The new Premier of Japan was ushered in with a bang on 7 April 1945, when for the first time in World War II land based fighters escorted Boeing B-29's over Tokyo. Two hundred B-29's based in the Marianas, and a hundred North American P-51's pulled a one two over industrial Tokyo that brought twenty-one Jap planes tumbling down. Here, on 8 April 1945, the day after the raid, Boeing B-29's, North American P-51's and Northrop P-6l's are parked along Number #1 strip on Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. Mt. Suribachi may be seen in the background. 78th Fighter Squadron
Wreckage of Lt. Dahlquist's North American P-51 "Miss Jo III" of the 78th FS, 15th Fighter Group, which cracked-up" at the 7th Air Force base on Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands on 10 March 1945.
