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

OBJECTIVE: Bomb Tien Ho airfield at Canton

TIME OVER TARGET: ~11:20 a.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Five B-25C medium bombers from the 11^th Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Squadron) escorted by eleven P-40s from the 16^th and 76^th Fighter Squadrons (23^rd Fighter Group).  All units are from the China-based 14^th Air Force.

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: 

• P-40s: Captain Marvin Lubner; Stewart; C.H. Yang; 1^st Lt. Roderick P. Mac Kinnon; 2^nd Lt. Robert J. Wilson; 1^st Lt. James M. “Willie” Williams; Bullard; Olney; Lt. Robert Sweeney; [Lt. Max?] Noftsger

• B-25 #55: Lt. Col. Morris F. Taber; 2^nd Lt. Edward J. Pawlowski; 1^st Lt. J.F. Dockwiller; 1^st Lt. G.P. Baird; Tech Sgt. George W. Gouldthrite; Staff Sgt. Louis L. Lucas; Staff Sgt. George J. Atack
• B-25 #09: 2^nd Lt. R.A. Nice; 2^nd Lt. E.F. Kane; 2^nd Lt. Robert A. Fischborn; Staff Sgt. E.E. Banzhof; Staff Sgt. J.T. Hopkins
• B-25 #61: Captain D.M. Milan; 2^nd Lt. L.J. Fontaine; 2^nd Lt. Dickman; 2^nd Lt. Raymond J. Mazanowski; Staff Sgt. Joe Edmonson; Staff Sgt. Kenneth C. Prothe; Sgt. Passarine
• B-25 #68: 2^nd Lt. J.J. Hartnet; 2^nd Lt. Richard L. Edwards; 2^nd Lt. S.V. Howard; Staff Sgt. N.R. Galluzzo; Staff Sgt. A.B. Smith
• B-25 #65: 2^nd Lt. H.F. Hemp; Flight Officer L.B. Goode; 2^nd Lt. Wayne J. Aberle; Sgt. M.S. Waite; Staff Sgt. E.J. Carton

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 24 100-pound fragmentation bombs and 36 100-pound high-explosive bombs

RESULTS: Bomber crews unable to observe results of their bombing due to clouds

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Ki-44 pilots from the 85^th Sentai led by Capt. Yukiyoshi Wakamatsu

AIRCRAFT LOSSES:

• One P-40 is lost, but the pilot (Lt. Sweeney) is unharmed.
• American fighter pilots and a bomber gunner (Tech Sgt. Gouldthrite) claim to shoot down four enemy fighters for certain and claim an additional eight as “probables.”  Actual Japanese aircraft losses are unknown, though Japanese records indicate that no pilots were lost over Canton on this day. 

SOURCES:

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