04 Aug 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
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OBJECTIVE: Fly nocturnal sea sweep mission to detect and sink Japanese ships in the South China Sea.
RESULTS: Due in part to bad weather, no enemy ships are detected during the sea sweep from Hainan to southern Formosa (Taiwan). The aircraft commander, Lt. Tilton, opts to bomb the Kowloon docks (the designated secondary target) on the return flight. Rain and darkness hamper accuracy of the bomb run, and some bombs are thought to fall in vicinity of the Tai Koo dockyard. Results of the bombing are unknown.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~1:00 a.m. on August 04
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: One B-24
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Lt. Tilton
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 12 x 500-pound bombs
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).
