Air Operations, CBI

During the night of the 2nd, 2 7th Heavy Bomb Group's B-17s and an LB-30 undertake the 10th Air Force's first combat mission attacking Japanese shipping in the Andaman Islands. Hits are claimed on a transport and a cruiser.

Air Operations, Europe

There is a night raid on Weymouth. 2 hospitals are hit causing heavy casualties.

• The Ford motor factory near Paris is bombed again by 40 Wellingtons and 10 Stirlings. 1 Wellington is lost.
• 49 planes bomb the Le Havre harbor area with no losses. 23 Hampdens and 7 Wellingtons lay mines in Quiberon Bay. 1 Hampden and 1 Wellington are lost.

Experienced in desert weather flying, a British pilot lands an American made Kittyhawk fighter plane of the Sharknose Squadron in a Libyan Sandstorm, on April 2, 1942. A mechanic on the wing helps to guide the pilot as he taxis through the storm. (AP Photo)

Landing in a Sandstorm

Air Operations, Pacific

US 10th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress bombers fly their first missions in the CBI theater, bombing fleet units in the Andaman Islands.

The US Carrier Hornet Leaving San Francisco

After loading 16 North American Aviation B-25B Mitchell medium bombers and their crews of the 17th Bombardment Group at NAS Alameda, the recently commissioned aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) departed San Francisco Bay with her escorts and headed for a secret rendezvous with Admiral William F. Halsey and Task Force 16. The carrier was under command of Captain Marc A. Mitscher, USN. The strike group was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James H. (“Jimmy”) Doolittle, USAAF. Until the second day at sea, only six U.S. military officers knew of the mission. This photograph shows some of the bombers secured on Hornet’s flight deck. An escorting destroyer, USS Gwin (DD-433) is closing from astern, with light cruiser USS Nashville (CL-43) in the distance. Two more ships are on the horizon.

Allied Planning

Churchill receives a letter from Roosevelt to say that Harry Lloyd Hopkins, Roosevelt's specialist in foreign affairs, and Gen George Marshall, Chief of Staff ot the Army, will soon be arriving in London.

Roosevelt writes, 'They will submit to you a plan which I hope will be received with enthusiasm by Russia.' The plan is for a second front in Europe - in France, the most sensitive point for the Germans. The plan has been drawn up by Lt-Col Dwight David Eisenhower, and is in answer to the insistent demands of the Russians, who want a second European front to relieve German pressure on Moscow.

Battle of the Atlantic

The unarmed US freighter David H. Atwater (2800t) is shelled by U-552 east of Chincoteague Inlet, Virginia. There are only 3 survivors of the 25-man crew rescued by the Coast Guard Cutter Leare (WPC-344).

Burma

(1st?)The British Burma Corps retreats from Prome to avoid being surrounded.

Evacuees of Japanese ancestry were not permitted to use their automobiles at War Relocation Authority centers. Cars brought to this camp, the Manzanar Relocation Center in California, have been impounded for the duration. Photo taken on April 2, 1942. (NARA)

Japanese-Americans Lose the Use of their Automobiles