OBJECTIVE: Block approaches to Victoria Harbor and Pearl River with anti-ship mines and deny the use of the harbor and river to the Japanese.
RESULTS: Two B-24s drop anti-ship mines into the approaches to Victoria Harbor and the Pearl River, while a third B-24 is unable to find the target zone and returns its mines to base.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Three B-24s from the 308th Heavy Bomb Group
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Unknown
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 9 x anti-ship mines
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None, though one B-24 flying at 1,000 feet over Hong Kong or the Pearl River nearly runs into a mountain.
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).