18 Apr 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

OBJECTIVE: Sea sweep over South China Sea

RESULTS: Two vessels are attacked at sea by the B-24DR “Sweepy Time Gal,” but no hits are scored.  “Sweepy Time Gal” strays off course on the return flight and flies into Victoria Harbor at low altitude, where it is shot down by Japanese fighter pilots.

TIME OVER TARGET: Precise times are unclear, but “Sweepy Time Gal” was apparently shot down during the early afternoon.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Two B-24s from 373^rd Bomb Squadron (308^th Heavy Bomb Group)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

• B-24DR #614: Lt. Zerba
• B-24DR #622 (“Sweepy Time Gal”): 2^nd Lt. Glen A. McConnell; 2^nd Lt. Samuel Auslander; 1^st Lt. Robert Carney; 2^nd Lt. R.E. Moessner; Tech Sgt. Peter S. Maholick; Tech Sgt. Robert Berman; Staff Sgt. Barton W. Owens; Staff Sgt. Tony M. Spadafora; Staff Sgt. Carl Wilson Holley; Staff Sgt. John K. Orovecz; 2^nd Lt. John V. Mroz; Staff Sgt. Erwin H. Posner

ORDNANCE EXPENDED:  An unknown number of 500-pound bombs, plus .50-caliber machine-gun rounds

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Ki-44-IIs, most likely from the 85^th Sentai

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: One B-24DR (“Sweepy Time Gal”) is shot down.  Lt. McConnell and Sgt. Spadafora are taken prisoner and survive the war; ten other crewmembers are killed.  The Japanese place the salvaged wreck of the plane on display in or near Statue Square.

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).