THURSDAY, 3 FEBRUARY 1944
BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 16 P-38s attack bridges, encampments,
and buildings along the Prome-Taungup road; 1 bridge is knocked out and another
damaged; a tugboat is sunk at Akyab; 14 A-36s and a B-25 attack troops and
camp area at Kumnyen and Lalawng Ga, and hit a motor pool and repair depot
at Shingban; 16 P-51s hit an encampment at Sawnghka.
PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): P-40s from Makin bomb
and strafe Mille.
SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): P-40s
and US Navy fighters cover a USN dive-bomber strike on Tobera; 15 B-24s
with P-38 and USN fighter escort bomb Lakunai Airfield; Allied aircraft
claim 13 Japanese interceptors downed during the 2 strikes.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): Nearly 100 B-24s
and B-25s, supported by P-38s, P-40s and P-47s, pound airfields in the Wewak area; about 80 aircraft are destroyed on the ground and in the air; A-20s attack Alexishafen and the Hansa
Bay areas; P-39s and B-25s on armed reconnaissance hit trucks at Erima, barges
on the New Britain coast, shipping in the northern Bismarck Sea, and Momote and Hyane
Harbor. Transfers in New Guinea: HQ 3d Bombardment Group
from Dobodura to Nadzab; 25th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron,
6th Photographic Reconnaissance Group, from Brisbane to Lae with
F-5s, first mission on 5 Feb; 673d
Bombardment Squadron, 417th Bombardment Group, from Cape Sudest
to Dobodura with A-20s, first mission on 25 Mar.
USMC: Lost is F4U Corsair 56039 (MIA) and PV-1 33254. During the night of February 3, 1944 two PB4Y-1 Liberators from VMD-254 piloted by Major Christensen and Captian Yawn took off from Stirling Airfield on a photographic reconassiance of Truk spotting Musashi, a carrier, cruisers, destroyers, submarines and many other cargo vessels. Spotted, the Japanese Combined Fleet warships would depart by February 10, 1944.
References
History of the Marine Corps Aviation in World War II page 205-206
