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SUNDAY, 2 AUGUST 1942 CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) THEATER OF OPERATIONS [CHINA AIR TASK FORCE (CATF)]: In China, a detachment of 11th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy), based at Kunming with B-25s, begins operating from Nanning.
CBI (CATF): P-40's sweep Japanese HQ at Linchwan and bomb HQ buildings and barracks and strafe transports.
CBI (CATF): Japanese aircraft again attack US airfield at Kweilin; notified well in advance by the Chinese warning net (previously set up under Brigadier General Claire L Chennault while he was head of the American Volunteer Group (AVG), P-40s meet the Japanese over the target, shooting down 2, and another is downed by ground fire.
CBI (CATF): B-25s bomb Tien Ho Airfield, Canton, China, causing heavy damage to the runways and destroying several parked aircraft. Detachment of 11th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy), operating from Nanning, China with B-25s returns to base at Kunming.
CBI (CATF): In China, B-25s hit the Canton area, bombing Tien Ho Airfield and other targets in the vicinity and claiming 2 interceptors shot down.
CBI (CATF): In China, P-40s of the 23d Fighter Group continue to support Chinese ground forces by harassing the Japanese at Linchwan; 4 B-25s and 3 P-40s from the Kweilin-Hengyang area, staging through Nanning, bomb docks and warehouses at Haiphong, French Indochina, causing considerable damage and claiming a freighter sunk in the harbor; this is the first CATF raid over French Indochina.
CBI (CATF): In China, B-25s bomb Hankow; afterwards the P-40 escorts, led by Colonel Robert L Scott, strike ammunition dumps and military warehouses at Sienning, causing heavy destruction of material which the Japanese have accumulated to use against Hengyang and other US bases in C China.
CBI (CATF): In China, P-40s hit airfields at Yoyang and Nanchang from which the enemy has been attacking Hengyang.
CBI (CATF): Unit moves in China: 16th Fighter Squadron, 51st Fighter Group, from Kunming to Chungking with P-40s; 75th Fighter Squadron, 23d Fighter Group, from Hengyang to Chanyi with P-40s.
CBI: 10th AF: Major General Clayton L Bissell becomes Commanding General 10th Air Force, relieving Brigadier General Earl L Naiden who now devotes full time to command of India-China Ferry Command under the 10th Air Force. CATF: 76th Fighter Squadron, 23d Fighter Group, moves from Kweilin to Kunming, China with P-40s.
CBI (CATF): B-25s, which have moved temporarily from C China to Yunnani, bomb Lashio, Burma, an important rail center, highway junction and air base; covering P-40s strafe numerous targets of opportunity and shoot down at least 2 Japanese fighters.
CBI (CATF): In French Indochina, 8 B-25s hit barracks and ammunition dumps at Hoang Su Phi and a fuel dump at Phu Lo; this is the largest force of B-25s used by CATF to date, and the first B-25 mission flown without escort.
CBI (CATF): B-25s pound Lashio, Burma, scoring numerous hits on the airport and starting 3 large fires in warehouse area SE of the city.
CBI (CATF): Myitkyina, northernmost Japanese supply depot and airfield in Burma, from which fighters could hit Dinjan, India (terminus of the Assam- Burma Ferry), is bombed for the first time by 8 China-based B-25s.
CBI (CATF): B-25s from China bomb Myitkyina, Burma for the second consecutive day. |
