36. South of the Border vs North of the Border
As Alton Quanbeck and is wingman Al Diefendorf reported in their debriefing a few hours later, they had destroyed one airplane, and damaged two others. Several months later, an intelligence officer assigned to Far East Air Force HQ told Quanbeck that “the airfield burned for a week“.
Apparently, the planes they left burning must have triggered secondary explosions, which reached other planes. The attack was a great tactical success. Unfortunately, it threatened to turn into a huge disaster.