Summary

US B-29 bombers firebomb Tokyo during World War II

Source Sherman Grinberg
Newsreel GHOC
Negative # S-10
Clip SR004497_02_01.mov
Date 01/01/1945
Title US B-29 bombers firebomb Tokyo during World War II
Description [GHOC Episode S-10] Greatest Headlines of the Century title sequence / Title: "B-29s Over Tokyo" / [1940s] VS Tokyo beauty shots // military airplane sits on tarmac with jellied gasoline firebomb attached / CU firebomb / During demonstration of new firebombs, military airplane flies overhead, drops jellied gasoline firebomb on level ground; bomb hits ground, leaves trail of fire and smoke on impact / two planes fly low over level ground and drop two firebombs, which explode into fire trails // [1944, Peleliu Island] plane drops firebomb into hilly area during World War II / plane flies behind cloud of black smoke, drops another bomb / [1944, Saipan Island] Night: VS mechanics work on B-29 bomber which will carry firebombs to Tokyo / day: B-29 takes off / line of B-29s on airstrip / VS B-29s move on airstrip / [November 1944] US Generals Haywood Hansell and Emmett O'Donnell, Jr., look at document with final details of Tokyo firebombing plan / O'Donnell talks with Maj. Robert K. Morgan / flight crews assembled for briefing / briefing officer uses pointer on maps of Japanese cities / CU B-29 propellers spin as plane prepares to leave on mission to firebomb Tokyo / VS B-29 speeds down runway, ascends / VS B-29s fly in formation / [1945] B-29 drops firebombs / POV from bomb bay as bombs drop / aerial explosions / side view from camera plane as B-29s fly in formation / VS Tokyo citizens walk by ruined structures and rubble, with more damaged buildings in bg / VS rubble and destruction / men look at old-fashioned Japanese firefighting equipment standing in the middle of rubble / Japanese citizens approach, carrying umbrellas in the rain, and passing rubble // night: VS burning gasoline truck and airplanes destroyed in reprisal attack by Japan / B-29 bomber takes off from Saipan airstrip / WS crewmen on Saipan, silhouetted against sky as they wave / VS B-29 airplanes fly / black / end credits / Note: exact date of compilation not known
Personality Haywood Hansell, Emmett O'Donnell Jr, Robert Morgan
Country Japan
City Tokyo

Keywords

archival
newsreel
Greatest Headlines of the Century
retrospectives
World War II
military action
bombs
bomb bays
POV
Peleliu
Saipan
United States military
military airplanes
B-29 airplanes
airplanes
United States Army Air Forces
United States Army
destruction
takeoffs
fires
night
generals
briefings
airfields
fire engines
vintage
}