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 (373rd, 374th, 375th, and 425th) of the 308th Heavy Bomb Group escorted by 50 fighter aircraft from the following squadrons:
- 26th Fighter Squadron: Fourteen P-51s
- 76th Fighter Squadron: Eight P-51s and fifteen P-40s
- 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron: Ten P-51s and three P-40s
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
- 26th 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
- 76th FS: Major Slocumb, 2nd 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 76th FS on this mission, the pilots belong to the 16th FS, 75th FS, 76th FS of the 23rd Fighter Group and the 5th Fighter Group of the CACW.
- 118th 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
- 308th BG: Formation is led by Major James S. “Jack” Edney; pilots include 2nd 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 85th 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 2nd Lt. Jerome F. Eisenman of the 76th 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).