomber
deflects most of the Zero's rounds, with a few managing to cause mostly superficial damage. Up against dual .50 caliber machine guns though,
the Zero doesn't press the attack and quickly breaks off to overfly the bomber. This however, is a fatal mistake. Quickly shifting his control on the fly, the
rear gunner slaves the rear upper gun turret to his fire control system, and creates a
sheet of lead that the Zero flies directly into. Machine gun rounds punch through the relatively
light armor plating of the Zero, and completely shear off the left wing. The stricken fighter tumbles out of the sky
in a rapid gyrating pattern- the pilot will never be able to overcome the centrifugal
force and leap to safety with his parachute... although rumors are that the Japanese pilots
refuse to wear parachutes anyways. Something about it being cowardly for a warrior
to flee certain death. On board the B29, the Americans happily keep
their parachutes at arm's length. The B29's thick armor has spared it the worst
of the damage from attacking Zeros, but some of her hydraulic systems have been hit. Redundant systems allow the pilot to keep
control over the aircraft, but concerned the plane may experience further mechanical failures,
the pilot makes the decision to abort. The rest of the formation, safely above the
Zero's ability to effectively engage them, continues on to the main Japanese island. As the B29s approach their targets, Japanese
air artillery begins to open up, filling the sky with plumes of black smoke. That's the telltale sign of exploding anti-aircraft
shells, and unlike Japanese zeroes, these can easily reach the cruising altitude of
a B29. The crews buckle themselves into their seats,
parachutes now on their backs- just in case. Aboard the lead B29, the pilot and co-pilot
watch the black puffs of smoke far below their position. The Japanese still haven't sighted in on the
extreme altitude of these new American bombers, but it doesn't take them long to adjust. A few minutes later, the black puffs of smoke
are now appearing all around the bombers. On the lead aircraft, the crew winces as they
hear the sound of shrapnel peppering the metal skin of their plane. Once more they are thankful for the thick
armor plating. Another bomber however isn't so lucky. Already stressed by on-the-fly design modifications
of the engines, which have a tendency to overheat and catch fire, one of its engines abruptly
stalls out and starts spewing thick, black smoke. A round has exploded too near to it and showered
the engine with shrapnel, shredding the delicate mechanical components. On the wing of the aircraft another round
has punctured the plane's wing and torn into the fuel tank there, although thankfully the
self-sealing tank is doing a good job of preventing a catastrophic loss of fuel. Like its counterpart earlier though, this
B29 is forced to abort. Others will soon follow, though one will never
get a chance to. A Japanese round manages to score a direct
hit on the cockpit, blowing out the entire forward crew compartment. Despite the total obliteration of the forward
cabin, the plane manages to fly mostly level and straight for a few moments on its own
power, but soon wind resistance causes the plane to dip, and suddenly completely flip. The violent maneuver proves too stressful
for the airframe and the massive plane is torn apart in mid-air, the surviving crew
inside trapped and unable to jump out as it tumbles out of the sky to the ground below. The rest of the formation presses on however,
and soon, the weapons officer on the lead plane gives a brief announcement. Sighting down on the ground below through
a highly classified and extremely accurate bomb sight, the weapons officer orders a release,
and the massive weapons bay doors swing open. In moments, forty 500 pound bombs begin to
tumble out of the aircraft. Cued on by their lead in the formation, the
rest of the B29s quickly follow suit. This is carpet bombing on a massive scale,
and the surviving 76 aircraft formation drops a whopping 3,040 bombs on the Japanese industrial
city below. 689 tons of explosives rain down on the population,
and while the extreme height and wind resistance blows many bombs off course, so many explosives
are falling out of the sky that it largely doesn't matter. The industrial sector is absolutely decimated,
though stray bombs kill many civilians as well and destroy countless homes. For the survivors of the massive B29 raid,
it is finally starting to sink in that this new plane has brought war home to Japan. Wanna hear more war stories about incredible
planes? Then check out our episode World War 3 Airplane:
E-6 Mercury! Or perhaps you'd enjoy this other video over
here instead. Either way, click one now, because fun has
come home to you today!
