What happened to US airmen shot down over Japan?

On August 4-5, 1945, the flyers were put inside a truck by Japanese officers with the intention of beheading them. Later, all of the flyers were executed by 25 Japanese sailors.

What was the life expectancy of a ww2 bomber crew?

It had a crew of seven from the pilot to the gunners. Everyone had to play their part to stay alive. The Lancaster was one of the most dangerous places to be in the entire war – the life expectancy of a new recruit was just two weeks.

What percentage of bomber crews died in ww2?

The most dangerous were the first and last five trips. During the whole war, 51\% of aircrew were killed on operations, 12\% were killed or wounded in non-operational accidents and 13\% became prisoners of war or evaders. Only 24\% survived the war unscathed.

How many b29 were shot down over Japan?

On March 10, 1945, flying in darkness at low altitudes, more than 300 B-29s dropped close to a quarter of a million incendiary bombs over Tokyo. LeMay’s gamble was successful. Perhaps as many as 100,000 Japanese were dead, almost 16 square miles of the city destroyed, and a million people homeless.

Did we bomb Tokyo?

On the night of 9/10 March 1945, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) conducted a devastating firebombing raid on Tokyo, the Japanese capital city. This attack was code-named Operation Meetinghouse by the USAAF and is known as the Great Tokyo Air Raid in Japan….Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945)

Date	9/10 March 1945
Result	United States victory

Why was the b29 so expensive?

The advances were startling and included the following: a huge new airframe that was a total departure from previous Boeing practice; new engines that had to go through a long and costly development process before they became even remotely reliable; new propellers that gave almost as much difficulty as the engines; a …

What engine was in the b29?

Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone
Boeing B-29 Superfortress/Engine types

Most important, its four supercharged Wright R-3350-23 engines gave it the range to carry large bomb loads across the vast reaches of the Pacific Ocean.