Strana 9
HISTORY
Guinea, particularly toward the strategic Port
Moresby base, as well as the potential for
a Japanese landing on the Australian mainland.
These fears intensified after the Japanese
carrier raid on Darwin on February 19, 1942,
launched from the carriers Akagi, Hiryū, Sōryū,
and Kaga. This attack, the first and largest air
raid on Australian territory during World War II,
is often referred to as "Australia’s Pearl Har-
bor."
The defenders mistakenly identified the
incoming Japanese attackers as a formati-
on of P-40s from the 33rd Pursuit Squadron,
which had been forced to turn back from an
attempted transfer to Java due to bad weather.
Having learned from the Pearl Harbor raid,
the Japanese airmen did not focus solely on
attacking vessels but also targeted land infra-
structure. The first raid was soon followed by
a second, carried out by 54 twin-engine naval
bombers from bases in Indonesia, which con-
centrated on airfields and other key facilities.
Despite losing four aircraft, the Japane-
se forces managed to sink 10 Allied ships,
including the destroyer USS Peary, destroy
23 aircraft, devastate both military and civi-
lian infrastructure in Darwin, and ensure an
unopposed landing on Timor.
Horn Island and the 7th Pursuit
Squadron Interlude
In early March 1942, Maj. Wurthsmith asked
Lt. Morrissey, commander of the 7th Pursuit
Squadron (PS), whether he had enough experi-
enced pilots to form a detachment for deploy-
ment to Horn Island, located in the Torres Strait
between northern Queensland, Australia, and
Papua New Guinea. Morrissey assembled
a group of twelve airmen, who departed for the
island immediately. However, only nine pilots
reached their destination—arriving without
ground personnel or essential equipment.
On March 14, 1942, eight G4M Betty bom-
bers, accompanied by twelve A6M2 Zero Model
21 fighters, launched an air raid on this base.
All the aircraft belonged to the 4th Kōkūtai.
While the bombers, led by Lt. Shigeo Yamaga-
ta, took off from Rabaul, their fighter escort,
under the command of Lt. Shirō Kawai, depar-
ted from the recently captured Lae airbase in
New Guinea. Lt. Morrissey received an advan-
ce warning of the approaching attack and man-
aged to get his pilots into the air in time.
The Betty bomber crews dropped their
payload on the base undisturbed and with
precision from an altitude of 7,000 meters
(23,000 feet). Ten minutes later, a “Hurricane”
fighter attacked the formation, and the bom-
bers’ gunners claimed to have shot it down.
The American aircraft was likely piloted by 2nd
Lt. Harold J. Martin, who was later credited
with shooting down one of the bombers.
Archerfield, Queensland, Australia, early 1942. Uncrating a United States Army Air Corps P-40E aircraft
(AC-5336) for one of American Pursuit Groups. Photo: Australian War Memorial
Assembling a United States Army Air Corps P40E aircraft at Archerfield, Queensland, Australia.
Photo: Australian War Memorial
Part of the P-40 Kittyhawk aircraft at the crash site on the slopes of Mount Imlay. The Warhawk belonged to 49th
PG. Another Kittyhawk from the same Squadron crashed at Wonboyn on the same day. Both pilots, 2nd Lieutenant
John Musial and Neal Takala were both killed. On March 28, 1942, Takala and three other pilots was on a routine
training exercise from Fairbairn Airbase to the Snowy Mountains, but encountered dense fog over the coast near
Eden. Two surviving pilots Lts. Namola and Fielder were later to lose their lives also, in the defence of Darwin, on
16 and 23 June 1942. Photo: Australian War Memorial
INFO Eduard
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March 2025