Air Forces Twentieth

The colonel also advised that the Twentieth Air Force planned to increase its delivery of conventional bombs steadily until it was dropping 100,000 tons a month by the end of 1945. 

LeMay was also keeping busy. The 3 reserved targets for the first unit of this project were announced. With current and prospective rate of [Twentieth Air Force] H.E. bombing, it is expected to complete strategic bombing of Japan by 1 Jan 46 so availability of future targets will be a problem. If the Manhattan Project did not hurry, that is, there would be no cities left in Japan to bomb. 

By early June, when Tibbets arrived to inspect the accommodations and confer with LeMay, Kirkpatrick could report that progress has been very satisfactory and I have the feeling now that we can t miss. He sat in on an evening meeting between Tibbets and LeMay and heard evidence that the Twentieth Air Force commander did not yet appreciate the power of an atomic bomb ... 

Thc XXI Bomber Command was an element of the Twentieth Air Force, which, under Joint Chiefs of Staff control, had as its mission the strategic bombing of Japan. For the complete picture of these operations, see Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, eds., THE ARMY FORCES IN WORLO WAR II, vol. V, The Pacific Malterhorn to Nagasaki, June 1944 to August (Chicago Univer-... 

Craven and Cate, eit The Pecific MtUerborn to Nagattki, pp, 8 39. Unlew otherwise noted, the background outerial concerning the Twentieth Air Force it based on this excellent volume. 

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