23 Jan 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
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OBJECTIVE: Air strike against Kai Tak airfield
RESULTS: B-25s bomb buildings on the east edge of Kai Tak; American and Chinese fighter pilots dogfight with defending Japanese fighter pilots
TIME OVER TARGET: ~2:45 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT:
- Eleven P-40s from 74th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group)
- Fifteen P-40Ns from 28th and 32nd Provisional Fighter Squadrons (3rd Fighter Group, Chinese American Composite Wing)
- Nine B-25s from Chinese American Composite Wing
AMERICAN AND CHINESE PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
- 74th FS: Col. David L. “Tex” Hill; Major Barry Melloan; Capt. Eugene Lundy; Capt. Morello; 1st Lt. Jess T. Garrett; Lt. Thomas P. Bennett; Lt. Strantz; 2nd Lt. Charles E. Cook; 2nd Lt. Chester Denny; Lt. Virgil A. Butler; Lt. Moolen [?]; Lt. Gordon F. Bennett
- 28th and 32nd PFS: Lt. Col. Eugene L. Strickland; Capt. James T. Bull; Capt. C.A.L. Martin; Capt. Charles C. Wilder; Capt. Frank C. Smiley; 1st Lt. James E. Bush; Capt. S.T. Cheng; 1st Lt. C.M. Chang; 1st Lt. C.Y. Meng; 2nd Lt. T.C. Chao; 2nd Lt. Y.C. Chang; 2nd Lt. C.H. Yang; 2nd Lt. C.P. Mao; 2nd Lt. M.Y. Sun; 2nd Lt. J.L. Kuo
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Unknown
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: An estimated four to six Ki-43s and/or Ki-44s, possibly from the 11th Sentai and/or 85th Sentai.
AIRCRAFT LOSSES:
- Two P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron crash land, though pilots are uninjured (Denny; T.P. Bennet).
- One P-40N from 3rd Fighter Group is damaged.
- American and Chinese pilots claim to shoot down one Japanese fighter and to damage another, but Japanese records do not indicate any Japanese pilots are lost on this date.
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).
