25 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: No enemy ships are detected during the sea sweep. The aircraft commander, Lt. Wind, opts to bomb the HK & Whampoa dockyard (the designated secondary target) on the return flight. At least nine bombs fall in vicinity of the dockyard, but damage is unknown.
TIME OVER TARGET: Unknown, but likely around 1:00 a.m. on August 26
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: One B-24 from the 375th Bomb Squadron (308th Heavy Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: 2nd Lt. Elmer E. Haynes; 2nd Lt. Milton Wind
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).
