24 Jul 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
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OBJECTIVE: Test a new high-altitude dive-bombing procedure
RESULTS: Pilots tip over at 25,000 feet and release bombs at 18,000 feet over White Cloud airbase. They claim bomb hits on runways and taxiways.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~3:20 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Seven P-51s from 76th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Lt. John Celani; 2nd Lt. Robert L. Schaeffer; Lt. Shull; Flight Officer P.J. Smith (76th FS); Lt. Norberg; Lt. Coakley; Lt. Barr (26th FS). Pilots are from two different squadrons, but it is unclear if the aircraft are.
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 2 x 250-pound bombs; 12 x 500-pound bombs
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: American pilots report an estimated 24 Japanese aircraft on the ground at White Cloud, though none are hit during the bombing.
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).
