 1944, high over the Pacific Ocean. A fleet of the mightiest super bombers in the world were completing a 5,000-mile flight from San Francisco to Saipan. Less than four months before, the island was in Japanese hands. It was for bases like these that American soldiers, sailors, and Marines had fought the costly battle. On Columbus Day 1944, B-29s discovered Saipan. Our arrival was a real historic event, celebrated with a ballot by a local poet, and it went like this. On the 12th of October, back in 1944, the citizens of Saipan heard a great four-engine roar. Bulldozers fled the runway. The soldiers stopped to cheer as down came Jolton Josie, the Pacific pioneer. It was a great day for the aviation engineers and service groups who had hacked the airfield out of jungle. To them, Jolton Josie was a sensation who shamelessly stole the show. Some JAP officials already knew that Saipan, as an American base, with its threat of aerial bombardment, spelled eventual defeat for Japan. The landing of the B-29s gave reality to that threat. The new arrivals were men who had flown fortresses and liberators in all theaters of war. They were led by a former 1928 flying cadet, who in 1944 was named Deputy Chief of Air Staff, and was now commanding the 21st Bomber Command, General Haywood Hansel. The first element of the 21st Bomber Command has arrived. When we've done some more fighting, we'll do some more talk. All over the Marianas, B-29s were getting ready to carry out the general's promise. Saipan, Tinian, and Guam had been seized by Admiral Nimitz forces and the primary purpose of serving as bases for the very long-range bombers now parked on circular heart stands. The 21st was building up its massive air power as it prepared for the ultimate crushing defeat of Japan. The long arm of the 73rd Bombardment Wing, led by General Rosie O'Donnell, began punching the enemy with appalling strength. Behind this strength was more than bombs and bullets. There was planning. In January, the 21st Bomber Command changed hands. Major General courtesy LeMay replaced Hansel. By sheer weight of attack, LeMay believed he could force the surrender of Japan. To that end, he ordered a furious pace of operations. Here was his weapon, the Supraform, with 2,200 horses warming up in each of its four engines. Designed to carry more destruction and carry it higher, faster and farther than any bomber before, the B-29s were like artillery pointed at the heart of Japan. End was armed with 12 50-caliber machine guns, a 20-millimeter cannon, and four tons of bombs. Fully armed, the 21st Bomber Command was taking off for Japan. The bombers out in 100-plane formations to hit Kobe, Nagoya, Tokyo. In two months, he increased the attack missions to 200 planes, building to an 800-plane climax. Jap raids had tried to stop the B-29s. They might just as well have tried to stop an onrushing typhoon. Who has ever fought over such vastness? We who had battled over Berlin, Ploesti and Schweinfurt knew it. Berlin and back was 1,000 miles. The Fosya Ploesti run, 1150. But Saipan to Tokyo and back was more than 3,000 miles. B-29s were the planes for the job. For all their destructive power, those of us who flew the Superports felt they were things of beauty. In flight, our navigators were on the spot. An error of two degrees could put all of us over nothing but ocean in a plane with empty gas tanks. It was a long ride and the longest, toughest bomber missions in the world. As we approached enemy sky, the crews prepared for the deadly business ahead. While making the slow climb to altitude, our gunners warmed up the central fire control system. Inside a Superport, you can't see a gun. You fire by remote control. We had electronics, superhuman brain power at the flick of a switch. Then we waited for the Japs. Initial point, Mount Fuji, meant we were 60 miles from Tokyo. The leading B-29s found their objectives. Now, below us, Tokyo. Tokyo, which the Jap High Command had boasted was outside the range of land-based American bombers. For six months, we had proved them wrong. Wasn't satisfied with the results of these high-level precision tactics. Suddenly, in March, he switched to low-level nighttime, maximum-effort fire raids. And Japan's dreams of world empire went up in a flaming inferno. The B-29s burned out the industrial heart of Japan. One by one, 66 principal cities received their devastating bath of fire until Japan's military situation was hopeless. They could not have held out. They had lost control of the air. Their capacity to wage war was destroyed. The fire raids had even killed much of their fanatical resistance. B-29s were making Japan bleed internally. Then President Truman made a grave decision to deliver a special bomb field orders were signed by General 20. They instructed Colonel Paul Tibbets and his B-29 crew to drop what they called the gimmick. At 08.15 on August 6, over military target Hiroshima, Bombardier Major Farabi took over. He was about to drop the atom bomb. A bomb of unprecedented destructiveness had exploded. Three days later, a second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Atomic energy had made air power all important. Dread were the threats for the future. Strong the requirement for air power. As suddenly as it started, the war came to an end and surrender ceremonies aboard the Missouri. Without being invaded, without losing a foot of homeland, Japan was surely and utterly defeated. Before the atom bomb, before the Soviet entry into the war, Japan was beaten through the forceful application of Allied land, sea, and air power. The Japanese surrender had come so quickly after mounting the B-29 offensive and the atom bomb climax, that advocates of air power felt our most optimistic predictions were confirmed. Fully recognizing the contributions by Army and Navy, General Arnold felt that air power share in the victory may fairly be called decisive. In addition to ushering in the atomic age, the war's end marked one of the revolutionary points in the history of warfare. Control of the air proved to be essential to the success of every major military operation. Coordinated planning and command of ground, sea, and air forces, backed up by the full effort of the home front had enabled the Allies to secure this control of the air. Air power is the technical instrument of our country's defense. Air power can also be the instrument of peace. The United States Air Force has made it apparent to any potential aggressor that an attack on the United States would be immediately followed by a devastating air atomic counter blow. The atomic weapon thus makes air power the primary requisite of national survival. The United States Air Force