Matterhorn.

This is coolbert:

Read here about the B-29 bomber, "Matterhorn", and the initial results.

"What was the most expensive military project of World War Two? ... It wasn't the atom bomb (the Manhattan Project). It was the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Cost? $3 billion, the most expensive weapon of World War II."

[I had heard some time ago that the B-29 project and "Manhattan" had each cost $2 billion!!]

"Bombing Japan"

"After the Casablanca Conference in early 1943, President Roosevelt committed the United States to a heavy bombing campaign against Japan, at the earliest possible date. The B-29 was the only bomber with the range and payload needed . . . Roosevelt As plans for Operation Matterhorn took shape, they envisaged basing the B-29's in eastern India, flying them over 'the Hump,' staging/refueling at Chengtu in central China, and then bombing Japanese cities."

Further, concerning the FIRST attempt at strategic bombing of the Japanese homeland:

"The diminishing number of bombers at each stage of the mission illustrates the problems inherent in Operation Matterhorn:"

* 92 bombers left India.
* 79 reached the staging bases in China.
* 75 took off from the bases.
* 68 left China, the others aborted after take-off.
* 47 reached the target at Yawata.
* 15 bombed visually; 32 bombed by radar due to the weather.
* One bomb hit the target!

"Despite the failure of the raid in material damage, the press hailed it as a great victory"

One bomb hit!! A great victory??!! I think NOT!!

coolbert.