Commander N. C. Gillette, Jr. piloted a PBY-5A aircraft of US Navy squadron VPB-71 from Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands for an offensive reconnaissance mission over the Takao region of southern Taiwan. He found Takao harbor alert, thus turned away. He then flew over the unsuspecting Japanese seaplane base at Toko (now Donggang township, Pingdong county), Taiwan and dropped two 100-pound bombs on the base, starting small fires. This was the first time the US Navy attacked Taiwan using non-carrier aircraft. He returned to Lingayen Gulf at 0750 hours Tokyo time on 18 Jan 1945; the mission lasted over just over 14 hours.
