OBJECTIVE: Bomb POL (petroleum, oil, and lubricants) depot at Lai Chi Kok
TIME OVER TARGET: ~11:30 a.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Ten B-25s from the 11th Medium Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group) escorted by three P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group). Two additional P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron are tasked with skip-bombing ships in Victoria Harbor. All aircraft belong to the 14th Air Force.
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
- P-40s: Captain Crooks; Captain Morrison; Lt. Lundy (escorts); Captain Hawkins and Lt. Mimmack (skip-bomb flight)
- B-25 #09: 2nd Lt. George T. Grottle; 2nd Lt. Gerald H. Dornbach; 1st Lt. Charles H. Dearth; Staff Sgt. Loren Morris; Sgt. Golden U. Gallup
- B-25 #36: 2nd Lt. Edgar N. Gentry; 2nd Lt. Donald G. O’Leary; Staff Sgt. Edward M. Cooning; Sgt. William H. Johnson; Staff Sgt. Robert D. Shaak
- B-25 #41: 1st Lt. Charles F. Whiffen; 2nd Lt. Edward J. Pawlowski; 1st Lt. Charles J. Bethea; 2nd Lt. Robert D. Guma; Tech Sgt. Karl H. May; Sgt. Jack L. Gould
- B-25 #46: 1st Lt. Daniel Manley; 2nd Lt. William F. Angell; 2nd Lt. Raymond J. Mazanowski; 2nd Lt. Paul J. Diekmann; Tech Sgt. Thomas R. Touchstone; Tech Sgt. Frank E. Osborne
- B-25 #54: 2nd Lt. Richard R. Rouse; 2nd Lt. John M. Overstreet; 2nd Lt. Ralph Kamhi; Staff Sgt. Henry M. Ellis; Staff Sgt. William V. Vickery
- B-25 #55: Lt. Col. Morris F. Taber; 2nd Lt. Clifford T. Schapansky; 1st Lt. Joseph F. Dockwiller; 1st Lt. Guy P. Baird Jr.; Tech Sgt. George W. Gouldthrite; Staff Sgt. Louis L. Lucas; Staff Sgt. George J. Atack
- B-25 #56: 2nd Lt. Robert A. Nice; 2nd Lt. Earle F. Kane; 2nd Lt. Robert B. Fischborn; Staff Sgt. Eugene E. Banzhof; Staff Sgt. James T. Hopkins
- B-25 #57: 2nd Lt. Herbert F. Hempe; 2nd Lt. Dow J. Richter; Sgt. Rafael C. Arellano; Sgt. Martin S. Waite; Staff Sgt. Michael Barnick; [no rank given] E.O. Hauser
- B-25 #61: Captain Don H. Milan; 2nd Lt. LeRoy J. Fontaine; 1st Lt. Glee G. Smith; 2nd Lt. Clyde H. Wells; Tech Sgt. Joe Edmonson; Staff Sgt. Clair G. Archer; Sgt. Herbert G. Passarine
- B-25 #68: 2nd Lt. James T. Hartnet; 2nd Lt. Richard L. Edwards; 2nd Lt. Seaborn V. Howard; Staff Sgt. Marino R. Galluzzo; Staff Sgt. Arthur B. Smith
ORDNANCE EXPENDED:
- B-25s: 48 x 500-pound demolition bombs and 24 x 136-pound incendiary clusters
- P-40s: Two 500-pound bombs and 800 rounds of .50-caliber machine-gun ammunition (strafing)
RESULTS:
- B-25s set Lai Chi Kok oil tank farm ablaze and the resultant smoke plume rises three miles high.
- P-40 pilots claim to hit a tanker with one 500-pound bomb; they also strafe at least two “fire barges” trying to put out the fire at Lai Chi Kok.
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Six to eight Japanese fighters, possibly from the 25th or 33rd sentai.
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: P-40 pilots and B-25 gunners claim to shoot down three intercepting Japanese fighters. Japanese records do not record any pilots lost on this date over Hong Kong, however.
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).