OBJECTIVE: Fly a series of staggered single-aircraft night raids to harass airbases at Canton and prevent JAAF pilots from flying night bombing missions against American airbases in China.
RESULTS: Six B-25s bomb White Cloud airbase and three B-25s bomb Tien Ho airbase. One B-25 returns its bombs to base after it encounters a thunderstorm over the target and is unable to complete its bomb run. Damage to targets is unknown.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~6:35 to 9:20 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Ten B-25s from the 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
- B-25H #43-4989: 1st Lt. Kenneth N. Martindale; 2nd Lt. Philip J. Holman; Staff Sgt. Lester W. Helrigle; Staff Sgt. Bazil E. Murray; Sgt. Gene O. Gorup
- B-25H #43-5072: 2nd Lt. Arthur E. Thomas; Flight Officer John J. Hanley; Corporal Oscar G. Jones; Staff Sgt. Jerome J. Krasowitz; Tech Sgt. Robert E. Mongello
- B-25H #43-4272: 1st Lt. Charles S. Nichols; 2nd Lt. Charles G. Fredricks; Staff Sgt. Frederick J. Reyer; Staff Sgt. William C. Zimmerman; Staff Sgt. Merrill B. Hewitt
- B-25H #43-4165: 2nd Lt. Charles N. Buchtel; 2nd Lt. William D. Easter; Corporal Archie E. Hollabaugh; Corporal William O. Hogaboom; Corporal Chester E. Jones
- B-25H #43-4902: 2nd Lt. Peter W. Petersen; 2nd Lt. George E. Doyle; Corporal Walter Paslowski; Corporal William C. Chandler; Sgt. Earl M. Hathfield
- B-25J #43-3884: 1st Lt. Simpson D. Huffaker; 2nd Lt. Daniel M. Hill; 1st Lt. Ernest L. Painter; Staff Sgt. Alfred J. Weber; Staff Sgt. Manivel A. Coronado; Staff Sgt. Leo P. Demarais
- B-25J #43-28807: 1st Lt. Harry G. Charles; 1st Lt. Winthrop W. Dada; 1st Lt. Charlton W. Doyle; 2nd Lt. Edward Tempest; Sgt. Frederick E. Benesch; Staff Sgt. Harold J. Toornburg; Sgt .Edward J. Hnilica
- B-25J #43-3949: 1st Lt. James C. Talley; 2nd Lt. Murray T. Brown; Flight Officer Lawrence J. Corsa; Sgt. Thomas C. Cushing; Staff Sgt. Arthur E. Blain; Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Loso
- B-25J #43-4091: 1st Lt. Henry D. Wagner; 2nd Lt. G.F. Bogue; 2nd Lt. Emil A. Zogheib; Tech Sgt. Lindon W. Oliver; Sgt. Glen C. Maynard; Corporal Charles G. Edelman
- B-25D #43-3614: 2nd Lt. Leander L. Smith; 2nd Lt. John J. Wise; 1st Lt. Thomas S. Ackley; Staff Sgt. Joseph E. Bowles; Staff Sgt. Bertram Schwartz; Staff Sgt. Howard F. Avent
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 175 x 100-pound fragmentation bomb clusters
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None, though one B-25 is hit by a single machine-gun bullet
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).