20 Sep 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

OBJECTIVE: Fly a fighter sweep over the Canton airbases and try to ambush the Japanese fighter pilots who have been patrolling the airspace over Samshui.

RESULTS: No Japanese aircraft are encountered and the fighter sweep is uneventful.

TIME OVER TARGET: ~9:15 a.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Eight P-51s from the 76^th Fighter Squadron (23^rd Fighter Group)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Lt. Wilson; Lt. Trecartin; Lt. Shull; Lt. Shaeffer; Lt. Perkins; Lt. Anderson; Lt. E.E. Smith; Lt. Newsome (76^th FS); Major Treacy (23^rd FG); Lt. Bannon; Lt. Tolhurst (93^rd FS)

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: None

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).