OBJECTIVE: Skip-bomb ships in convoy near Hong Kong. This is the first time that American fighter pilots in the China theatre attempt skip-bombing, which will become a widespread tactic used by 14th Air Force pilots to attack Japanese ships.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~1:15 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Four P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group, 14th Air Force)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: 1st Lt. Davis G. Anderson; 1st Lt. Paul Bell; Lt. Thomas P. Bennett; 1st Lt. William B. Hawkins
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Two 500-pound bombs and 2,000 rounds of .50-caliber heavy machine gun ammunition
RESULTS: A small naval escort vessel and three small merchant ships are bombed and strafed as they leave Hong Kong. Pilots report that the escort and freighter are set afire and another freighter is left burning and listing.
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).