Diary pages from this date

Warm, variable wind. Overcast pm.

Carried bricks 1170lbs.

Lorry arrived 6.30pm but still no cigs.  

With Steve pm no smokes.

Cake & raisin wine with Webber, his 50th. birthday.

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: One B-25 bombs aircraft revetments at White Cloud airbase and two B-25s bomb barracks at Tien Ho airbase. Two B-25s bomb and strafe small craft on the West River, sinking or setting on fire five small boats and sampans.  A sixth B-25 is unable to take off for the mission due to a Japanese air raid on the American airbase at Liuchow.

TIME OVER TARGET: ~7:45 p.m. on October 06 to 12:15 a.m. on October 07

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

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

• B-25J #43-27807: Flight Officer Ronald E. Irwin; 2^nd Lt. Robert W. Burtner; 2^nd Lt. Maurice J. Freeman; 2^nd Lt. Edward Tempest; Sgt. Kenneth L. Henry; Corporal Oscar W. Lowe; Corporal Edward L. Naylor
• B-25J #43-4091: 1^st Lt. Marcus L. Shoat; 2^nd Lt. Boyd A. Shumway; 2^nd Lt. Clifford Dutton; 2^nd Lt. Philip J. Holman; Sgt. Donald E. Bell; Staff Sgt. Richard A. Smart; Sgt. Henry E. Krant
• B-25H #43-5072: 2^nd Lt. Arthur E. Thomas; Flight Officer John J. Hanley; Corporal Oscar G. Jones; Staff Sgt. Jerome J. Krasowitz; Sgt. Robert D. Jorgenson
• B-25J #43-28807: 2^nd Lt. John J. Wise; 2^nd Lt. William K. Mack; 2^nd Lt. Charles G. Frederick; Corporal Charles G. Edelman; Corporal Ralph M. Surber; Corporal Joseph C. Brucker
• B-25J #43-3949: 1^st Lt. Charles S. Nichols; 2^nd Lt. Floyd H. Woosley; 2^nd Lt. Elmo B. Hessler; Staff Sgt. Frederick J. Reyer; Staff Sgt. William C. Zimmerman; Staff Sgt. Merrill B. Hewitt

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 12 x 100-pound fragmentation bomb clusters; 36 x 100-pound bombs; 16 x 250-pound  bombs; 4,240 .50 caliber machine-gun rounds

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).

DATE OF AIR RAID: October 06, 1944

OBJECTIVE: Destroy river traffic east of Pingnam and fly 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: One aircraft bombs Tien Ho airbase, one aircraft bombs White Cloud airbase, one aircraft bombs Wuchow, one aircraft bombs Samshui, and one aircraft bombs Pingnam.   Damage is unknown.  Two aircraft bomb and strafe small craft.

TIME OVER TARGET: ~10:00 p.m. on October 6 to 2:00 a.m. on October 07

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

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

• B-25D #43-3288: 1^st Lt. F.E. Weimer; 1^st Lt. W.H. Briggs; 1^st Lt. R.J. Kacik; 1^st Lt. J.L. Wolfe; Staff Sgt. A.E. Jones; Tech Sgt. J.E. Starling; Staff Sgt. W.R. Green
• B-25H #43-4361: 1^st Lt. J.M. Musgrove; 1^st Lt. E.J. Cook; Staff Sgt. D.E. Murphy; Staff Sgt. W.C. Cheverie; Sgt. H.R. Lehmann
• B-25H #43-4319: 1^st Lt. T. Biswell; Flight Officer H.S. Olson; Staff Sgt. W.J. Copeland; Tech Sgt. R.W. Hirtle; Staff Sgt. M. Bogel
• B-25H #43-4096: Captain R.G. Rice; 1^st Lt. F.O. Dice; 1^st Lt. W.P. Dougan; 1^st Lt. A.J. White; Staff Sgt. M.E. Vollmer; Tech Sgt. J.W. Silvernail; Sgt. G.D. Tanchum
• B-25J #43-4088: 1^st Lt. F.O. Cullen; 2^nd Lt. G.G. Mann; 1^st Lt. H.R. Edelman; 1^st Lt. S.D. Brown; Staff Sgt. W.S. Faulkner; Tech Sgt. K.E. Norris; Staff Sgt. A.L. Matos
• B-25J #43-3954: 1^st Lt. E.M. Hexberg; 2^nd Lt. H.H. Templin; 1^st Lt. G.L. Velan; 1^st Lt. W.W. Merrill; Staff Sgt. F.W. Konkolics; Tech Sgt. H.P. Albro; Staff Sgt. E.E. Routon
• B-25H #43-4159: 1^st Lt. J.E. Andrews; 1^st Lt. J.R. Herdic; Staff Sgt. L.F. Concannon; Staff Sgt. C.E. Henderson; Staff Sgt. C.E. Henderson; Staff Sgt. W.R. Wahl

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 88 x 100-pound bombs (22 each on White Cloud and Tien Ho airbases); 24 x 250-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).