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

OBJECTIVE: Bomb aircraft revetments at White Cloud airbase in Canton

RESULTS: Bombers claim to destroy six to seven enemy aircraft in revetments and inflict additional damage on buildings and other installations at the airbase

TIME OVER TARGET: ~2:50 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Twenty-eight B-24s from all four squadrons (373^rd, 374^th, 375^th, and 425^th) of the 308^th Heavy Bomb Group escorted by 50 fighter aircraft from the following squadrons:

• 26^th Fighter Squadron: Fourteen P-51s
• 76^th Fighter Squadron: Eight P-51s and fifteen P-40s
• 118^th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron: Ten P-51s and three P-40s

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

• 26^th FS: Major Holman, Lt. Blankenship, Lt. Ashmore, Lt. Porter, Lt. Kramer, Lt. Spainhour, Lt. Barr, Lt. Hamilton, Lt. Machim, Lt. Gamble, Lt. Duffy, Lt. Wilson, Lt. Scearcy
• 76^th FS: Major Slocumb, 2^nd Lt. Jerome F. Eisenman, Lt. Trecartin, Lt. Eldridge, Lt. Thompson, Lt. Baker, Lt. Moore, Lt. Anderson, all in P-51s; Lt. La Tourelle, Lt. Wheeler, Lt. Rust, Lt. Kirkpatrick, Lt. Ward, Lt. Riley, Lt. Taylor, Lt. Joyner, Capt. Craig, Lt. Li, Lt. Siefer, Lt. Johnson, Lt. Krywy, Lt. Kitterman, Lt. McCarter, all in P-40s.  Though flying with the 76^th FS on this mission, the pilots belong to the 16^th FS, 75^th FS, 76^th FS of the 23^rd Fighter Group and the 5^th Fighter Group of the CACW.
• 118^th FS: Major Edward O. McComas, Lt. Crowell, Lt. Wegman, Lt. Murray, Lt. Denton, Lt. Miehe, Lt. Smith, Lt. Bushong, Lt. Pearsall, Lt. Greene, Lt. Colleps, Lt. Martinez, Lt. Griswald
• 308^th BG: Formation is led by Major James S. “Jack” Edney; pilots include 2^nd Lt. Elmer E. Haynes

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 850 x M1A1 100-pound fragmentation cluster bombs (25 of the 28 B-24s release their bombs over the target)

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: A small number of 85^th Sentai pilots flying Ki-44s and Ki-84s attempt to intercept the B-24s, but are intercepted by P-51s escorting the bombers.

AIRCRAFT LOSSES:

• Sgt. Major Hiroji Shimoda and Sgt. Tatsuji Uebo are killed when they are shot down by American fighter aircraft. 
• Warrant Office Akiyoshi Nomura in a Ki-84 bails out after getting shot up, but he is rescued by friendly Chinese and returns to his unit. 
• A P-51 flown by 2^nd Lt. Jerome F. Eisenman of the 76^th FS is shot down by Japanese pilots, though Eisenman bails out and eventually returns to his unit, also with the help of friendly Chinese.

SOURCES:

• Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. 
• Japanese Army Fighter Aces, 1931-45, by Ikuhiko Hata, Yasuho Izawa, and Christopher Shores

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).