Museum in Outskirts of Tokyo Holds Exhibition on B-29s Used in WWII; Air Raids Targeted Factory in Musashino Which Produced Engines for Zero Fighter Aircraft

The Yomiuri Shimbun

6:00 JST, August 20, 2024

A museum in Musashino, Tokyo, is holding an exhibition on the U.S. forces’ B-29 bombers that took part in air raids that hit the city during World War II.

The bombers targeted Nakajima Aircraft Co. Musashi Plant, a military factory located in then Musashino Town, now Musashino City.

The Musashino Furusato Rekishikan history museum exhibition is titled “War and Musashino 10 — The B-29 as seen from video footage.” It is part of a series of exhibitions held every year focusing on the relationship between the war and the city. This is the 10th such exhibition.

The factory manufactured parts including engines for Zero fighter aircraft and other Japanese military planes during the war, which is why the U.S. forces targeted it.

B-29 bombers conducted the first air raid on Musashino on Nov. 24, 1944. The town was bombed and damaged nine times until the end of the war.

More than 200 people were said to have been killed in the precincts of the factory alone.

Exhibition visitors can watch a U.S.-made movie “Birth of the B-29,” which the museum procured from the U.S. National Archives.

The film shows the manufacturing processes of B-29 bombers and how the planes operated. The movie also mentions the women and elderly who were mobilized to work in U.S. factories, manufacturing wings and cockpits of B-29s and construction of bases for attacking Japan.

To get an idea of the size of the B-29 aircraft, visitors can see an almost life-size picture of one side of its horizontal tail — about 6.6 meters long — printed on the floor of the exhibition room.

Items in the exhibition include a notebook that Yuji Nakazawa, who was vice director of the factory, used to record damage from the air raids.

“I watched the film about the B-29 bombers’ manufacturing process for the first time,” said a 75-year-old visitor from Komae, Tokyo. “The United States also mobilized women. I comprehended the situation during those years.”

The exhibition lasts until Oct. 31. Opening hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is closed on Fridays and national holidays.