“I was so angry I could barely contain myself,” Chennault recalled. “My staff later told me they expected me to bounce off the ceiling in my rage.” Chennault knew from CATF reconnaissance that Lashio and Myitkyina airfields were empty. “I could readily understand Bissell’s chagrin at being caught flatfooted by the attack,” Chennault remembered. “But the logic of his decision to bomb empty airfields still escapes me.” Chennault ordered the lone 11th Squadron B-25 Mitchell at Kunming to attack Lashio at dawn, while the rest of the squadron returned to Kunming and joined in.

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But Chennault wanted to launch another attack on Hong Kong. On October 26, every P-40 in Kwelin was loaded with a 500-pound bomb and sent to attack Japanese ships in Victoria Harbor. Despite heavy flak and Japanese fighter attacks, they sank one tanker and damaged several freighters. One P-40, flown by Captain P.B. O’Connell, was lost.

The futile attacks on Lashio and Myitkyina ended in late November. Chennault then moved the CATF back to Kwelin for another series of attacks against targets in eastern China.

Despite its small size, the CATF was a highly mobile, hard-hitting airstrike force, able to attack any target in China within 48 hours. Even Chennault’s headquarters was mobile; it could be carried inside a C-47 transport and be ready for action an hour after landing.

CATF P-40s and B-25s took off from Kwelin on November 23 and attacked Japanese ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. They destroyed a transport, strafed a barracks in Haiphong, and set fire to coal piles at Hongay, China. Chennault’s bombers attacked Tien So airfield near Canton on November 24, destroying 42 Japanese fighters and bombers on the ground. After another attack on Canton, the CATF moved north to Hengyang. By shifting his tiny air force from one airfield to anther, Chennault kept the Japanese guessing where he might strike next.

Hill’s 75th Fighter Squadron joined the 11th Bomb Squadron in attacks from Hengyang against Japanese bases at Sienning, Yochow and Hankow on November 25. The next night, five
P-40s attacked Hankow’s airfield and docks. The CATF shifted its aircraft back to Kwelin field after the Hankow raid.

The largest striking force in the CATF’s history, 14 B-25s and 21 P-40s, took off from Kwelin before noon on November 27. The force feinted toward Hong Kong, then swung south toward Canton, catching the Japanese flat-footed. While Butch Morgan’s
B-25 bombers hit Canton’s docks, sinking two freighters, Scott’s P-40s attacked 45 Oscars taking off from Tien So airfield. “Flaming Jap fighters fell back onto their airdromes as fast as they reached the
P-40s’ altitude,” Chennault wrote. “Fights raged all over the sky, but the conflict was one sided….” The final score was 27 to 0. “It was one of the worst lickings the Japs took over China,” Chennault recalled.

The CATF finished its sweep on November 28, with another strike at shipping in the Gulf of Tonkin. In six days, the unit had flown 11 missions, struck targets 800 miles apart, destroyed 71 Japanese aircraft, sunk three ships, and damaged docks, coal piles, supply depots and airfields without losing a single man, P-40 or
B-25. Chennault later said, “It was a striking example of what could be done with a few airplanes, a little gas, some bombs, and determined air crews.”

After the November strikes, the CATF was deployed back to the airfield at Kunming. The fighter squadrons were sent to airfields at Chanyi and Yunanyi to cover the supply line.

December 1942 was a dismal month for the CATF. Items like soap, warm clothing and mail were in short supply; fighters and bombers were grounded for days because of bad weather and a lack of supplies. The Hump airlift failed to deliver all of the 1,998 tons of supplies Chennault had been promised each month. The CATF got only 300 tons of supplies over the Hump in January 1943, 400 tons in February and 615 tons in March.

CATF fighters flew a few strafing missions into Burma during January, despite a fuel shortage so acute that Chennault forbade victory rolls. The CATF’s gasoline supply was nearly exhausted after those missions, and its planes were grounded for 33 days.

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