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: Due to solid cloud cover over the Canton airbases, the first four B-25s hit alternate targets of Wuchow and Samshui.  When the cloud cover begins to break up, three B-25s bomb Tien Ho airbase and one B-25 bombs White Cloud airbase.

TIME OVER TARGET: ~8:20 to 9:27 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Eight B-25s from the 491^st Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Group)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

• B-25D #43-3291: Captain J.L. Flanagan; Colonel C.B. Claassen; 1^st Lt. S.D. Brown; 1^st Lt. R.E. Allen; Staff Sgt. R.J. Gebhardt; Tech Sgt. H.P. Albro; Staff Sgt. O.A. Harper
• B-25H #43-4319: 1^st Lt. P.J. Ley; 1^st Lt. L.J. Forrester; Staff Sgt. A.E. Jones; Tech Sgt. R.W. Hirtle; Staff Sgt. G. Flanagan
• B-25H #43-4602: 1^st Lt. T. Biswell; 1^st Lt. F.J. Belot; Staff Sgt. W.J. Copeland; Staff Sgt. W.C. Cheverie;  Staff Sgt. Murray Bogel
• B-25H #43-4361: 1^st Lt. R.L. Flanagan; 1^st Lt. E.J. Cook; Staff Sgt. D.J. Hunter; Staff Sgt. S.W. McDonald; Staff Sgt. A.L. Matos
• B-25J #43-3926: 2^nd Lt. G.G. Mann; Captain R.G. Hunt; 1^st Lt. R.J. Kacik; 1^st Lt. A. Bossieux; Staff Sgt. L.F. Concannon; Staff Sgt. C.E. Henderson; Staff Sgt. F.M. Smith
• B-25D #43-3288: 2^nd Lt. H.H. Templin; 1^st Lt. R.M. Blake; 2^nd Lt. J.R. Herdic; 2^nd Lt. S. Mazer; Staff Sgt. W.M. Gornik; Tech Sgt. J.E. Starling; Staff Sgt. R.D. Driscoll
• B-25J #43-3904: 2^nd Lt. J.M. Burghoffer; 1^st Lt. K.R. Bridges; 1^st Lt. W.W. Merrill; Flight Officer H.S. Olson; Staff Sgt. F.J. Camgagna; Tech Sgt. J.W. Schmitt; Staff Sgt. T.F. Clougherty
• B-25H #43-4159: 1^st Lt. A.K. Patterson; 2^nd Lt. R.M. Howard; Staff Sgt. W.S. Faulkner; Tech Sgt. H.E. Gordon; Staff Sgt. W.R. Green

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 65 x 100-pound fragmentation bombs; 66 x 100-pound general purpose bombs

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: One B-25 is attacked by a Japanese night fighter from an unknown unit.

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).