04 Oct 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, though fires are started in the bomber revetments at White Cloud and the barracks area of Tien Ho.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~9:46 to 11:45 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Three B-25s from the 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
- B-25J #43-3949: 1st Lt. Charles S. Nichols; 2nd Lt. Floyd H. Woosley; 1st Lt. Jack Krug; Staff Sgt. Frederick J. Reyer; Staff Sgt. William C. Zimmerman; Staff Sgt. Merrill B. Hewitt
- B-25H #43-4272: 2nd Lt. Arthur E. Thomas; Flight Officer John J. Hanley; Corporal Oscar G. Jones; Staff Sgt. Jerome J. Krasowitz; Tech Sgt. Robert D. Jorgenson
- B-25J #43-4091: 2nd Lt. John C. Steadman; 2nd Lt. Charles N. Buchtel; 2nd Lt. William D. Easter; Corporal Archie E. Hollabaugh; Corporal William O. Hogaboom; Corporal Chester E. Jones
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 52 x 100-pound bombs; 1,000 propaganda leaflets
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).
