25 Aug 1943, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

OBJECTIVE: Bomb Tai Koo dockyard

TIME OVER TARGET: ~4:12 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Seven B-25s from the 11^th Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Group).  All of the B-25s and many of the pilots and aircrew are on their second run of the day to Hong Kong.  Escorting fighters include six P-40s from the 74^th Fighter Squadron and seven P-40s from the 76^th Fighter Squadron (23^rd Fighter Group).  All aircraft are from the 14^th Air Force.

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: 

• P-40s: Major Norval C. Bonawitz; Major Robert Costello; Captain Morrison; Captain Lubner; Lt. Bell; Lt. Mauritson; Lt. Lundy; 1^st Lt. Lawrence W. Smith; Lt. Burbank; Lt. Williams; Lt. P.N. Bell; Lt. Lui; Lt. Gilmore

• B-25 #55: Lt. Col. Morris F. Taber; Captain Robert E. Davis; 2^nd Lt. Richard C. Battle; 1^st Lt. Abe Schestopol; Tech Sgt. George W. Gouldthrite; Staff Sgt. Michael Barnick; Staff Sgt. George J. Atack
• B-25 #61: 1^st Lt. Daniel Manley; 2^nd Lt. William F. Angell; 2^nd Lt. Raymond J. Mazanowski; 2^nd Lt. Robert A. Fischborn; Sgt. Charles M. Cox; Sgt. Jack L. Gould
• B-25 #56: 2^nd Lt. Carl J. LaValle; 2^nd Lt. Richard L. Edwards; 2^nd Lt. Robert D. Guma; Sgt. Alvin A. Stainker; Staff Sgt. Lambert B. Bebstock
• B-25 #41: 1^st Lt. Charles F. Whiffen; 2^nd Lt. Jack E. Booth; 1^st Lt. Charles J. Bethea; 1^st Lt. Guy P. Baird, Jr.; Tech Sgt. Joe Edmonson; Sgt. Kenneth C. Prothe; Staff Sgt. R.P. Betts
• B-25 #68: 2^nd Lt. William A. Brenner; 2^nd Lt. Edward J. Palowski; 2^nd Lt. Howard V. Seaborn; Sgt. James T. Borgia; Staff Sgt. Louis L. Lucas
• B-25 #36: 2^nd Lt. George T. Grottle; 2^nd Lt. Dow J. Richter; 2^nd Lt. Paul J. Diekmann; Staff Sgt. Loren Morris; Sgt. Golden U. Gallup
• B-25 #65: 1^st Lt. James C. Routt; 2^nd Lt. Richard R. Rouse; 2^nd Lt. Wayne J. Aberle; Staff Sgt. William V. Vickery; Sgt. F.C. DeWitt

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 42 500-pound general purpose bombs

RESULTS: All bombs miss target and fall into the harbor

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None

SOURCES: Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

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).