Diary pages from this date

09 Sep 1943, Eric MacNider's wartime diary

Plays - "Villa for sale" (Day Sage, Lorraine Money, J.C. & Yvonne Charter, Mrs Lewis): "The Blackmailer" (I. Newton, Lydia Hutchinson, Jack Skinner): "Elizabeth Refuses" (S. Mackinlay, James Norman, Yvonne Charter, Mrs Tinson, Mrs Graham Barrow) (c.) D. G Wilson,

music - Drown & orchestra

((Not sure which Mrs Lewis he refers to.))

09 Sep 1943, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

OBJECTIVE: Bomb White Cloud airbase at Canton

TIME OVER TARGET: ~11:45 a.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Eight B-25s from the 11^th Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Group) escorted by eleven P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron (23^rd Fighter Group). All aircraft are from the 14^th Air Force.

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

P-40 pilots: Colonel “Rosy” Grubbs; Captain Morrison; Captain Bell; Lt. Mimmack; Lt. Jones; Lt. Lundy; 2^nd Lt. Altheus B. Jarmon; Lt. Meyer; 1^st Lt. Richard Mauritson; Lt. Thomas P. Bennett; 1^st Lt. Samuel P.M. Kinsey.
Crewmen aboard B-25 shot up by Japanese fighter pilots: 2^nd Lt. Herbert F. Hempe; Captain L.S. Nickels; 1^st Lt. Charles H. Dearth; Sgt. Martin S. Waite; Staff Sgt. Michael Barnick
B-25 crew on other aircraft: 2^nd Lt. Robert D. Guma; Staff Sgt. Loren Morris; Staff Sgt. Golden U. Gallup; Staff Sgt. Charles M. Cox

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 96 x 100-pound bombs

RESULTS: Bombs fall within perimeter of airbase, and B-25 crews report direct hits on one hangar and one fuel dump

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: An estimated 15 to 25 Ki-43-II and Ki-44-II from the 25^th Sentai and 85^th Sentai. Pilots include Major Toshio A. Sakagawa and Captain Yoshiaki Nakahara.

AIRCRAFT LOSSES:

P-40 pilots and B-25 gunners claim to shoot down up to nine Japanese fighters, though Japanese records indicate that just one pilot—Captain Nakahara—was shot down and killed on this date over Canton.
Ki-43 pilots claim to shoot down two American planes, but no American aircraft are lost on this mission. However, the B-25 flown by 2^nd Lt. Hempe is badly shot up, and the copilot (Capt. Nickels) and bombardier (1^st Lt. Dearth) are wounded. Hempe lands his badly damaged B-25 safely at Kweilin.

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).

09 Sep 1943, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

OBJECTIVE: Bomb riverfront godowns at Canton

TIME OVER TARGET: ~3:00 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Four P-38s from the 449^th Fighter Squadron (23^rd Fighter Group)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: 1^st Lt. Lewden Enslen; 2^nd Lt. Billie M. Beardsley

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 8 x 500-pound bombs

RESULTS: Pilots report direct hits on godowns

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS:

Ki-43-II and Ki-44-II from the 25^th Sentai and 85^th Sentai. Pilots may have included Major Toshio A. Sakagawa.
One Ki-57 transport plane.

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: P-38s shoot down the Ki-57 transport plane, killing Lt. General Nakasono Moritaka and members of his staff.

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).