Naha, Okinawa May 22, 1944
The air raid siren went off half an hour before dawn. Some civilians ran to the shell magazines. More civilians ran to the local fire fighting depots where water, sand, shovels and axes were ready. Old women and young children huddled underground in air raid shelters. Many of the shelters were small holes in the gardens that the families that lived in the outer rim of the small port city had. Steel sheets supported by steel and wooden beams formed protected boxes six feet underground. If the grandmothers closed the doors, the air would grow fetid faster than it would on a brand new submarine, so many of the grandmothers kept the doors open until they heard the first bombs explode.
The airfields on the long island were busy. Over a hundred fighters had their pilots sitting in their cockpits an hour before dawn. Most of the engines were cold as they could not afford to burn the fuel for an alert, but keeping the planes fueled, armed and crewed saved vital minutes while the engine warmed up. A full squadron was already overhead while the rest of the defenders were soon seeing their propellers turn.
Fighters were still scrambling as the first American squadron came over the coast. Sixteen carriers were out to sea. Twelve carriers had launched two waves; the first was this incoming fighter sweep. The second wave had almost all of the fleets' bombers escorted by half a dozen fighters per carrier. This second, far smaller wave would have had enough fighters to force the Japanese defenders to fight at near even odds even before any accounting for flying time or ruggedness of the machines was taken into consideration. The first fighter wave just overwhelmed the out-numbered, out-experienced, and out-built defenders. Three Americans would be claiming ace in a morning even as most of the American fighter pilots never fired a burst at an enemy fighter. Half a dozen Hellcats smashed into the sea and earth below along with dozens of Zeros, Jacks, Georges and somehow even a trio of Oscars. Before the bombers arrived and after the air above the island had been claimed, quartets and half squadrons of Hellcats went down to strafe anything that moved or anything that looked like it could have value. Anti-aircraft guns claimed a few more hard kills and damaged dozens of more fighters, but their resistance marked their location for the Helldivers that soon tipped over in 70 degree dives to suppress the flak even as the Avengers began to bomb the harbor and the hangers on the primary airfields on the island.
By 10:00AM, the two strikes had recovered.
By noon, the fleet had turned to exit back into the vastness of the Pacific.
By nightfall, bodies of aircrew had been committed to the deep.
By midnight, the planning teams aboard each carrier were considering their target list for the next island that they would soon strike.