Qualla: Bombing of Rangoon in World War II

Bombing of Rangoon in World War II: Introduction

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bipin Behari Kapur, Public domain. The morning of December 23, 1941, was clear over Rangoon. A light breeze blew from the south, and the golden spire of Shwedagon Pagoda gleamed in the winter sun. Japanese bomber crews, inbound from airfields in Thailand and Indochina, used that same pagoda as their navigation mark. General Michio Sugawara had planned a devastating strike against both Mingaladon airfield and the city's downtown districts. Eighty bombers and thirty fighters were converging on a capital that had barely two dozen fighters to defend it.

Image: Bipin Behari Kapur | Public domain

Bombing of Rangoon in World War II: Scramble Over Mingaladon

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Public domain. Just before ten in the morning, the operations room at Mingaladon airfield reported two waves of approaching aircraft. A dozen Curtiss P-40 Tomahawks of the American Volunteer Group and fifteen Brewster Buffalos of the Royal Air Force scrambled, their pilots climbing for every fo...

Image: National Museum of the U.S. Navy | Public domain

Bombing of Rangoon in World War II: Fire Over Downtown

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bipin Behari Kapur, Public domain. While the air battle raged over Mingaladon, two full squadrons of Japanese bombers reached Rangoon's center. Six Tomahawks circling over Syriam, downriver, spotted eighteen bombers of the 98th Sentai approaching at 17,000 feet in tight formation. Colonel Shigeki Usui commanded th...

Image: Bipin Behari Kapur | Public domain

Bombing of Rangoon in World War II: The Human Cost

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bipin Behari Kapur, Public domain. An Indian shopkeeper who survived described what he saw: women with disheveled hair clutching infants, running blindly through smoke-filled streets, and children clinging to strangers they mistook for their parents. Between 1,000 and 2,000 civilians died in the bombing of downtow...

Image: Bipin Behari Kapur | Public domain

Bombing of Rangoon in World War II: A Christmas Encore

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bipin Behari Kapur, Public domain. The losses suffered by the 62nd Sentai on December 23 -- five of fifteen bombers destroyed, every survivor damaged -- made Sugawara furious rather than cautious. He planned an immediate follow-up raid but lacked the resources to launch it the next day. On Christmas Day, December ...

Image: Bipin Behari Kapur | Public domain