March 10, 1942
Today in World War II Pacific History
Day by day chronology

TUESDAY, 10 MARCH 1942

SWPA, 5th Air Force: 3rd Bombardment Group, Headquarters Squadron and 13th Bombardment Squadron transfers from Brisbane to Charters Towers with A-20 Havocs, thier first mission will be April 6, 1942. Arriving at Brisbane are the A-24 air echelons of the 27th Bombardment Group including the 16th Bombardment Squadron and 17th Bombardment Squadron from Batchelor Field and 91st Bombardment Squadron from Malang. Ground echelon of all 3 squadrons is on Bataan.

USN: Task Force 11 (TF-11) USS Lexington (CV-2) and USS Yorktown (CV-5) in the Gulf of Papua launch 104 carrier planes that fly over New Guinea and the Owen Stanley Range to strike Lae and Salamaua.  Both raids catch the Japanese by surprise and target ships landing troops and supplies ashore. SBD Dauntless dive bombers hit Lae resulting in the sinking of Tenyo Maru and Kongo Maru plus damage to other ships including the Kokai Maru and minesweeper No. 2 Tama Maru that later sinks. Lost is SBD Dauntless 2130 pilot Ensign Joseph P. Johnson (MIA) and returning two SBDs divert to land at 7 Mile Drome near Port Morseby. Meanwhile, TBD-1 Devastator target Salamaua sinking Yokohama Maru.

USAAF: Six B-17s of the 435th BS lead by Major Richard H. Carmichael took off from Garbutt Field on a bombing mission against Lae Airfield. This was the only mission in the New Guinea theater when the U.S. Navy and USAAF operated together.

USA: A contract with the Office of Scientific Research and Development became effective whereby the Johns Hopkins University agreed to operate a laboratory which became known as the Applied Physics Laboratory. This was one of several important steps in the transition of the radio-proximity fuze from development to large scale production. Other steps taken within the next 6 weeks included the organizational transfer of Section T from the National Defense Research Committee directly to the Office of Scientific Research and Development and the relocation of most of the Section T staff from the Carnegie Institution of Washington to the Applied Physics Laboratory at Silver Spring, Maryland.

USMC: The U.S. government purchases the 132,000 acre Santa Margarita Ranch north of San Diego that will become Camp Pendleton.