23 Nov 1942, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

OBJECTIVE: Bomb airfield at San Chau Island

TIME OVER TARGET: ~8:15 a.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Ten P-40E and P-40K from 75^th Fighter Squadron (23^rd Fighter Group) and six B-25s from 11^th Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Group).  All aircraft are from the China Air Task Force (10^th Air Force).

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: P-40s: Major John R. Alison; Captain Albert J. Baumler; Captain John H. Hampshire; 1^st Lt. H.M. Blackstone; 1^st Lt. Edward H. Calvert; 1^st Lt. Greg Carpenter; 1^st Lt. William T. Gross; 1^st Lt. Mack A. Mitchell; 2^nd Lt. Bernard A. Dyrland.  In addition, Col. Robert L. Scott and Lt. Col. Clinton D. Vincent aborted this mission due to mechanical issues with their P-40s.

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Unknown

RESULTS: Bombs hit aircraft hangers and runway.  One fighter aircraft is destroyed on the ground.

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Japanese fighters (possibly from the 25^th Sentai or 33^rd Sentai) take off during the raid but are unable to intercept American aircraft.  One Ki-27 from an unknown unit is encountered by two P-40 pilots during their flight back to Kweilin.  In the subsequent dogfight the American pilots claim to damage the Ki-27.   However, it is possible the Americans actually shot the plane down, as Japanese records indicate one pilot from the 33^rd Sentai was lost over Canton on this date.  The 33^rd Sentai flew Ki-43s rather than Ki-27s, however, so either the Americans misidentified a Ki-43 as a Ki-27 (unlikely, as the Ki-27 had a fixed undercarriage) or the 33^rd still had some Ki-27s. 

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: There are no American losses. 

SOURCES:

• Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.  I could not locate the relevant mission report for the B-25s in the archives, however.

• Japanese Army Fighter Aces, 1931-45, by Ikuhiko Hata, Yasuho Izawa, and Christopher Shores

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).