OBJECTIVE: Bomb Kowloon docks and mine Victoria Harbor
TIME OVER TARGET: ~11:00 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Twenty B-24s from the 373rd, 374th, 375th and 425th Bomb Squadrons (308th Heavy Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
- B-24 #183: Captain Sam J. Skousen; Captain James S. “Jack” Edney; 1st Lt. Ralph E. Bower; 1st Lt. Daniel J. Palmer; 1st Lt. Malcolm S. Sanders; Tech Sgt. Arthur J. Benko; Tech Sgt. Robert M. Kirk; Tech Sgt. A.L. Flaherty; Tech Sgt. W.J. Novak; Staff Sgt. Casper J. Chirieleison
- B-24 #409: 1st Lt. Wyndham M. Manning; 2nd Lt. Milton H. Werner; 2nd Lt. Winfred A. Cates; 2nd Lt. Harold M. Thomas; Tech Sgt. Anastacio M. Contreras; Staff Sgt. Norman E. Bonds; Staff Sgt. Orla M. Reichel; Staff Sgt. Paul E. Ebner; Staff Sgt. James J. Garrott
- B-24 #826: 2nd Lt. James P. Gilbert; 2nd Lt. Linus J. Austin; 2nd Lt. Donald G. Richardson; 2nd Lt. John W. Grosbeck; Tech Sgt. Harold W. Case; Staff Sgt. Barton W. Owens; Staff Sgt. Patsy Gerrone; Staff Sgt. Arthur Regal; Staff Sgt. John Orovecz; Staff Sgt. Clifford T. Hamilton
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 61 x 500-pound bombs and 18 x 1,000-pound anti-ship mines (some B-24s fail to find target and return to base with bombs and mines still aboard)
RESULTS: Bomb damage to Kowloon docks is unknown. Mines are dropped in Kellet and Lei Yue Mun channels.
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES:
- B-24 #409 and #826 crash on the return flight, apparently due to fuel exhaustion. All crewmen bail out and eventually return to their unit.
- B-24 #183 loses two engines and seven of the ten crewmen bail out. 1st Lt. Sanders and Tech Sgt. Benko are captured after landing in enemy territory. #183 makes the field at Kweilin despite the loss of two engines.
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).