A RADICAL SHIFT TO LOW-ALTITUDE NIGHT BOMBING Colleague James M. Scott. LeMay concluded that high-altitude precision bombing would never work over Japan. He devised a secret, perilous plan to switch to low-altitude night bombing, dropping the B-29s from 30,000 feet to just 5,000 feet. To prepare his crews, he forced them to fly training missions at 50 feet, despite their fears. LeMay knew Tokyo was largely composed of dense wooden structures, describing the city as a "Hollywood backdrop" of westernization masking a fragile infrastructure. He also knew Japan'sfire response relied on antiquated equipment and bucket brigades, leaving the city defenseless against mass fire. NUMBER 4
1945 OKINAWA