24 Sep 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
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OBJECTIVE: Fly a series of staggered single-aircraft night raids to harass airbases at Canton and prevent JAAF pilots from flying night bombing missions against American airbases in China.
RESULTS: Two B-25s bomb Tien Ho airbase and one B-25 bombs White Cloud airbase. Damage is unknown, but the bombing ignites a large fire at White Cloud airbase. A fourth B-25 is unable to locate its target and returns to base with its bombs still in the bomb bay.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~7:13 to 17:38 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Four B-25s from the 491st Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Major Main; Lt. Hexberg; Lt. Bridges
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 6 x 1,000-pound bombs; 12 x 100-pound fragmentation bombs; 500 copies of Japanese-language news leaflet
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).
