August 7th, 1945 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The secret of Radio Direction Finding (RDF), now called radar, is revealed.
BURMA: Cocos Islands: The last bombing missions by RAF Consolidated Liberators are flown by eight aircraft of No. 99 and three aircraft of No. 356 Squadron. (22)
KOREA: TAEGU, South Korea - Flying crippled after an aborted night raid over Japanese-occupied Korea, the B-24 bomber "Lady Luck II" slammed into a mountain. All 11 aboard were killed when the bomber struck Mangwoon Mountain on Namhae island, off Korea's southern coast.
The crew were Staff Sgt. Thomas G. Burnworth; Staff Sgt. Walter R. Hoover; 2nd Lt. Ronald L. Johnson; 1st Lt. Edward B. Mills Jr; Staff Sgt. James E. Murray; 2nd Lt. Joseph M. Orenbuch; Staff Sgt. Henry C. Rappert; 2nd Lt. Nicholus M. Simonich; Sgt. Warren E. Tittsworth; and Sgt. Steven T. Wales.
31-year-old Kim Duk Hyung witnessed the crash and was impressed by Japanese troops into going with them to find and loot the crash site. Kim later returned to bury the crew. He worked after the war to build a monument to the crew. This monument was finished on May 11, 1956, almost 11 years after the fatal crash. Made of hand-hewn, natural granite, it stands 11 feet tall.
It was unveiled at a ceremony Nov. 30, 1956. An envoy of then- President Eisenhower, and U.S. and South Korean officials attended.
At a Pentagon ceremony 30 years later, in November 1986, the U.S. secretary of the Army presented Kim a distinguished civilian service medal. (Brooke Rowe from http://ww2.pstripes.osd.mil/01/oct01/ed103101c.html)
Sea of Japan: The USS Billfish torpedoes a small freighter. (Henry Sirotin, 101)
JAPAN: The Japanese Supreme Council for the Direction of the War, meets to discuss the bombing of Hiroshima. The SCDW is know as the Big 6 of the Japanese Cabinet. PM, FM, War Minister, Navy Minister, Army CofS, Navy CofS. The Military members refuse to concede that this might be an atomic bomb. They insist on sending investigating teams. The Commander of Eta Jima Naval Academy is selected by the Navy and the Army sends Dr. Asada a professor of physics at Osaka University.
154 B-29 Superfortresses of the USAAF Twentieth Air Force fly a bombing mission during the day and 30 B-29s fly a mining mission during the night of 7/8 August; 1 B-29 is lost.
- Mission 317: 124 B-29s, escorted by VII Fighter Command fighters, bomb the naval arsenal at Toyokawa. 1 B-29 is lost. After escorting the B-29s on their bombing mission, P-51s attack railroad targets and shipping in and near Magarimatsu, Chofu, Atsugi, and Sagami.
- Mission 318: During the night of 7/8 August, 29 B-29s, escorted by FEAF P-47s, drop mines in Shimonoseki Strait, at Miyazu, Maizuru, Tsuruga, Obama and at Najin; 1 other mines an alternate target.
In Japan, FEAF B-24s and A-26 Invaders over Kyushu pound Tsuiki Airfield and other B-24s start fires at Omura; B-25s hit bridges and other targets at Matsubase and Kawajiri and bomb a convoy off Pusan, Korea; other B-25s hit Chiran and Izumi Airfields. fighter-bombers attack and considerably damage communications and transportation facilities throughout Kyushu.
The Nakajima Kikka, a Japanese copy of the Messerschmitt 262, makes its maiden flight.
KURILE ISLANDS: USAAF Eleventh Air Force dispatches 5 B-24s based in the Aleutian Islands to bomb Kataoka Airfield on Shimushu Island.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Organized Japanese resistance ends on the island of Mindanao.
Submarine USS Apogan left base for her eight war patrol in the Marcus Island area. While Apogan was on patrol Japan capitulated on 15 Aug 1945. On 2 Sept 1945 Apogan returned to Pearl Harbor.
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Suderoy V (ex whaler of same name) paid off.