MOST ACCURATE CALIBER

[Creedmoor]

I take small exception to Fat Man. From an aiming point of about 30,000, the Bockscar crew missed Nagasaki by about 2 miles. That is a huge miss; and therefore hardly accurate. Still, it mangaged to kill 50,000 people, and it did convince the Japanese to give up the fight. So maybe good enough, really is. Full disclosure. My father was a 20 year old US Marine, veteran of Iwo JIma, Saipan, and Tinian, in Hawaii training for the invasion of Japan on 8/9/45. I'm cool with Truman's decision.

I believe we did better with the 60+ cities we napalmed, before the two nukes we dropped in Japan.

 

[Bassat]

I believe we did better with the 60+ cities we napalmed, before the two nukes we dropped in Japan.

Agreed. But sorties takes lots of bombers, making lots of trips, mostly with fighter escorts. That is a lot of risk to a lot of crews. Two nuclear runs on Japan risked very little, comparatively. Bottom line, we would have won without them. I do think the talk of ground war in Japan proper were overblown. Firebombing a country made mostly of wood, mostly without AAA, would have been a cake-walk. But it would have taken longer and killed more people.

 

[mcapo]

Post 1 Topic: most accurate caliber

Post 50+ Topic: Pizza and WWII bombing strategies

Must be some kind of a record for staying on topic so long?

 

[Bassat]

Post 1 Topic: most accurate caliber

Post 50+ Topic: Pizza and WWII bombing strategies

Must be some kind of a record for staying on topic so long?

You left out the mentions of Naval guns.