NigG (your #66),
... there must have been casualties when Jap-held villages were bombed...
Sadly, yes. But our "bread-and-butter" 'op' was taking out Japanese army dug-in bunkers (somewhere in "Vengeance" it is stated that a few of these went 20 ft deep); that would be 80% of our work; the Vengeance might have been designed for the job; we went at it with gusto; the Army was very appreciative and said so - for they would have taken many casualties if these places had to be reduced by conventional means.
But they weren't very big (around the size of a doubles tennis court), and four tons of HE with delay fuses (for deep penetration) on target would be enough: anything more than six VV would be overkill.
Danny.