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

OBJECTIVE: Bomb Tien Ho airfield at Canton

TIME OVER TARGET: ~4:15 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Three B-25s from 11^th Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Group) escorted by 3 P-40Es from 23^rd Fighter Group.  All aircraft are from the China Air Task Force (10^th Air Force).

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Major William E. Bayse (B-25s); Major Edward F. Rector (P-40s)

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Chinese 50-kg incendiary bombs and 17-kg fragmentation bombs

RESULTS: At least six Japanese aircraft bombed on the ground at Tien Ho

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: 50 to 60 Japanese aircraft reported on ground at Tien Ho.  None spotted in the air.

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None

SOURCES: Original 11^th 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).