SATURDAY, 15 APRIL 1944
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): During the night of 14/15 April three B-24s on armed
reconnaissance mission over Matsuwa and Onnekotan hit several targets
including Matsuwa Airfield; reconnaissance over Paramushiru fails due
to overcast.
BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): Twelve B-24s attack shipping
and other targets at Port Blair. Twelve P-38s hit Heho Airfield, destroying
several parked airplanes. 19th Liaison Squadron, US Army Forces, CBI, arrives
at Kanchrapara, India with L-5s (first mission is in Jun 44).
CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): Three B-25s knock out a bridge at Viet Tri, French
Indochina, and damage another.
PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): Major General Robert W Douglass
Jr becomes Commanding General Seventh Air Force. B-25s based on Tarawa,
bomb Maloelap Atoll, rearm at Majuro and hit Jaluit and Mille on
the return trip.
SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): 24
B-25s bomb an ammunition dump on Talili Bay; 11 P-39s follow with a strike
on the same target; 3 P-38s fire the Vunapope supply area; other fighter-bomber
strikes on the same area are cancelled by weather. A few P-38s hit targets
in the NE part of Bougainville. 72d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 5th
Bombardment Group (Heavy), moves from Munda to Momote with B-24s.
USN: Avengers from VT-305 bomb the runway of Lakunai Airfield.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): 180+ B-24s,
B-25s and A-20s bomb landing strips, off-shore islands and the entire coastal
area in the vicinity of Aitape; 16 P-40s strafe barges at nearby Seleo Island;
20 P-39s hit villages, supply dumps, trucks and other targets along Hansa Bay and in the Alexishafen area. Crashed on takeoff is L-5 piloted by Stalone (KIA). Crashed attempting to perform a rescue is OA-10 Catalina pilot Matson (MIA).
RAAF: Lost is Wirraway A20-480 (MIA).
