TUESDAY, 17 APRIL 1945
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, four B-25s and 4 P-51s blast
river shipping S of Yiyang; 6 B-25s bomb the area around Kwangsi University
at Liang-feng; two B-24s bomb the Bakli Bay dock area; 70+ P-51s and P-40s hit troops, town areas, road traffic, river shipping, and general
targets of opportunity at several locations in S and E China including Changsha,
Sinning, Sinhwa, Yiyang, Tungting Lake, Paoching, Yungfengshih, Shanhsien, Lingling,
Pingsiang, Tsinkong, and Hochih.
INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, eighteen fighter-bombers hit troops
and supplies near Mong Kung and Wan Hpun; 12 others attack vehicles and other
targets of opportunity along roads south of the bomb line; 489 transport sorties are completed to forward areas throughout the day.
AAFPOA (VII Fighter Command): 18 P-51s flying two strikes from Iwo Jima attack vessels in Futamiko in the Bonin Islands.
5th AF: Damaged during a landing accident is P-51K 44-12025 (pilot survived).
USMC: Ditched on a ferry mission is F4U 49668 (pilot survived).
HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Missions 70 to 75: 118 B-29s bomb airfields
at Tachiarai, Kokubu, Izumi, Nittagahara, and 2 at Kanoya; 5 others attack
targets of opportunity; beginning on this date and continuing through 11 May,
XXI Bomber Command devotes about 75 per cent of its combat effort to support
of the Okinawa campaign; during this period the B-29s fly more than 2,100 sorties
against 17 airfields on Kyushu and Shikoku which are dispatching air
attacks (including Kamikaze raids) against USN and USMC forces.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: On Formosa, B-24s
bomb Taichu Airfield, Shinshoshi Airfield, Toyohara Airfield and Okayama Airfield and B-25s hit Taito Airfield. Numerous sweeps and sorties are flown in support of ground forces
over Luzon, Cebu, Negros, and Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. B-24s
over Mindanao bomb Cotabato and Kabacan. The 69th and 311th Fighter Squadrons,
58th Fighter Group, move from Mangaldan to Porac with P-47s. Lost is A-20G 42-86748 (MIA) and crash landed is P-51K 44-12025 (survived).
