A Japanese attempt to reinforce Lae, New Guinea, is foiled by aircraft of the Southwest Pacific Air Forces during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Modified B-25s are used for the first time in low- level skip bombing techniques. More than 60 enemy aircraft are destroyed, and some 40,000 tons of Japanese shipping are sunk.
One of the Air Force and Navy’s most common air-to-air missiles is falling short of a key readiness metric, and the services are ramping up stocks of a vital air-to-ground missile, according to recent Pentagon reports.
