>> each week american history tv's real america brings you archival films that brings context for today's public affair issues. documents the" final months of the super fortress air campaign against japan. the 34 minute film from the national archives concludes with the august 1945 atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki. ♪

narrator: early in 1945, our b-29s began full-scale operations against japan. 1500 miles to targets and 1500 miles back to bases in saipan, tinian, and guam. here the 21st bomber command concentrated their massive airpower and planned the ultimate crushing defeat of japan, down to the last bomb. here was the beginning of the end of the road to tokyo. after six months of reoccupation, there were few signs of war along the quiet summer shores of guam. they were back in the clean, native villages. american citizens again, smiling and friendly. unaware a miracle had happened around them.

america had moved mountains of material, equipment, and supplies across the pacific. it changed their dirt roads and broad highways. that manicured their jungles and the blacktop airfields. and nearby new communities of american citizens have set up housekeeping with various types of self-service. the latest laborsaving devices few laundry problems and no , modern inconveniences. by midsummer the 21st bomber command was in business, big business. the long arm of command again punching the enemy with power. from guam, tinian and saipan, 600 airplane missions. behind this expanding power was planning. the plan began on the ground with maintenance.

assembly line technique cut engine change times from three days to half a day. ground crews work days and night during the blitz week to keep more b-29s on the line. by july the bomber command is an efficient, well-oiled machine of destruction. here is a vital cog of that machine. let's find a what they're going and some of the things the are going to do and why and with what. how did they set of the longest, toughest hombre history and mission -- mission in history? it began 12 hours ago. with the general receiving a report for tomorrow's weather in japan. tomorrow's forecast is typical. in the east, tokyo area will be 6/10 of 22,000, 3/10 at 14,000

feet, closing up after 11:00 a.m. osaka and every thing west is completely socked in. narrator how will the general : solve that one? the old man considers every vital factor and makes his decision. four wings will strike tokyo at 10:00. they will go in under that weather and bomb at 12,000. now it is the question of target selection. first reality in the tokyo area is number 573. intelligence informs the general that 573 is already three quarters destroyed. at the moment number 574 is still untouched. operations checks the tactical plan for 574. the general ok's the target and commits all executive tales to his staff.

operations with his deputy chief of staff and project officer goes to work setting up the changes. in that plans folder is amount of preparation by special sections of intelligence and operations. 1000 hours of research, collated facts and figures that have been distilled into tactical plan 574. aircraft listenable with three groups of people 50 once for escorts. smoke markers at one minute intervals will be dropped by lead planes at project assembly point. carry him 47will incendiary clusters. bombs fusedll carry a quarter second nose and tail. altitude of attack, 12,000 feet. planes of 314 point will carry capacity fuel loads of approximately 7300 gallons per plane. calibrated airspeed of 210

miles per will be by all hour aircraft on the bombing run. 3450 north, 150 east will be the same for all planes to offer a good water-land contrast checkpoint. the navy has requested the following facilities for air rescue purposes. three surface vessels to proceed to position x. lifeguard duties at positions y. two on those two stations e. 429's 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 officer's extensive combat experience will help iron out operational kinks. he will company this mission to observe new smoke signals at assembly point. a field order is dispatched to the wings.

take off time is flashed to the controller who coordinates the vast network of communications gathered here at the heart and nerve center of command. here in the control room status panels and a mission board are maintained to show at a glance the countless up-to-the-minute details of all daily operations. prior to takeoff each mission is set up on the board to afford a visual progress of the flight. from takeoff to target and return. for eacharns, one wing, is laid out to indicate the flight lines. close to iwo jima, the halfway point. and proceed as specified in the field order to the proper target. other symbols are used to mark airspeed rescue positions.

a timetable of statistics for each wing is planned and flown as recorded from hourly reports, beginning with take off time. to veteran crews it is just another day's work. one more 1500 mile fall up and down the pacific. 15 hours, 7000 gallons, four engines, 11 guys. wood, a water jump across

20 degrees. a continent of ocean. destination tokyo. mexicoike taking off in for targets in canada. the 314 is airborne. 145 planes, one minute apart, 67 tons each. those b-29 takeoffs are tough. that first long moment is the worst.

lot, like it takes a a white stocking to beat it. at any and 100 miles north, to -- two more b-29 wings prepare for takeoff. 134 aircraft from the 58th wing. 100 more from the 313th wing. at sign fan, the better and wing 73rd lines of for takeoff. 153 are added to the mission striking force.

the last b-29 is airborne at 15:40. the tower at saipan relays this information to the controller back at guam. first and last takeoff times of each wing are recorded here and go to make up the first of 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 's has settled down for the a grind, saving precious gas, cruising 1000 feet off the water. ability, experience, confidence ride in each plane. a plan of action for 11 men trained and tested to function as one. logging island checkpoints. assumption,. mog. after about four hours of flight the bombers pass closer to iwo jima. the hot rock. a black pretty pork chop, 8 square miles paid for by our marines. we made some quick changes. cutting way the sulfurous volcanic crust and rolling the surface into one enormous flat top.

three big airstrips. they know launch our peter and wants for bomber escort over japan. oore and his staff run the show in close collaboration with bomber command. a last minute briefing check just to make sure today's fighter escort knows all rescue positions. out of the line, the peter the ones -- p-51s are warming up for the longest flight on record. seven hours on one engine, extra belly tanks, extra nerve and stamina in the cockpit. about the time our wings are

passing iwo jima, the pea shooters are taking off. scheduled to join them 3.5 hours later off the shores of japan. after a rendezvous, the p-51's heads for an assembly point. led by b-29's designated as navigator ships. they grind ahead on the last lap to the empire. reports of the controller back at guam give their flight condition which is kept up to the hour on the mission board. thel in love altitude b-29's are approaching the bad weather built where 100 reported storms and cold fronts appear suddenly across the course. >> pilot to crew. we are to start our climb. check oxygen equipment. >> tell book -- buck he better get out his doghouse.

narrator the crews prepare for : the vital business ahead. until they come off target and head home it is all business. the central fire control system is warmed up. superhuman brainpower at the flick of a switch. each gunner flexes his sites and tries a coordinated fire control with a few short bursts to clear the guns. after pushing up to altitude the bombers arrive close to assembly point. air in the pressurized cabin is comparable to 8000 feet, but oxygen masks are adjusted and ready for instant use. from the southeast the fighter escort appears for this navigator ships which now turn , off to wait for the finest return on rally point. the mustangs climate formation to take position above the b-29's.

lead bombers begin to circle, dropping the new smoke markers for assembly. the project officer observes this part of the tactical plan in action. from various zone positions, the group separates. and form on their lead ships es whichor 11 plane wav had for initial point. the big parade is on. landfall is picked up, along fromthe first flak bursts enemy coastal batteries.

fujiyama marks the turn for initial point. flak becomes heavier and more accurate. and now the first japs appear, diving head on into the formations. some are suicide fighters trying to ram the bombers. other fighters dropped phosphorus bombs set to explode in front of the oncoming b-29's. our p-51's go after them. they know they are tangling -- their job is to protect the those japt some of

fighters will meet the blast of bomber guns. a tail gunner pleads with a fighter to come in a little closer. [gunfire]

from the turn at initial point, they moved steadily on and get ready for business. fighters fall off. but those clouds are beginning to close in and it looks worse ahead. just east, the tokyo area breaks clear. the bombardiers begin to draw a beat on 574. the planes sit tight for the bombing run. here's where we pay off.

♪ two jap aircraft plants and an air drone are prepared to receive 4000 tons of destruction. the first waves of b-29's has already found their objective. ♪ succeeding bomber groups add to

the smoking carcass. ♪ the tactical plan 574 is now an accomplished. the bombers turn a good downwind across the burning acres of tokyo. close-up camera shows the skies s of the spectacular fire strikes last march. 51 square miles of lemay treatment. across the bay, this is fighter country. with the first call on the in a

calm, the mustangs p loughran go to work again. [gunfire]

with the big bombers homeward bound, our p-51's drop down for strafing runs. skimming a lot -- along get maximum speed, they go to work p lines,vital ja

blasting communications radio , installations, power lines. [gunfire] swooping down on enemy transportation, railroads, small factories. [gunfire]

narrator: and airfields. [gunfire]

then on to shipping targets, trawlers, fishermen, destroyer or lugger, it is the same enemy. [gunfire]

after strafing, the rallies -- the fighters go back to the rally point. fuel gauges are down close to empty. but fighters spirits begin to rise. they lined up in finishing, going past it was -- at the blessed be. once over for each enemy killed.

after the last fighter groups are in, all hands sweat in the first limping b-29's. that runway is a beautiful site, as a letdown with engines out, low on gas or beat up by flak and fighters. in three months, nearly 2000 as-shot b-29's haven here. you can understand why they even named their planes after those marines. the lucky ones fuel and head for home bases in an hour, but iwo still has its hazards. weather can turn this station into a hopeless deluge. fog and overcast block the airstrip during these periods. that means orders the bailout.

luck, a b-29 might drop ditching. from here you can see how the cloud cover up there smothers the runway and realize what one pilot went through. sometimes a battle scarred bomber staggers back to iwo only to flatten out at the last heartbreaking second. [siren]

by some miracle, the whole crew got away from their stations before 2000 gallons of flaming gas enveloped them. firefighters risk their lives to save the ship. this too takes courage beyond the line of duty. further south most of the wings are clearing the bases. exhausted crews wait out the last endless hour when time seems to stop. the position is radioed in. the controller gets word of the approaching flight. ♪ s appear one mariana the horizon. long --ers fly across

guam and turning to the landing pattern. 15 hours ago they left the other end of that runway. it is a pleasure to be back, a pleasure to roll on solid familiar blacktop. ♪ it is good to feel the sudden humid heat, to be among the living, swapping details with the ground crew.

flak, fighters, the close calls, the one that got away. but some of those b-29 crews won't be able to talk it over today. 11 men on a bomber that didn't quite make it. ♪ [sirens] ♪

the rescue squads tear away the hot metal. somewhere in that wreckage a man has lived to feel those gallant hands. one life saved and 10 lost. that is part of the day's total. 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-29's had all but obliterated the enemy's ability to make more. thousands of missions would hit japan with twice the monthly tonnage set ever fell in germany. the question was, how much longer when a beaten japan hold out? in august we made a test that never was applied to germany. while great land, sea, and air

forces gathered for the last invasion, our b-29's dropped two which hastened the surrender of japan and saved untold thousands of american lives. ♪ so the mission of our air forces, which began nearly four years ago, was accomplished. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] 6] >> this evening at 6:00 eastern on the civil war, history professor at the university of massachusetts amherst talks with

how photography can be used to turn the history of american slavery, both before and after the emancipation. >> we had to spend a fair amount of time of frederick douglass who wrote extensively about photography and about the power of self representation. he wrote about the power for african-americans to be able to present themselves as they saw themselves, as they experienced themselves and each other. >> sunday morning at 10:00 on road to the white house rewind, the first of the three 2000 presidential debates between al gore and texas governor george w. bush. >> step one is to make sure we reform the system. they have the system in place that leaves no child behind. stop this business about asking how old you are. if you are 10 we are going to put you here. start asking the question, what do you know? if you don't know what you were supposed to know, we will make sure you know before it is too late. >>