Fourteenth Air Force. 10 United States Army Air Force (USAAF)
P-51 Mustang fighter-bombers and P-47 Thunderbolt fighters
damage 10 locomotives between Tehsien and Suchow and 5 around
Anyang, Kaifeng, and Loyang, and lightly damage bridges North
of Chihsien and South of Houmachen.
Far East Air Force (FEAF). Okinawa based United States Army
Air Force (USAAF) aircraft pound targets on Kyushu. 150 P-47
Thunderbolt fighters and A-26 Invader light bombers fight
bad weather to hit the primary, Miyakonojo. 170 B-24 Liberator
heavy bombers, B-25 Mitchell medium bombers, and P-47 Thunderbolt
fighters hit Kagoshima as secondary targets. 60 B-25 Mitchell
medium bombers and P-51 Mustang fighter-bombers attack shipping
and ground targets in Tsushima Strait area and in North Ryukyus.
P-51 Mustang fighter-bombers operating in area between Kyushu
and Korea bomb airfields and strafe numerous targets on Saishu
Island. P-47 Thunderbolt fighters bomb Anjo on Tanega Island.
Other aircraft, operating individually or in pairs, hit various
targets on South Korea coast, in Inland Sea, South Honshu,
West Shikoku Island, throughout the North Ryukyus, and in
Shanghai area. B-24 Liberator heavy bombers pound resistance
pockets on Negros Island.
Twentieth Air Force. The world's first atomic attack takes
place. At 0245 Colonel Paul W Tibbets pilots the B-29 Superfortress
heavy bomber Enola Gay off the runway at North Field, Tinian.
At 2 minute intervals, 2 observation B-29 Superfortress heavy
bomber's follow Major Charles W Sweeney's Great Artiste and
Captain George W Marquardt's No 91. At 0915 (0816 Japan time)
the atomic bomb is released over Hiroshima from 31,600 ft.
It explodes 50 seconds later. More than 80 per cent of the
city's buildings are destroyed and over 71,000 people (Japanese
figures; United States figures say from 70,000 to 80,000)
are killed. The Enola Gay lands on Tinian at 1458, followed
within the hr by the 2 observation planes.
VII Fighter Command. Almost 100 United States Army Air Force
(USAAF) fighters from Iwo Jima attack airfields and military
installations at 6 locations throughout general area around
Tokyo.
Go To: 7th
August
Articles:
The Second Great War.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
The War Illustrated.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
2194 Days Of War.
ISBN-10: 086136614X
For a complete list of
sources
