Diary pages from this date

Today shortly after one o'clock I left the Tweed Bay Hospital. N.M. and H.S. came down and carried most of my stuff as of course one has to take blankets and pillows and mintoy as well as personal things including tea, bread and any other eatables. In other words the hospital provides a bed only.

I feel all right with little or no pain in my toe. I go to see Digby again on Tuesday. I'm glad to get back to my room in the block as the chow in hospital was very poor.

Short / Rose (Anniversary Service)

P.M. Raid.

Drown / Jenner

Alert 4.30 p.m. One low over Kai Tak. Big explosions and smoke.

Fine, cloudy, colder.

Meatless day.

High altitude raid by our chaps this afternoon.  No opposition. Heavy stuff dropped. Shook our buildings.

With Steve pm.

(More Jap naval officers visited camp, indicates that some warship or other is in the harbour. Accounts for today’s raid perhaps)

OBJECTIVE: Air strike against Kai Tak airfield

RESULTS: B-25s bomb buildings on the east edge of Kai Tak; American and Chinese fighter pilots dogfight with defending Japanese fighter pilots

TIME OVER TARGET: ~2:45 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT:

• Eleven P-40s from 74^th Fighter Squadron (23^rd Fighter Group)
• Fifteen P-40Ns from 28^th and 32^nd Provisional Fighter Squadrons (3^rd Fighter Group, Chinese American Composite Wing)
• Nine B-25s from Chinese American  Composite Wing

AMERICAN AND CHINESE PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

• 74^th FS: Col. David L. “Tex” Hill; Major Barry Melloan; Capt. Eugene Lundy; Capt. Morello; 1^st Lt. Jess T. Garrett; Lt. Thomas P. Bennett; Lt. Strantz; 2^nd Lt. Charles E. Cook; 2^nd Lt. Chester Denny; Lt. Virgil A. Butler; Lt. Moolen [?]; Lt. Gordon  F. Bennett
• 28^th and 32^nd PFS: Lt. Col. Eugene L. Strickland; Capt. James T. Bull; Capt. C.A.L. Martin; Capt. Charles C. Wilder; Capt. Frank C. Smiley; 1^st Lt. James E. Bush; Capt. S.T. Cheng; 1^st Lt. C.M. Chang; 1^st Lt. C.Y. Meng; 2^nd Lt. T.C. Chao; 2^nd Lt. Y.C. Chang; 2^nd Lt. C.H. Yang; 2^nd Lt. C.P. Mao; 2^nd Lt. M.Y. Sun; 2^nd Lt. J.L. Kuo

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Unknown

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: An estimated four to six Ki-43s and/or Ki-44s, possibly from the 11^th Sentai and/or  85^th Sentai.

AIRCRAFT LOSSES:

• Two P-40s from the 74^th Fighter Squadron crash land, though pilots are uninjured (Denny; T.P. Bennet).
• One P-40N from 3^rd Fighter Group is damaged.
• American and Chinese pilots claim to shoot down one Japanese fighter and to damage another, but Japanese records do not indicate any Japanese pilots are lost on this date.

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).