Boeing 'B-29 Superfortress'. 'Saipan Superforts prepared for Tokyo attack.

Boeing 'B-29 Superfortress'. 'Saipan Superforts prepared for Tokyo attack. Ground crewman prepare bomb for leading into a B-29 Superfortress, the 'Dauntless Dotty' at the new American air base on Saipan Island in the Marianas. The plane led the first Superfortress attack on Tokyo on November 23, 1944, giving the Japanese capital its first taste of American explosives in more than two and one half years. The bombers set aflame key industrial centers, including the Musashina airplane plant, long a cherished target, and met little opposition from enemy anti-aircraft or fighter planes. Only two Superforts cut of a sizable number that took part in the attack failed to return. Tokyo was first raided when a group of flyers under Major General James H. Doolittle, then a lieutenant colonel, took off from the aircraft carrier Hornet and flew to Japan in a twin-engined bomber on April 18, 1942.'