06 Jul 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
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OBJECTIVE: Staggered single-aircraft night raids to harass Canton airfields and prevent JAAF from flying night bombing missions
RESULTS: Three B-25s bomb Tien Ho airfield. One B-25 bombs Canton itself after an accidental bomb release. One B-25 bombs an unidentified town east of Canton when the crew cannot locate Tien Ho airbase. Damage to targets is unknown, but incendiary bombs start fires in godowns near Tien Ho airbase.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~8:44 to 10:55 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Five B-25s from 491st Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Captain Blaha; Lt. J. Henderson; Lt. Mitchell; Lt. Smiley; Lt. Sussdorf
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: One aircraft with 6 x 500-pound incendiary bombs; one aircraft with 6 x 500-pound general-purpose bombs; three aircraft 36 x 100-pound fragmentation bomb clusters
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None
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).
