OBJECTIVE: Fly nocturnal sea sweep mission to detect and sink Japanese ships in the South China Sea.
RESULTS: The radar-equipped B-24 fails to locate any Japanese ships. The aircraft commander then opts to bomb the Kowloon docks (the designated secondary target) on the return flight. Damage is unknown.
TIME OVER TARGET: Late evening
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: One B-24 from the 308th Heavy Bomb Group
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Captain Armstrong in plane #823
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 12 x 500-pound bombs
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
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).