U.S. Navy Carrier-based Planes Bomb Okinawa: Smoke billows high above Japanese installations on Okinawa, Japanese Ryukyus (Loochoos) island base 362 miles (579 km.) from Japan prior to the March 31, 1945, landings by U.S. Tenth Army troops. A heavy pre-invasion bombing and strafing by more than 1500 U.S. naval aircraft, plus a naval bombardment of more than 5,000 tons of shells, on the Japanese defenses preceded U.S. landings. By March 2, U.S. forces had expanded their eight mile (13 to.) wide beachhead to a depth of three miles (five km.) and had captured two of Okinawa's five strategic airfields. April 20, 1945. (Photo by U.S. Office of War Information Picture).