02 Apr 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
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OBJECTIVE: Fighter sweep over Canton airfields
RESULTS: P-51 fighter pilots strafe ground vehicles, buildings, and parked aircraft at Tien Ho, White Cloud, and University airfields.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~3:00-3:10 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Eight P-51s from the 76th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Captain Butler; Lt. Melgard; 2nd Lt. Jerome F. Eisenman; Lt. Moore; Lt. Short; Lt. Carpenter; Lt. Christensen; Lt. Bedient
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 4,000 rounds of .50-caliber heavy machine gun
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None are in the air; units on the ground are unknown
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: Three Japanese aircraft on the ground are damaged by strafing.
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).
