30 Sep 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
Primary tabs
OBJECTIVE: Bomb Tien Ho airbase in Canton and disrupt JAAF air operations in the Pearl River delta region
RESULTS: Bad weather and darkness hamper the mission, and only nine B-24s bomb Tien Ho airbase. Five B-24s bomb alternate targets, including White Cloud airbase, the town of Samshui, and two auxiliary airfields on the coast. Damage to all targets is unknown. Fifteen B-24s jettison their bomb loads or return their bombs to base.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~9:01 to 9:52 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Twenty-nine B-24s from the 373rd, 374th, 375th, and 425th Bomb Squadrons (308th Heavy Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Unknown
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 474 x M-1A1 100-pound fragmentation 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).
