This day in the war in the Pacific 65 years ago.

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PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, 7th Air Force): P-40s of 73d Fighter Squadron, 18th Fighter Group, aboard the aircraft carrier. USS Saratoga are flown off the carrier at Midway to replace USN aircraft lost in the Battle of Midway. The P-40s begin dawn and dusk patrols which continue until the P-40s are relieved on 23 Jun 43.

ALASKA: In the Aleutians, a Kiska Harbor bombing mission by the USAAF's 11th Air Force is cancelled due to weather as is a patrolling mission by heavy bombers.

YANK, the weekly magazine for the U.S. armed services, begins publication.

 

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ALASKA (11th Air Force): 1 LB-30, 3 B-17s and 4 B-24s make a precision high-altitude attack on Kiska Harbor. A transport is left burning and sinking, another is mauled, and 2 scout planes are possibly shot down. 1 B-24 crashes at sea; part of its crew is saved.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): Air echelon of 69th Bombardment Squadron, 38th BG (Medium), leaves Hickam Field, Territory of Hawaii with B-26s and proceeds to New Caledonia to join the ground echelon; the squadron will fly sea-search missions until Dec 42.

 

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PACIFIC: Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, USN, assumes command of the South Pacific Area with headquarters at Auckland, New Zealand.

MIDWAY: The seaplane tender (destroyer) USS Ballard rescues 35 Japanese survivors of the aircraft carrier HIJMS Hiryu that had been scuttled on 5 June during the Battle of Midway; one of the survivors dies shortly after being rescued. The 35 were members of the engineering department who were presumed dead when the ship was scuttled; they had been sighted in the water by a PBY Catalina.

ALASKA: In the Aleutians, the U.S. submarine USS S-27, commanded by Herbert L. Jukes, is lying off Kiska charging batteries in a heavy fog and is carried about 5 miles from her estimated position. At midnight, she gets underway and soon after 0043 hours local, breakers are sighted about 25 yards forward of the bow, and the ship
grounds on rocks off St. Makarius Point. Waves bumped her violently against the rocks, rolling her 10 to 15 degrees on each side. By 0330 hours, the pounding has increased and plans were made to move the greater part of the crew off the boat onto land. Six radio reports are sent but only one is received at Dutch Harbor and this one lacks a position. Men, provisions, clothing, guns, and medical supplies are transferred safely. The last men leave the boat at 1550 hours.
B-24's of the USAAF's 11th Air Force taking off to bomb Kiska Island abort due to fog. One of them and two of its crew are lost when forced to land in the water. A B-17 is dispatched to attack a reported submarine but makes no contact.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): B-17s pound shipping and Vunakanau Airfield.

 

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ALASKA (11th Air Force): 1 LB-30, 1 B-17 and 7 B-24s take off on a search and bombing mission over Kiska . 3 aircraft abort the mission due to weather, 3 bomb through an overcast with unobserved results, and 3 others search in vain for a B-24 lost on the preceding day. 56th and 57th Fighter Squadrons, 54th Fighter Group, based at Harding Field, Baton Rouge, Louisiana begin operating from Nome and Elmendorf Field, Anchorage, Alaska respectively with P-39s.

The crew of the U.S. submarine USS S-27 (SS-132) that sank yesterday off Amchitka Island, Aleutian Islands, reaches a deserted village on the island and sets up camp.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, 7th Air Force): Major General Willis H Hale becomes Commanding General 7th Air Force, and Colonel Albert Hegenberger becomes temporary commanding officer of the VII Bomber Command.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): B-17s bomb the runway at Lae.

NG: US 6th Army HQ is established at Milne Bay, New Guinea by General Krueger.
NG: The 17th Australian Brigade successfully repels a Japanese attack in the area of Mubo, New Guinea.

CANADA: The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-26 surfaces and shells Estevan Point, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

 

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ALASKA (11th Air Force): The War Department authorizes the XI Air Force Services Command, hitherto the Provisional Service Command, which is activated at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage. It is charged with maintaining and supplying all of the 11th's bases. Weather cancels all missions except an armed weather sortie over Kiska. Fighters fly local patrols.

USA: The Japanese submarine HIJMS shells Fort Stevens, Oregon, USA. A U.S. submarine sinks a Japanese gunboat in the Solomon Islands.

MIDWAY: A USN PBY-5A of Patrol Squadron Twenty Four, based on Midway Island, rescues the two man crew of a Torpedo Squadron Six TBD Devastator 360 miles N of Midway Island. The two were from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and had ditched their plane on 4 June during the Battle of Midway. These are the last survivors of the battle to be recovered.

 

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ALASKA (11th Air Force): A B-17 weather reconnaissance aircraft flies over Kiska . Fighters fly air base patrols. A bombing mission is cancelled due to weather.

USA: A Japanese submarine shells the military depot at Fort Stevens, Oregon. Damage from the first attack on a U.S. mainland is trivial.

 

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ALASKA (11th Air Force): Weather cancels a bombing mission. A B-17 flies a reconnaissance mission over Kiska . A P-40 on defensive patrol crashes at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage.

RAAF - Wirraway A20-506 is lost on a training excercise.

 

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ALASKA (11th Air Force): Weather cancels bombing. 1 B-17 flies a weather reconnaissance over Kiska . Fighters patrol airfields.
Three USN PBY Catalinas rescue the remaining survivors of the sinking of the U.S. submarine USS S-27 (SS-132) from Amchitka Island, Aleutian Islands.

USA: 43d and 52d Bombardment Squadrons, 29th BG (Heavy), cease flying ASW patrols and move from MacDill Field, Tampa, Florida to Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho with B-17s.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): B-17s hit Vunakanau Airfield on New Britain. Bomb loads include several bundles of incendiaries which cause intense fires.

THAILAND: Ban Pong: Work begins today on the first phase of an ambitious plan by Japan to improve its lines of supply by extending the Singapore- to- Bangkok railway 294 miles north through the jungle to Rangoon.
It proposes to build the line using the vast pool of Allied PoW labour now at its disposal. 600 British PoWs led by Major R. S. Sykes arrived here yesterday from Singapore after a four-day rail journey to begin building the Thai base camp. The first 34 miles of line are on the flat, but at Tha Makham, where the line crosses the fast-flowing Kawe Noi, the PoWs will have to build a 240-yard long wooden trestle bridge.

 

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ALASKA (11th Air Force): 2 B-17s, 4 B-24s and 1 LB-30 fly bombing and weather missions over Kiska, bombing the N side of the harbor.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, 7th Air Force): Brigadier General William E Lynd becomes Commanding General VII Bomber Command.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): B-25s bomb Salamaua. Lost on a take offf accidnet at 12 Mile Drome is P-39 piloted by Rose.

USA: Washington - President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill conclude conference in Washington; decision reached for combined efforts to develop atomic bomb.

GUADALCANAL: PBY-5 Catalinas of USN Patrol Squadron Seventy One (VP-71) based at Noumea, New Caledonia, bomb Japanese installations on Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands.

 

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CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (10th Air Force): Brigadier General Earl L Naiden becomes Commanding General 10th Air Force, succeeding Major General Lewis H Brereton who departs for the Middle East with Brigadier General Elmer E Adler, Commanding General X Air Service Command, and several other key subordinates. The aircraft and crews of the 9th Bombardment Squadron follow. This move leaves the 10th Air Force almost a skeleton.

ALASKA: In the Aleutians, five 11th Air Force B-24's drop incendiaries and fire bombs on Kiska Harbor installations.

PACIFIC: In the Pacific on the night of 26/27 June, three 7th Air Force LB-30 Liberators bomb installations on Wake Island. The raid is staged through Midway Island.

USA: The first Grumman XF6F-1 Hellcat prototype, BuNo 02981, makes its first flight at Bethpage, Long Island, New York.

 

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CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) THEATER OF OPERATIONS (10th Air Force): 16th Fighter Squadron, 51st Fighter Group, moves from Karachi, India to Kunming, China with P-40s.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): 22nd BG B-26s bomb Lae and Salamaua.

PACIFIC: US forces bomb Japanese air bases on Wake Island.

 

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SOLOMONS: A detachment of the USN's Patrol Squadron Fourteen based at Noumea, New Caledonia with PBY-5 Catalinas, bombs the Japanese base at Tulagi Island, Solomon Islands.

ALASKA: In the Aleutians, an 11th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress weather aircraft flies over Kiska Island but a solid weather front cancels bombing.
On this and the following day US advanced reconnaissance parties land on Adak Island from submarines.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (10th Air Force): 11th Bombardment Squadron, 7th BG (Heavy), based at Kunming, China, sends a detachment to operate from Dinjan, India with B-25s.

NG: - Four Australian platoons land and attack Japanese position at Salamaua, killing about 100 enemy troops, bringing back three trucks and a portable bridge. Allied morale is boosted, but the attack fails to gain any signifigant ground from the Japanese.

 

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CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (10th Air Force): Colonel Robert C Oliver assumes command of the X Air Service Command. 9th Bombardment Squadron, 7th BG (attached to USAMEAF) departs India for Palestine with B-17s. Ground echelon leaves from Lahabad, India and air echelon leaves from Baumrauli, India.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): B-17s hit Lakunai Airfield and Lae Airfield during the night of 28/29 Jun. 35th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Group, moves from Port Moresby to Woodstock with P-39s.

CHINA: China's Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek requests that the U.S. transfer, or at least commit to sending, U.S. infantry divisions to China. He also requests the transfer of 500 combat aircraft and a monthly allotment of 5,000 tons of supplies by air from India.

USA: The USN's Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Ernest J. King, asks the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff to authorize a large-scale offensive against the Japanese naval base on Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands.

 

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USA: The US Navy now has 5,612 ships and district craft and 843,096 personnel consisting of 640,570 sailors; 143,528 Marines; and 58,998 Coastguardsmen.

CHINA: A Japanese attempt to destroy Communist headquarters in south-eastern Shansi, is defeated.

ALASKA (11th Air Force): A B-17 flies weather reconnaissance over Kiska .

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (10th Air Force): 11th Bombardment Squadron, 7th BG (Heavy), based at Kunming, China, sends detachments to operate from Kweilin, Hengyang and Nanning, China with B-25s.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): B-17s attack Dili and Koepang on Timor and Kendari; B-25s and 22nd BG B-26s hit Lae. 36th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Group, moves from Port Moresby, New Guinea to Townsville, Australia with P-39s.

 

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PACIFIC: The USN submarine USS Sturgeon sinks the unmarked 7,267-ton Japanese transport SS Montevideo Maru about 65 miles west of Luzon, Philippine Islands. The transport had sailed from Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago, on 22 June 1942 destined for Hainan Island carrying 1,250 Australian civilians and POWs of the 2/22 Battalion. The only survivors of the sinking are 18 Japanese seaman.

ALASKA (11th AF): The XI Bomber Command (Provisional) comprising the 28th Composite Group and its assigned squadrons is activated, Colonel William O Eareckson in command. A B-17 flies weather reconnaissance over Kiska, Aleutian and lands early due to weather.

WESTERN US DEFENSE (4th AF): 4th, 7th, 18th and 391st Bombardment Squadrons, 34th BG (Heavy), move from Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona to Geiger Field, Washington and continue flying ASW patrols with B-24s.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) (10th AF): In China, 4 B-25s from Hengyang, escorted by P-40s, bomb docks at Hankow; bad weather handicaps the bombardiers, and the effects of the raid are inconsequential.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th AF): B-26's bomb Salamaua. Other medium and heavy bomber strikes abort due to bad weather.

 

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ALASKA (11th AF): In the Aleutian , 7 B-24s and 1 B-17 fly photo and bombing missions to Attu , which appears deserted, and to Kiska and Agattu; near misses are scored on a transport and a destroyer at Agattu.

WESTERN DEFENSE COMMAND (4th AF): 48th Bombardment Squadron, 41st BG (Medium), moves from Minter Field to NAS Alameda, California and continues flying ASW patrols with A-29s and B-18s.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) (10th AF): B-25s and P-40s hit the Hankow dock area for the second consecutive day. This raid, more successful than the first, causes considerable damage. The Japanese retaliate during the night by attacking Hengyang but fail to hit the airfield.

US: The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff define three stages for the occupation of New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago. The first phase is the occupation of the eastern Solomon and Santa Cruz Islands; second, an advance through the rest of the Solomons and along the northeastern coast of New Guinea; and finally, the liberation of New Britain and New Ireland Islands and further advances in northeastern New Guinea. The first offensive will be the occupation of eastern Solomons with the code name Operation WATCHTOWER assigned to the invasion of Tulagi Island scheduled for 1 August 1942.

 

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ALASKA (11th AF): In the Aleutian , 7 B-24s and 2 B-17s bomb Kiska and Near , encountering neither fighter opposition nor AA; results are not observed.

WESTERN DEFENSE COMMAND: 46th Bombardment Squadron, 41st BG (Medium), moves from NAS Alameda to Hammer Field, California with A-29s and B-18s and continues flying ASW patrols.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) (10th AF): In China, 10th AF aircraft bomb and strafe the airfield at Nanchang, the probable base of the preceding night's raiders on Hengyang; several parked aircraft are destroyed; during the night Japanese aircraft again strike at Hengyang and once more fail to hit the airfield.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th AF): B-17s attack the barracks area at Koepang, Timor and airfield at Lae. 1 A-24 (SBD?) bombs Tulagi (?)

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The RN submarine HMS Truant sinks a Japanese army cargo ship off the coast of Sumatra west of Kuala Lumpur.

 

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CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) (10th AF): CHINA AIR TASK FORCE (CATF): CATF is activated under command of Brigadier General Clare L Chennault. This new command is the successor to Chennault's American Volunteer Group (AVG) which had attained 300 confirmed victories over Japanese aircraft at a cost of less than 50 aircraft and only 9 pilots. Only 5 pilots and a few ground personnel of the AVG choose to join the USAAF, although 20 other pilots agree to stay until replacements arrive in Kunming, China. Combat elements of CATF are:

1. HQ 23d Fighter Group at Kunming with Colonel Robert L Scott, Jr in command and 74th and 76th Fighter Squadrons at Kunming with P-40s and 75th Fighter Squadron at Hengyang with P-40s; all units were activated today.

2. 16th Fighter Squadron, 51st Fighter Group attached to 23d Fighter Group, at Kunming with P-40s.

3. 11th Bombardment Squadron, 7th BG (Heavy), at Kunming and a detachment at Kweilin, Hengyang and Nanning with B-25s; Colonel Caleb V Haynes is in command.

In air action in China, 5 B-25s, with fighter escort, heavily damage buildings, runways and parked aircraft at Tien Ho Airfield. P-40s over Kweilin intercept a formation of fighter-bombers, claiming 13 destroyed; the Japanese fail to bomb the target.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th AF): B-17s, B-26s and B-25s bomb airfields at Lae and Salamaua. 19th Bombardment Squadron, 22d BG (Medium), moves from Townsville to Woodstock, Australia with B-26s. Lost during an interception over Port Moresby is P-400 AP 378.

 

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ALASKA (11th AF): A B-17 flies a weather mission.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th AF): B-17s and 22nd BG B-26's attack Lae and Salamaua. HQ 22d BG (Medium) moves from Townsville to Woodstock, Australia.

 

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ALASKA (11th AF): 4 B-24s and 1 LB-30 fly bombing and weather missions to Kiska ; results are not observed.

CHINA AIR TASK FORCE (CATF): B-25s bomb the waterfront at Canton, China, marking their initial action against coastal facilities of Japanese-held Chinese ports.