USAAF US Army Air Force Patch United States b 20 AAF Atomic Bomb Japan

US Army Air Force Patch United States 20 AAF 1945 Offensive B 29 Bombing Japan Atomic Bomb Fully Embroidered cut edge 77mm three inches diameter.

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20 United States Army Air Force USAAF was activated on 4 April 1944 at Washigton DC to perform strategic bombardment missions against Japan with B 29 Superfortress bombers with a secret element chosen to be the operational component of the Manhattan Project the atomic bomb.

20 AAF commenced Operation Matterhorn the B 29 Superfortress offensive against Japananese from airfields in India and China. Existing airfields at Kharagpur Chakulia Piardoba and Dudkhundi all in southern Bengal India had been converted for B 29 use with the first bombing raid taking place on 5 June with an attack on the Makasan railroad yards Bangkok Thailand. Four bases in the Chengtu area of China that were assigned to the B 29 operation Kwanghan Kuinglai Hsinching and Pengshan but all supplies for these bases had to be flown in from India over the Hump. Supplies for one raid were built up and on the night of 14 15 June 1944 the Imperial Iron and Steel Works at Yawata on Kyūshū was attacked.  Unfortunately Yawata was blacked out the target obscured and little damage done

On the night 10 11 August 1944 B 29s staged through British air bases in Ceylon attacked the Plajdoe oil storage facilities at Palembang Sumatra involving a 4030 mile 19 hour mission the longest American air raid of the war. At the same time B 29s laid mines in the Moesi River and a third formation of B 29s attacked targets in Nagasaki. These raids were largely ineffective with lack of operational control inadequate combat techniques without a central plan. Supply problems and accidents still prevented fully effective concentration of force and effort and Japanese defensive efforts were becoming more effective. Leadership was replaced as it was became apparent that B 29 operations against Japan from bases in China and India were too expensive in men and materials and Operation Matterhorn was phased out. The last B 29 raid from China was flown on 15 January 1945 which attacked on targets in Formosa and the Matterhorn force redeployed to the Marianas Islands central Pacific in February 1945.

In the meantime the Marianas Islands consisting primarily of Saipan Tinian, and Guam had been identified as ideal bases for B 29 Superfortress operations against Japan. Tokyo was within range and direct shipping supply lines were available from the United States. 20 AAF set up Command headquarters on Saipan with the first B 29 arriving 12 October 1944. The B 29 force was assigned the task of destroying the aircraft industry of Japan in a series of high altitude daylight precision attacks with the first raid taking place on 24 November 1944 against the Nakajima Aircraft Companys Musashi engine plant Tokyo.

As high explosive raids on major plants were not crippling Japan emphasis was changed to destroying feeder cottage industries housed in cities close to central plants to disrupt the flow of components and disorganize production of weapons vital to Japan. The plan was to use incendiary bombs rather than purely high explosive bombs on these areas. The first raid using incendiary bombs took place on the night of 9 10 March 1945 against Tokyo. Lasted for two hours the raid was a resounding success with sixteen square miles of the center of Tokyo destroyed and 84000 people killed. Only 14 out of 302 B 29s were lost. By mid June, most of the larger Japanese cities had been gutted and new incendiary raids against 58 smaller Japanese cities. The raids began to be virtually unopposed by Japanese fighters and B 29 crews felt sufficiently confident that they began to drop leaflets warning the population of forthcoming attacks. While the Imperial Cabinet began to consider negotiating an end to the war the Japanese military was adamant about continuing on to the bitter end.

20 AAFs 509 Composite Group had been secretly tasked with the operational use of the Atomic Bomb and was deployed to the Marianas in the spring of 1945. With its secret mission the 509 was completely self sufficient with its own engineer material and troop squadrons as well as its own military police unit. Two Atomic Bombs Little Boy and Fat Man were delivered to Tinian on 26 July 1945 by the USS Indianapolis CA 35. President Harry S. Trumann gave his final go ahead to use the bombs weather permitting from the Potsdam Conference on 31 July 1945.

On 6 August 1945 the attack began with a flight of three special reconnaissance F 13As RB 29s to report the weather over the primary and secondary targets. Col. Tibbets followed in his B 29 aircraft Enola Gay accompanied by two B 29s to observe the drop. Hiroshima was confirmed as clear for a visual bomb drop. Navy weapons expert Captain W Parsons armed the bomb while in flight and at 8:15 Little Boy was released from Enola Gay from 31500 feet. The radar fuse preset at 2000 feet above the ground created an explosion yielding 12 kilotons of TNT in explosive power killing circa 75000 people and destroying 48000 buildings. With no official statement from the Japanese government conventional B 29 raids continued and with no reaction from Japan the second atomic attack was prepared. Fat Man was loaded into B 29 Bockscar on 9 August 1945 flown by Major Sweeney with the primary target the Kokura Arsenal and the seaport city of Nagasaki as the alternative. Kokura was obscured by dense smoke and the bombardier could not pinpoint the specified aiming point despite three separate runs. So Sweeney turned to Nagasaki and following a couple of runs over the target before the bombardier could find an opening in the cloud cover Fat Man was released from the aircraft at 11.00am exploded yielding 22 kilotons of TNT killing 35000 people died at Nagasaki from the immediate blast and fire.

The Japanese Emperor ordered that the government accept the Allied terms of surrender at once. It took time for the full details to be worked out and conventional bombing of Japanese targets still continued with a record number of 804 B 29s hitting targets in Japan on 14 August 1945. On the morning of 15 August 1945 the Emperor broadcast by radio his command of Japans surrender in an address to his nation. The Japanese surrender was formally signed on 2 September 1945, aboard the huge battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay bringing the Pacific War to an end.

After the surrender most B 29s in the Pacific were diverted to missions of mercy dropping food and clothing to thousands of Allied prisoners of war held in Japan China Manchuria and Korea with 63500 prisoners provided with 4470 tons of supplies in 154 camps. Twentieth Air Force remained in the Pacific headquartered on Guam and the vast majority of its fleet of B 29 Superfortreses were returned to the United States as part of Operation Sunset.

This patch dates from 1945.