January 29, 1942
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

THURSDAY, 29 JANUARY 1942

CENTRAL PACIFIC (Hawaiian Air Force): HQ 18th Bombardment Wing is inactivated and replaced by the HQ VII Bomber Command which is activated at Hickam Field. B-17's of Task Group 8.9 fly from Canton to Palmyra. The 70th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) arrives in Fiji from the US with P-39's.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC (Far East Air Force): B-17s take off from Palembang to bomb Kuantan Airfield in Malaysia scoring numerous hits on runways and hangars. Lost is B-17E 41-2476 (MIA) bombing Balikpapan. Meanwhile, correspondent George A. Weller departs Singapore for Java.

USN: 5" projectiles with radio proximity fuzes (VT fuzes) were test fired at the Naval Proving Ground, Dahlgren. The top secret technology was developed by the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) / Office of Scientifc Research and Development (OSRD) "Section T" led by Dr. Merle Tuve. During tests, 52% of the fuzes functioned satisfactorily by proximity to water at the end of a five mile trajectory. This performance, obtained with samples selected to simulate a production lot, confirmed that the radio-proximity fuze would greatly increase the effectiveness of anti-aircraft batteries and led to immediate small scale production of the fuze at Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory.