September 2, 1942
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

WEDNESDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 1942

ALASKA (11th Air Force): Six bombers escorted by twelve P-38s fly cover and photo reconnaissance over Nazan Bay off Atka and Kuluk Bay on Adak and Amchitka and Semisopochnoi.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) (10th Air Force): In China, P-40s hit barges and junks carrying rice in the Poyang Lake region, strafe HQ and runways at Nanchang Airfield, attack railroad stations and warehouses at Hua Yuan, and sink a launch, damage 4 junks, and wreck a train on the Wuchang Peninsula.

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Joint Chiefs of Staff): The mission of the 67th Fighter Squadron P-400s on Guadalcanal is shifted from air defense to close air support for U.S. Marine Corps ground forces and attacks on shipping, tasks for which they are better suited.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): P-400s bomb and strafe forces in the Kokoda and Alola areas as the Japanese continue to push toward Port Moresby.

IJN: D3A1 Vals from the 2nd Kōkūtai (2nd Air Group) attack shipping off Milne Bay. Three became lost and three force landed on the beach near Deba bordering Table Bay including D3A1 Val 3110, D3A1 Val 3114 and D3A1 Val 3287. Afterwards, all three crews were tracked down, refused to surrender then killed by police.