<Li> 20 July 1945: 1 B - 29 drops a Pumpkin bomb (bomb with same ballistics as the Fat Man nuclear bomb) through overcast . It aimed at, but missed, the Imperial Palace . </Li> <Li> 8 August 1945: 60 B - 29s bomb the aircraft factory and arsenal . </Li> <Li> 10 August 1945: 70 B - 29s bomb the arsenal complex . </Li> <Ul> <Li> 16--17 February 1945: carrier - based aircraft, including dive bombers, escorted by Hellcat fighters attacked Tokyo . Over two days, over 1500 American planes and hundreds of Japanese planes were in the air . "By the end of February 17, more than five hundred Japanese planes, both on the ground and in the air, had been lost, and Japan's aircraft works had been badly hit . The Americans lost eighty planes ." </Li> <Li> 18 August 1945: The last U.S. air combat casualty of World War II occurred during mission 230 A-8, when two Consolidated B - 32 Dominators of the 386th Bomb Squadron, 312th Bomb Group, launched from Yontan Airfield, Okinawa, for a photo reconnaissance run over Tokyo, Japan . Both bombers were attacked by several Japanese fighters of both the 302nd Naval Air Group at Atsugi and the Yokosuka Air Group that made 10 gunnery passes . Japanese IJNAS aces Sadamu Komachi and Saburō Sakai were part of this attack . The B - 32 piloted by 1st Lt. John R. Anderson, was hit at 20,000 feet; cannon fire knocked out the number two (port inner) engine, and three crew were injured, including Sgt . Anthony J. Marchione, 19, of the 20th Reconnaissance Squadron, who took a 20 mm hit to the chest and died 30 minutes later . Tail gunner Sgt . John Houston destroyed one attacker . The lead bomber, Consolidated B - 32 - 20 - CF Dominator, 42 - 108532, "Hobo Queen II", piloted by 1st Lt. James Klein, was not seriously damaged but the second Consolidated B - 32 - 35 - CF Dominator, 42 - 108578, lost an engine, had the upper turret knocked out of action, and partially lost rudder control . Both bombers landed at Yontan Airfield just past ~ 1800 hrs . having survived the last air combat of the Pacific war . The following day, propellers were removed from Japanese aircraft as part of the surrender agreement . Marchione was buried on Okinawa on 19 August, his body being returned to his Pottstown, Pennsylvania home on 18 March 1949 . He was interred in St. Aloysius Old Cemetery with full military honors . "Hobo Queen II" was dismantled at Yonton Airfield following a 9 September nosegear collapse and damage during lifting . B - 32, 42 - 108578, was scrapped at Kingman, Arizona after the war . </Li> </Ul>

How were the allies able to reach tokyo