February 20, 1944
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology
SUNDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 1944
BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): Bad weather limits operations to a routine patrol
over Sumprabum, Burma. HQ 33d Fighter Group and 60th Fighter Squadron arrive at Karachi from
Italy; they will be equipped with P-47Ds.
PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): Nine B-25s from Tarawa bomb Wotje Airfield; P-40s from Makin strafe and bomb runways at Mille Airfield and small vessels off Mille.
USN: After the strikes on Truk, a small unit composed of USS Enterprise (CV-6),
one cruiser, and six destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral J. W. Reeves separated from the
main force and launched two air strikes against Jaluit.
SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): 35 B-25s from 75th BS and 69th BS with fighter escort bonb Lakunai Airfield. Ditched is B-25 Mitchell pilot 1st Lt. Ernest G. Keefer crew rescued by PBY Catalina. P-39s attack barge traffic, which
has greatly increased off SE and NW Bougainville, claiming 20 of the
craft sunk. 18th Combat Mapping Squadron, 4th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance),
is inactivated on Espiritu Santo.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): 38 B-24s bomb
the Alexishafen to Hansa
Bay area. Eighteen B-24s bomb Laha Airfield, and
12 others hit shipping off Kavieng. Transfers in and out of New Guinea: HQ Fifth Air Force
advance echelon and HQ V Bomber Command from Port Moresby to Nadzab;
HQ 8th Fighter Group from Finschhafen to Cape Gloucester;
498th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 345th Bombardment Group (Medium), from
Dobodura to Nadzab with B-25s.
IJN: At dawn, the remaining Japanese planes at Rabaul area airfields were flown northward to Truk including 37 Zeros, 4 Judys and 2 Bettys. By the end of the month, the last Japanese planes departed Rabaul for Truk. This effectively ended the two year air war over Rabaul. Roughly 30 damaged or grounded Japanese planes remained at Rabaul area airfields and later a few were repaired and continued very limited aerial operations plus a few floatplanes.
References
South Pacific Air War (2024) pages 535 (February 20, 1944)
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