On 1 November 1944, a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) F-13 Superfortress conducted the first flight by an Allied aircraft over the Tokyo region of Japan since the Doolittle Raid in April 1942.

This photo reconnaissance sortie returned with 7000 photographs which helped with planning air raids on Japan during the last months of World War II.

[5] Due to delays to the development of the F-13, the 3d PRS was unable to commence training on the type until 24 August, and began to receive its first operational F-13s on 4 October.

3d PRS F-13s began to depart for Saipan in the Mariana Islands on 19 October, where they would be supported by the unit's ground echelon which had arrived on 18 September.

[10] Steakley was surprised to encounter strong winds, and reported that his ground speed over Tokyo was sometimes only about 70 miles per hour (110 km/h).

The jet stream over this region was not known to the USAAF at the time, and greatly complicated XXI Bomber Command's later air raids.

[11][12] The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service's 47th Sentai provided fighter cover for Tokyo on 1 November.

[17] The 3d PRS flew 16 more sorties over Japan before XXI Bomber Command's first raid against Tokyo on 24 November, but several of these missions were frustrated by bad weather.