Pacific Bombing Operations of Malaya, Singapore & Borneo in 1944-1945

[hoot72]

Would anyone have access or links to bombing missions and statistics of bombing missions on Malaya, Singapore and Borneo by any chance as the data is hard to come by as well as any links to PDF documents or articles about the bombing campaigns?

Many thanks!

[EwenS]

You will find some information in the USAAF Chronology. Look at operations of US 5th & 13th AF and/or Far East Air Forces from Australia and later Morotai and the Philippines to Borneo from mid-1943.

Also XX Bomber Command raids from India/Ceylon against targets like Rangoon & Singapore.
http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii/usaf/html/

British Liberator bomber information can be found here
http://www.rquirk.com/fail/acsea/acsea.pdf
http://www.rquirk.com/seac.html

[OpanaPointer]

US Strategic Bombing Survey would be worth a peek, I think.

[hoot72]

You will find some information in the USAAF Chronology. Look at operations of US 5th & 13th AF and/or Far East Air Forces from Australia and later Morotai and the Philippines to Borneo from mid-1943.

Also XX Bomber Command raids from India/Ceylon against targets like Rangoon & Singapore.
http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii/usaf/html/

British Liberator bomber information can be found here
http://www.rquirk.com/fail/acsea/acsea.pdf
http://www.rquirk.com/seac.html

Thank you so much Ewen. Appreciate the help and links. This will be really good research of the facts.

[hoot72]

US Strategic Bombing Survey would be worth a peek, I think.

Thanks OpanaPointer. Any suggested links?

[OpanaPointer]

US Strategic Bombing Survey would be worth a peek, I think.

Thanks OpanaPointer. Any suggested links?

Just wade in. https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/trs/trsb ... urvey.html The surveys are produced at public expense, so you shouldn't have to pay for them. Google around for the free copies.

[hoot72]

US Strategic Bombing Survey would be worth a peek, I think.

Thanks OpanaPointer. Any suggested links?

Just wade in. https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/trs/trsb ... urvey.html The surveys are produced at public expense, so you shouldn't have to pay for them. Google around for the free copies.

Thank you so much! I appreciate it/

[Mil-tech Bard]

A friend of mine found this by complete accident while looking to see if the USA made incendiary clusters larger than 500 lb in WW2:

https://dlozeve.github.io/ww2-bombings/

Source code for that website is at

https://github.com/dlozeve/ww2-bombings

It contains a 35 MB CSV file showing cleaned data of where the USA has bombed from 1915 through the end of the Vietnam War and with what.

Here's the datafields in the master list:

WWII_ID
MASTER_INDEX_NUMBER
MSNDATE
THEATER
NAF
COUNTRY_FLYING_MISSION
TGT_COUNTRY_CODE
TGT_COUNTRY
TGT_LOCATION
TGT_TYPE
TGT_ID
TGT_INDUSTRY_CODE
TGT_INDUSTRY
SOURCE_LATITUDE
SOURCE_LONGITUDE
LATITUDE
LONGITUDE
UNIT_ID
MDS
AIRCRAFT_NAME
MSN_TYPE
TGT_PRIORITY
TGT_PRIORITY_EXPLANATION
AC_ATTACKING
ALTITUDE
ALTITUDE_FEET
NUMBER_OF_HE
TYPE_OF_HE
LBS_HE
TONS_OF_HE
NUMBER_OF_IC
TYPE_OF_IC
LBS_IC
TONS_OF_IC
NUMBER_OF_FRAG
TYPE_OF_FRAG
LBS_FRAG
TONS_OF_FRAG
TOTAL_LBS
TOTAL_TONS
TAKEOFF_BASE
TAKEOFF_COUNTRY
TAKEOFF_LATITUDE
TAKEOFF_LONGITUDE
AC_LOST
AC_DAMAGED
AC_AIRBORNE
AC_DROPPING
TIME_OVER_TARGET
SIGHTING_METHOD_CODE
SIGHTING_EXPLANATION
BDA
CALLSIGN
ROUNDS_AMMO
SPARES_RETURN_AC
WX_FAIL_AC
MECH_FAIL_AC
MISC_FAIL_AC
TARGET_COMMENT
MISSION_COMMENTS
SOURCE
DATABASE_EDIT_COMMENTS

THOR appears to be this

https://data.world/datamil/world-war-ii-thor-data

As far as questions regarding reliability of THOR Dataset, see:

http://www.au.af.mil/au/afri/thor/faq.asp

What does your database currently contain? How current is it?

THOR contains data from 1915 to 1975, covering World Wars I and II and the Vietnam War. It is as complete as we’ve been able to make it. We suspect there are some gaps in WWI – particularly in the Italian records, and are compiling the French bombing record in WW1. Vietnam is missing data prior to September 1965, and also the month of November 1967 is missing (due to water damage to its magnetic tape archive). To the best of our ability, the rest of the information is as complete as records document. The Korean war records are being hand transcribed from paper mission reports, and will be posted as soon as that action is complete.

What percentage of the total records do you have?

An interesting question that is nigh impossible to answer accurately. In some cases we record more sorties flown or bombs dropped than the approved and recognized sources. For example, the USAF Statistical Digest for WW II has long been considered one of the most trusted sources for operational air data on WW II. However, reading the fine print, the Digest notes that 8th AF bombing data in Europe is not included prior to 1 October 1943! That means that the Digest excludes the first 104 missions flown over 14 months by the 8th AF, which would include the first Schweinfurt raid, amongst others. Frustratingly, no explanation is given for this editorial decision. THOR contains data from the first raid by 8th AF (Rouen, 17 Aug 1942) through the end of the war, so the numbers in THOR will not necessarily match up with those that are based on the Statistical Digest.

Why is the SOF underreported? Where are all of the AC-130 strikes? Where are the WWII fighter strikes in Europe?

SOF MISREPS have traditionally failed to consistently include coordinates of where they have employed their weapons. The best we have usually uses, for example “IVO (in vicinity of) Baghdad.” Since Baghdad easily covers greater than 81 square miles, inaccurately plotting the AC-130 data could inadvertently lead researchers to draw false conclusions. The same is true for WWII fighter information. When we have coordinates, we do plot those engagements, as seen in WWII aircraft data in the Pacific.

What is the target location accuracy?

The target location accuracy varies through a number of factors. One is the level of latitude and longitude resolution. WWII US Strategic Bombing Survey data is reported in Degree Degree Minute Minute resolution (DDMM), which equates to 1 nautical mile (1nm) accuracy. While that sounds quite inaccurate to an audience raised on GPS-guided munitions having 1 meter or less accuracy, the size of the bomb load must also be factored in. For WWII, the best accuracy achieved was approximately 30% of bombs within a 1,000 ft radius of the target, and 97% within a mile of the target. A bad bomb run using H2X (radar) to guide to a completely cloud-obscured target could have as few as 50% of its bombs within FIVE miles of the target. With these factors taken into account, the 1 nm accuracy seems appropriate for WWII. Korea and WWI share a similar accuracy to WWII. For Vietnam, the accuracy of target plotting is closer to 100 meters for the best coordinates, but can vary to as many as 1,000m for some of the less well documented strikes.

How do I cite THOR in my project?

Please use the following citation:

Lt Col Robertson, J. A., Burr, R., and Barth, B. (2013) USAF THOR Database; www.afri.au.af.mil/thor retrieved on (insert day, month year). Data compiled from multiple sources.