Collections: WWII Vice Admiral Mitscher Fast Carrier Task Force 1944 Okinawa Mission "RESTRICTED" Aerial Reconnaissance Type-One (FIRST PRINT) Photographs
FROM A LARGE BRING-BACK COLLECTION OF TYPE-ONE AERIAL RECON PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE USS FRANKLIN - USS INTREPID - & USS WASP
These extremely rare and museum-grade World War II type-one Okinawa aerial reconnaissance photographs were taken by Vice Admiral Mitscher’s TASK FORCE 38 & TASK FORCE 58 aircraft carrier aerial squadrons during the first U.S. Fast Carrier Task Force strike on Okinawa during WWII. Vice Admiral Mitscher launched an early strike on Okinawa on October 10th, 1944. His fast carrier force launched waves of planes from nine U.S. aircraft carriers, dropping 541 tonnes of bombs, and firing 652 rockets and 21 torpedoes. The capital Naha was left aflame, 111 enemy aircraft were destroyed, and – according to Japanese estimates – five million rounds of Japanese machine-gun ammunition were ruined.
These aerial photographs were obtained from the October 1944 raid on Okinawa allowed the U.S. pilots to gain aerial reconnaissance of more than 90% of the island of Okinawa. These original TYPE-ONE aerial reconnaissance photographs were used to create the infamous Operation Iceberg - Invasion of Okinawa target maps that were prepared by American intelligence for the D-Day invasion on April 1st, 1944. During WWII, the U.S. Task Force 38 and Task Force 58, spearheaded the thrust against the heart of the Japanese Empire, covering successively the invasion of the Palaus, the liberation of the Philippines, and the conquests of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
