TUESDAY, 25 JANUARY 1944
(CBI) CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): B-25's on sweeps of the east China coast claim
a patrol boat, a tanker and 2 freighters sunk S off Wenchow. Lost on a routine flight are B-24J "Hot As Hell" 42-73308 pilot 1st Lt. William A. Swanson (MIA) and B-24J "Haley's Comet" 42-73242 pilot Major Harry H. Musinski (MIA).
PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): Twenty-four A-24s from Makin supported by twelve P-39's, attack gun positions on Mille;
8 B-25's from Tarawa Atoll bomb a vessel and shore targets at Taroa; later, in a dusk attack, 18 B-24's flying out of the Gilberts
bomb Kwajalein Atoll, hitting
runways and AA positions. 26th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 11th Bombardment
Group (Heavy), transfers from Nukufetau to Tarawa with B-24's.
SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): 19 B-24's, following three which
drop flares, attack Lakunai Airfield during the late evening.
106th Reconnaissance Squadron (Bombardment), Thirteenth Air Force (attached
to 42d Bombardment Group (Medium) transfers from Guadalcanal to Stirling with B-25's. It will be redesignated 100th Bombardment Squadron (Medium)
on 9 May. 419th Night Fighter Squadron, 18th Fighter Group, based on Guadalcanal, sends a detachment to Bougainville with P-70's.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): 50+ B-24's pound
the Hansa Bay area; 37 B-25's bomb Alexishafen and Madang; and P-39's strafe
barges on the Rai Coast. P-40's and A-20's hit Gasmata. 50+
B-25's bomb Lorengau and Momote. Lost is B-25D "Dittum Dattum (II)" 41-30312 (MIA).
USMC: Lost on a ferry flight due to a severe tropical storm were twenty-two F4U Corsairs from Marine Fighting Squadron 422 "Flying Buccaneers" VMF-422 including: F4U 17945 Mac Laughlin (MIA), F4U 18025 Thompson (MIA), F4U 18024 Rogers (MIA), F4U 18015 Lauesen (MIA), F4U 17990 Aycrigg (MIA), F4U 17833 Moran (KIA), F4U 55807, F4U 55872, F4U 55913, F4U 55906, F4U 55892, F4U 55883, F4U 55869, F4U 55825, F4U 55818, F4U 55817, F4U 55886 and F4U 18116 Lehnert (rescued), F4U 18075 Wilson (rescued), F4U 18054 Thurnaw (rescued). Of the twenty-two Corsairs lost, six pilots were missing and sixteen rescued.
