11 Feb 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

11 Feb 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

Date(s) of events described: 
Fri, 11 Feb 1944

OBJECTIVE: Air strike against Kai Tak airfield

RESULTS: Twelve B-25s bomb Kai Tak.  Four P-40s are shot down in a dogfight with defending Japanese fighters.

TIME OVER TARGET: ~1:37 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT:

  • Six P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group)
  • Fourteen P-40Ns from the 32nd Provisional Fighter Squadron (3rd Fighter Group, Chinese American Composite Wing)
  • Six B-25s from the 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)
  • Six B-25s from the 2nd Provisional Bomb Squadron (1st Medium Bomb Group, Chinese American Composite Wing)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

  • 32nd PFS: Major William L. Turner; 1st Lt. Keith G. Lindell; 1st Lt. Thomas M. Maloney; 1st Lt. John R. Dehaven; 1st Lt. Donald W. Kerr; Captain C.W. Hung; 1st Lt. S.L. Wu; 1st Lt. Y. Wu; 1st Lt. Y.T. Tien; 2nd Lt. L.C. Teng; 2nd Lt. S.C. Wang; 2nd Lt. W. Yu; 2nd Lt. C.Y. Mo; 2nd Lt. Y.C. Yang (楊應求少尉)
  • 74th FS: Major Barry Melloan; Lt. Aston; Lt Oren Bates; Lt. Robert Gibeault; 1st Lt. Samuel Kinsey; Lt. George Lee
  • 2nd BS: Irving L. Branch; Chester M. Conrad; John B. Sanders; T.F. Folay; T.H. Chang; C.K. Tsao (all aircraft commanders)
  • 11th BS:
    • B-25 #426: Lt. Col. Joseph B. Wells; 1st Lt. James W. Funk; 1st Lt. Charles A. Lutton; 1st Lt. Robert D. Guma; Staff Sgt. Laurier R. Dumas; Staff Sgt. Hadsall D. Barnhouse; Staff Sgt. William J. Holtz
    • B-25 #425: 1st Lt. Theodore J. Michel; 2nd Lt. Daniel J. Phiefer; 2nd Lt. Herbert M. Edwards; Staff Sgt. Robert L. Harmon; Tech Sgt. Lawrence W. Jarrett; Tech Sgt. Herbert G. Passarino
    • B-25 #415: 1st Lt. William R. Monroe; 2nd Lt. Orrin G. Zebarth; 2nd Lt. Walter L. Wade; Tech Sgt. Thomas R. Touchstone; Sgt. Alvin A. Stainker; 1st Lt. Thomas B. Cox
    • B-25 #429: 1st Lt. Robert R. Schuppert; 2nd Lt. Stanley A. Johnson; 2nd Lt. Merry A. Mansy[?]; Staff Sgt. Alfred Carraway; Sgt. Paul A. LeFrancois; Private William C. Whaley
    • B-25 #401: 1st Lt. George R. Laverell; 2nd Lt. Carl R. Kostol; 2nd Lt. Earl C. Stone; 2nd Lt. Richard W. Sherman; Corporal Dennis E. Conley; Sgt. Jean W. Walburn; 1st Lt. Robert C. Culp
    • B-25 #423: 1st Lt. James J. Harnett; 1st Lt. Harold E. Sparhawk; 2nd Lt. James F. Butler; 1st Lt. Richard C. Combs; Staff Sgt. Marino R. Galluzzo; Staff Sgt. Arthur B. Smith  

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 34 x 500-pound bombs are dropped by the 11th Bomb Squadron.  The ordnance dropped by the 2nd Bomb Squadron is unknown, but likely the same.

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: An estimated twenty Ki-43s and/or Ki-44s, possibly from the 11th Sentai and/or 85th Sentai

AIRCRAFT LOSSES:

  • 74th FS: Lt. Lee and Lt. Bates are shot down, but both escape and evade with the assistance of the BAAG
  • 3rd FG: Lt. Kerr is shot down, but escapes and evades with help of communist guerrillas; Lt. Yang is shot down and dies of wounds
  • P-40 pilots claim to shoot down six Japanese fighters, though Japanese records do not indicate that any Japanese pilots were lost over Hong Kong 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).

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