way down the Slot. Lieutenant Hugh

MacKenzie, the coastwatch liaison

officer at Lunga, patched into the Marine

communications net, known as Texas

Switch, and for the first time was able

to pass the news to American aviators

who could rise to the challenge. Captain

Smith’s four-plane division responded to

the call.

They were over Savo Island at 1207 hours,

climbing through 14,000 feet, when they

spotted six Zeros five hundred feet higher

and on a reciprocal heading. Smith opened

fire head-on at the leading Zero as the

two aircraft roared toward one other. The

Japanese pilot flinched first. He pulled up,

exposing his belly to Smith's six .50-caliber

machine guns, and then fell away smoking

as Smith was engaged by a pair of Zeros

that had latched onto his tail. Smith quickly

discovered the Wildcat was heavy enough

to disengage by diving away if there was

sufficient altitude. His wingman, Sergeant

John Lindsey, was hit in the fight but

managed to make a dead-stick wheelsup landing at Henderson Field, with his

Wildcat becoming the squadron’s first loss,

while Smith became the first pilot claim

a Zero shot down. In a second fight later

that afternoon, Lieutenant Trowbridge

claimed two more, though the Japanese

recorded all planes returned. Over the

next two days, the Marines claimed two

more Zeros and proved they could stay in

the same air with their more-experienced

opponents.

The First Big Battle

Over the next four days, what would

become the Battle of the Eastern

Solomons began to shape up as the two

navies sought to find each other.

Despite the loss of the heart of the

Imperial Navy’s carrier strike force with

the sinking of Akagi, Kaga, Soryū and

Hiryū at Midway, their remaining carrier

fleet was still formidable when compared

with the carriers the U.S. Navy could

bring to action. The First Carrier Division

now formed the heart of Japanese naval

aviation, composed of the fleet carriers

Shōkaku and Zuikaku and the light carrier

Zuihō. The light carriers Jun´yō, Hiyō and

Ryūjō of the Second Carrier Division were

a worthy second line.

At 0600 hours on August 24, Admiral

Nagumo’s Kidō Butai turned southeast,

into the wind, and Shōkaku and Zuikaku

launched the first search patrols of the

day. Admiral Kondo’s Advance Force, 120

miles southeast, also turned to remain in

position to guard Nagumo’s eastern flank.

Starting at 0615 hours, the two carriers

20

INFO Eduard

Photo: via author

HISTORY

Aces from Guadalcanal. From left: Maj. John L. Smith, Lt. Kenneth Fraizer, Maj. John Dobbin and Maj. Robert Galer. The first two from VMF-223 the second from VMF-224, the unit which reinforced the fighters at Guadalcanal

on August 30.

launched 19 Kates on searches out to

a distance of 250 miles. No one really

expected to locate the Americans, since

the Japanese carriers had sailed out of

range during the night.

The Reinforcement Force transports were

scheduled to arrive off Guadalcanal the

night of August 24. If the 5th Air Attack

Force’s Bettys could not knock out

Henderson, carrier aircraft would have to

be committed. Since Admiral Yamamoto

launched as soon as she and her escorts

were within range.

Because there was as yet no operational

radar as yet at Henderson, and since

coastwatcher sightings had proven to be

less than completely reliable due to the

vagaries of weather in the region, Air

Group 23 Executive Officer Lt. Colonel

Charlie Fike had begun launching one or

two divisions of Wildcats at “Tōjō Time,”

1100-1500 hours, when it was most likely

When the “Condition One” flag went up in response, their

pilots scrambled to man all the available Wildcats, followed

by a further scramble down the main runway. While they were

supposed to take off in order of divisions and sections behind

the flight leader, in practice everyone rushed to get airborne

to gain the altitude advantage over the incoming bombers.

Because of performance differences between the individual

planes, the system of elements and divisions broke down, and

everyone joined up on whomever was closest.

had stipulated that the Shōkaku and

Zuikaku air groups were not to attack land

targets so long as Task Force 61 remained

a threat, the only force available for an

attack on the airfield was the small Ryūjō

Air Group, with its nine B5N Kates and 24

Zeros. Since the scheduled 5th Air Attack

Force mission against Henderson was

scrubbed because of bad weather, use of

Ryūjō’s small force on August 24 became

became inevitable. The strike would be

that an incoming strike might appear. Thus,

when the small Ryūjō attack force arrived

at 1415 hours, a division of Wildcats led by

Marion Carl was waiting at 20,000 feet,

with another 12 Wildcats and P-400s from

the newly-arrived 67th Fighter Squadron

on alert at the field. Carl’s wingman

was Tech Sergeant Johnny Lindley, with

2nd Lieutenant Fred Gutt flying section

leader with VMF-212’s Marine Gunner Tex

Hamilton on his wing.

April 2023