Superfortress Rumble over Honshu, 2 September 1945

On the first Sunday in September, 2 September 1945, just after 0900 Japan time, the Second World War came to a close on the decks of the US Navy battleship USS Missouri. Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day) was formally signed – in the United States V-J Day is officially commemorated on 2 September.

General Yoshijiro Umezu, Chief of the Army General Staff, signs the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, on board USS Missouri (BB-63), 2 September 1945. Watching from across the table are Lieutenant General Richard K. Sutherland and General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. Representatives of the Allied powers are behind General MacArthur. Photographed from atop Missouri’s 16-inch gun turret # 2. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. (US Navy)

The Twentieth Air Force, which had inflicted much catastrophic damage to the Home Islands of Japan, including to Osaka, took part in the proceedings. Some 500 B-29’s took part in a show of force with naval aircraft which was timed to coincide with the surrender proceedings.  This undoubtedly included many B-29’s which had flown missions over Osaka.

The aerial demonstration started with a flyover of 450 naval aircraft of various types flown from fleet carriers operating off the east coast of Japan.

Navy carrier planes fly in formation over ships of the U.S. and British fleets in Tokyo Bay during surrender ceremonies. Battleship USS Missouri (BB-63), where the ceremonies took place, is at left. Four-stack light cruiser USS Detroit (CL-8), a Pearl Harbor survivor, is in the right distance. The naval aircraft included TBM Avenger torpedo-bombers, F6F Hellcat fighters, SB2C Helldiver dive-bombers and F4U Corsair fighter types. (Photo #: 80-G-490432 USN)

After the flyover of the naval aircraft, the very heavy bombers approached in multiple waves and passed above the ships.  As they approached, the gathering of ships in Tokyo Bay appeared as toys in a pond.

Allied warships gathered for the formal surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay seen from aircraft high above. (Courtesy Markowski collection, B29.org).

In fact, there were many warships and auxiliary vessels in the anchorage where the surrender took place as well as in adjacent waters, as this impressive list summarizes:
http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/a/allied-ships-present-in-tokyo-bay.html

But the most important ship that day was the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63), where the representatives of Imperial Japan signed the instrument of surrender along with representatives of the Allied Powers, formally ending the war in the Pacific and World War II.  The armada of Allied ships and the flyover of 450 Navy planes, waves of B-29’s passed in the skies above the warship, emphasized to all in sight the vast military power the Allies had assembled to fight and win the war in the Pacific.

Surrender of Japan, Tokyo Bay, 2 September 1945 – USAAF B-29 bombers fly in formation over USS Missouri (BB-63), during surrender ceremonies.
(US Navy via http://worldwartwo.filminspector.com)

This short film clip captured part of the aircraft overflights, including some of the B-29s which can be seen at about the :50-second mark:

As the thunder of the many motors in the sky subsided, General Douglas MacArthur spoke to initiate and to conclude the proceedings. The war was truly over, and no more death and destruction from above would rain down on Osaka or the rest of Japan.

But the overflight before the formal ceremony wasn’t the last impression the B-29 Superfortresses left at the surrender proceedings. The very heavy bombers apparently circled back around for a second pass in a flight demonstration lasting around an hour in an effort to make their number appear twice as strong.

462nd Bomb Group (Very Heavy) B-29 over Honshu north of Tokyo, perhaps on the 2 September 1945 airpower show of force over Tokyo Bay. (Markowski collection, B-29.org)

Andy Doty recalled: “…our squadron flew over the ocean to a point northeast of Tokyo Bay, flew down across the bay, then after a time turned to sea and repeated the procedure.  A great idea, but I understand that other B-29s went off across Tokyo on sightseeing trips.  I can only remember a large devastated area off across the bay — and of course that fleet of lethal-looking warships of all kinds.  A most impressive sight.”

As Doty mentioned, a number of B-29s broke formation and Earl Johnson remembered “…after an hour or more of hard formation flying, the crews wanted to do a little ‘sight-seeing’ which is hard to do in formation for the pilots at least. So many actually broke formation and many ‘buzzed’ Tokyo, the Missouri, or whatever.”

Photograph of devastated Tokyo, possibly taken from a B-29 during the “sight seeing” portion of the airpower show of force on 2 Sep 1945 (Markowski collection, B-29.org)

MacArthur was incensed at what he thought was a lack of military discipline and decorum by the bomber crews and had his headquarters staff send a “nastygram” about it back to Twentieth Air Force headquarters in the Marianas citing poor military discipline, etc.  However, the war was formally over and most military personnel simply looked to leave the service and get back to their civilian lives. Probably not many of the B-29 crewmen involved in the “rumble” cared.
References

1-15 September 1945 B-29 missions, included 2 Sept flights over Tokyo, at: https://user.xmission.com/~tmathews/b29/56years/56years-4509a.html
Images

Surrender aboard Missouri, at: http://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-people/m/macarthur-douglas-in-japan-august-1945-june-1950/80-g-332701.html

Naval aircraft over Missouri, 2 Sep 1945, at:  https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/events/wwii-pac/japansur/js-8i.htm

Ships in Sagami Wan, and B-29s over Tokyo, at: http://www.b-29.org, 313th BW, Markowski collection pages 3 and 4

B-29s over Missouri, at: http://worldwartwo.filminspector.com/2014/09/japanese-surrender-ceremony-2-september.html