On September 8, 1944, twenty Japanese Ki-43 Oscars from the 64th Sentai attacked the airfield at Baoshan, China. Air Transport Command had been airlifting soldiers from the Chinese 200th Division to the field to reinforce the Chinese Expeditionary Force on the Salween Front. While most of the Japanese fighters strafed the field, Sergeant Toshimi Ikezawa broke formation and shot down an ATC C-47. The crew managed to crash-land, but one of the Chinese soldiers aboard died. Shortly after the Japanese attack began, four P-38 Lightnings from the 449th Fighter Squadron arrived overhead on their way to the front. Despite the five-to-one odds, Lieutenant Stuart Rea led his flight straight into the middle of the Japanese formation. He shot down one fighter on his first pass and damaged another on his second. One of the Oscars hit his right engine, but he was able to return to Yunnanyi. The timely intervention by the American fighters kept losses relatively light; ATC lost one C-47 in the air and two on the ground. The 200th Division lost two soldiers. The Japanese lost one fighter to the Lightnings. Four more crash-landed on their way back to Burma.