The Wilmington morning star., 1945-05-28
interpreting
The War
10y. By ELTON c. FAY

The nrosress;, s news Analys
Tokyo has been carried ~ t W.. d
ent point at the coss Of " sb +,s p'es'
airmen and 70 supertortres,,..as' ~
to enemy flax and tightsr SSe e. lost
Airmen, studying charts pane, ian:
show an estimated 40 square winch mi,s
OF the enemy capital in r,,;e. miles
the losses are well within ~ Say
iowaole margin for strategic me he,i al
ing. s'c oohu,
These are the losses o,,
target. BY no means do the ss J.. he
resent the total expendjtu vs ''p ,,
men and material LEADING ns Of
take-off Of the giant planes s " p. 70
their bases in the Marianas' IRON
To wrest Saipan, Tinian
Guam from the japanese 81 a sne
s-2s bases could be built W wi, @a'
operating range of Japan and r" IN
enemy capital itself, the IT.;, .s
States paid more than $1,000 o'' ,,s
ualties among Army, Nav ~, 80,
Marine personnel, 5,sSS Of ,s aaa
dead. These were the mer 1 msa
fought their away ashore , S.s
mopped up the islands in pro,o o,.a
ed and bitter fighting. '
Nor should the $50 air cr.u,.
and the 70 Superfortresses he .oa
side-ed the total cost of the do, W.,
missions flown to Tokyo sine. 't ~.
first B-2s strike last November "a
1t is to be presumed that oner.,;.a
al losses have occurred on ths,,
missions. For security resson,
to prevent the enemy from ,,s'
mating the day-to-day strength \,
the Superfortress fleet in tn. D.
cific, the Goth Airforce is unabI.
to disclose operational losss,
Such plane losses have one n.
deeming feature-the number d
men rescued usually is much hi,b.
er than from planes shot down IN
the target area. In only a few in.
stances have there been report,
of men rescued from B-29's forced
down by enemy action.
The loss of planes is Of no great
consequence; it is the loss Of Am.
erican filters that concerns the air
forces. The present rate Of pro,
duction of B-29's now is well in
excess of 200 a month, many.told
the rate of loss either from combs,
or operational cause.
When the planes fail to return
from their missions over Japan,
the air crewmen are listed miss.
ing"
To compute the expenditure in
dollars and cents Of the campaign
to wipe out Tokyo is difficult be.
cause Of the multitude Of items
that feed into a total cost.
The approximate 70 planes lost
in combat cost about S42OOO,M
Since last November it is pos
sible that about 5000 sortes Nns
plane on one mlssion) have been
flown against fokyo. These would
have used perhaps 100000 GAL
Ions of gasoline costing, by ta
time it was delivered to the distant
destination in the Pacific about
81, 500, 900.
Lacking precise figures and be
cause of the different types d
bombs used, only the roushes
guess can be made Of the bom'
expenditure. Estimates Of the car
rying capacity of the BIOS and
dispatches from the field on lndr
vidual missions suggest that VI
to 80, 900 tons of bombs have oea
dropped on Tokyo SO far.
The 21st Bomber Command hal
SPECIALIZED in fire bomb attack
on Tokyo fo- the last half dola
raids. Before that demoiitl0H
mixed with some fire bombs, com
posed most of the material drop
| ped. The total cost of both lyPa
might approximate $35,OoOOOo'
Back of these three items, mere
ly the final-stage cost Of the lof'
bombing operation, are mllM
of dollars for the complex setai
going into the routine es'aOna
ment and operation Of the "
| bases.