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| Headline of a United Press report in the New York Times on November 27, 1943. |
On Thanksgiving Day, 1943, fighters from Chennault's Fourteenth Air Force attacked Japanese planes on the ground at Shinchiku Airdrome in Formosa. This was the first Allied attack on the airfield.
The attack on Shinchiku Airdrome was the result of careful planning and was a demonstration of the vulnerability of Japanese aircraft concentrations on the island.
Tex Hill led the force of 12 B-25s, 10 P-38s, and 8 P-51s that attacked the airfield.
The following is from Chapter 16: Fourteenth Air Force Operations, January 1943-June 1944 in The Army Air Forces in World War II, IV: The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan, August 1942 to July 1944 edited by W.F. Craven and J.L. Cate.
In all sectors of China the threat of enemy aggressiveness which had marked the closing days of October continued during November. On the Salween front fighting became less severe, but the fighters and Liberators continued to answer calls for aerial assistance by the Chinese ground forces. The heavy bombers also ran a few routine bombing and mining missions to Haiphong and Hong Kong, but on 18 November they were ordered to India, where they participated in a combined attack with the Tenth Air Force and the RAF on Rangoon, returning to China early in December. Meanwhile, in east China the long-rumored offensive in the Tung-ting Lake area was becoming a reality, so that units of the forward echelon were allowed little time for operations other than those directed toward aiding the Chinese in turning back the enemy drive. Mediums of the 11th Squadron and CACW's 2d Bombardment Squadron, however, found time to run enough sea sweeps to sink three times as much enemy shipping as the 11th Squadron alone had accounted for in October. But the most significant, and perhaps the most rewarding, mission of the month came on 25 November, when Formosa was subjected to its first attack by the Fourteenth Air Force. Reconnaissance over a period of months had revealed that Shinchiku airdrome offered a most inviting target where enemy bombers could nearly always be found parked wing to wing. Shortage of bombers and lack of long-range fighters, as well as lack of bases farther east, had made such a strike impossible during the summer.
Soon after Colonel Vincent returned from temporary duty in the United States early in November to resume command of Forward Echelon, he found that the obstacles to this long-dreamed-of mission had been removed. With the first forces of the CACW had come another medium squadron; the P-38's, present since August, had been joined by sixteen old and worn P-51A's; and the base at Sui-chuan was ready for operations. Vincent planned a low-level, daylight raid, knowing that its success depended almost entirely upon surprise. Photographic coverage throughout the first three weeks of the month permitted thorough briefing, and when on 24 November 1943 seventy-five bombers were found at the Shinchiku airdrome, the mission was set for the next day. Eight P-51's, eight P-38's, and fourteen B-25's were to make the flight under Col. David L. (“Tex”) Hill, a former AVG and CATF leader who had just returned to China to command the 23d Fighter Group.
All aircraft were in readiness at Sui-chuan by evening of the 24th. On the next day, which was Thanksgiving, they flew at very low level across Formosa Strait to avoid radar detection. When the shore was sighted, the P-38's took the lead to knock out enemy air opposition. Perfect surprise enabled the Lightnings to claim fifteen of the twenty-odd planes which were airborne. The B-25's followed in at 1,000 feet, dropping frag clusters on the airdrome. The P-51's protected the tails of the bombers until they were safely on the bomb run, then strafed installations and parked planes. Lightnings, after their first engagement, also dropped down to strafe. Only one pass was made by each unit before it headed for home. The brief encounter resulted in claims of forty-two enemy planes destroyed, most of them on the ground, without loss of an American plane or life. Once more the Fourteenth had gambled and won, and had carried the war still closer to the Japanese homeland. Enthusiasm among American personnel in China rose accordingly, but the success was not permitted to affect other operations. The Mitchells resumed attacks on shipping the following day.
Tex Hills’ account of the raid:
“We went across, right on the deck, just about 100 feet, to keep from being detected,” Hill said. “We went about 100 miles across the straits. When we got there, a transport was coming down. I dispatched a 38 that shot it down. The bombers were just coming back from some mission and they were in the landing pattern. I had the B-25s loaded with frags. They pulled up a thousand feet and dropped them. They had gasoline trucks, everything out there on the field to receive these people. When we left, there was something like 43 airplanes burning. They took a picture of it.”
That day, Hill became the first P-51 pilot to shoot down a Japanese aircraft. For his leadership of the raid, he received another Distinguished Flying Cross. Within a month of the raid, the 28-year-old was promoted to colonel.
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| CBI Battle Area map; Formosa and Shinchiku at right. |
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| Chennault's Fourteenth Air Force fighters caught Japanese airplanes on the ground at Shinchiku Airdrome, Formosa, on Thanksgiving Day, 1943. |
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| “We strike Japan in Formosa: When our Fourteenth Air Force attacked Shinchiku airfield on Formosa, on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1943, our low level fighter attack, shown here, destroyed 35 planes before our bombers made their run.” Note the enemy bombers lined up, many of them on fire. |
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| Lt. Col. Tex Hill led the highly successful 1943 Thanksgiving Day raid on Shinchiku Airfield, Formosa, responsible for shooting 15 enemy aircraft out of the air and burning more than 40 bombers on the ground. This photo of the raid was taken just afterward. |
