B-29 Superfortress of the 498th Bomb Group, Formation and Smoke Over Tokyo From Bombs
The 498th Bomb Group was formed in November 1943 as part of the 73rd Bombardment Wing, the second B-29 combat wing to be formed. Initially, the group was intended to join the 58th Bombardment Wing in India, but that plan was canceled in April 1944, and the wing was instead reassigned to the Mariana Islands.
After the Battle of Saipan (June 15 – July 9, 1944), construction began on airfields for B-29s before the island was fully secured. From June 24 to August 6, a 6,000-foot-long runway was completed at Isley Field, and by August 24, the first elements of the 73rd Bombardment Wing began arriving. The 498th Bomb Group was the first group to officially arrive on September 6, 1944. The group’s first combat mission took place on October 28, 1944, when it, alongside the 497th Bomb Group, sent 18 B-29s to bomb Truk. This mission targeted the Dublon submarine pens, with the 498th successfully hitting a quarter of its designated targets. Subsequent missions on October 30 and November 2 against Truk were less successful due to heavy cloud cover. The group also attacked Iwo Jima on November 5 and November 8.
One of the most significant early missions for the 498th came on November 24, 1944, with the first B-29 attack on Tokyo. This mission, known as San Antonio I, targeted the Musashi aircraft engine factory. Despite carefully planning the raid, bad weather delayed the operation, and of the 111 B-29s launched, only 24 managed to bomb Musashi, while 64 struck other areas of Tokyo. The group lost two aircraft and sustained damage to another eleven, including three instances of friendly fire.
Over the following four months, the 73rd Bombardment Wing carried out high-altitude precision bombing raids, primarily focusing on Japanese aircraft factories. These missions failed to produce the desired results, leading General Curtis LeMay, commander of XXI Bomber Command, to shift tactics to low-level incendiary raids. The first of these new missions took place on the night of March 9–10, 1945, when B-29s conducted a devastating raid on Tokyo. The low-level night bombing campaign proved highly effective, as Japanese defenses struggled to counter night attacks, and the resulting fires devastated Japan’s cities.
The 498th Bomb Group continued to participate in low-level incendiary night bombing raids for the rest of the war, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations (DUCs). The first DUC was awarded for a daylight raid on the Nagoya aircraft engine factory on December 13, 1944. The second was for nighttime raids on Kobe and Osaka in June 1945.
After the war, the 498th Bomb Group returned to the United States in November 1945. It was briefly assigned to the newly established Strategic Air Command on March 21, 1946, but was inactivated on August 4, 1946.