Operation San Antonio I

'San Antonio I' was the US initial bombing raid by Brigadier General Haywood S. Hansell’s XXI Bomber Command of General Henry H. Arnold’s 20th AAF from newly completed bases in the Mariana islands group (24 November 1944).

The raid was despatched against the Nakajima aero engine factory at Musashi near Tokyo, and was undertaken by 111 Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers, led by Brigadier General Emmett O’Donnell, on the instructions of the 20th AAF headquarters in Washington, DC. A mere 24 of the aircraft found and bombed the target, and then only with great inaccuracy, and the raid was not a success because of inadequate tactics including, primarily, reliance on attack from very high altitude despite the known problems caused by high-speed winds below the bombers.