WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL 1942
AVG: Soon after midday on 8 April the 3rd Chutai of the 64th Sentai led by Captain Katsumi Anma (at least 12 victories) headed for Loiwing. In the formation several of the pilots were inexperienced new arrivals. The radar operator at Loiwing detected the raid in good time; hence eight of the new P-40Es were scrambled and gained altitude over the airfield (these aircraft had been ferried across India from the Middle East, during March, by pilots of the 2nd and 3rd AVG Squadrons). Four more were scrambled before the attack began and, as the eight Ki-43s swept in low to strafe the airfield, a further three got off. Both sides gravely over estimated the strength of the opposition, the Americans reporting 30 ‘Model 0s’ while the Japanese believed that they were attacked by 20 or more P-40s.
The first eight P-40s to take off, by then high in the sky, dived from the clouds to hit the Ki-43s: Flight Leader Fritz Wolf (two), Ed Overend, Cliff Groh, Squadron Leader Arvid Olson, Flight Leader Bob Little and John Donovan claimed seven shot down, one probable and seven damaged between them. It seems that the pilots who had got off later probably attacked at the same time, from lower level: Flight Leader Bill Reed claimed one (not officially allowed however) before two others shot the windscreen off his aircraft. Within five minutes, five more were claimed, two of them by Flight Leader Robert T. Smith, who also claimed a probable and three damaged, two and a damaged by Flight Leader Chauncey ‘Link’ Laughlin, and another by Fred Hodges to bring total official claims to 12:2:11.
Flight Leader Robert T. Smith wrote of the combat:
"It was the most thrilling experience I've ever had. I picked a 'Zero' (sic) that was just completing a strafing run. I opened fire at about 300 yards. I couldn't miss, and the 'Zero' flipped over on its side and dove for the ground, crashing in a ball of flame. I spotted another 'Zero' just starting a strafing run. I could see my tracers flying wildly all around him, until I kicked the rudder and saw them finding their mark; smoke and flame poured from his engine, and that was that."
Pilot Officer Ricky Chadwick of 17 Squadron had led a section of three Hurricanes into the air as the raid approached, the pilots briefed to engage any bombers which might have been accompanying the fighters. Sergeant Barrick was in the air when the attack occurred but could not lose altitude fast enough to join the fight. At first he thought he could see bombs falling on the airfield, but then realised that the explosions were aircraft crashing, nearly all of which fell within the Lashio perimeter. The interception had upset the Japanese attack, which succeeded only in the destruction of two P-40s and damage to an unserviceable Blenheim. The 64th Sentai had indeed been hard-hit, but not to anything like the degree reported by the AVG, whose claims substantially exceeded the number of Japanese aircraft present. However, half the Japanese formation failed to return; the four missing pilots included the leader, Captain Anma (Class 48), plus another veteran, Sergeant Major Haruto Wada (Sho-2). Two of the new pilots, First Lieutenant Tadao Kuroki (Class 54), First Lieutenant Muneyuki Okumura (NCO49) were also lost.
During the day U.S. Col. William D. Old made the first Air Transport Command (ATC) flight over the hump in route between India and southern China.
U.S. Army: On Bataan, II Corps disintegrates completely under sustained enemy attacks from ground and air. Japanese soon discover gaps in Alangan R line--held by 31st Inf (U.S.), 57th Inf (PS), 26th Cav (PS), 803d Engr Bn (U.S.), 14th Engr Bn (PS), and Constabulary troops--and stream southward at will. In final effort to stem enemy advance, Prov Coast Arty Brig (AA), serving as infantrymen, form a weak line just north of Cabcaben, but other units ordered to extend this line are unable to do so. Gen King decides to surrender Luzon Force; orders equipment destroyed during night 8-9. Of the 78,000 men of Luzon Force, about 2,000 succeed in escaping to Corregidor.
Late in the evening, Major General Edward P. King decides to surrender the Bataan Peninsula and notice of the surrender is communicated to defenders to destroy equipment while key personnel including Army nurses were evacuated on a motor launch to Corregidor. At 9:30pm a natural earthquake of large proportions shook the entire Bataan Peninsula adding to the confusion and urgency.
5th Air Force: The air echelons of the 3d, 17th and 20th Pursuit Squadrons
(Interceptor), 24th Pursuit Group (Interceptor), and 21st and 34th Pursuit Squadrons
(Interceptor), 35th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) [attached to 24th Pursuit Group
(Interceptor)] based on Bataan begin operating from Mindanao with whatever aircraft are left. B-26 Marauders from 2nd Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 22nd Bombardment Group (Medium) fly their first combat mission in the SWPA. Eleven B-25C Mitchells from 3rd Bombardment Group (3rd BG) were selected for the mission (eight from 13th Bombardment Squadron and three from 90th Bombardment Squadron) are selected for the Royce Mission and flown from Charters Towers Airfield to Archerfield Airfield for installation of 12,000 gallon axillary fuel tanks in the bomb bay for the planned flight to the Philippines.
U.S. Navy: Hydrographic Office and Naval Observatory are transferred from the Bureau of Navigation to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
USS Seadragon (SS-194) delivers food to Corregidor, and evacuates the final increment of naval radio and communications intelligence people.
