At 5PM Eastern Standard Time, the 43rd Bomb Group launched a bombing mission targeting the defenses on a beachhead on an island in the pacific. Paratroopers of the 11th Airborne Division were dropped behind enemy line in a village that posses a radar station; a small group of Japanese garrison were present but they were all taken out. Japanese reinforcements arrived but were too little to do anything significant. Two Japanese carriers were 3 kilometers away from the island, although they were not quick enough to scramble fighters to intercept the bombing run, they were able to chase down the B-17, but that didn’t go smoothly as fighters from the 8th Fighter Group game to defend the formation
