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: Due to solid cloud cover over the Canton airbases, the first four B-25s hit alternate targets of Wuchow and Samshui. When the cloud cover begins to break up, three B-25s bomb Tien Ho airbase and one B-25 bombs White Cloud airbase.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~8:20 to 9:27 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Eight B-25s from the 491st Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
- B-25D #43-3291: Captain J.L. Flanagan; Colonel C.B. Claassen; 1st Lt. S.D. Brown; 1st Lt. R.E. Allen; Staff Sgt. R.J. Gebhardt; Tech Sgt. H.P. Albro; Staff Sgt. O.A. Harper
- B-25H #43-4319: 1st Lt. P.J. Ley; 1st Lt. L.J. Forrester; Staff Sgt. A.E. Jones; Tech Sgt. R.W. Hirtle; Staff Sgt. G. Flanagan
- B-25H #43-4602: 1st Lt. T. Biswell; 1st Lt. F.J. Belot; Staff Sgt. W.J. Copeland; Staff Sgt. W.C. Cheverie; Staff Sgt. Murray Bogel
- B-25H #43-4361: 1st Lt. R.L. Flanagan; 1st Lt. E.J. Cook; Staff Sgt. D.J. Hunter; Staff Sgt. S.W. McDonald; Staff Sgt. A.L. Matos
- B-25J #43-3926: 2nd Lt. G.G. Mann; Captain R.G. Hunt; 1st Lt. R.J. Kacik; 1st Lt. A. Bossieux; Staff Sgt. L.F. Concannon; Staff Sgt. C.E. Henderson; Staff Sgt. F.M. Smith
- B-25D #43-3288: 2nd Lt. H.H. Templin; 1st Lt. R.M. Blake; 2nd Lt. J.R. Herdic; 2nd Lt. S. Mazer; Staff Sgt. W.M. Gornik; Tech Sgt. J.E. Starling; Staff Sgt. R.D. Driscoll
- B-25J #43-3904: 2nd Lt. J.M. Burghoffer; 1st Lt. K.R. Bridges; 1st Lt. W.W. Merrill; Flight Officer H.S. Olson; Staff Sgt. F.J. Camgagna; Tech Sgt. J.W. Schmitt; Staff Sgt. T.F. Clougherty
- B-25H #43-4159: 1st Lt. A.K. Patterson; 2nd Lt. R.M. Howard; Staff Sgt. W.S. Faulkner; Tech Sgt. H.E. Gordon; Staff Sgt. W.R. Green
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 65 x 100-pound fragmentation bombs; 66 x 100-pound general purpose bombs
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: One B-25 is attacked by a Japanese night fighter from an unknown unit.
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).