Originally posted by Guppy35
5th AF B25s were hitting shipping off the south coast of Japan and hitting targets near Kyushu in the summer of 45. Don't believe A20s ever got there though. B26s were not being operated by the 5th AF at that point.
The Flak was heavy on the south coast and the 345th for example suffered a lot of losses to flak.
The capturing of islands like Okinawa and Iwo Jima would have allowed the extended range of medium bombers such as the A-20, B-26, B-25, and A-26, (most which had been modified to carry extra fuel by this time to increase their range) to reach Formosa, the China coast, and Honshu and Shikoku's southern shores respectively. Mostly those missions were anti-shipping, patrol, reconnaissance, and some strafing and bombing of land targets. Pretty much: go out, see what you can see, hit what you can hit, and get back to tell us about it.
I do know in the final months of the war, the 319th Bomb Group, attached to the 7th Air Force, recently transfered from the ETO, and refitted with A-26's, was operating out of Okinawa and hitting Ryukyu Islands, Kyūshū, mainland China, and any shipping in the South China Sea. They also were going after airfields and industrial areas on Kyūshū. On, and between, the days the
Enola Gay and
Bockscar were making their historic bomb runs, the 319th was hitting Kyūshū like most days.