June 30, 1942
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

TUESDAY, 30 JUNE 1942

IJN: Mitsubishi completes A6M3 3030, the 30th Model 32 produced.

ALASKA (11th Air Force): A B-17 flies weather reconnaissance over Kiska.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (10th Air Force): 11th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy), based at Kunming sends detachments to operate from Kweilin, Hengyang and Nanning with B-25s as part of the China Air Task Force (CATF).

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): B-17s bomb Dili, Koepang and Kendari. Returning B-17E 41-9014 crashed in the early hours of July 1, 1942 killing three of the crew. B-25s and 22nd BG B-26s hit Lae. The 36th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Group, moves from Port Moresby to Townsville with P-39s.

U.S. Army: Headquarters Company of U.S. Army Forces in the South Pacific Area (USAFISPA) is organized at Fort Ord in California.

U.S. Navy: Naval vessels on hand (all types of ships and craft) 5,612. Personnel: Navy 640,570; Marine Corps 143,528; Coast Guard 58,998. Total personnel 843,096.

XPBS-1 flying boat 9995 with passenger Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and his senior staff crashed upon landing off NAS Alameda, California. Nimitz suffers scratches and abrasions in the mishap but remains topside on the wreckage to direct rescue operations, refusing to leave that post until the wrecked flying boat has been searched for survivors.

Coastal minesweeper Hornbill (AMc-13) is sunk in collision with U.S. lumber schooner Esther Johnson in San Francisco Bay.

District patrol craft YP-270 sinks after running aground at Boca Santo Domingo, while en route from San Diego, California, to the Panama Canal Zone, 25°30'N, 112°06'W.

District patrol craft YP-128 sinks after running aground in heavy weather three miles northeast of Monterey, California.

Submarine Plunger (SS-179) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship No.5 Unkai Maru off the China coast near approaches to Shanghai, 30°04'N, 122°54'E.

U.S. freighter SS Express, en route from Bombay to Cape Town is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-10 at roughly Lat 23°30'S, Long 37°30'E; one lifeboat is swamped when the ship is abandoned, and two Armed Guard sailors and 11 merchant seamen are lost.

USMC: The active duty strength of the Marine Corps is 142,413 including 7,138 officers and 135,475 enlisted.

Australian Army: Kanga Force guarding Bulolo Valley, conducts its first offensive action, a raid on Salamaua. This is followed a few days later by a raid on Lae.