06 Jul 1942, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

06 Jul 1942, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

Date(s) of events described: 
Mon, 6 Jul 1942

OBJECTIVE: Bomb docks, godowns, and gasoline storage facilities in Canton

TIME OVER TARGET: ~12:45 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Five B-25s from the 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group) and four P-40s from the 23rd Fighter Group.  All aircraft are from the China Air Task Force (10th Air Force).

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Major William E. Bayse (B-25s); Major David “Tex” Hill, John Petach (P-40s)

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: American M-30 100-pound bombs and Chinese 17-kg fragmentation bombs

RESULTS: Bombs strike docks, godowns, gasoline storage facilities, and a 100-foot riverboat

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Ki-27 fighters, likely from the 54th Sentai

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: American P-40 pilots claim two Ki-27 shot down

SOURCES: Original 11th Bomb Squadron mission report in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.  I do not, however, have the mission report for the P-40s.

Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).

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