Air Operations, CBI

• 1st AVG Squadron Leader Robert H. Neale downs 3 Ki-27 'Nate' fighters over Moulmein airfield.
• A 1st AVG Figher Squadron P-40 downs a Japanese Army reconnaissance bomber near the Lingling airfield during the afternoon.

Air Operations, Europe

In another 'Baedeker' Raid the Luftwaffe heavily bombs Exeter. 90 aircraft start a conflagration in the city center. The cathedral and 9 churches are wrecked. Firemen and ARP personnel are machine-gunned in the bright moonlight. The Germans lose 7 planes in the raid.

The shattered city of Exeter lies smoking on the morning after, although the cathedral was spared.

Damage in Exeter after Baedeker Raid

2 He-111s, taking off from a northern France airfield, are shot down by Sqn-Ldr James Maclachlan, a one-armed fighter pilot.

• 6 Bostons raid the docks at Dunkirk without a loss.
• After receiving an unfavorable weather forecast, 81 aircraft including 43 Wellingtons, 20 Halifaxes, 13 Stirlings and 5 Hampdens are sent to bomb Hamburg on the 100th anniversary of a great fire in Hamburg. The city is completely covered by cloud and only 54 aircraft bomb on the estimated position of the city.
• Despite these unfavorable circumstances the bombing is an unexpected success. 113 fires are started of which 57 are classified as big. 77 people are killed, 243 injured and 1,624 are bombed out. 2 Wellingtons are lost on the raid.
• In minor operations, 9 aircraft are sent to St Nazaire, 4 Blenheim Intruders, 2 lay mines off Heligoland and 8 are on leaflet flights over France. There are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

8th Pursuit Group P-39s shoot down 3 G3M 'Nell' bombers over Port Moresby at 0900 hours.

Norwegian Sea

The German steamer Konsul Carl Fisser (5843t) is sunk by British bombing near Alesund, Norway.

Occupied Denmark

Thorvald Stauning, the Prime Minister of Denmark 1929-1942, dies a the age of 68.

Philippines

Shortly after midnight Japanese units from Panay land in Macajalar Bay, Mindanao, and immediately begin moving south. The Filipinos are unable to hold them off. More Japanese troops arrive at Kabakan, and the defending Filipinos have to retire inland into the hills.

In preparation for the invasion, air and artillery activity against Corregidor continues without respite.

"Situation here is fast becoming desperate," General Jonathon Wainwright cabled General Douglas MacArthur May 3, 1942.

Desperate Situation in the Philippines

Solomon Islands

The Japanese land at Tulagi, as expected, and immediately begin to convert it into a seaplane base for the support of the landing operations at Port Moresby, New Guinea, the gateway to Australia. Adm Fletcher arrives in the area with the Yorktown and escorting ships, but the Japanese have already left and the Americans are only able to sink some enemy transports.