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From: military@cbnews
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Guns on bombers (was Re: Dirigibles & airships)
Message-ID: <1991Jun29.013150.55@cbnews.cb.att.com>
Date: 29 Jun 91 01:31:50 GMT
References: <1991Jun18.073814.13457@amd.com> <1991Jun19.010258.10443@cbnews.cb.att.com> <1991Jun20.015312.27909@cbnews.cb.att.com>
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From: att!bcr!pyuxa!pyuxf!jem3 
In article <1991Jun27.013308.27187@cbnews.cb.att.com> you write:
>
>From christ@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (Chris Thompson)

>Were the lower losses due to dropping the guns or going in at night, at low
>level?

Going in at night. The Japanese had a very poor air defense system
with little or no radar and/or radar guided guns. Also the
Twentieth Air Force began using incendiary bombs instead of HE to
burn the Japanese cities to the ground so accuracy was not a
problem.

The reason they switched from daylight precision to night bombing
was that (1) the radar on the B-29s was not that good and (2) the
winds aloft over Japan were horrendous. The bombing results were
very poor with daylight bombing so LeMay decided that something
drastic was needed. The aircrews were not happy with the removal of
the guns and with the low level (7000 feet) attack but as time went
on and they saw the reduction in losses, they began to appreciate
it.
-- 
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