Text: Jan Bobek

Illustration: Piotr Forkasiewicz 

Cat. No. 82212

The duel between Japanese naval fighter Saburō Sakai and Wildcat pilot “Pug” Southerland, which took place on August 7, 1942, over Guadalcanal, is one of the most famous stories from the Pacific battles. Thanks to the books published about Sakai, as well as the interviews he gave after the war, his experiences during this encounter are fairly well known. For a depiction of this battle and his dramatic return to Rabaul in the Zero's cockpit, see the article on Saburō Sakai in the 06/2022 issue of INFO Eduard magazine.

James Julian “Pug” Southerland was born in 1911 in Norberth, Pennsylvania. He joined the Navy in 1930 and graduated from the Naval Academy six years later. He first served on the battleships Texas and New York but began flight training in 1939. He became a naval aviator in February 1940 and was assigned to VF-5. Two years later he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.

On this fateful 7 August, he took off from the deck of the USS Saratoga a total of three times. During the last sortie, he led a formation of four Wildcats that were part of the defence against a Japanese raid by G4M Betty bombers from the 4th Kōkūtai escorted by Zeros from Tainan Kōkūtai. The Japanese wanted to attack the transport vessels that were supporting the Guadalcanal landings. Southerland was the first to spot the bombers over their target in the intense cloud cover. He claimed to have shot down two Bettys, but all three of his wingmen were attacked by Zeros led by Shirō Kawai. Two were shot down and the third returned to the carrier with a badly damaged machine.

Southerland used up all of his ammunition in the attack on the Bettys, and his machine was slightly damaged by the Betty´s gunners. This made things very difficult for him when he was attacked by Zeros piloted by PO3c Ichirōbei Yamazaki, who broke away from Kawai's formation, and two of Sakai's wingmen, PO2c Enji Kakimoto and PO3c Kazushi “Popo” Utō.

Against the enemy's superior numbers, Southerland  calmly fought a manoeuvre battle, getting into firing position several times, but unfortunately he was out of ammunition. He was quite protected from the effects of the Zeros' fire by the Wildcat's armor and sturdy construction. After Yamazaki broke away from the fruitless power play, Saburō Sakai flew in to help his wingmen, and the ensuing development is well known.

Piotr Forkasiewicz captured the final seconds of the Wildcat's flight in his painting. Southerland bailed out of the machine at a very low altitude and the machine exploded just before hitting the ground. The American pilot managed to open his parachute and landed on the ground. He was in shock, exhausted and had eleven wounds.

At dawn on 8 August, Southerland headed east towards Lunga Point, cautiously passing through several deserted villages. He then attempted to use a canoe, but it leaked  so he continued on foot along the coast. At one of the  next villages he met two native boys, one of whom was in contact with an Allied coastal watcher. Southerland was led to the village of Mamara and he could regain his strength there until dawn on 10 August. The locals were all very friendly, but they were understandably concerned about the fighting they had seen or heard in the past few days. Only the oldest man in the village was unfriendly and expressed himself in terms that he used to eat white men, but those days were gone.

On the morning of 10 August, three boys loaded Southerland into a canoe, managed to bypass the Japanese camp at the mouth of the Mantanikau River, and turned the Wildcat pilot over to a unit of U.S. Marines. On the way back, the canoe came under fire from the Japanese, sank, and the young natives fell into captivity. Fortunately, they managed to escape after a short time. Southerland departed Guadalcanal on 12 August aboard a Catalina, the first machine to land at Lunga airfield.

In April 1944, he was appointed commander of VF-83 on USS Essex and later served with VF-23 on USS Langley, becoming commander of CAG-23. With both units he flew Hellcats in 1945 and achieved three more victories. On October 12, 1949, while serving with VF-43, he was killed in a F4U-4 accident during takeoff from USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. The wreckage of his Wildcat was first examined by aviation researchers in the 1990s.