16 October 1942
Luganville Invasion
The enemy tried to attack some subchasers operating off Luganville, with Mavis floatplanes. Our P-40s on CAP shot 3 down, the rest ran.
For the first time, I let the USMC Helldivers on Efate participate in the bombing of Luganville. Figured I can get them some experience with a very low risk of flak losses now that the enemy forces probably lost all their flak guns when they retreated from the base.
East China Sea
Our Hudsons spotted a tanker docked in northern Taiwan--there's a small oil site there. The port is big enough to be protected from subs, so I've moved two subs to greet them when they depart for Japan.
China
I'm at a point where I probably have enough B-24s gathered for the strike (3 squadrons, probably 30-35 aircraft) There are still several aircraft down for maintenance, but that's how it goes with B-24s and their high service rating. I'm watching the weather now, when we expect clear skies over Korea, we'll flatten Port Arthur.
Reinforcements
DD Barton arrives at Balboa
SC-647 arrives at San Francisco
7th BG/492nd BS arrives at Karachi (2/12 B-24s--we're going to have so many B-24s in Burma and/or China!)
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