02 Sept 1943, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

OBJECTIVE: Bomb POL (petroleum, oil, and lubricants) depot at Lai Chi Kok

TIME OVER TARGET: ~11:30 a.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Ten B-25s from the 11^th Medium Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Group) escorted by three P-40s from the 74^th Fighter Squadron (23^rd Fighter Group).  Two additional P-40s from the 74^th Fighter Squadron are tasked with skip-bombing ships in Victoria Harbor.  All aircraft belong to the 14^th Air Force.

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

• P-40s: Captain Crooks; Captain Morrison; Lt. Lundy (escorts); Captain Hawkins and Lt. Mimmack (skip-bomb flight)
• B-25 #09: 2^nd Lt. George T. Grottle; 2^nd Lt. Gerald H. Dornbach; 1^st Lt. Charles H. Dearth; Staff Sgt. Loren Morris; Sgt. Golden U. Gallup
• B-25 #36: 2^nd Lt. Edgar N. Gentry; 2^nd Lt. Donald G. O’Leary; Staff Sgt. Edward M. Cooning; Sgt. William H. Johnson; Staff Sgt. Robert D. Shaak
• B-25 #41: 1^st Lt. Charles F. Whiffen; 2^nd Lt. Edward J. Pawlowski; 1^st Lt. Charles J. Bethea; 2^nd Lt. Robert D. Guma; Tech Sgt. Karl H. May; Sgt. Jack L. Gould
• B-25 #46: 1^st Lt. Daniel Manley; 2^nd Lt. William F. Angell; 2^nd Lt. Raymond J. Mazanowski; 2^nd Lt. Paul J. Diekmann; Tech Sgt. Thomas R. Touchstone; Tech Sgt. Frank E. Osborne
• B-25 #54: 2^nd Lt. Richard R. Rouse; 2^nd Lt. John M. Overstreet; 2^nd Lt. Ralph Kamhi; Staff Sgt. Henry M. Ellis; Staff Sgt. William V. Vickery
• B-25 #55: Lt. Col. Morris F. Taber; 2^nd Lt. Clifford T. Schapansky; 1^st Lt. Joseph F. Dockwiller; 1^st Lt. Guy P. Baird Jr.; Tech Sgt. George W. Gouldthrite; Staff Sgt. Louis L. Lucas; Staff Sgt. George J. Atack
• B-25 #56: 2^nd Lt. Robert A. Nice; 2^nd Lt. Earle F. Kane; 2^nd Lt. Robert B. Fischborn; Staff Sgt. Eugene E. Banzhof; Staff Sgt. James T. Hopkins
• B-25 #57: 2^nd Lt. Herbert F. Hempe; 2^nd Lt. Dow J. Richter; Sgt. Rafael C. Arellano; Sgt. Martin S. Waite; Staff Sgt. Michael Barnick; [no rank given] E.O. Hauser
• B-25 #61: Captain Don H. Milan; 2^nd Lt. LeRoy J. Fontaine; 1^st Lt. Glee G. Smith; 2^nd Lt. Clyde H. Wells; Tech Sgt. Joe Edmonson; Staff Sgt. Clair G. Archer; Sgt. Herbert G. Passarine
• B-25 #68: 2^nd Lt. James T. Hartnet; 2^nd Lt. Richard L. Edwards; 2^nd Lt. Seaborn V. Howard; Staff Sgt. Marino R. Galluzzo; Staff Sgt. Arthur B. Smith

ORDNANCE EXPENDED:

• B-25s: 48 x 500-pound demolition bombs and 24 x 136-pound incendiary clusters
• P-40s: Two 500-pound bombs and 800 rounds of .50-caliber machine-gun ammunition (strafing)

RESULTS:

• B-25s set Lai Chi Kok oil tank farm ablaze and the resultant smoke plume rises three miles high. 
• P-40 pilots claim to hit a tanker with one 500-pound bomb; they also strafe at least two “fire barges” trying to put out the fire at Lai Chi Kok.

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Six to eight Japanese fighters, possibly from the 25^th or 33^rd sentai.

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: P-40 pilots and B-25 gunners claim to shoot down three intercepting Japanese fighters.  Japanese records do not record any pilots lost on this date over Hong Kong, however.

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).