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Royce Special Mission to Mindanao

Published April 29, 2015

Brig. Gen. Ralph Royce in Australia shortly before he led his special mission back to the Philippines to bomb the Japanese in April 1942. (U.S. Air Force photo)
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Brig. Gen. Ralph Royce in Australia shortly before he led his special mission back to the Philippines to bomb the Japanese in April 1942. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Capt. Frank P. Bostrom (center), the officer in charge of the three B-17s on the Royce special mission, piloted one of the 12 B-17s that arrived over Hawaii several months earlier on a flight from the United States just in time for the Japanese attack. With no ammunition on board his B-17, Capt. Bostrom could do little more than try to escape, so he played tag around Oahu with Japanese fighters before he was finally able to land safely on a golf course. (U.S. Air Force photo)
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Capt. Frank P. Bostrom (center), the officer in charge of the three B-17s on the Royce special mission, piloted one of the 12 B-17s that arrived over Hawaii several months earlier on a flight from the United States just in time for the Japanese attack. With no ammunition on board his B-17, Capt. Bostrom could do little more than try to escape, so he played tag around Oahu with Japanese fighters before he was finally able to land safely on a golf course. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Some of the crewmen and one of the two B-17s that returned safely to Australia from the Philippines. (U.S. Air Force photo)
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Some of the crewmen and one of the two B-17s that returned safely to Australia from the Philippines. (U.S. Air Force photo)

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The Royce special mission back to the Philippines consisted of 10 B-25s and three B-17s, which took off from Darwin, Australia, on April 11, 1942, for the 1,500 mile flight to Mindanao. After arriving at their forward airfields, the planes flew bombing missions against Japanese ships, airfields and harbor facilities in the Philippines. One B-17 was destroyed when it was bombed while parked on the airfield, but the other two B-17s and all the B-25s returned safely to Australia after two days of operations.

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