OBJECTIVE: Bomb Tai Koo dockyard
TIME OVER TARGET: ~4:12 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Seven B-25s from the 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group). All of the B-25s and many of the pilots and aircrew are on their second run of the day to Hong Kong. Escorting fighters include six P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron and seven P-40s from the 76th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group). All aircraft are from the 14th Air Force.
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
- P-40s: Major Norval C. Bonawitz; Major Robert Costello; Captain Morrison; Captain Lubner; Lt. Bell; Lt. Mauritson; Lt. Lundy; 1st Lt. Lawrence W. Smith; Lt. Burbank; Lt. Williams; Lt. P.N. Bell; Lt. Lui; Lt. Gilmore
- B-25 #55: Lt. Col. Morris F. Taber; Captain Robert E. Davis; 2nd Lt. Richard C. Battle; 1st Lt. Abe Schestopol; Tech Sgt. George W. Gouldthrite; Staff Sgt. Michael Barnick; Staff Sgt. George J. Atack
- B-25 #61: 1st Lt. Daniel Manley; 2nd Lt. William F. Angell; 2nd Lt. Raymond J. Mazanowski; 2nd Lt. Robert A. Fischborn; Sgt. Charles M. Cox; Sgt. Jack L. Gould
- B-25 #56: 2nd Lt. Carl J. LaValle; 2nd Lt. Richard L. Edwards; 2nd Lt. Robert D. Guma; Sgt. Alvin A. Stainker; Staff Sgt. Lambert B. Bebstock
- B-25 #41: 1st Lt. Charles F. Whiffen; 2nd Lt. Jack E. Booth; 1st Lt. Charles J. Bethea; 1st Lt. Guy P. Baird, Jr.; Tech Sgt. Joe Edmonson; Sgt. Kenneth C. Prothe; Staff Sgt. R.P. Betts
- B-25 #68: 2nd Lt. William A. Brenner; 2nd Lt. Edward J. Palowski; 2nd Lt. Howard V. Seaborn; Sgt. James T. Borgia; Staff Sgt. Louis L. Lucas
- B-25 #36: 2nd Lt. George T. Grottle; 2nd Lt. Dow J. Richter; 2nd Lt. Paul J. Diekmann; Staff Sgt. Loren Morris; Sgt. Golden U. Gallup
- B-25 #65: 1st Lt. James C. Routt; 2nd Lt. Richard R. Rouse; 2nd Lt. Wayne J. Aberle; Staff Sgt. William V. Vickery; Sgt. F.C. DeWitt
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 42 500-pound general purpose bombs
RESULTS: All bombs miss target and fall into the harbor
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).