August 16, 1942
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

SUNDAY, 16 AUGUST 1942

ALASKA (11th AF): A B-24 aborts a photo reconnaissance over Adak due to mechanical failure. Lost is B-26 40-1370 (crew survived, KIA).

WDC (4th AF): 82d Observation Squadron and 110th Observation Squadron, 71st Observation Group, stop flying ASW patrols from Salinas AAB.

5th AF: Lost is B-17E 41-2434 pilot Major Dean "Pinky" C. Hoevet (MIA) to test a new flare dropping mechanism into the sea and exploded on impact roughly a mile off Yorkeys Knob north of Cairns.

USN: USS Argonaut (SM-1) and USS Nautilus (SS-168) arrive off Makin and prepare to launch U.S. Marines for the "Makin Raid", the first U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) operation launched from submarines.

Lost is R4D-1 01989 pilot LCdr Jerome H. Sparboe (MIA) on a flight from NAS Kodiak via Whitehorse Airfield bound for NAS Seattle.

Submarine S-39 (SS-144), irreparably damaged by striking reef off Rossel Island, on 14 August, is abandoned.

Airship L-8 on patrol off California lands in Dale City, California. The airship, is unmanned; the fate of its two-man crew remains a mystery.

USMC: Company L, 5th Marines, crossed the Matanikau River and attacked the village of that name, while Company I made a successful amphibious raid farther west at Kokumbona to cut off any retreating Japanese.