14 Oct 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
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OBJECTIVE: Reconnaissance flight over Canton, Hong Kong, and Sanchau Island
RESULTS: Pilot takes a series of recon photos. Pilot reports 15 ships in the 200 to 400-foot range in Victoria Harbor and a large 400-foot tanker in a bay on the south side of Hong Kong Island. Engine failure prevents coverage of Sanchau Island.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~1:00 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: One F-5E from Flight B, 21st Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Lt. Snyder in aircraft #305
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: None
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: Right engine fails over Hong Kong, but Lt. Snyder returns safely to base on left engine.
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).
