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

FRIDAY, 30 OCTOBER 1942

USMC: At 5:15am F4F Wildcats from Marine Fighting Squadron 212 (VMF-212) claim "float planes" over Rekata Bay, claiming five victories: 1st Lt Jack Conger: 2, 1st Lt Frank Drury: 1, 1st Lt Robert Sout: 1, 1st Lt William Watkins Jr: 1.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): Lost on a recon flight is B-25D "Lil De Icer" 41-29731 pilot 1st Lt Robert F. Miller (MIA).

Ten B-17s from 43rd BG, 403rd BS and 19th BG, 28th BS bomb Japanese shipping off Rabaul including low level skip bombing runs by the 403rd BS. They claim hits a large cargo ship and two destroyers.

Afterwards, two B-17s from 19th BG, 435th BS fly individual reconnaissance missions over Japanese anchorages. B-17 piloted by Lt. Fields flew nine hours in bad weather over Shortland Harbor and Tonolei Harbor and observes 23 ships. B-17F "The Mustang" 41-24554 pilot Captain Frederick "Fred" C. Eaton, Jr. flew over Rabaul observing 33 ships and returning is intercepted by Zeros that make 12 attacks and claims two shot down and another damaged but manage to reach cloud cover and escaped without damage.

References
Fortress Against The Sun (2001) pages 289