Tokyo Firebombing – B-29 Pathfinder Role details

325 B-29 bombers were sent to firebomb Tokyo on the night of March 9th, 1945. The first bomber to arrive were the pathfinders. Their job was to both start appliance fires, to tie up Tokyo’s firefighting resources, and mark the target for the follow-on strike force. This video will focus on the route, targets, and methods of marking the target. The video also address misconception regarding the the shape of the aim point laid for the follow-on strike force..

[mor]

The intent of this comment is to be a token of appreciation and a boost for the algorithm.

[joanhyatt]

Once again, great content. My Japanese friends once brought me to a Tokyo bar called "MacAuther's". The walls were painted with the B-29 bombing routes to Tokyo. As the only Gaijin (foreign barbarian) in the bar I was initially uncomfortable, but was warmly welcomed! I only started understanding after reading "Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, a history book written by John W. Dower and published by W. W. Norton & Company in 1999". In summary, the Japanese expected to die defending their island, and the Emperor's surrender was actually liberating.

[bruceday]

This is kick ass stuff. I can't believe the quality of the information you're presenting. It's fabulous. I'm hooked by the documentation.

[cphrpunk]

Love how you connected this back to an actual aircraft anyone can go see today, really brings home how much each of those little bombs on her means.

Had no idea there were pathfinders in use like this in the Pacific.

[tsufordman]

The only negativity I get from these amazing presentations is the the feeling of regret that comes from all the time wasted watching History Channel nonsense back in college.

[higgydufrane]

The intent of this video is to please me in every way possible. Thanks for all of your hard work.!

[ericcrichardson]

Really fascinating video. I live near the Museum of Flight and have seen that B-29 many times, I didn't know it was part of Operation Meetinghouse.

[stevendorris]

Your work and attention to detail are greatly appreciated. The revisionist history fans can go play somewhere else....

[thonatim]

I recently returned to the US from Tokyo. I have several friends there. While drinking, one of them told me "Do not ever think we are your friends. We will smile to your face but we still hate your guts. Do not trust us." I was shocked. The next day he smiled and apologized but reiterated this opinion.

The Koreas feel the same way against Japan. The hate in Asia is real and is simmering. I hope it never escallates but who knows.

[ivekuukkeli]

Very much thanks for the whole series of these videodocuments. Your descriptions are facts based on actual and shown original material. Some of those pages I have read more than five minutes; they contain so much to investigate.

[primmakinsofis]

It might be interesting to do a video comparing the night bombing techniques of the RAF over Germany and the USAAF over Japan.

The RAF developed a series of target indicator bombs which burned in various colors to mark the aiming point, which the main force was (supposed) to bomb on. Later in the war low-level offset marking was developed which solved certain attack issues. The German night-fighter force remained a potent threat right up to the end of war, while Japanese night-fighters were significantly less effective in comparison.

[guitarmoses]

I love learning about WW2. It is my favorite subject in history.

I have seen hundreds of videos on YouTube on the subject but never seen any with such attention to detail and explained in great detail that is very informative.

As the video ended and I saw the subscribe button for your channel.
I found myself subscribing and looking forward to seeing your videos.

Great work and I am not only informed, I am also entertained.

[nandi]

Excellent content and presentation. 10/10 Thank you.

[BruceGCharlton]

Thanks very much for your work on this important matter.

[johnwatson]

16:20 so much fantastic research - yes I always had doubts about the claim the pathfinders made a fire “X” with their drops, which didn’t seem to make sense. This claim has been around longer than youtube or Wikipedia, maybe since WWII. I remember reading it in the 1970’s

[konradnowak]

There are a few more layers to the "appliance fires".

Firsty, no peacetime municipal fire defences would be adequate to deal with wartime fires, especially resulting from bombing raids. The Germans and the British were the only ones who not only recognised this early on but actually managed to allocate enough resources to expand firefighting and rescue services at a scale comparable with the armed forces. Other nations were not so prudent and the case of the city center of Rotterdam burning to the ground in May 1940 after a raid by a relatively small number of German medium bombers showed that hopelessly outdated equipment and bad organisation are a recepe for disaster. Rotterdam made no real preperations for wartime and paid dearly.

Still, even the British, whose preparations I personally consider a gold standard of that era, learned another painful lesson on the night of the 29th/30th December 1940 (the concentrated Luftwaffe raid on the historic City of London, also known as the Second Great Fire of London). They discovered that even with a fully mobilised firefighting force which had been expanded at least 3x compared to pre-war levels, uncontrollable conflagrations would still result if no fire watchers were present to put out as many incendiary bombs and small fires resulting from them as possible. It was concluded that many buildings and even whole streets could have been saved if civilian fire watchers had been there to protect the commercial buildings left empty and shut during the holiday season. They could have identified where incendiaries had fallen on combustible surfaces, put them out or remove them, and call for help as soon as the situation got out of control. Appropriate laws universally obligating companies to organise such defenses were passed soon after.

The Japanese fire defences likewise relied heavily on "neighbourhood associations" i.e. civilian fire watchers equipped with manual pumps, beaters and other primitive equipment to put out small fires started by incendiaries or stoves damaged by HE bombs.

So starting "appliance fires" not only meant that "proper" firefighting equipment would be tied up and unable to respond to fires started later. It also meant that the first line of fire defences would be incapacitated almost immediately as an "appliance fire" would have been way beyond their control practically as soon as it started.

The "proper" fire departments of Japan, and this includes Tokyo itself, were a complete mess anyway. Equipment was mostly obsolete. Wartime production of apparatus was increased but the quality was abysmal and no attempts were made to update the completely outdated pre-war design. As the war progressed, crews had to be supplemented with high school students. Tactics were a joke (apparently training did not go beyond setting up a single pumper with just a couple of lines) and logistics were as good as non-existent. According to the post-war USSBS reports most of the Tokyo FD pumpers lost in the raids were destroyed because they simply ran out of fuel while operating and had to be abandoned - no one planned for re-supply to be organised 😂

But even if the fire department itself would have been top-notch, they would still have had a tough time to control fires which were designed to be too much for the local civil defence groups from the get-go.

It was the logical thing to do and a lesson learned from the enemy himself - i.e. the Luftwaffe achieving the best firebombing results where basic civil defence forces were lacking. The logical solution to make sure that fires took a firm hold was to make them "appliance fires" seconds after the bombs dropped. It's the equivalent of igniting a fire where a man with an extinguisher can't do jack shit apart from GTFO and calling the fire department, only it happens to dozens of buildings in a span of seconds.

[Pguy]

Thank you for posting such a detailed analysis of materials.

[Querencias]

VERY interesting data, extremely well documented / researched. Technical, reliable and accurate info yet presented with layman viewers in mind.

Great historic series: WWII US Bombers.

Many thanks!

[johnned]

Another great video. Your research and information are outstanding. Do you find your documents through the National Archives?

[cmcc]

I learned a great deal about what went into such an attack. Please could you expand on why they began to carry ammo again. Thank you.