MONDAY, 28 FEBRUARY 1944
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): Three B-24s from Shemya search for enemy shipping;
one B-24 crashes during take off the others find nothing.
BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 6 B-25s hit bridges and trains between Pintha and Kinu; 1 bridge is damaged and several boxcars are destroyed; Thirteen B-24s bomb the marshalling yard at Mandalay and targets of opportunity at Akyab, Monywa, and Pakokku; P-51s, A-36s and P-40s attack bridges, radio stations, supply dumps, bivouacs, troop concentrations, railroad by-passes, AA positions, and other targets at Seton, Sinkan, Ye-u, Kawlin, Loilaw, Namkwin, Shaduzup, and the Mogaung-Kamaing area.
CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): Six P-40s on armed reconnaissance strafe Myitkyina Airfield.
PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): P-40s from Makin strafe and bomb the runway at Mille Airfield and radio installation on Mille; B-25s from Tarawa pound Wotje Airfield.
SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): 22
B-25s, with fighter escort, pound Rabaul; 9 minutes later 12 P-38s glide-bomb
Rabaul; 2 minutes afterward 11 B-24s pound the same target; 6 other B-24s bomb Rapopo; P-40s and US Navy fighters escort USN dive bombers in a strike
on Vunapope; P-39s attack Monoitu Mission. 394th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy),
5th Bombardment Group (Heavy), based at Carney Field with B-24s, begins
operating from Munda Airfield.
Prisoner's Base and Home Again by James Benson:
"Feb 28. March of 100 Liberators and 200 dive-bombers. Earth trembled. We all expected the end. Entrance to the tunnels blown in. 20 great craters in the banana grove. All been living in tunnels for eight days now... That raid on the 28th was the most terrible and agonizing we ever had to endure."
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force): 23 B-24s and
39 A-20s thoroughly pound the Hansa Bay area. Lost is A-20G 42-86627 (2 KIA, 1 rescued). Nearly 20 other B-24s bomb Nubia Airfield and Awar Airfield. In preparation for the Allied landing, 50+ B-25s and B-24s
pound Momote, Lorengau and other targets. The 80th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Group moves from
Dobodura to Cape Gloucester with P-38s. Lost are B-24D "Milk Run/Hit Parader" 42-41087 (MIA) and B-24J 42-100292 (MIA).
