The Chinese-American Composite Wing officially entered combat on Thursday, November 4, 1943, when three 2^nd Bomb Squadron B-25s flew on a mission out of Erh Tong airfield at Kweilin (now Guilin) down to the coast. In a joint raid with Mitchells of the 11^th (“Sky Dragons”) Bomb Squadron, 341^st Bomb Group, 69^th Composite Wing, 14^th Air Force, this was a sea sweep to hit Japanese shipping at Swatow Harbor. One of the Mitchells successfully bombed and strafed an enemy cargo vessel and sank it, the second crash-landed but all aircrew members survived, and the third went down and all aboard were lost.

The 2^nd Bombardment Squadron (“Avengers") of the 1^st Bombardment Group and the 28^th and 32^nd Fighter Squadrons of the 3^rd Fighter Group received movement orders on October 17, 1943, and became the Wing's first increment to move to China. They flew their planes over “the Hump”—the name given by Allied pilots to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains—to provide air support for Chiang Kai-shek's ground forces in accordance with Chennault's plan. The 2^nd Bomb Squadron’s six B-25s, under the command of Maj. Tom Foley, became the first CACW unit to reach China, arriving at Yangkai in South China on October 25, 1943.Hazardous conditions caused some of the 2^nd Bomb Squadron's B-25s to delay crossing until conditions improved. Within a few days of the first attempt, the next contingent of three bombers led by group commander Lt. Col. Irving L. ("Twig") Branch followed, and finally the remaining three