SATURDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER 1943
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): Twelve B-25's and 8 B-24's attack Paramushiru for the third and last time this year. Six B-24's bomb the Kashiwabara staging area; shipping is bombed and strafed in Kashiwabara Harbor and Paramushiru
Straits; 1 freighter and 1 large transport are sunk while 1 transport and
2 cargo ships are damaged; 2 other cargo vessels sustain possible hits; targets
hit on land include 2 buildings and an AA battery on Shimushu.
Of 40 fighters intercepting, 13 are shot down and 3 more are probables.
Two B-24's force land in the USSR including B-24A 40-2367 pilot Major Carl G. Wagner (crew interned in USSR), one with mechanical defect, the other after
being hit; One B-24 is downed by AA fire; losses are seven B-25 Mitchells including B-25C Mitchell 42-53354 pilot 1st Lt. Quinton D. Standiford (MIA) and two B-24 Liberators including B-24D 41-23890 (MIA). This is the most disastrous day for the Eleventh Air Force. It will be another
five months before it is able to strike at the Kuriles again. The 77th Bombardment
Squadron (Medium), 28th Composite Group, transfers from Adak to Amchitka with B-25's.
General Butler, Commanding General (CG) of the 11th Air Force is transferred to Europe and is replaced by Major General Davenport Johnson who will assume command in November 1943.
CHINA-BURMA-INDIA CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): Ten B-25's and eleven P-40's
attack the Hankow docks and Wuchang cotton mills; and 3 P-38's bomb ammunition
and fuel depots at Tayeh and strafe warehouses and barracks at Yangsin.
SOUTH PACIFIC (Thirteenth Air Force): Eighteen B-25s pound the
area west of Vila Airfield and west of Disappointment Cove on Kolombangara. The Vila Airfield is hit again in the evening by 3 B-24's. 27 B-24's at 21,000' are escorted by 16 F6Fs of VF-33, 8 RNZAF P-40s, 18 F4Us, 8 P-39s, 7 P-40s, bomb Kahili Airfield at 12:15. B-24's and fighters
claimed 7 aircraft shot down. The attacking fighters made no effort to attack the bombers. F4Us engage 15-20 Zekes and Tonys at 21-27,000' between Shortland and Fauro and claim 4 Zeks and 2 Tonys shot down. F6Fs engage 7 Zekes and Tonys claim 1 Zeke. Japanese claim 2 x B-24 and 14 fighters shot down and admit to the loss of one fighter and damage to tents on the ground in Mainichi newspaper report on September 13. Losses F6F Hellcat 25902 (MIA). F4U Corsair 02536 (rescued). Also, P-40's and P-39's support USN dive bombers in
striking gun positions at Hamberi on New Georgia.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC (Fifth Air Force): B-24's bomb Makassar. Lost is B-24D "The Red Ass" 42-40524 pilot Captain David A. Lippincott (MIA). Australian Army forces cross the Francisco River to Salamaua Airfield as Japanese forces withdraw
toward Lae.
RAAF: Lost is Seagull A2-19 (MIA).
USN: Japanese minesweeper W.16 is sunk by Allied aircraft south of Makassar, Celebes, 06°08'S, 119°20'E.
USS Harder (SS-257) sinks Japanese transport Yoko Maru south of Mikura Island, 33°48'N, 139°37'E.
USS Narwhal (SS-167) sinks Japanese transport Hokusho Maru (hit earlier by dud torpedoes) five miles northwest of Nauru at Lat 00°30'S, Long 166°50'E.
USS Spearfish (SS-190) damages Japanese army transport Tsuyama Maru, 30°56'N, 132°47'E.
Australian Army: 5th Division crosses Francisco River near Salamaua Airfield as the Japanese withdraw from Salamaua to Lae.
U.S. Army: In the Solomons, 27th Inf (-) of 25th Div lands on W end of Bomboe Peninsula on Arundel, and 2d Bn starts E at once toward 172d Inf at base of the peninsula. Arty and, for the first time in the South Pacific, 4.2-inch mortars support the attack.
