31 Aug 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

31 Aug 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

Date(s) of events described: 
Thu, 31 Aug 1944

OBJECTIVE: Fly a series of staggered single-aircraft night raids to harass airbases at Canton and Hong Kong, which will prevent JAAF pilots from flying night bombing missions

RESULTS: Three B-25s bomb Tien Ho airbase, four B-25s bomb White Cloud airbase, one B-25 bombs Kai Tak airfield, and one B-25 bombs godowns on Pearl River south of Canton.

TIME OVER TARGET: ~8:14 to 10:25 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Nine B-25s from 491st Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Captain Blaha

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 48 x 100-pound fragmentation bomb clusters; 44 x 100-pound bombs; 24 x 250-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).

 

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