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

MONDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 1942

ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): A weather reconnaissance flight is flown over Kiska and Attu. On Attu demolition charges are dropped on Holtz Bay, AA guns, and on a village; results are not observed.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): B-26s, B-25s, and A-20s pound the areas around Buna, Gona, Soputa, Sananandaand Giruwa targeting AA positions, buildings, barges, and troop concentrations. Lost on a ferry flight is A-20A "Abijah Gooch" 40-155 (MIA).

After midnight at Iron Range Airfield the 90th BG was taking off on their first bombing mission against Rabaul. Ten B-24 took off on the mission, but four abort due to bad weather and lost is B-24D "Punjab" 41-11902 (MIA). The eleven B-24 taking off B-24D "Bombs To Nip On" 41-23942 crashed on take off and destroys B-24D 41-23831 and B-17F 41-24522 and damages three other bombers including B-24D 41-23765, B-24D 41-23812 and B-24D "Big Emma" 41-23751 that were later repaired. A total of eleven are killed on the ground.

Australian Army: 7 Division advances forward towards the Buna-Gona beachhead.

U.S. Army: 32nd Infantry Division advances forward towards the Buna-Gona beachhead.

References
Steve Birdsall adds related to Iron Range Airfield: "There's a bit of confusion about the date - the 90th [BG] was taking off shortly before midnight on November 16, according to my sources. The accident cost "three B-24s and one B-17, one gas dump and 12 men" according to one eyewitness, but there are quite a few variations on this."