Whirlwind - Barrett Tillman [135]
23 The world’s most famous bombsight: Albert L. Pardini, The Legendary Norden Bombsight (Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1999), 43–44.
23 The first large order: Ibid., 50–51.
25 “A direct attack”: Meilinger, Paths of Heaven, 68.
25 “the moral high ground”: Hastings, Bomber Command, 177.
26 “It was preferable”: Ibid., 96.
27 Prior to 1942: “Heavenly Dog,” Time, May 15, 1939; Mark Peattie, Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Airpower (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2001), 116.
27 “offer yourselves courageously”: “A Brief Introduction to the Shinto Religion,” www.buzzle.com/articles/a-brief-introduction-to-the-shinto-religion.html.
28 Beginning in the nineteenth century: For the evolution (or mutation) of original samurai Bushido into the twentieth century, see Karl F. Friday, “Bushido or Bull? A Medieval Historian’s Perspective on the Imperial Army and the Japanese Warrior Tradition,” InYo: Journal of Alternative Perspectives, March 2001, http://ejmas.com/jalt/jaltart_friday_0301.htm#EN2. Regarding the lack of candor in Japanese military history, see Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully, Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2005), 436–32.
28 “make money to live luxuriously”: Christopher Thone, in Max Hastings, Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944–45 (New York: Knopf, 2007), 35.
29 Nichiren Buddhism: M. G. Sheftall, e-mails to author, April 2008.
CHAPTER TWO: CHINA SKIES
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31 “an efficient guerrilla air corps”: Alan Armstrong, Pre-emptive Strike: The Secret Plan That Would Have Prevented the Attack on Pearl Harbor (Guildford, CT: Lyons Press, 2006), 16.
31 “fire fighting facilities”: Attaché report via Dunn, 2008.
32 A second AVG: Daniel Ford, Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941–1942, revised edition (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 85–86.
33 “Japanese aircraft production facilities”: Chennault to Arnold, July 16, 1942, War Plans Files, AAF, 145.95, AFHRA, cited in Guanggiu Xu, War Wings: The United States and Chinese Military Aviation, 1929–1949 (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2001), 173.
33 “accomplish the downfall”: Barbara W. Tuchman, Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911–1945 (New York: Macmillan, 1970), 337.
34 So confident: The same month as the B-29’s first flight a second very heavy bomber left the ground as Consolidated produced the B-32 Dominator as a hedge against a Boeing failure. Powered by the same engines as the Superfortress, the Dominator suffered even greater problems with various systems. Resolving the problems took time, and delivery began over two years later with only 115 being built. Ray Wagner, American Combat Planes (New York: Doubleday, 1968), 137.
36 The onboard extinguisher system: Kenneth P. Werrell, Blankets of Fire: U.S. Bombers over Japan During World War II (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996), 81.
36 Flying the second prototype: After Allen’s death, workers at Boeing’s Wichita plant donated $600,000 in money and labor to purchase a B-29 in his name. The Eddie Allen logged two dozen combat missions before sustaining serious flak damage that forced an end to its combat career.
36 The setback: When it became apparent that Boeing could not build enough B-29s, other manufacturers were engaged. Eventually four factories turned out Superfortresses: Boeing plants at Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas; Martin at Omaha, Nebraska; and Bell at Marietta, Georgia. The program accelerated through 1943 and 1944 with production peaking at 375 in July 1945. Army Air Forces Statistical Digest, December 1945.
37 “splendid record”: Curtis E. LeMay and MacKinlay Kantor, Mission with LeMay: My Story (New York: Doubleday, 1965), 322.
37 “all those college athletes”: Werrell, Blankets of Fire, 72.
38 “It is my desire”: Ibid., 80.
38 Crew training suffered: Wilbur H. Morrison, Point of No Return (New York: Playboy, 1980), 39.
39 “a new Boeing bomber”: Details from Osamu Tagaya, J-Aircraft.com, http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php?topic=4470.0.