March 23, 1943
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

TUESDAY, 23 MARCH 1943

(Eleventh Air Force) Weather grounds all missions except the weather reconnaissance flight and an unsuccessful intercept attempt of an enemy reconnaissance airplane by two P-40's.

BURMA AND INDIA (Tenth Air Force) Nine B-25's bomb barracks, warehouse, railroad tracks, and Meiktila Airfield.

CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force) In French Indochina, P-40's strafe the operations building at Dong Cuong and hit troop trucks between Tuyen Quang and Ha Giang.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Fifth Air Force) In the Bismarck Archipelago, B-17's thoroughly pound the airfields in the Rabaul area and strafe a vessel off Cape Gazelle.

Single B-24s attack Gasmata Airfield. A-20's bomb and strafe forces in the Mubo area and at the mouth of the Bitoi River. B-25's strafe targets of opportunity in the Salamaua, Labu Lagoon and Nadzab areas and at the mouth of the Markham River. Single B-24's attack Lorengau Harbor and Salamaua Airfield.

Between midnight and one o'clcok, B-17E "Monkey Bizz-Ness" 41-2417 dropped two 2,000 pound bombs into the crater of Tavurvur (Matupi Volcano), but failed to cause any eruption. This was a special mission conceived by 43rd Bombardment Group (43rd BG) Headquarters Squadron to bomb the crater of Tavurvur (Matupi Volcano) in hopes of triggering an explosion that would impact the Japanese. Although both bombs landed inside the crater it failed to trigger anything.

IJN: During the night, three G4M1 Bettys from the 705 Kōkūtai (705 Air Group) conduct a night bombing mission against Henderson Field and dropped 60kg and 250kg bombs on the northwest dispersal area.

SOUTH PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS (Thirteenth Air Force) Destroyed by Japanese bombing overnight at Henderson Field are six bombers including: B-17E "Buzz King" 41-9124, B-17E "Zero Six Zero" 41-9060, B-24D "Flying Gator" 41-23898, B-24D "Shamrock", B-24D "Lone Wolf" are destroyed.

RNAF: Destroyed by Japanese bombing overnight at Henderson Field is a Hudson from 3 Squadron. Crashed on landing is Hudson A16-139 (crew survived).

USN: Open lighter YC-869 sinks after grounding off Imperial Beach, California. USS Kingfish (SS-234) is damaged by depth charges off Formosa, 26°20'N, 121°55'E, and is forced to terminate her patrol. USS Whale (SS-239) sinks Japanese transport Ken'yo Maru about 130 miles northwest of Saipan, 17°20'N, 145°00'E; one of Whale's torpedoes circles back toward her, forcing the boat to "go deep" but then heads back and hits the target.