05 Sep 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
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OBJECTIVE: Night raid to bomb targets in Canton/Hong Kong area
RESULTS: One B-25 bombs Kowloon targets, including Kai Tak airfield. A second B-25 bombs the town of Samshui in Canton area.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~9:30 to 11:25 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Three B-25s from the 491st Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
- Lt. Hunt
- B-25 (#49-3948): 2nd Lieutenant John W. Lesher, Jr.; 2nd Lt. Lawrence E. Anderson; 1st Lt. Robert W. Julian; 1st Lt. Aaron S. Cummings; Sgt. Frank L. Berger; Sgt. Edward F. Certly; Sgt. Herbert D. Curriden
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 19 x 100-pound bombs are dropped on Kowloon; 12 x 100-pound fragmentation cluster bombs are dropped on Samshui.
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: One B-25 crashes and burns five minutes after takeoff for unknown reasons. The entire crew (listed above) is killed.
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).
