These incredibly rare and museum-grade WWII artifacts are 21st Bomber Command TYPE ONE aerial raid mission photographs taken from the open bombay of a USAAF 58th Bombardment Wing B-29 Superfortress during the U.S. Firebombing Campaign against mainland Japan in June-July of 1945. The USAAF 58th Bombardment Wing and its squadrons fell under Major General Curtis LeMay’s 21st Bomber Command and participated in numerous bombing raid missions and incendiary attacks over the Japanese home islands with these missions continuing until just days before the dropping of the second atomic bomb. These aerial raid mission photographs were taken on July 10th, 1945 as more than 123 B-29 Superfortresses of the 21st Bomber Command firebombed Sendai, Japan. Intelligence mission photographs like these were reviewed by Curtis E. LeMay (Commander of the 21st Bomber Command) as it was LeMay’s direct order for the greater use of incendiary bombs coupled with a lowering of the altitude at which crews dropped their payloads.
