Case Studies in the Achievement of Air Superiority - Air Force ...

WAR AGAINST JAPAN
picked up Task Force 58 late on the 17th. 1,400 USN and USMC planes
struck from early morning on March 18, ranging as far as Shikoku and Wakayama.
About 45 Japanese air bases came under attack, with much better
results farther inland in later strikes. The first day’s results were tallied as
102-125 Japanese aircraft shot down and 200 destroyed, plus at least 100
damaged on the ground. But, having been alerted well in advance of the
offensive, 50 IJNAF kamikaze and conventional bombers struck Task
Force 58, hitting three carriers.
With respect to the USN claims, Morison understood that Japanese
authorities admitted “staggering” losses of 161 out of 193 planes committed,
apart from those destroyed on the ground-losses which prevented the
Japanese air forces from intervening effectively in defense of Okinawa till
April 6. Recent Japanese military historians doubt that many IJAAF planes
were downed in combat.x2 One element of Army fighters had been sent to
reinforce Tokyo’s defenses, 2 squadrons of scout planes had been evacuated
to Seoul, and various fighter aircraft had been ordered to take cover at
their bases. The Japanese also say that their losses on the ground were
relatively negligible because dispersion and concealment were handled
well. They admit that antiaircraft fire accomplished little since only automatic
cannon batteries provided direct defense of the airfields under
attack .
Inasmuch as the Americans adjudged so many of the Japanese airfields
to have been knocked out on March 18, the next day the anchorages at
Kure and Kobe, well defended by antiaircraft units, became the primary
targets for 1,100 U.S. carrier planes. Airfields in the Osaka-Kobe area and
on Kyushu were secondary targets. In actions waged all day on the 19th,
75-97 Japanese aircraft were reportedly shot down, and another 75-225
destroyed on the ground, at a cost of 22 American planes. But kamikaze
aircraft remained extremely active against the U.S. task force, causing serious
damage to two more carriers. When the Americans were retiring on the
21st, they scrambled 150 Hellcat fighters, 24 of which intercepted 18 twinengine
BErTY bombers and 30 single-engine fighters that were pursuing the
task force. The U.S. fighters reported shooting down all the Japanese
planes, losing 2 or 3 Hellcats in the process. It was discovered that the
downed BETTYS were carrying rocket-powered haka flying bombs, each
manned by a kamikaze pilot.
From March 18-21 during U.S. naval operations, 273 enemy aircraft
were estimated to have been shot down over the targets in Japan or by
combat air patrols (CAP) and naval antiaircraft artillery: 255-275 planes
destroyed on the ground; and 175 aircraft probably destroyed or damaged.
Heavy damage was inflicted on airfields, hangars, installations, ships.
power plants, oil storage facilities, warships and civilian shipping. USN
and USMC aircraft losses totalled 53, not including those ruined by enemy
attacks on the carriers.83
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