05 Mar 1944: Warned by Allied intelligence that preparations for a possible attack on 14th Air Force facilities, ie, Kunming’s Wujiaba Airport (offsite link),1 were in an advanced stage at the Japanese air base in Chiang Mai, Gen Claire Chennault ordered a preemptive air strike. The 22nd and 491st Bombardment Squadrons of the 341st Bombardment Group (offsite link), equipped with medium bombers, B-25Cs and B-25Hs:2
and homebased at Yangkai Airport (offsite link), about 60 km (35 mi) NNE of Kunming, were ordered with about five hours notice to fly some 800 km south to drop an estimated 800 parafrag bombs3 (offsite link) on Chiang Mai Airfield.
The 1,600 km round trip was at the very limit of fuel capacity, requiring a lean fuel mixture to conserve petrol, a minimal crosswind, and landing at a closer airport (Kunming) on the return flight. No fighter escort was to be provided. Protection would lie in the element of surprise: attacking at dusk, with the return in relative darkness, though there had been a full moon only three days before:4
The flight down, the attack, and the flight back, though long and exhausting, and encountering harrowing, damaging hostile ground fire at the target, apparently went with textbook precision for the eight B-25s. The IJAAF only recorded three Ki-48 twin-engined bombers5 burned in the attack. The RTAF recorded one 52nd Squadron Curtiss Hawk III fighter burned, civilian and military casualties, houses and accommodation damaged, and railway water tower damaged.6 All was textbook, that is, until one B-25C of the 491st Squadron, for reasons unknown, failed to land at Kunming Airport.
In the near present, records about the missing B-25 seemed at first lost. The possibility that it had gone down somewhere in Thailand made the subject of particular interest. Eventually a yellowing operational intelligence report was found which indicated that the plane had crashed near Kunming, Yunnan, far from Thailand (report quoted in part here):7
Seven [of eight] planes returned to Kunming between the hours of 21:05 and 22:15. Plane No 43-42838 piloted by Capt George Williams Jr O-24988 with 1st Lt John P Toler, O-733402 as Navigator, S/Sgt Harry A Mosian, 32421394 Engineer, T/Sgt Irving H Pelkey, 31166642, Radio Operator, and Sgt Alan C Zimmer, 12075878, Aerial Gunner, is still missing and last heard from by Fighter Control at 20:50 hours supposedly in vicinity of Kunming.
No MACR (Missing Air Crew Report) surfaced to corroborate the report.9
Later, another bit of information was found: the wreckage of the missing bomber had been discovered two months after the crash in the Kunming area.10 While the wreckage was said to have been found, the information source was secondary and an exact location was not provided, nor was there any mention of disposition of remains. Their situation is unknown. All the crew members are listed on the “Missing” roster at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (offsite link) in Manila, The Philippines, and on a monument located at the Aviation Martyrs Cemetery (offsite link) in Nanjing, China.
References: The plane crashed near Kunming, Yunnan, in China, and so is not covered in the usual references for Thailand or Burma. The complete Operation Intelligence Report (three pages) is offered here in lieu:11
Transcript of significant information:
OPERATIONAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT BOMBARDMENT (M and H) 05 March 1944
I. QUESTIONAIRE [sic]
4. Name and location of objective: Chiengmai A/D
6. Time off: 15:07 hrs Yangkai
9. Course out: Tangent direct to Chiengmai
…..Course back: Chiengmai direct to Kunming
13. Altitude over target: 150 ft Time: 18:15 hours
14. Number and type of bombs per aircraft:
..a. 12 clusters parafrags
..b. 11 clusters parafrags instant
17. No. of fires started: 11 Smoke columns 4,000 feet*
..*Haze prevented observation of smoke after leaving target.
..The smoke of burning planes subsided after several minutes.
21. No and type of enemy a/c confirmed as destroyed: on ground –
..2 Probable damaged: 2 or more [page 2] 26. Landing: 7 by 22:15 hrs KunmingII. NARRATIVE (Cont) [page 3]
Lt Hanson led five planes of 22nd Sq supported by three planes of 491st Sq Capt Williams leading the latter. The 22nd Sq reached the target first and made a run in formations of three and two planes on a heading of 180°. The attack began at 18:15 hrs. One plane dropped its bombs on the barracks area NE of the runway, starting two serviceable fires. The other four planes dropped their bombs over the E and W revetment areas. The 3 planes of the 491st observed 2 fires burning as they approached the E revetment area and dropped their bombs on the E revetment area on a 180° heading. The planes then strafed all the revetments of both areas which they possibly could. However, camouflaged nets over most revetments prevented ascertaining the damage done. Six cannon shots were taken by the Pigeons one of which was observed to hit a plane, another of which hit a building and the results of the other shots were unobserved. Three A/C were observed to burst into flame as results of machine gun attacks. Toward the end of the attack, 3 burned out planes and 4 burning planes in the E revetments and 2 burning planes in the W revetments were observed. The fire of the burning planes spent themselves shortly after it started. One aircraft strafed the RR Station & turntable & watertower in the town scoring many hits on each.
Small arms and automatic weapon AA fire was encountered at both the A/D and the RR Station, one of the A/C which rose to approx. 4000 ft to observe the results drew AA fire of gun cal, black bursts being observed all around it, as a result of the intense fire encountered 4 ships of the 22nd Sq were hit seriously, and one of the 491st Sq. [page 3]
Of the 22nd Bomb Sq A/C, one Pigeon received two hits which cut its hydraulic lines subsequently forcing it to crash land at Kunming; another Pigeon received a hit on its hydraulic line, blower, oil shutter control and one cylinder, all in the right engine; another Pigeon received bullet holes in its vertical stabilizers and rudder and also in the right engine nacelle; one gull had its oil line and junction box of the left engine hit. Of the 491st Bomb Sq, one Gull had a small hole below and in front of the co-pilot’s seat.
Approximately 8 to 10 miles north of the A/D, a warehouse or dump area was observed with well dispersed buildings and what appeared to be exceptionally well kept roads leading to them. The area was estimated to cover about five square miles and some of the buildings appeared newly constructed and camouflaged. Two motor trucks were observed north of the A/D and in view of the intensity of the small arms fire the target is believed heavily populated by soldiers.
Seven planes returned to Kunming between the hours of 21:05 and 22:15. Plane No 43-428312 piloted by Capt George Williams Jr O-2498813 with 1st Lt John P Toler, O-733402 as Navigator, S/Sgt Harry A Mosiam, 32421394 Engineer, T/Sgt Irving H Palkey, 31166642, Radio Operator, and Sgt Alan C Zimmer, 12075878, Aerial Gunner, is still missing and last heard from by Fighter Control at 20:50 hours supposedly in vicinity of Kunming.
One Gull and one Pigeon of the 22nd Bomb Sq and two Gulls of the 491st Bomb Sq returned to Yangkai on 06 March 1944. The remaining A/C of the 22nd Sq are being repaired at Kunming.
Interrogating Officer
William L Soboroff
1st Lt, Air Corps,
Squadron S-2.
Notes:
This B-25 loss is included here because it was once thought to have been possibly downed in Thailand. Though now it is known to have crashed in China, it continues here for information purposes: it did take part in a mission which bombed Japanese forces in Chiang Mai Airport and destroyed three Ki‑48s (see 5 Mar 1944: IJAAF: three Ki-48 destroyed on ground at Chiang Mai in this series).
Many of the details here are taken from Wendell H. Hanson, “Chiang Mai, Thailand”, Jay V. Percival, “My Recollection”, and John A. Johns, “More About the Chiang Mai Raid”, all in WWII Diary: Stories by the Airmen of the 22nd Bomb Squadron of World War II, edited by David K. Hayward (Reprint, Longbeach, CA: 22nd Bomb Squadron Association, 2014), pp 199-208, 209-210, and 219-220, respectively.
One comment: the pilot of the lost B-25, Capt George Williams Jr, was a West Point graduate (Class of 1942); his brother graduated in the Class of 1936; and his father had retired as a USA Colonel. It seems rather odd that the records on “one of their own” should have been so apparently mishandled.
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| Updated, author major errors & typos corrected | ||
Last Updated on 21 February 2026
- Location: Google Maps link, N24°59.50 E102° 44.60[↩]
- Photo: B-25 Mitchell (offsite link).[↩]
- See also AN-M40 Fragmentation Bomb (offsite link) [↩]
- Map extracted from Google Maps and annotated with Microsoft Publisher by author.[↩]
- Hanson misidentified the IJAAF twin engine aircraft as Bettys, ie, Mitsubishi G4Ms. Allied reporting name for the Ki-48 was ‘Lily”.[↩]
- ประว้ติกองท้พอากาส ในสงครามมหาเอเชียบูรพา ระหว่าง พ.ศ.-๒๔๘๔-๒๔๘๘, (นครราชสีมา: สมบูรณ์การพิมพ์ จำกัด, พ.ศ.๒๕๖๔) [History of the Royal Thai Air Force during the Great East Asia War, 1941-1945 (Ratchasima: Somboon Printing, 2021)], p 180[↩]
- Operational Intelligence Report, 22nd Bomb Sq and 491st Bomb Sq, of 05 Mar 1944, p 3, provided by Dan Jackson email of 0404 29 Dec 2018.[↩]
- There is a problem with this number.
● It is listed in USAF Serial Number Search Results (offsite link) per Joseph F. Baugher as part of a group, “4279/4286 Lend-Lease to China“
● 43-4283 is identified as a B-25H-10, but lost in CBI, crash landing in Peishiyl (Google Maps link to present day Baishiyizhen, N29°29.76 E106°21.54) on 12 May 44:
-
-
- Unit 2 BS (CACW): 2nd Bombardment Squadron (Chinese-American Composite Wing (Provisional) )
- Comments: D=5. Five deaths
- AAR: Aircraft Accident Report
-
(The list is now available only in Wayback Machine as<k9iua.atwebpages.com/docs/CBI_B25H_Aircraft.pdf> (offsite link); but hosting website, K9IUA, Kevin Anderson’s Home Page (offsite link) is still accessible).
● There is no listing for a USAAF aircraft accident in China on 05 March 1944:
-
- Dan Jackson email 09:24 07 Jan 2019.[↩]
- Find a Grave: Capt George Williams Jr (offsite link). The webpage reads in part: “George Williams made his last flight . . . on 5 March 1944, just four days after being made a flight leader and promoted to captain. The wreckage of his airplane was found in late May 1944, forty miles south of Yankai, China.” That would be in the area of Wujiaba Airport (Kunming), which had been the B-25’s return objective.[↩]
- Operational Intelligence Report, 22nd Bomb Sq and 491st Bomb Sq, of 05 Mar 1944, p 3, provided by Dan Jackson email of 0404 29 Dec 2018. Per Jackson, ibid Gulls were old C/D-model B-25s with glass noses for traditional bombing. Pigeons were H-models with the glass nose replaced by a 75mm cannon and four .50-caliber machine guns. — Dan Jackson email of 20:24 06 Jan 2019 to author[↩]
- Wrong number? [↩]
- Possible: Williams, George (NMI) Jr listed in AAIR Air Crew Name Lists – W (link no longer active: aviationarchaeology.com/src/namesW.htm) Note: “These names are people listed in USAAF accident reports.”[↩]
