ORIGINAL: obvert
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You're simply not thinking creatively about this, and ignoring the fact that it couldn't be done at this level at night during this era. (Plee drop me a list of night bombing raids on Okinawa if you have them, as I've never found anything that resulted in anything but sporadic losses unless it was a one-off well planned raid. We all know that whatever those raids accomplished, they didn't stop Kamis from being effective
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No night bombing of airfields, because there were either light or no opposition to daytime bombing of the airfields.
The 313th Bmb Wing [6th, 9th, 504th, 505th Bmb Grp B-29's]bombed Airfields in Truk & Iwo Jima, later they bombed the airfields on Okinawa. The Okinawan airfields were not used in Kamikaze attacks off Okinawa, the planes came Kyushu and Formosa.
Bombing an airfield at night had more to do with terrain, my father flew night bombers in WW2, bombed trains, tanks, artillery, trucks, air fields and bridges, obviously weather was the biggest factor in finding targets.
One of the more successful night bombing atacks of the war was when He-111's bombed Poltava destroying 47 of 73 B-17s
An example of B-29's supporting the 10th Army, 6th Bmb Grp
26 17 Apr Kanoya East Airfield 10 Tactical raid on Kyushu
27 18 Apr Kushira Airfield 10 Southern Kyushu
28 21 Apr Kanoya East Airfield 22 Tactical support
29 22 Apr Kanoya East Airfield 16 Tactical support
30 24 Apr Hitachi A/C Co, Tokyo 12 Daylight Precision
31 26 Apr Matsuyama West Airfield 18 Tactical support
32 27 Apr Miyakonoajo Airfield 6
33 28 Apr Miyakonoajo Airfield 18
34 30 Apr Tachikawa Aresenal, W of Tokyo 7 Daylight Precision
35 3 May Inland Sea Harbors 32 Mining
36 5 May Kure Harbor Area 34 Mining
37 7 May Kanoya, Ibuski Airfield 20 Tactical support
38 10 May Usa Airfield 22 Daylight Precision
39 11 May Nittigahara Airfield 11 GP bombs by radar
40 14 May Nagoya Urban Area 31 Night Incendiary
41 16 May Nagoya Urban Area 33 Night Incendiary
42 19 May Tachikawa Arsenal 30 Precision by radar
43 23 May TokyoUrban Area - Incendiary 33 Lost Lt Boynton, Lt Snyder, Lt Anderson crews
44 25 May TokyoUrban Area - Incendiary 24 Lost Lt Foc crew
45 29 May Yokohama Urban Area 25 Incendiary
46 1 June Osaka Urban Area 27 Daylight Incendiary
47 5 June Kobe Urban Area 29 Daylight Incendiary
48 7 June Osaka Urban Area 27 Incendiary by radar
Secondary Industrial Cities
49 9 June Kawasaki A/C Co, Akashi 26 Precision by radar
50 15 June Amagasaki 35 Incendiary by radar
51 18 June Yokkaichi 30 Night Incendiary
52 19 June Shimoneski Straits 2 Radar search
53 20 June Fukuoka 29 Night Incendiary
54 22 June Kawasaki A/C Co, Akashi 29 Daylight Precision
55 26 June Kawasaki A/C Co, Akashi 38 Daylight Precision
56 28 June Moji Urban Area 30 Night Incendiary
57 1 July Ube Urban Area 35 Night Incendiary
58 3 July Himeji Urban Area 35 Night Incendiary
59 5 July Marcus Island 3 Precision
60 6 July Shimizu 36 Night Incendiary
The 9th Bmb Grp:
"18 through 28 Apr 45 - Our attacks during this period put the B-29 into tactical operations. Direct support of the Okinawa Campaign, a tactical role, established our versatility. Flying in direct support of the Navy we frustrated Jap attempts to alleviate the situation on Okinawa. Our raids were concentrated on southern Kyushu airfields. With relatively small forces, we attacked the airfield at Kokubu the 18th; Kanoya East Airfield and again Kokubu Airfield the 21st; Kanoya Airfield and Kushira Airfield on 22 April. It was on Kushira that we dropped all our bombs within 1,000 feet of the briefed aiming point. Miyazaki Airfield was the target on 26 April; Kokubu Airfield being again twice blasted on 27 and 28 Apr. Our heaviest enemy opposition was received on the 28th, when we claimed 2 destroyed, 2 probables and 6 damaged. On this mission, Lt. Brown and his crew, were forced to bail out. Except for the navigator, the entire crew was rescued. We received a commendation from the 5th. Fleet Commander for our share in this vital task."
505th Bmb Grp"
"Two days after this mission the tactical support pounding of Kyushu
Airfields was resumed. Nittagahara Airfield was the target on the
26th for 23 planes loaded with explosives and fragmentation bombs.
The next day, the 27th, twelve B-29s took off for another visit to
Kokubu Airfield. Two of the bombers had to land at Iwo on the flight
up, and another plane got separated from the Group and joined a
formation to bomb Kanoya Airfield.
About 35 Jap fighters met the raiders this time and pressed their
initial attacks with phosphorus bombs. Most attacks were made out
of the sun; a second method of assault was to come in on a high
nose approach, diving down and pulling out slightly below level,
within 100 to 500 yards of formation. They hurled their bombs into
the formation as they broke away. No planes were damaged, however, although the bombers flew directly through the phosphorus
plumes and streamers. Crews could smell the odor of bursting
bombs, while the gunners fired on the attackers.
While other planes of the Bomber Command spread all over Kyushu,
hitting at scores of airfields used to stage Jap fighter and bomber
attacks against Okinawa and the American Naval Forces off of the
island, 22 of our planes headed for Kokubu.
Fighter opposition was on the largest scale yet encountered. The
enemy had become fully aware of the sharp curtailment our raids
were having on their air operations. Our first squadron crews met
50 to 60 enemy planes immediately after bombs-away. The ensuing
air battle lasted 15 minutes; 30 to 40 attacks were made. The second
squadron of B-29s ran into 15 persistent enemy fighters from UP to the
target and out again to land's end. These passes were unaggressive ,
with phosphorus bombs being reported. Our gunners fire was heavy
and murderous. Total claims were: 21 enemy planes destroyed, 7
probables.
Airstrips at Tachikowa were the targets for the final mission of the
month.
Cloud cover made it impractical to bomb the primary target, so the
planes moved over to the city of Hamamatsu and made a radar run.
Two aircraft had to land at Iwo---one with #3 engine out---and Capt.
Johnson, with #3 engine feathered and an oil leak in #2. Considerable
fighter resistance was met in this strike, and a good number of the
enemy fighters were knocked down. One of our tail-gunners was killed
by enemy fighter fire, and two of our planes suffered battle damage."