Text: Jan Bobek

Illustration: Adam Tooby 

Cat. No. 8092

The air war over New Guinea in 1942 is one of the best-known episodes of the Pacific War thanks to the memoirs of Saburō Sakai, who served with Tainan Kōkūtai until he was wounded on August 7, 1942, near Guadalcanal. Japanese naval aviators on New Guinea first used the Lae and Salamaua airfields. Buna was captured in July. After a few weeks, Type 32 Zeroes from the 2nd Kōkūtai and Tainan Kōkūtai began operating from there.

The Japanese were trying to fight their way to Port Moresby in southern New Guinea, to establish a base for an attack on Australia. In the air, the experienced invaders were initially faced by Australian pilots of Kittyhawks. These were gradually supplemented and replaced by American fighters with Airacobras, who quickly learned how to fight the Zeros. The forces thus began to balance out until finally the Japanese could not be sure of their superiority. Michael J. Claringbould describes the fights in this area in his well-researched publications.

One of the fresh American units to arrive on the battlefield was the 80th Fighter Squadron “Headhunters”, which was part of the 8th Fighter Group. From mid-May 1942 it had been preparing to fight near Brisbane, Australia. Unit moved to Port Moresby on 20 July under the command of 1/Lt Phil H. Greasley. Their frequent duties included escorting twin-engine bombers and attacking cargo vessels, mostly in the vicinity of Buna.

Greasley flew to Buna at the head of eight Airacobras on August 26, 1942. However, he soon had to return with another pilot due to technical difficulties. He handed over the lead to Bill Brown, who mistakenly headed east to Milne Bay. His wingman, Danny Roberts, eventually broke radio silence and alerted him to the error. Brown quickly corrected the course and the Americans arrived at Buna from an unexpected direction.

Two trios of Zeros were just taking off from the airfield. The first was led by Warrant Officer Kazu-o Tsunoda (9 victories) of the 2nd Kōkūtai and the second by Lt.(jg) Jōji Yamashita of Tainan Kōkūtai. They did not expect an American attack at all. Brown and Roberts hit the first trio. They killed PO1c Ki-ichi Iwase and PO3c Daizō Ihara. Tsunoda's machine “Q-102” received ten hits, he was able to open fire on the attackers, but after landing his aircraft was no longer repairable and was later captured by the Australians.

The second trio came under fire from Lieutenants Helveston and Roberts, they killed PO3c Kyoshi Nakano. His fellow PO2c Ichirōbei Yamazaki (14 victories) was wounded but helped Yamashita to score victory over one of the Airacobras. It may have been 2/Lt Rogers, who, thinking he was hit by flak, ditched off the coast with his damaged machine and was rescued by natives. The Americans claimed a total of seven victories, which, although inflated, did not detract from their clear victory over the seasoned IJN veterans.

Tainan Kōkūtai, with its main base in Rabaul, was fighting on two fronts at the time. The other one, more important, was on Guadalcanal. During that same 26 August, the well-known Lt.(jg) Jun-ichi Sasai (27 victories) led eight Zeroes on escort mission to the fateful island. However, along with two other pilots, he was killed in a dogfight with Marine Wildcats. His victor was probably the legendary Marion Carl.

But the bad news wasn't over yet. The very next day, August 27, an aviator from Tainan Kōkūtai was killed by an Airacobra pilot. On another mission from Buna, eight fighters from Tainan Kōkūtai took off under Yamashita's command to escort eight Val bombers from the 2nd Kōkūtai to Rabi airfield. The bombers dropped their loads and since there were no enemy fighters in sight, Yamashita unexpectedly authorized an attack on ground targets, including the tempting four-engine B-24. But two fliers, including Yamashita, were shot down by ground fire. One of them ditched near shore, and two of his colleagues were shot down as they tried to destroy his Zero to keep it from falling into enemy hands. They were surprised by Australian Kittyhawks from No. 75 Squadron RAAF, led by the famous Les Jackson. Two Vals fell victim to them too. Tainan Kōkūtai thus lost nine Zeros and ten pilots, including two Buntaichō officers, in two days. This elite unit had to be withdrawn from the battlefield after another two months of fierce fighting.