November 3, 1946

The force of fifty seven planes landed at an airport in the New Mexico desert. Within two hours a bomb was placed in the bomb bay of each of the bombers and the gun ships were fully armed. The tankers were topped off as were the other planes. The crews were called together for a joint briefing. At the end of the briefing the nine crews were segregated into groups. Three bomber crews and their gunships and tankers were designated as force one, two additional as force 2, two as force 3 and two as force 4. Each force was individually given a takeoff time and a course. Force one and two were to take off together and head east. The tankers would land at several airports on the east coast and refuel, the bombers and the gunships would remain airborne and fly at a relatively low speed to allow the tankers to catch them. The tankers would again land in England, refuel the bombers and return to the base in England, but the bombers and gunships would continue on. The targets were unnamed. Only the crews of the bombers would know the actual targets. Each pilot was given a sealed envelope before takeoff. After they were in the air they would open the envelopes, unless the targets matched, they would abort the mission. There was one other word on the paper, it was the recall order. Later atomic forces would describe the mission control as “fail deadly”. If control of the force was lost it would not turn back, it would complete the mission. A year later this kind of control would be repudiated, no American force would ever be allowed to take off again to bomb without a mid-flight confirmation. It would be called, “fail safe.” A loss of communications would result in a recall rather than pressing the attack.

Force three would take off and head north west about 15 hours later and force four would follow about four hours behind it. Although the timing of the second raid did not require the precision of the first raid, it was being timed to have all bombs fall within a half hour.

FORCE ONE AND TWO – NEARING THE COST OF EUROPE

The pilots of each plane opened their sealed orders. The three pilots on each plane matched the orders and read them to the rest of the crew. By now the two remaining forces had taken off and were headed north west. When they were over the Pacific ocean they too opened their orders and read them to the crews.