Seventeen Chinese planes were damaged or demolished on the ground snd another was shot down in the air by Japanese naval aircraft in a raid on Hankow on Tuesday, Japanese naval authorities claimed in a.communique issued yesterday morning.
Despite intense anti-aircraft fire the Japanese planes swooped down to within "machine-gun range of the aerodrome, the communique said.
The raiders spotted at least 24 planes, including some dummies, on the ground at the aerodrome and in the vicinity of it, the communique said. The Japanese planes strafed five SH bombers, one Northrop bomber and a Douglass bomber, which were set on fire, the statement claimed.
Heavy damage was done to ten SH and Northrop bombers on the ground by the Japanese attackers, the communique continued.
One SH bomber which took to the air in an attempt to escape the attack was shot down, the communique added.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.