Fearing he will be fired for lack of results, LeMay develops a radical, "perilous" plan for low-altitude night bombing without seeking prior approval from his superiors in Washington. He decides to drop the B-29s' altitude from 30,000 feet to just 5,000 f

Fearing he will be fired for lack of results, LeMay develops a radical, "perilous" plan for low-altitude night bombing without seeking prior approval from his superiors in Washington. He decides to drop the B-29s' altitude from 30,000 feet to just 5,000 feet, roughly a mile above the target, to get beneath the jet streams and clouds. To prepare his skeptical aircrews, he forces them to fly training missions as low as 50 feet, a mental game designed to make the 5,000-foot raid feel safer by comparison. LeMay knows that Tokyo's traditional architecture—mostly wood and paper—makes the city a "wood pile" vulnerable to fire. While the Japanese remain confident in their primitive neighborhood fire associations armed with sand and buckets, LeMay possesses detailed intelligence on the city's population density and flammability. He finally informs General Norstad of the "dramatic change in tactics" only on the morning the operation is scheduled to launch. 4/8
1945 LEMAY