B 29 Superfortress Vs Ki 44 Tojo

Author : Donald Nijboer
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 81 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2017-10-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472818881

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B-29 Superfortress vs Ki-44 "Tojo" by Donald Nijboer Pdf

By the time the Americans began their aerial bombardment of Japan in 1944, both the JAAF and IJNAF were spent forces. What the Japanese did have though was the Ki-44 "Tojo". Armed with two 40 mm cannon, it was the most heavily armed and feared single-seat fighter to see action against the new American bomber, the B-29 Superfortress. For the bomber crews, they had what they believed was their 'ace in hole': a fully armed B-29 carried four remotely operated gun turrets and a tail gunner's position, making it the world's most advanced self-defending bomber. In every respect the Ki-44 pilots were fighting a desperate battle. Many who made their mark did so using suicidal ramming attacks or "taiatari". Illustrated with full colour artwork, this volume examines why the Ki-44 was unable to break up bomber formations conventionally during the Pacific War, and how its ramming tactics, while terrifying, graphically revealed Japan's inability to stop the B-29.

Author : Donald Nijboer
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 81 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2017-10-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472818874

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B-29 Superfortress vs Ki-44 "Tojo" by Donald Nijboer Pdf

By the time the Americans began their aerial bombardment of Japan in 1944, both the JAAF and IJNAF were spent forces. What the Japanese did have though was the Ki-44 "Tojo". Armed with two 40 mm cannon, it was the most heavily armed and feared single-seat fighter to see action against the new American bomber, the B-29 Superfortress. For the bomber crews, they had what they believed was their 'ace in hole': a fully armed B-29 carried four remotely operated gun turrets and a tail gunner's position, making it the world's most advanced self-defending bomber. In every respect the Ki-44 pilots were fighting a desperate battle. Many who made their mark did so using suicidal ramming attacks or "taiatari". Illustrated with full colour artwork, this volume examines why the Ki-44 was unable to break up bomber formations conventionally during the Pacific War, and how its ramming tactics, while terrifying, graphically revealed Japan's inability to stop the B-29.

Author : Mark Chambers
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2018-11-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472823717

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Wings of the Rising Sun by Mark Chambers Pdf

In the Pacific War's early years, Japanese air power was dominant. The only way for the Allies to defeat their enemy was to know it. This made the task of maintaining productive intelligence gathering efforts on Japan imperative. Establishing Technical Air Intelligence Units in the Pacific Theatre and the Technical Air Intelligence Center in Washington DC, the Allies were able to begin to reveal the secrets of Japanese air power through extensive flight testing and evaluation of captured enemy aircraft and equipment. These provided an illuminating perspective on Japanese aircraft and aerial weapon design philosophy and manufacturing practice. Fully illustrated throughout with a wealth of previously unpublished photographs, Mark Chambers explores Allied efforts to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese air power during the war years, and how this intelligence helped them achieve victory in the Pacific.

Author : Donald Nijboer
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 81 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2019-10-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472836724

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German Flak Defences vs Allied Heavy Bombers by Donald Nijboer Pdf

Since the end of World War II, the strategic bombing of Germany has inspired numerous studies, countless books and several documentary films, and it is not surprising. With more than one million tons of bombs dropped, close to 300,000 civilians killed, 700,000 wounded and in excess of 3,500,000 industrial and residential structures destroyed, the Allied bomber offensive was industrial war on a grand scale. The air battle that raged over Germany has often been described as a battle between Allied and German fighters but what has been frequently missed by historians on all sides is the impact of German anti-aircraft defences (flak). Though often dismissed as ineffective and a waste of valuable material and personnel, the German flak arm made a major contribution to the defence of the Third Reich – at least half of the American aircraft shot down over Germany fell to flak, and according to the RAF Official History, it was estimated that flak accounted for 1229 of 3302 aircraft lost by Bomber Command between 1942 and April 1945. Additionally, the strategic role of flak extended beyond simply shooting down aircraft – its other, more important task was to force bombers to drop their ordnance sooner or from a higher altitude, thus reducing bombing accuracy. Both these roles are explored in depth in this detailed study of the German flak defences and of their adversaries, the Allied heavy bombers. Containing full-colour illustrations including cockpit scenes and armament views, this is the definitive guide to the much-overlooked conflict between Allied planes and German anti-aircraft defences.

Author : Donald Nijboer
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 201 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2023-12-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780811772952

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Carrier Strike by Donald Nijboer Pdf

Among many other developments, World War II saw naval warfare shift from the battleship to the aircraft carrier, which remains one of the iconic weapons of the war and the core of modern battle fleets. Developed in the 1920s and 1930s, the aircraft carrier came into its own in World War II and featured prominently in numerous battles, including the Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, and Leyte Gulf. Later in the war, with many of its own carriers destroyed and its carrier-borne air force crippled, the Japanese relied on kamikazes to replace its aerial strike force and to attack the United States’ carrier force, and the United States used its carriers to attack the Japanese homeland. In this photo history, Donald Nijboer traces the history of aircraft carriers, from their early development just after World War I, to the Japanese carrier-borne attack on Pearl Harbor, through the great battles of the Pacific War, which featured some of military history’s great ships: the Yorktown, the Enterprise, the Hornet, the Lexington, and other vessels. Special sections cover British carrier operations in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as the limited carrier operations of the German Navy, including the Graf Zeppelin.

Author : Ray E. Boomhower
Publisher : University of New Mexico Press
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780826362889

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Richard Tregaskis by Ray E. Boomhower Pdf

In the late summer of 1942, more than ten thousand members of the First Marine Division held a tenuous toehold on the Pacific island of Guadalcanal. As American marines battled Japanese forces for control of the island, they were joined by war correspondent Richard Tregaskis. Tregaskis was one of only two civilian reporters to land and stay with the marines, and in his notebook he captured the daily and nightly terrors faced by American forces in one of World War II's most legendary battles--and it served as the premise for his bestselling book, Guadalcanal Diary. One of the most distinguished combat reporters to cover World War II, Tregaskis later reported on Cold War conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. In 1964 the Overseas Press Club recognized his first-person reporting under hazardous circumstances by awarding him its George Polk Award for his book Vietnam Diary. Boomhower's riveting book is the first to tell Tregaskis's gripping life story, concentrating on his intrepid reporting experiences during World War II and his fascination with war and its effect on the men who fought it.

Author : Mark Lardas
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2024-02-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472860361

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Tokyo 1944–45 by Mark Lardas Pdf

The full history of how the United States targeted and destroyed the Japanese capital from the air, in a ten-month long campaign by the US Army Air Force and the US Navy. In November 1944, the US Army Air Force launched a 111-plane B-29 strike against Tokyo, the first raid since the morale-boosting Doolittle Raid of 1942. From then until August 13, 1945, the United States would attack Tokyo 25 times, 20 from B-29s based in the Marianas and five from US Navy carrier task forces. The campaign included the single deadliest air raid in human history, when around 100,000 people were killed by the firestorm created by the Operation Meetinghouse raid of March 10, 1945. This book, the first to examine the full history of the United States' air campaign against the greatest target in Japan, looks at the USAAF's and US Navy's efforts to use air power to eliminate Tokyo's strategic value to the Empire. It considers how the campaign developed from daylight bombing to firebombing and anti-ship mining, and finally how the target was handed over to the US Navy, whose carrier-based bombers and fighter-bombers continued to strike Tokyo during July and August 1945. Using specially commissioned battlescenes, strategic maps and diagrams, this volume presents a detailed picture of how Tokyo was vanquished from the air.

Author : Robert F Dorr
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 96 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2012-12-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781846037504

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B-29 Superfortress Units of World War 2 by Robert F Dorr Pdf

The ultimate piston-engined heavy bomber of World War 2, the first production B-29s were delivered to the 58th Very Heavy Bomb Wing in the autumn of 1943. By the spring of 1944 the Superfortress was bombing targets in the Pacific, and by war's end the aircraft had played as great a part as any weapon in ending the conflict with the Japanese. Indeed, the final dropping of two atomic bombs from the B-29 convinced the Japanese to sue for peace. This book traces the wartime career of the B-29, as the aircraft went from strength to strength in the Pacific Theatre.

Author : George J. Refuto
Publisher : Dorrance Publishing
Page : 436 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2023-04-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781685379421

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Evolution of the USAF Strategic Nuclear Bomber Deterrent by George J. Refuto Pdf

About the Book In this research study, former Defense Department consultant George Refuto traces the technological evolution of USAF long-range strategic nuclear bomber aircraft during and after the Cold War, as well as the development of their missions and utilization of US nuclear bombers in 21st century regional and global military threat scenarios. Five distinct periods are covered in this study: World War I (1914-1918), the Interwar Period (1919-1939), World War II (1939-1945), the Cold War (1946-1991), and the Post-Cold War Period (1991-present), with an emphasis on the latter two. In his writing, Refuto focuses on developing a model that encompasses bombing and air defense for each period, and showing how concepts, technologies, and implementations of strategic bombing have changed and influenced the current level of development of the USAF strategic nuclear bomber force and doctrine, and what is projected for the future. About the Author George J. Refuto is a former Defense Department consultant who has extensive academic and professional experience in the fields of military history, weapon systems technology, intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance systems, and US national security/defense policy. He has worked in both the defense and intelligence communities, and holds a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, with specializations in US/USSR strategic and theater/tactical nuclear forces, undersea and airborne naval weapons systems, and Russian-Soviet politics. He has previously published Evolution of the US Sea-based Nuclear Missile Deterrent: Warfighting Capabilities and is working on a third book on the US ICBM deterrent.

Author : Koji Takaki,Henry Sakaida
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2012-10-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781782005681

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B-29 Hunters of the JAAF by Koji Takaki,Henry Sakaida Pdf

B-29!' No other term struck such terror in the hearts of the Japanese public during World War 2 than this single, most-hated name. It was then only natural that the pilots who attempted to shoot these high-flying Boeing bombers out of the skies over Tokyo, Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Kobe should become known as the elite of the Japanese Army Air Force. This book details the exploits of the 'Dragon Slayers' who, flying the very latest singleand twin-engined fighters, exacted a heavy toll on the AAF Boeing bombers using a range of tactics including ramming.

Author : Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 339 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2018-05-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472825476

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Tidal Wave by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver Pdf

Now publishing in paperback, this is a vivid narrative history of the final stages of the Pacific War, as the US Navy began to slowly approach the Japanese Home Islands against fearsome opposition, notably from the suicidal Japanese airmen: the kamikaze. The United States Navy won such overwhelming victories in 1944 that, had the navy faced a different enemy, the war would have been over at the conclusion of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. However, in the moment of victory on 25 October 1944, the US Navy found itself confronting a frightening enemy that had been unimaginable until it appeared. The kamikaze, 'divine wind' in Japanese, was something Americans were totally unprepared for – a shocking violation of every belief held in the West. The attacks were terrifying. Regardless of the damage inflicted on an attacking aeroplane, there was no certainty of safety aboard the ship until that aeroplane was completely destroyed, as the crew of the USS St. Lo tragically learned. From best-selling author Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, Tidal Wave combines expert research and first-person accounts to tell the story of the naval campaigns in the Pacific from Leyte Gulf to the end of the war – a period in which the US Navy would fight harder for survival than ever before.

Author : Gene Gurney
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 206 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2019-09-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9780359951932

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B-29 Superfortress: The Plane that Won the War by Gene Gurney Pdf

B-29 Superfortress: The Plane that Won the War is the definitive account of the crucial role played by the B-29 bomber during World War II. Author Gene Gurney takes the reader from the superplane's inception, test flights and production to its combat deployments and its ultimate purpose of dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Author : Steve Birdsall
Publisher : Doubleday Books
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 1980
Category : History
ISBN : STANFORD:36105081162575

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Saga of the Superfortress by Steve Birdsall Pdf

A history with photographs of the plane that carried the atomic bomb to Japan, its pilots and their missions.

Author : David Doyle
Publisher : MMD-Squadron Signal
Page : 88 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : B-29 (Bomber)
ISBN : 0897476492

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B-29 Superfortress in Action by David Doyle Pdf

Author : Nicholas Millman
Publisher : Osprey Publishing
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2011-10-18
Category : History
ISBN : 1849084408

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Ki-44 ‘Tojo’ Aces of World War 2 by Nicholas Millman Pdf

The 100th title of Osprey's celebrated Aircraft of the Aces series covers a subject sure to be of interest to historians of World War II. The Ki-44 'Tojo' was a fast-climbing, heavily armed point-defence interceptor that was used successfully in slashing hit-and-run tactics that caught Allied pilots by surprise. In the air defense role 'Tojos' pioneered the deployment of a unique 40 mm cannon, the firing system which had no cartridges but instead had the propelling charge contained in the base of the projectile. The Ki-44 was to be used by the JAAF in larger numbers in China than anywhere else. This exciting title from author Nicholas Millman brings the Ki-44's role in the Pacific theatre to vivid life, accompanied by full color plates and archival photographs.