8. Veterans of the air war against Germany were to be transferred to the Pacific
Even before the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945, planners for Operation Downfall were involving the veteran Eighth Air Force, which had carried the bulk of the American strategic bombing campaign against the Third Reich. Plans were for several of the heavy bombing groups of the Eighth Air Force to transfer to bases in the Pacific to be re-equipped with the B-29, which carried a crew of 11 rather than the 10 of the B-17, and which had a different defensive system. After the necessary training, the European veterans were to operate out of Okinawa as part of the United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific, which also had control of the Commonwealth’s Tiger Force.
The American Twentieth Air Force, which was already the main strategic bombing force operating against the Japanese, was to continue its strategic bombing of Japanese targets from its bases in the Marianas. Other aerial support provided by the United States Army Air Forces were tactical, used to bombard the defenses on the beachheads and further inland as range allowed. The tactical groups were scheduled to be moved to airbases in the captured portion of Kyushu, and then to support operations during Coronet. In all operations, aircraft from the massive carrier force were to provide both air cover and close ground support, a tactic developed by the Navy and Marines as the war evolved.