16 Nov 1943, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

OBJECTIVE: Bomb Kowloon docks

TIME OVER TARGET: ~10:50 a.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT:

• Eleven B-24s from the 308^th Bomb Group
• Thirteen P-40s from the 74^th Fighter Squadron (23^rd Fighter Group)
• Eight P-40s from the 75^th Fighter Squadron (23^rd Fighter Group)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

• 74^th Fighter Squadron: Bell; G.F. Bennett; Lt. Duffy; Lt. Robert Gibeault; Heelen; Lt. Hendrickson; 1^st Lt. Samuel P.M. Kinsey; Lee; Lundy; 2^nd Lt. Robert L. Milks; Lt. Mimmack; Morello; Morin
• 75^th Fighter Squadron: Lt. Col. David L. “Tex” Hill; Major Richardson; Lt. Lee; Lt White; Lt. Scoville; Lt. Wang; Lt. Brown; Lt. Long

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: ~94 x 500-pound bombs

RESULTS: Bombing is extremely inaccurate, with some bombs landing on the southwestern side of Hong Kong Island in the vicinity of Aberdeen and the Dairy Farm

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: As many as six Ki-43-II pilots from an unknown unit intercept a straggling B-24

AIRCRAFT LOSSES:

• One B-24 is holed in the wing by antiaircraft fire and one B-24 is shot up by the Ki-43 pilots, though both bombers return safely to base.
• P-40 pilots claim to shoot down one Ki-43-II near Wuchow.

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).