Diary pages from this date

S.S – Heath

Cooler, NE wind, cloudy.

Chopped wood am.

Oil, tea & sugar issued.

Poor meals today.

Lorry arrived 5.45pm. No cigs blast their bloody hides.

With Steve pm.

Smoking papia [sic - papaya?] leaves.

Electric current suspended again.

OBJECTIVE: Fly a series of staggered single-aircraft night raids to harass airbases at Canton and prevent JAAF pilots from flying night bombing missions against American airbases in China.

RESULTS: Nine B-25 crews are briefed to bomb the Canton airbases.  The first aircraft to take off later returns to base with its bombs still aboard when the mission is cancelled due to poor weather.  When the weather report is determined to be inaccurate, the remaining eight planes continue with the mission.  The results are variable:

• One aircraft fails to find the target and jettisons its bombs.
• Two aircraft fail to find the target and return their bombs to base.
• Two aircraft bomb Tien Ho airbase.
• One aircraft bombs White Cloud airbase.
• One aircraft bombs an unidentified landing strip in the Canton area.
• One aircraft bombs Pingnam, the designated alternate target.

TIME OVER TARGET: ~10:32 p.m. on October 02 to 12:27 a.m. on October 03.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Nine B-25s from the 11^th Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Group)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Capt. Danforth Loring; 1^st Lt. Gordon R. Francis; Lt. Nichols; Lt. Merril S. Parham; 2^nd Lt. Leander L. Smith; 2^nd Lt. John C. Steadman; 2^nd Lt. Arthur E. Thomas; 1^st Lt. Henry D. Wagner; 2^nd Lt. Lawrence F. Uebel; 2^nd Lt. Wilfred E. Cather

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 48 x 100-pound fragmentation bomb clusters; 20 x 100-pound bombs

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None

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).

OBJECTIVE: Fly a series of staggered single-aircraft night raids to harass airbases at Canton and prevent JAAF pilots from flying night bombing missions against American airbases in China.

RESULTS: Eight B-25 crews are briefed to bomb the Canton airbases.  Six aircraft are unable to locate the target and return their bombs to base.  One B-25 commanded by Lt. Hexberg bombs White Cloud airbase.  One B-25 commanded by Lt. Ley bombs the town of Samshui.

TIME OVER TARGET: ~6:50 p.m. over White Cloud and ~11:03 p.m. over Samshui

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Eight B-25s from the 491^st Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Group)

• B-25J #43-3904: 1^st Lt. E.M. Hexberg; Lt. Col. J.K. Hester; 2^nd Lt. R.M. Howard; 1^st Lt. F.J. Belot; Staff Sgt. F.W. Konkolics; Tech Sgt. H.P. Albro; Staff Sgt. A.L. Matos
• B-25H #43-4159: 1^st Lt. P.J. Ley; 1^st Lt. A.J. White; Staff Sgt. W.S. Faulkner; Tech Sgt. J.H. Starling; Staff Sgt. A.J. Quinn
• B-25H #43-4361: 1^st Lt. R.M. Blake; 2^nd Lt. T.F. Jordan; Staff Sgt. L.F. Concannon; Tech Sgt. J.B. Clark; Sgt. G.D. Tanchum
• B-25H #43-4602: 1^st Lt. H.W. Fox; 2^nd Lt. J.L. Wolfe; Staff Sgt. M.E. Vollmer; Staff Sgt. C.E. Henderson; Staff Sgt. W.R. Green
• B-25H #43-4319: 1^st Lt. J.E. Andrews; 1^st Lt. R.K. Shaw; Staff Sgt. G.A. Penney; Staff Sgt. W.C. Cheverie; Sgt. H.R. Lehmann
• B-25J #43-4326: 2^nd Lt. F.O. Dice; 2^nd Lt. R.M. Howell; 1^st Lt. W.W. Merrill; 2^nd Lt. R.V. Zaloudek; Staff Sgt. D.E. Murphy; Tech Sgt. P. Mandich; Staff Sgt. E.E. Routon
• B-25D #43-3288: 1^st Lt. J.M. Musgrove; 2^nd Lt. J.A. Wilson; 1^st Lt. G.L. Verlan; 2^nd Lt. S. Mazer; Staff Sgt. S.E. Smith; Staff Sgt. L.F. Doherty; Staff Sgt. C.R. Bigelow; 1^st Lt. H.L. Ramey
• B-25D #43-3291: 1^st Lt. W.A. Sussdorf; Captain D.F. Blaha; 1^st Lt. W.P. Dougan; 1^st Lt. M. Radovich; Staff Sgt. R.J. Gebhardt; Tech Sgt. W.F. Irwin; Staff Sgt. W.R. Wahl

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 8 x 250-pound bombs (White Cloud) and 22 x 100-pound bomb (Samshui)

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: Minor flak damage to Lt. Hexberg’s B-25, which is caught by searchlights over White Cloud airbase

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).