page_title: Aerial engagements of the Second Sino-Japanese War
section_title: 1944
hierarchical_section_title: Aerial engagements of the Second Sino-Japanese War / 1944
caption_attribution_description: English: A Japanese Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa fighter.
context_page_description: The Second Sino-Japanese War began on 7 July 1937 with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in the Republic of China. The war, by some seen as the start of World War II, ended when the Empire of Japan surrendered to the Allies in August 1945. By the end of July 1937, fighting had escalated into a full-scale war and both countries deployed their air forces, ground troops, and warships into combat. Japanese heavy bombers also extensively bombed Chinese factories, airfields and conducted the first major air-raids against civilian targets in the war.
  At the outset of war, China primarily relied on foreign countries for its military aircraft, but did produce about 100 Hawk II/III fighter-bombers at the Hangzhou-based CAMCO plant. 15 Chinese-American pilots formed the first unofficial volunteer group of pilots and joined front-line air units in China beginning as early as 1932 in anticipation of imminent war with Imperial Japan. These volunteers included future ace-fighter pilots Art Chin and John Wong. Both the Soviet Union and the United States came to China's aid by supplying aircraft and providing training to Chinese pilots.
context_section_description: From late 1943 to the end of the war in August 1945, operations of the combined forces of the American and Chinese air units began to shift increasingly from defensive to offensive, and they eventually achieved air supremacy in China over Japanese air forces. It was made possible by the Americans' continuous supply of the latest war planes, fuel and material to China, and more importantly, the activation of the CACW as a unique Chinese component of the U.S. 14th Air Force, which was deployed in the China-Burma-India theatre, as well as the training by Americans of young Chinese pilots in the United States.
  From 1944 onward, the CACW and other units of the Fourteenth Air Force were able to mount attacks against Japanese forces on all fronts in China, military installations, airbase in Taiwan, vital terminals of Japanese supply lines, which included Japanese-occupied river ports along the lower Yangtze River and Yellow River, seaports in southern China including Hong Kong and Hainan.
  Separate missions were often flown daily by the CACW and other units of the 14th Air Force from different airbases with B-25 and B-24 bombers, P-40, P-38 and P-51 fighters. The following are some of the notable bombing missions and air combat on records during 1944.
  On 11 February, six B-25 bombers escorted by 20 P-40 and P-51 fighters from the 14th Air Force including Chinese P-40s from the 32nd Fighter Squadron of the CACW bombed the storage area at Kai Tak Airfield, Hong Kong. The incoming formation encountered Japanese fighters from the 85th Sentai patrolling the area. In the ensuing air engagement the P-40s shot down five Japanese fighters and one probable, while the Japanese shot down one B-25, four P-40s and two P-51s and two probable fighters.
  On 9 March, 18 CACW B-25s escorted by 24 P-40s bombed a foundry and floating docks at Huangshi in Hubei. They were intercepted by Japanese fighters from the 25th and 9th Sentai and lost 2 P-40s.
  On 10 March, 2 bombers from the 2nd Bomber Squadron of the CACW bombed Japanese ships on the lower Yangtze; on returning flight one B-25 ran out of fuel and crash-landed killing its crew. On the same day, B-25s of the 14th Air Force escorted by P-38s attacked the river port at Anqing in Anhui. They sank a motor launch, damaged two cargo vessels and a barge; one of the Japanese intercepting fighters from the 25th Sentai flown by Moritsugu Kanai shot down one P-38.
  On 29 March, 12 P-40s and three P-51s from the 14th Air Force attacked the railroad station area at Nanchang, and strafed the airfield and attacked a nearby bridge. Corporal Yasuzo Tanaka (Ki-44 Shoki-11) of the 25th Sentai was killed in Nanchang.
  On 5 April, 26 Japanese A6Ms from the Sanya and Kaiko Kōkūtai took off from Hainan and carried out a major attack on Nanning in Guangxi; they destroyed two B-25s and three P-40s on the ground, and shot down nine P-40s (two unconfirmed), while eight A6Ms were shot down and their pilots killed.
  By mid April, various Japanese air units had suffered heavy losses and had been replenished. The 25th Sentai was brought up to full strength with young pilots from Japan.
  On 28 April, 26 B-24s from the 14th Air Force escorted by ten P-51 fighters carried out a bombing mission on the storage area north of Zhengzhou at the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The Japanese warning radar at Kaifeng was out of order, and the 9th Sentai stationed at Xinxiang with 10 Ki-44s failed to intercept. The B-24s pounded the storage area and damaged the Bawangcheng Bridge and another bridge on Yellow River.
  On 3 May, seven B-25s of the CACW bombed Mihsien and hit numerous vehicles and Japanese troops northeast of Mihsien near Yueyang in northeastern Hunan, and strafed the town of Hsiangcheng. On the same day, ten CACW P-40s hit and damaged a bridge on the Yellow River northwest of Chenghsien near Luoyang, and destroyed 15 trucks and many troops.
  On 2 June in a battle at China's Central Plain, seven P-40Ns from the 7th fighter Squadron of the CACW made an attack on an airfield at Zhengzhou where a Japanese air transport unit was base
caption: A Japanese Ki-43-IIa Army Type 1 fighter
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