Air Intelligence Report, V1N7

8/8/2019 Air Intelligence Report, V1N7

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VOL I 1107

IWWNALOIIS . . . .T. PUNTFIUT FI611Tf. ....SCORTJAPSUSf . . .

l 'M\IllS AT TOKYO

IN PIIOTO RECOil....QUADltOfl


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XX I B 0 M BER e 0 M MAN D

~ I I I T E l L i G E CE REPOR19 April 1945

XXI BCllC


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: t haS been saiote d financial at d ~ O "bu t la ter bought baostook, and ~ ' , r n e d "1'leer brother Kiyoji asdivit!Ual an enterprfound in present.!!aGoverncen t , and ln t hpsrtieular plant, tbeen t:le " ..1 r,l&Stequantlty and qualltydueedl b'lt Nal


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v .. . ,nv10 ,lebruul'y .- The ata ?ltakes a beat1.ng rrom the XXI t!be r Command. Damage Toes '155

50U!lre feet .

AfTtr.iiere is iarget 15!:avy strike on 1&_3dded another 906,500';0 the total d a ~ g e .:!!.Ir.8ge seen in thisl,fiG4,400 ~ ~ ~ r e feet


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, -i" ~ ! . ' : ' > . " : T ' ! ~ .....- . , . . . ' '.,.,. -. ~ ' - I

The bODbers daicedfighterS destroyed, 30destroyed end 40 damafighterS claimed 21 desprobables and 10 de.l:IP_5ls wera lost but tone of them, which dileavin,l( the target area,up by Air-Sea :l.e5Cue.One P-51 , apparentlYdetermined to carry omiSsion, joined up witof th e 314th ' ' 'iog goiend provided th8'l! witescort t. , t hei r t a rge t

COI1CrISIOlA s tu dy o f tl".e miS

th e f o 1 1 o W i ~ g c o n c l ~ s i 1. The Jap intercto avoid our escort a

rectlY at the B_29s.e . In r.. instanP_5lS attack Ja1"s n

th e bGtDberl.

17

- - --' > - ~ n, , ' ! ~ - p r o p e 1:-' A.r...... CO:'\Sls"o f ."1. war:-,Aad R n contrOll ..!] bl sU1Clce p1lot. $Uch an a1rc; a 'h&s been recovered on Okinawa tl,ithas a wlng spread of 12 feet ~ tr u 5 e l a ~ e 14 feet l o ~ g , and is p ~ ered by a roc l: e t p ropu ls ton U n 1 t ~- s t l :.ste'" sJ)eecl ts fr'o':" 200 to 4 5

e r ~ c c t ~ v ~ n e s s ) f light andflaJl:: from Jap t rawlers isby the follOWing experienceof the 731"0 "'i'ing 0:1 their ::lissionto r.yushu on 31 !!arch.l)ne a i r c r ~ f t , flYing at an a l t i_tude of 600 feet , was fired on bytwo trawlpt's a t 29038 ' N _ 1350_4.5 1

Another B -29bomb'cloek and 500burst aboveTh ! :J;o.:;t serious attaci< ;;as diat Aircraft 44-69728. Fivebo:nbed it al ternate ly fro:!!i ide, dro?ping one phosphoruseach. ::'our b o ~ b s explodedhead and 500 feet high t and one

a ~ ahead. -'mother 8_29 reorted an attack b:, A ' ! ' o ~ o whicha bomb ~ O yards ahead andl l n " ~ r ~ e ~ above. ~ h p " ; ) ;:-st "'ccur-


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vated continuously since tbu t i t haS endured th e i g n oof being a ~ c i v i l 1 a n anhad d iS tinguiShed servicwar ..men i t was called uth e ~ e y e s ~ of th e XXI B O ! f th e nOW. famed f1rst t'9_29 aver TOkyO waS plloteta in Ralph D. Steakley fon 1 November 1944. etherol l01l'ed rapidlY unt l l bybel' th e Oate or thestrike sge1nst Japan, thOen race or Japan had b

trOll a D\1ltl'oer or angleS.WheD th e f1rs t XXI bsiOO waS ).Bunched onshi pS or the 3rd Photo

France,' Qermany, China, India.lturma, South America , th e Cari'o'beaa.canada, the Aleutians and now Japanhave become as familiar as i ts ownnight line to the 3rd Photo RecOnDaissance Squadron, which ha s anauthentic family t ree with rootl InWorld war 1. I t hasn ' t 'been ac t l

!hiles pe r hour. Si x ot.'1trcaptured j e t planes h ~ a p t fWing spread and cigar 5lages, 16 feet long.1 2. t ha t it is aed, f ly ing bomb,',id launChed fromane.

Tt';o other armed pic:were net a t 2 9 ~ 8 ' N - 1351

E. The a i r c r ~ , r t ~ a s b ~ d l 1'11'1 th i lo. on e engine ~ h n tUle l e f t f l ap and \'1ing 51aged. The AA fire "asand rr:edium weapons,' tbfIthought to have b?en 20 ..

-'' 'ccur-

1he e r r c c t ~ ' I " : " I ! l s : ; ')f l ight ana: : l e d t ~ nay, frO'll Jap trawlers 1sshe;,n by the rollCll'ltnq experienceot' the 7 ~ r d ",;ing O their :::Ii55iooto i"yu5hll on ~ l l ! a r c h .

One aircrart, flYing at an a1ti_t'.Jia or GOO teet, ..as t ired on by","0 tra'llll't's at 2 ~ o 3 8 ' 11 l'350_t.5'


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---- uinea pigs for tne opel''' cved as , .g, '!o'uable data had beeni 'n as "ell , ~ ' i t ions wea-- , d o "l i .ht ceno "o b t a ~ n e ,. 1'2 I' oble;:\s such asther, e n g i n _ e t r i ' ~ - ~ n expectationsi ' ~ e l consul':P . ,of enccy opposition.IL"':'C' 'ti"T. O : . ~ l l457,766" :.J'

'Qy 7 'pri l of t\:is year t ~ 3rd~ o t o , ~ c o n n a i s s a n c e ;quadron had~ . a c . e 182 combat sorties in thist teater, s e a r c h i p ~ out industry"hich the Japs tr.ought VIas safelytucked away, mapping cities, spottin< airfielc.s and gun positionsando occasionally taking a squintdO'"n F.irohito's cbi:l'ney (see accompanying photo of I ~ p e r i a l 'alace.)

In the performance of these dut ies, the squadron has flown 2,294cor.;bat hours over 457,765 miles.I t has photographed 691,600 squaremiles and covered 25,780 miles offlig ht line ,Of 1,268 assigned targets i t hascovered 725 with 6, 24 or 40-inchphotography (as of 7 April) ' ')1'57.3 percent c o v e r a ~ e . ISquadron planes are deSignatedas F-l3As and carry at least sevencameras with 6, 24 and 40 inch len_ses. A p p r o x i ~ a t e l y 6 000 ~ e e t ffilm can be exposed on'one m i s s i o ~ ,Imring the f i rs t "eek in Aprila 3rd Photo Squadron plane f l e ~4,100 statute miles non-stop in 16hours and 15 minutes. This is believed to have been the longestnon-stop photo reconnaissance'run

on record.

.Lau nc.o iJU .... .. n op_ .era t ion , a l l w o r k ~ _ ~was co:,pleted i n ~ 'two s ~ u a d t en t s .The people ',mo w o r l ~there nov.' claim th3t t':eir 1ca:r,era r e p a i ~ cepa:.t.,ent a: ",f ines t of t h e n kind in the r"i . 3.t1f!The can:era repa I ' secthn h ~ " s tr!.lc ted an ins ta l la t ion troil e ~ i " - e r ~' , ~ h i c h rr. nor c a : : l e r ~ reoair can 4made a t the a i rc ra f t and on ".le-load ing equi "ment for tToo a i r p ~ ,can be carr ied a t one time',

Aircraf t re turning from nissl~ s u a l l y land between l6CO and -ichours. Film magazines are oleOup immed ia te ly and rushed to;Jhoto lab , Vlhere the film Is C veloped. The film is scanned biohoto in te l l igence officer, . h o ! iec ts negatives Which are "riot

Air Intelligence Report, V1N7

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