Invasion of Japan trivia question.

[Kurando]

Hi all,

I've got a little trivia challenge for you; it's not easy, but it's do-able if you know your WW2 Pacific Theater history. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif

..

It's common knowlege that D-day was the designated name for the day on which Operation Overload would commence, but it's a lesser know fact that there was also a different "letter-day" slated for the proposed invasion of the Japanese mainland which was negated by the Japanese surrender in August 1945.

Keeping those facts in mind, here's the question:

What was the name of the proposed Operation (similar to Operation Overlord) to invade the Japanese mainland, and what was the "letter-day" (similar to D-day) which accompanied the proposed plan?[/list]

[Ii Naomasa]

Thank a game for giving me the inspiration to read further into the matter (if it didn't get me the answer itself). When Dynamix released their add-on for Aces of the Pacific ages ago, which was based around a hypothetical situation where the Hiroshima and Nagasaki weren't bombed, it made me really interested in the 'what if?' of the situation.

Kurando-dono, if you mean Operation Olympic, which was the invasion of Kyushu, then X-Day is your answer. I don't think I ever came across any names for the invasion of Honshu proper, which was part of Operation Coronet. In fact, I think Operation Coronet's datings were based off 'X-Day' (in other words, X+45 or whatever the time schedule was).

X-Day would've even been larger than D-Day and mostly likely would've been a whole lot more costly as well.

[This message has been edited by Ii Naomasa (edited 02-06-2002).]

[Kurando]

That's pretty damned impressive Ii Naomasa!

You are half-way there + yes, X-day was the correct letter name for Operation Olympic, however Operation Coronet did have it's own separate "letter day" + collectively Coronet and Olympic were know by a larger singular name which encompassed the entire invasion plan.

...any takers to fill in the missing parts?

P.S. You are quite correct in what you have said about the scope and cost of X-day Ii Naomasa; it was an ambitious plan which would have involved 43 Allied Combat Divisions (for the purposes of scale D-day involved a mere 18 Allied Combat Divisions).

[Whitey]

If I was at home I'd have the answer within 5 mins, all I can remember off-hand Operation Olympic - and indeed it would have been an olympic feet...

[Tac]

Here's another trivia question for you:

Which was the fighter plane that had the distinction of being the FIRST US fighter aircraft (with a US pilot) to score a kill (name the victim and location for karmic points), AND which was the first fighter plane to land in Japan after the Surrender.

[Kurando]

I'm guessing that the first U.S. fighter kill made in WW2 would have been made by one of Chinnault's Flying Tigers in a P-40; as for which was the first fighter to land on the Japanese mainland I'm fairly certain that it would have been a Navy aircraft, possibly an F-4U?

[Tac]

Thats true, but the Flying Tigers AVG were flying for and under the Chinese Air Force, not as part of US Army Air Corps.

The first kill to be recorded for a US military plane was a German FW200, shot near Greenland by a P-38D.

The P-38L was the first fighter plane to land in occupied Japan, story goes that the pilots of that flight purposely disobeyed orders to not land in Japan, but the pilots wanted to have the distinction of being the first fighter pilots in Japan, so they got "lost" and "had" to land to refuel.

[Kurando]

Great info Tac, thanks very much.

[Khan7]

Alright, obviously I was wrong, but I had had the impression that D-Day was just a universal designation for the first day of any large operation. Just as H-Hour is, except for the first hour of an operation.

Matt