On the night of May 19, 1938, the Chinese Air Force dispatched two Martin 139WC bombers, piloted by Xu Huansheng and eight others, and successfully flew over the island of Kyushu and dropped a large number of leaflets on the Japanese mainland. This is the famous "paper bombing" in the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
However, domestic history books have long had a detail error in this deed, that is, the place where the "paper bomb bomb" was dropped was written incorrectly!
According to the description of domestic history books over the years, on the occasion of the Battle of Xuzhou, the Chinese Air Force dispatched two Martin 139WC bombers (the exclusive Export type of the US B-10 bomber for China, a total of 9 exports) at 15:00 on May 19, 1938, and took off again at 23:48 after refueling in Ningbo.
At 2:40 a.m. on May 20, two bombers flew over the Japanese mainland. At 2:45 a.m., it flew over Nagasaki and began to drop leaflets from the air. The two planes lined up in a line and continued to skim low over the Japanese cities of Kyushu, such as Minghai, Kumamoto, Kurume, and Sasebo. At 3:45 a.m., the plane flew over Fukuoka, and the Japanese side issued an air defense siren to "implement light control, and the searchlights were randomly illuminated in the air." At 4:32 a.m., the crew flew over Kitakyushu and then calmly returned home.
Judging from the list of these Japanese cities recorded in the historical records, the flight route of the Chinese bombers that carried out the "paper bombing" was the northern part of Kyushu Island. Northern Kyushu is an important industrial center in Japan, and the cities of Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Sasebo, and Kitakyushu are very densely populated. Therefore, the northern part of Kyushu should be the place where the "paper bomb bombing" was originally planned.
However, when we refer to the historical materials of the Japanese side, we find that the route of "paper bomb bombing" recorded in Japan is completely different!
According to Japanese records, the two bombers of the "paper bomb bomb" did not enter Kyushu Island from the direction of Nagasaki, but entered Kyushu Island from between Yashiro and Minamata in the central region. It then passes through Hitoyoshi, Taragi and other places, and turns back in Nobeoka City in eastern Kyushu. The entire flight was not intercepted by the Japanese side.
However, this flight route from central Kyushu is mainly in the mountains of Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures, and is relatively sparsely populated. As a result, many of the leaflets were actually dropped in the mountains.
So, is the Japanese record reliable?
First of all, the Japanese side recorded the scene, and various corroborating evidence can be found at the locations along the way, especially witnesses (who listened) and the leaflets they picked up. In addition, some historical records of the two sides can also be confirmed from the side.
For example, Chinese historical sources have quoted a news in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, that "on the morning of the 20th, one or more mysterious planes appeared over the city." Chinese historical records therefore record that "bombers flew to Kumamoto City", but we can see from the "Chinese Record Road Map" that Kumamoto City and even the area under the jurisdiction of Kumamoto Prefecture are quite a distance from the Nagasaki-Fukuoka-Kitakyushu line, and it is impossible for bombers to fly to Kumamoto.
However, we can see from the "Japanese Record Roadmap" that the locations where the two bombers entered Kyushu, Yatsuyo City and Minamata City, belonged to Kumamoto Prefecture and could therefore be recorded by Kumamoto's local news newspapers.
In summary, we can conclude that the Chinese historical records of the "paper bombing" route record is wrong, and the specific flight route should refer to the Japanese side's on-site records.
In fact, it was not surprising that the bomber navigation at that time was deviated. The on-board equipment of the Martin B-10 bomber is very primitive, and there is no radio navigation technology, which can only rely on the compass and the visual judgment of the pilot. In this case, the bomber that carried out the "paper bombing" crossed the nearly 800-kilometer-wide sea at night, and the navigation angle was accidentally deviated by less than one degree. (Refer to map)
Even the Japanese Naval Aviation at the time carried out so-called "cross-ocean attacks" during the day. The Chinese bombers carried out "cross-ocean attacks" at night, and the angle was only deviated by less than one degree, which was already very rare. This is a big reason why the Japanese military was shocked after the fact.
Nevertheless, we should also respect the details of the historical records, and we should make necessary corrections to individual errors that contradict historical facts. (Author: Tao Mujian)