July 8, 1942
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

WEDNESDAY, 8 JULY 1942

ALASKA (11th AF): 404th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 44th Bombardment Group arrives in the Alaskan Theater with B-24s, originally destined for N Africa; first mission is 18 Jul. A B-24 flies two photo missions over the south shore of Kiska and over Little Kiska, a bombing mission is cancelled due to weather.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) (10th AF): A single B-25 piloted by Colonel Caleb V Haynes, bombs Japanese HQ at Tengchung, China near the Burma border. Bad weather, pilot fatigue, and maintenance halt major operations for several days.

RAAF: Crashed is F2A Buffalo A51-2 (KIA).

IJN: A flying boat with staff officers from the 25th Air Flotilla and the 8th Base Force and the commander of the 14th Establishment Unit performs an aerial survey of Kieta Airfield on eastern Bougainville. As a result of this reconnaissance, the commander of the 25th Air Flotilla sent a report outlining his conclusions to the Airbase Force Command. They deemed expansion of the airfield would not be completed until early September 1942, after the new airfield under construction at Lunga Point Airfield [Henderson Field] was scheduled to be finished, making the immediate need to expand this location negligible. Further, the runway was not able to be expanded because of the terrain, suffered drainage problems and had obstructions at on one end.