February 22, 1942
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

SUNDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 1942

USA: U.S. President Frankin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur to leave the Philippines.

Burma: Japanese open strong attacks against 2 brigs of Ind 17th Div E of Sittang River in Mokpalin area before withdrawal through Sittang bridge bottleneck can be accomplished.

RAAF: During the early morning, Catalinas bomb Rabaul.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): Air echelon of 17th Bombardment Squadron, 27th Bombardment Group, arrives at Batchelor from Brisbane with A-24s. Ground echelon is on Bataan.

First American bombing mission against Rabaul.  Before midnight, nine B-17s took off from Garbutt Field in Townsville assemble for an overnight flight arriving February 23, 1942 at dawn to bomb Japanese shipping in Simpson Harbor near Rabaul. While taxiing, B-17E 41-2434 and B-17E 41-2416 are both damaged and unable to participate. Inbound, they experience bad weather that broke up the formation with the B-17s flying individually to the target area with B-17 pilot Speith aborting due to bad weather. Returning, the B-17s planned to land at 7-Mile Drome near Port Moresby to refuel then fly back to Garbutt Field.