page_title: 58th Air Division
section_title: Operations in India and Tinian
hierarchical_section_title: 58th Air Division / History / World War II / Operations in India and Tinian
caption_attribution_description: English: 40th Bombardment Group B-29 42-6310 taking off from Chakulia, India, June, 1944
context_page_description: The 58th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, based at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. It was inactivated on 1 February 1959.
context_section_description: After much effort, the headquarters of the XX Bomber Command had been established at the former RAF Kharagpur Airfield, India on 28 March 1944 under the command of General Wolfe. The first B-29 reached its base in India on 2 April 1944. In India, existing airfields at Kharagpur, Chakulia, Piardoba and Dudkhundi had been converted for B-29 use. All of these bases were located in southern Bengal and were not far from port facilities at Calcutta. All of these bases had originally been established in 1942–43 for Consolidated B-24 Liberators. The conditions at these bases were poor, and the runways were still in the process of being lengthened when the first B-29s arrived. The headquarters of the 58th BW, together with the four squadrons of the 40th Bombardment Group (the 25th 44th, 45th, and 395th) were assigned to the airfield at Chakulia, the first planes arriving there on 2 April 1944. The Headquarters was moved to Kharagpur airfield on 23 April. The 444th Bombardment Group (676th, 677th, 678th and 679th Squadrons) went to Charra, arriving there on 11 April. The 462d Bombardment Group (768th, 769th, 770th, and 771st squadrons) to Piardoba, arriving there on 7 April. The 468th Bombardment Group (792nd, 793rd, 794th and 795th Squadrons) arrived at Kharagpur on 13 April. The 444th Bombardment Group later moved to a permanent airfield at Dudhkundi, leaving Charra to become a transport base for the C-87s and C-46s which would support the effort.
  On 4 April 1944, a special strategic formation, the Twentieth Air Force, was established, which would carry out the aerial assault against Japan. This was done at the insistence of General Arnold himself, mainly to avoid having the B-29s being diverted to tactical missions under pressure from CBI theatre commanders. Twentieth Air Force would be commanded by General Arnold himself at Joint Chiefs of Staff level. It would be completely autonomous and their B-29s would be completely independent of other command structures and would be dedicated exclusively against strategic targets in Japan. The operational vehicle was to be the 58th Bombardment Wing (Very Heavy) of XX Bomber Command.
  The primary flaw in flying from bases in China was the fact that all the supplies of fuel, bombs, and spares needed to support the forward bases in China had to be flown in from India over the Hump, since Japanese control of the seas around the Chinese coast made seaborne supply of China impossible.
  The first B-29 bombing raid took place on 5 June 1944. Led by General Saunders himself, 98 B-29s took off from bases in eastern India to attack the Makasan railroad yards at Bangkok, Thailand. This involved a 2261-mile round trip, the longest bombing mission yet attempted during the war.
  On 13 July 1944, General Saunders combined the personnel of the 58th Wing into headquarters, XX Bomber Command, attaching the wing's personnel to the appropriate division of the command's staff.  Although the wing continued to exist as a papr unit, it had no further operational functions in India.
  By late 1944, it was becoming apparent that B-29 operations against Japan staged out of bases in Chengtu were far too expensive in men and materials and would have to be stopped. In December 1944, the Joint Chiefs of Staff made the decision that the 58th Bombardment Wing's B-29s would be moved to newly captured bases in the Marianas in the central Pacific. The 58th Bomb Wing flew its last operations from India and China on 8 February 1945.
  The wing moved to Tinian in early 1945 and was reassigned to the XXI Bomber Command on 29 March. The wing continued bombardment operations against Japan. Its units made daylight attacks from high altitudes on strategic targets, participated in incendiary raids on urban areas, and dropped mines in Japanese shipping lanes. After the Japanese surrender, groups of the 58th Bomb Wing dropped food and supplies to Allied prisoners of war in Japan, Korea, and Formosa, and took part in show of force missions.
caption: B-29 taking off from Chakulia, June 1944[3]
exif: {}