03 Oct 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

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 White Cloud airbase.  Three B-25s hit Tien Ho airbase, where the bombing ignites a large fire.  One B-25 bombs Pingnam when it cannot locate White Cloud.  One B-25 bombs and strafes small craft on the West River.  Two of the B-25s that hit other targets also strafe small craft on West River.

TIME OVER TARGET: ~7:40 p.m. to 10:45 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Eight B-25s from the 11^th Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Group)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: 2^nd Lt. Clarence B. Cole; 2^nd Lt. Peter W. Petersen; 2^nd Lt. Charles N. Buchtel; 2^nd  Lt. John J. Wise; 1^st Lt. Barry G. Charles; 1^st Lt. Kenneth N. Martindale; 1^st Lt. Marcus L. Sloat; 1^st Lt. Simpson D. Huffaker

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 48 x 100-pound fragmentation bombs; 36 x 100-pound demolition bombs; 8 x 250-pound general purpose bombs; 5,000 rounds of .50-caliber ammuntion

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).