07 Sep 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: A small patrol boat is attacked near Hong Kong, but all four bombs miss. The aircraft commander opts to drop his remaining bombs on the oil tanks at Lai Chi Kok during the return flight. However, the bombs apparently fall to the north of Lai Chi Kok. According to the BAAG, they strike a reservoir and temporarily disrupt water supplies in Kowloon.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~2:05 a.m. on September 8
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: One B-24 from the 308th Heavy Bomb Group
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Lt. Lane
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Eight bombs of an unknown type (most likely 500-pound general-purpose) are dropped on Lai Chi Kok.
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).
