February 24

Tokyo, Japan • February 24, 1945 The first appearance over Japan in June 1944 of the massive 4‑engine B‑29 bomber—with its ser­vice ceiling of 33,000 ft./­9,144 m, an oper­a­tional range of over 3,200 nau­tical miles/­5,926 km, and a max­i­mum take­off weight of 133,500 lb./­60,555 kg—meant that the enemy’s Home Islands were squarely in the cross­hairs of the war’s dead­liest delivery sys­tem….

Tokyo, Japan · February 24, 1945 The first appearance over Japan in June 1944 of the massive 4‑engine B‑29 bomber—with its ser­vice ceiling of 33,000 ft/­9,144 m, an oper­a­tional range of over 3,200 nau­tical miles/­5,926 km, and a max­i­mum take­off weight of 133,500 lb/­60,555 kg—meant that the enemy’s Home Islands were squarely in the cross­hairs of the war’s dead­liest delivery sys­tem….