Roosevelt agreed a proposal to bomb Japan in 1940.

[wm]

So, is no one interested in discussing what the possible effects of FDR's authorized AVGII bombing missions over Japan might have been ?

Someone said:
Suppose my neighbor's home catches fire, and I have a length of garden hose four or five hundred feet away. If he can take my garden hose and connect it up with his hydrant, I may help him to put out his fire.

The plan was perfectly kosher from the international law point of view, the bombers would be sold or leased to the Chinese, their crews would be discharged from the US Army and become soldiers in the Chinese Army.
One might say that's a lawyer's trick but then welcome the world of realpolitik where nice guys don't survive for long.

[robdab]

I don't have my copy of Armstrong's "Preemptive Strike" at hand so I can't provide a page # or quote but eleven years later I believe that it mentions that there was a Japanese spy high in the ranks of the Chinese government who would likely have provided info on any AVGII plans which might have come to historical fruition. Perhaps another reason why FDR's wishes to bomb the Japanese homeland an AVGII in 1941 were never carried out ?

[wm]

No need for spies, in this case secrecy wasn't possible. The operation was too big for that, newspapers would get wind of it very quickly.

[Takao]

They simply did not have the bombers available, and the British were not willing to share any of their orders.

Further, it was not just one "high placed spy", but the entire network. Chiang was not told, in 1942, about HALPRO, Force Aquila, and the Doolittle B-25s until days before they were supposed to be sent, out of fear the Japanese would find out and plan aerial counterattacks on where the bomber bases.

Chiang Kai Shek would probably be a bigger reason against bombing Japan...For all his bluster, he did not want to, because he knew what the Japanese response would be. He did not have his bombers carry bombs to Japan, only leaflets, despite the bombers ability to carry bombs. Despite the bombers leaflet success, no further effort was made to bomb Japan. On the "things to do" list of the AVG2, bombing Japan was low on the list at #5. Finally, we bombers were available, suddenly Chiang did not want the B-17s, B-24s & B-25s in China.

The bombers, had they been sent would not have been used to bomb Japan, but sent to bomb Japanese bases in China and to support China's ground effort. Which was Chiang's original intent.

[Takao]

I don't have my copy of Armstrong's "Preemptive Strike" at hand so I can't provide a page # or quote but eleven years later I believe that it mentions that there was a Japanese spy high in the ranks of the Chinese government who would likely have provided info on any AVGII plans which might have come to historical fruition. Perhaps another reason why FDR's wishes to bomb the Japanese homeland an AVGII in 1941 were never carried out ?

Please reacquire another copy most riki-tik...Your memory sucks.
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