Fat Man and Little Boy

[astralis]

RB,

if i recall correctly, american intelligence didn't find out the depth of the japanese defenses until after occupation. until then, we underestimated exactly what the japanese had left.

that is, had we used the bombs and they failed to bring about the japanese surrender, we would have gone in guns blazing regardless.

[zraver]

Actually, the reason for dropping the bombs was because our invasion would have failed due to a massive Kamikaze attack of over 5,000 airplanes all at once.

Its doubtful Japan could have put 5000 planes into the air at one time even if they had the fuel. The US had to basically pave Southern England to get enough runway space to do it. The attacks would probably have come in in dribs and drabs as they did at Okinawa and gotten a slightly lower hit percentage as the best planes would have been used up. This would have left slower planes like the trainers you mentioned which would have been dead meat to the proximity fuse.