China Air Task Force: Replaced the American Volunteer Group

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Chennault, however, did not intend to wait for the Japanese to attack. Fighters from the 74th and 16th squadrons at Kunming, along with the 76th and 75th squadrons based at western Yunnan, began attacking the Japanese-held Burma Road and its network of mountain trails. P-40s, operating in groups of two or six, dive-bombed supply dumps and strafed Japanese truck convoys. Meanwhile, B-25 bombers from the 11th Squadron hit supply dumps, airfields and bridges as far south as Lashio, Burma. These missions were short in duration, which helped the CATF maintain the pressure despite increasing gasoline shortages at the Yunnan fields. ‘With a relatively small effort, the CATF was able to keep the enemy supply system sufficiently disjointed to make it impossible to accumulate enough materiel in advance positions for a major offensive,’ Chennault recalled. ‘The air as far south as Lashio belonged to us.’

While his planes hacked away at the Japanese in the west, Chennault sent a few P-40s back east to Kwelin and Hengyang to keep an eye on the Japanese strongholds in eastern China and to provide data on targets. ‘As the CATF grew strong enough to venture east again,’ Chennault said, ‘Hong Kong seemed to be our best bet.’ With its huge harbor and well-equipped docks, Hong Kong was a staging area for Japanese convoys, as well as a major Japanese navy repair yard.

Chennault and Colonel Merian Cooper, his chief of staff, planned a series of swift, sharp blows at Hong Kong, mixed with feints toward nearby Canton to keep the Japanese guessing. By October 15, the planning for the attack was completed, but the raid was delayed for nine days because of bad weather.

At dawn on October 25, 12 B-25s from the 11th Bomb Squadron, led by Caleb Haynes, and 12 P-40s from the 75th Fighter Squadron, led by Scott, took off from Kunming for the 500-mile flight to Kwelin. There they would refuel before proceeding to their target. Five P-40s turned back because of engine trouble; the rest reached Kwelin at 0800 hours. Chennault briefed the pilots while their planes were being refueled.

The Hong Kong strike took off from Kwelin at 1145 for the 350-mile flight to its target. Haynes led his 12 B-25s to 18,000 feet, while Scott took his seven P-40s to 20,000 feet, waiting for Japanese fighters. Once over the South China Sea, the formation flew up the coast to Macao, across Hong Kong’s west channel, and came to its turning point north of the Kowloon Peninsula. Then they turned south onto their bomb run, Scott’s P-40s weaving above Haynes’ B-25s.

Up front, Lt. Col. Harold ‘Butch’ Morgan, the 11th Squadron’s lead bombardier, lined up the waterfront in his Norden bombsight. The B-25s dropped their 500-pound bombs onto the Hong Kong docks. Haynes led his B-25s across Victoria Harbor, then turned on a course back to Kwelin.

‘I was fumbling now with the mike button on the throttle…,’ Scott wrote. ‘Then I was calling: ‘Bandits ahead–Zeros!–At eleven o’clock….Fumbling for the throttle quadrant, shoving everything as far forward as I could, I marvelled at the steepness of the climb the enemy ships were making….I called: ‘Zeros at twelve o’clock….’ I heard Tex Hill reply, ‘Yes, I see ‘em.”

Scott dropped his Kittyhawk’s 50-gallon bamboo belly tank, armed his guns and aimed at the lead enemy fighter (which, in fact, was probably a Ki.43). Before he could fire, Hill cut in front of Scott and shot down the Oscar. Scott attacked a second plane. ‘My tracers entered the cockpit,’ Scott wrote, ‘and smoke poured back, hiding the canopy, and I went by….’

While fighters from the Japanese airstrip on Sanchau Island tangled with Scott’s P-40s, other Ki.43s attacked the B-25s. Haynes put his planes into a steep, diving turn, concentrating the fire from the Mitchells’ gun turrets on the attacking fighters.

The Japanese were unable to penetrate the bomber formation and lost two fighters to Haynes’ gunners. One B-25 lagged behind and was attacked by six Oscars, which forced it to crash-land. The pilot and navigator were captured, but the rest of the crew escaped.

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Aerial Combat, Airborne Operations, Aviation History, Historical Conflicts, World War II