Target: Rabaul (81 page)

A Jeep ambulance awaits casualties from
The Old Man
, a B-17F of the 64th Bomb Squadron/43rd Bomb Group. Five crewmembers were wounded when Zeros attacked the bomber during a solo reconnaissance mission over Gasmata airdrome on March 8, 1943. Note the rescuers gathered near the rear exit hatch.
National Archives

AFHRA (left) and National Archives (right)

Expendables: Two of Kenney’s favorite “kids,” bomber pilot Ken McCullar (above left) and fighter pilot Dick Bong (in the cockpit of a P-38), earned a lion’s share of the glory for the Fifth Air Force in their respective specialties. McCullar, a fearless skip-bombing expert, died in a night takeoff mishap in April 1943. Bong, the top American ace with 40 aerial victories, was killed while testing a new P-80 jet in early August 1945.

The twin-engine Lockheed P-38 Lightning, though a favorite among USAAF fighter pilots in the Southwest Pacific, was not as highly respected by the Japanese as the Grumman F6F Hellcat or Vought F4U Corsair. The twin-boom design of the big fighter is shown to good effect in this stylistic photo, taken in 1943 on Guadalcanal.
National Archives

National Archives

For heroic actions during a critical photographic mapping mission over Bougainville on June 16, 1943, pilot Jay Zeamer (above), badly wounded, earned a Medal of Honor, as did the mortally wounded bombardier, Joe Sarnoski (below). The rest of the crew, five of whom were also wounded, received the Distinguished Service Cross.

Dave Armstrong collection

The first low-level attack on the airdrome complex at Wewak caught the Japanese completely by surprise on August 17, 1943. Dozens of planes, lined up for inspection, were destroyed by parafrag bombs and strafing. This remarkable photo was taken over Dagua airdrome during a similar strike in February 1944.
AFHRA

Bloody Tuesday: The massed low-altitude attack on November 2, 1943, began with B-25 squadrons dropping two-hundred-pound bombs filled with white phosphorous to suppress enemy antiaircraft guns. One has prematurely detonated in the air south of Malaguna Road, the main east-west thoroughfare, visible in the background.
Vic Tatelman collection

Thane Hecox, flying a B-25 of the 500th Squadron/345th Bomb Group, caught sub-chaser
CH-23
heading across Blanche Bay on October 18, 1943, and timed his bomb release perfectly. Above, two bombs dropped by another pilot have detonated ahead of the warship, but Hecox’s two bombs have hit the water near the bow. Approximately four seconds later, they exploded (below), blowing off the ship’s bow. Although claimed as destroyed, the vessel was beached to prevent its sinking.
AFHRA

Heavy cruiser
Hagura
(foreground) escaped major damage on November 2, mainly because she was shielded by cargo liner
Hakusan Maru
(center), which here has just been struck amidships by a heavy bomb. At right, a plume of white smoke rises from a direct hit on the stern of
Hokuyo Maru
.
National Archives

Ray Wilkins, commander of the 8th Bomb Squadron/3rd Bomb Group, earned a posthumous Medal of Honor for his actions over Simpson Harbor on November 2. For more than a year and a half, he had survived everything the Japanese could throw at him, but he could not outfly the concentrated gunfire of Japanese warships on Bloody Tuesday. His B-25, named
Fifi
for his fiancée, was one of eight Mitchell bombers that crashed outright or ditched with severe damage.
Gerry Kersey