OBJECTIVE: Bomb Tien Ho airfield at Canton
TIME OVER TARGET: ~11:20 a.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Five B-25C medium bombers from the 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Squadron) escorted by eleven P-40s from the 16th and 76th Fighter Squadrons (23rd Fighter Group). All units are from the China-based 14th Air Force.
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
- P-40s: Captain Marvin Lubner; Stewart; C.H. Yang; 1st Lt. Roderick P. Mac Kinnon; 2nd Lt. Robert J. Wilson; 1st Lt. James M. “Willie” Williams; Bullard; Olney; Lt. Robert Sweeney; [Lt. Max?] Noftsger
- B-25 #55: Lt. Col. Morris F. Taber; 2nd Lt. Edward J. Pawlowski; 1st Lt. J.F. Dockwiller; 1st Lt. G.P. Baird; Tech Sgt. George W. Gouldthrite; Staff Sgt. Louis L. Lucas; Staff Sgt. George J. Atack
- B-25 #09: 2nd Lt. R.A. Nice; 2nd Lt. E.F. Kane; 2nd Lt. Robert A. Fischborn; Staff Sgt. E.E. Banzhof; Staff Sgt. J.T. Hopkins
- B-25 #61: Captain D.M. Milan; 2nd Lt. L.J. Fontaine; 2nd Lt. Dickman; 2nd Lt. Raymond J. Mazanowski; Staff Sgt. Joe Edmonson; Staff Sgt. Kenneth C. Prothe; Sgt. Passarine
- B-25 #68: 2nd Lt. J.J. Hartnet; 2nd Lt. Richard L. Edwards; 2nd Lt. S.V. Howard; Staff Sgt. N.R. Galluzzo; Staff Sgt. A.B. Smith
- B-25 #65: 2nd Lt. H.F. Hemp; Flight Officer L.B. Goode; 2nd Lt. Wayne J. Aberle; Sgt. M.S. Waite; Staff Sgt. E.J. Carton
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 24 100-pound fragmentation bombs and 36 100-pound high-explosive bombs
RESULTS: Bomber crews unable to observe results of their bombing due to clouds
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Ki-44 pilots from the 85th Sentai led by Capt. Yukiyoshi Wakamatsu
AIRCRAFT LOSSES:
- One P-40 is lost, but the pilot (Lt. Sweeney) is unharmed.
- American fighter pilots and a bomber gunner (Tech Sgt. Gouldthrite) claim to shoot down four enemy fighters for certain and claim an additional eight as “probables.” Actual Japanese aircraft losses are unknown, though Japanese records indicate that no pilots were lost over Canton on this day.
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).