Hellcats, Helldivers, and Avengers

摘要

Never was there a single-day aerial thumping like the June 19,1944 Battle of the Philippine Sea. In a flotilla 40 miles wide that included 15 aircraft carriers, U.S.Navy Task Force 58 arrived to establish an island base on Saipan for B-29 Superfortresses bound for Japan. The Japanese Mobile Fleet intervened with nine carriers. Addressing his pilots, taskforce commander Admiral Marc Mitscher was succinct: "Cut their damned throats." By nightfall on the 19th, Japan had lost at least two-thirds of the 373 carrier aircraft committed. One of two Japanese carriers sunk that day had launched aircraft against Pearl Harbor. American losses were 29 aircraft plus nominal damage to a single battleship. On the to-do list of 20th Air Force B-29s, Tokyo was penciled in.