>> each week american history tv's real america brings you archival films that brings context for this year's public affair issues. ofumenting the final months the super fortress air campaign against japan. from thenute film national archives concludes with the august 1945 atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki.

b-29sly in 1945 hour began full-scale operations against japan. 1500 miles back from bases in saipan, tinian, and guam. here the bombers concentrated their massive airpower and planned the ultimate crushing defeat of japan, down to the last bomb. here was the beginning of the end for the road to tokyo. months of reoccupation, there were few signs of war along the summer shores of glom. -- summer shores of guam. citizens again, smiling and friendly. -- americat america

moved mountains of material, equipment, and supplies across the pacific. they changed their dirt roads and broad highways. and nearby new communities of american citizens have set up housekeeping with various types of self-service. a few laundry problems and no modern inconveniences. big business under the long arm of on the command -- saipanam, tinian and -- behind this expanding power was planning. the plan began on the ground with maintenance.

heart stands, ground crews worked a and tonight during the weeks to keep more he 29's on the line. by july the bomber command is an efficient well oiled machine of destruction. here is the cause of that machine. -- here's the final caulk of that machine. hine.nal cog of that mac let's find a what they're going to do, and why, and what. it began 12 hours ago. with a general receiving a report for tomorrow's weather in japan. tomorrow's forecast is typical. area will betokyo 6/10 of 22,000, 3/10 at 14,000

feet, closing up after 11 a.m. >> how the general -- how will the general solve that one? the old man considers every vital factor and makes his decision. wings will strike tokyo at 8:00. they will go in under that weather and bomb and 12,000. now it is the question of target selection. first priority is number 573. 573 is already three quarters destroyed. at the moment number 574 is still untouched. operations check the tactical plan for's -- tactical plan for 574. target and ok's the commences all executive tales to his staff.

operations with his deputy chief of staff and project officer goes to work setting up the changes. preparation -- correlated facts and figures have been distilled and tactical plan -- distilled into tactical plan 574. will be dropping i lay planes at project assembly point. a wing will carry and 47 incendiary clusters. fused a quarter second read ads -- altitude of attack, 12,000 feet. the wing will carry capacity fuel loads of possibly 7300 gallons per plane. calibrated airspeed of -- will be by all aircraft on the

bombing run. 140 east will be the same for offer a good contrast checkpoint. three surface vessels to proceed to position ask. lifeguard duties at positions why. two on those two stations e. will orbit at the following positions. each section of the plan is double checked to supervise certain aspects of planning. the lieutenant colonel was recently brought over the staff as project officer. this offers as extensive combat experience. he will company this mission to observe new smoke signals at assembly point. a field order is dispatched to the wings.

toe off time is dispatched the controller, who coordinates the vast network of communications gathered here at the heart and nerve center of command. panels the control room and a mission board are maintained to show at a glance the countless up-to-the-minute details of all daily operations. mission is afforded a flight. wing are laid out to indicate the flightline's. halfway iwo jima, the point. empress c -- and proceed to specify the field order of proper targets.

a timetable of statistics for each wing is planned and flown as recorded from hourly reports, beginning with take off time. two veteran crews it is just another day's work. .ne more 1500 mile fall 15 hours, 7000 gallons, four engines, 11 guys. degrees.ump across 20

destination tokyo. it's like taken off in mexico for targets in canada. hard,anes one minute of 67 tons each. those b-29 takeoffs are tough. that first long moment is the worst. sometimes it takes luck to beat

it. north, to more b-29 wings prepare for takeoff. 134 aircraft from the 58th wing. 300 13th wing.he taipan, the wing lines of for takeoff. 100 53 are added to the mission striking clause.

the last b-29's airborne at 15-40. the tower of saipan relays this information to the controller back at guam. first and last takeoff times of each wing are recorded here and make up a series of tabulated mission reports. copies of these reports are dispatched to headquarters in

washington and posted on a control room report board. during that first hour the b-29 has settled down for the a grind, saving precious gas, cruising 1000 feet off the water, ability, experience, confidence writing each plane. a plan of action for 11 men trained and tested to work as one. locking island checkpoints. after about four hours of flight the bombers pass closer to iwo jima. black pretty pork chop, 8000 square miles paid for by our marines. we made some quick changes. cutting way the sulfurous volcanic crossed and rolling the surface into one enormous flat top.

three big airstrips. general has -- general and his staff -- check minute briefing just to make sure your fighter escort knows all rescue positions. the p 50 onese are warming up for the longest 1s-50 ones -- p-5 are warming up for the longest flight on record. about the time our wings are passing iwo jima the p shooters

are taking off. scheduled to join them 3.5 hours later off the shore of japan. after a rendezvous, the p 51 heads for an assembly point. reports of the controller back guam -- >> pilot to crew. we are to start our climb. check oxygen equipment. cliques tell buggy he better get out to his doghouse. thehe crews prepare for vital business ahead.

until they come off target and head home it is all business. the central fire control system is warmed up. super human brainpower at the flick of a switch. each flexes his sites and tries a coordinated fire control with a few short bursts to clear the guns. up the bombers arrive close to assembly point. oxygen masks are adjusted and ready for instant use. which now turn off to wait for the finest return on rally point.

lead bombers begin to circle, dropping the new smoke markers for assembly. the project officer observes this tactical plan in action. positions, then group separates. and form on their lead ships. which head for an initial point. the big parade is on. landfall is picked up, along with enemy coastal batteries.

-- becomes heavier and more accurate. diving head on to the formations. other fighters -- set to explode on the oncoming b-29s. our p-51s go after them. their job is to protect the b-29s paid for some of those fighters, they will meet the blast of bomber guns.

from the turn and initial point -- getting ready for business. fighters falloff. but those clouds are beginning to close in and it looks worse ahead. the tokyo area breaks clear. the bombardier's begin to draw a beat on 574. the planes sit tight for the bombing run. here's where we pay off.

two aircraft planes and an air drone are prepared to receive 4000 tons of destruction. of b-29 has found their objective. succeeding bomber groups add to

the smoking carcass. the bombers go downwind across the acres of tokyo. the skiesamera shows of the spectacular fire strikes last march. 51 square miles of treatment. -- this isbay fighter country.

with the big bombers homeward bound, the p-51job's down for straight runs. the fighters. then go to work cutting vital -- blast and glad communications, radio installations, power lines .

swooping down on enemy transportation.

then on the shipping target,

, it is thecoastal same enemy.

the waiting b-29 navigator planes. feel gators are down to close to empty. they zoom in, once over for each enemy killed.

after the last fighter groups , the first limping b-29s. site,unway is a beautiful low in gas and beat up by flak and fighters. nearly 2000ths, haven here. evenan understand why they named their planes after those marines. ewo -- iwo still has its hazards. block theercast airstrip during these periods.

luck, a b-29 might drop in. from here, you can see how the cloud cover up their smothers the runway and realize what one pilot went through. sometimes a battle scarred tober is taken back only flatten out at the last heartbreaking second.

by some miracle, the whole crew got away from the station before 2000 gallons of flaming gas enveloped them. firefighters risk their lives to save the ship. this also takes courage beyond the line of duty. exhausted crews wait out the last endless our when time seems to stop. in.position is radioed ♪ , the familiar appear on the horizon. kwong ands fly across turn into the landing pad. .- across guam

15 hours ago they left the other end of that runway. , ais a pleasure to be back pleasure to roll on solid familiar blacktop. it is good to feel the sudden ,eat, to be among the living swapping details with the ground crew. k, the close calls, the one

that got away. won'tf those b-29 crews be able to talk it over today. 11 men on a bomber that didn't quite make it. ♪ the rescue squad tear away the hot metal.

somewhere in that wreckage, a man has lived. one life saved and 10 lost. tal. is part of the day's to there were many other days and nights that took their toll of young american lives in the service of our relentless expanding airpower. by the end of july, our b-29s had all the obliterated the enemies. theit japan with twice monthly tonnage. the question was, how much longer when a beaten japan hold out? wow great land, sea, and air forces gathered, the b-29 struck

2 atomic bombs. which hastened the surrender of thousandssaved untold of american lives. ♪ of our air forces, which began nearly 40 years ago, was accomplished. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> you are watching american history tv. 48 hours of programming every weekend on c-span tv. follow us on twitter at sign @csan -- on twitter,

panhistory. >> all weekend, american history tv is featuring port huron, michigan. the world's first underwater railroad was built to connect to canada in 1890. hosted by our comcast cable partners, the cities tour recently visited many sites showcasing the city's rich history. >> we are at lakeport state park just north of port huron, michigan. it is a state park. 1962, this was owned by the united auto workers. union members would come up here on summer weekends with their families. this park, at one time, was the site of the founding convention of the students for a demo