The B-29’s photo-reconnaissance capabilities yielded what Major General Haywood Hansell called, “probably the greatest…single contribution…in the air war with Japan.” The Superfortress’ photo-reconnaissance configuration was the F-13A. On 1 November 1944, one of the two F-13A aircraft that arrived from the U.S. just two days before flew from Saipan to Tokyo. Captain John Steakley’s aircraft flew over Tokyo at 32,000 feet for 35 minutes taking 7,000 images. A Japanese fighter approached the F-13, but did not attack it. That was the first land-based American plane to fly over Tokyo since the Doolittle Raid in 1942. Those photos provided the XXI Bomber Command locations of Japanese aircraft manufacturing plants, helping the mission planners to choose targets for the coming B-29 onslaught. Steakley’s F-13A became “Tokyo Rose” after that mission.
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